Winter didn’t have to guess which Last Rider she was referring to because the women’s eyes all turned toward the heavily tattooed biker standing next to Razer. Both men had dark brown hair, but the one with the tattoos was cut short and was leaner than the other bikers, but it didn’t make him look less dangerous than the rest of the men. The woman must be crazy to be attracted to him. Even from where she was sitting, Winter could see that he would be a merciless opponent.
“No, he is the best of the bunch. Never saw him laying a hand on the women. Never drunk, didn’t see him at the parties. I have no problem with Shade.”
Winter noticed that the Last Riders, both male and female, mouths dropped open. One of the women began laughing, with the other women from the club joining in also.
“Are you serious? He’s the wor…” The woman’s voice was cut off immediately.
“Shut-up.” Shade’s voice gave Winter a chill down her back.
“Damn, you had to go and blow it, telling her to shut-up. Don’t let him talk to you that way bitch. Still, if you fuck as good as you look, I could always tape your mouth shut.” Winter didn’t doubt Crazy Bitch could.
“You aren’t going to be touching nothing of his bitch. Get on the back of my bike, we are leaving,” a biker behind Ace yelled.
“I am not going anywhere with you Joker. We are going to Beth’s house after we get done here. Sex Piston is going to cut her hair.”
“No she is not.” Razer and Beth spoke at the same time. “I was going to make an appointment next week remember?” Winter could understand Razer’s concern. The woman determined to cut Beth’s hair own hair was teased and tortured until it stood several inches high.
“I am going to save you the trip,” Sex Piston said. Slamming her drink down on the table and sloshing what little was left over the side of the glass.
“She’s going home with me. You’re not touching her hair,” Razer warned the woman.
“I am not going home with you,” Beth argued back. This amazed Winter, because she had never known the woman to ever give a sharp reply to anyone.
“Yes you are,” Razer said between gritted teeth.
“No, I am not.”
“Beth is not going anywhere with you.” Crazy Bitch put her arm across the back of Beth’s chair. The rest of the biker women scooted their chairs closer to Beth.
“Back off,” Evie cautioned.
“Listen to the bitch,” Crazy Bitch taunted the men.
“I was talking to you,” Evie said, taking a step closer to the woman practically sitting on Beth’s lap.
“Evie.” The woman who had laughed at Beth’s description of Shade tried to pull Evie back.
“Who are you?” Sex Piston asked.
“Natasha.”
“What kind of name is that?”
“I haven’t really been given a nickname yet.”
“You the new member Viper fucked a couple of weeks ago and you let Beth think it was Razer?” Winter didn’t think it was possible to hurt so badly, humiliated that she had ever believed it possible that Loker could want her. Staring at the gorgeous club member, she realized why he had no trouble keeping his distance from her.
“Viper didn’t want anyone to know he was in town.” Winter’s hands clenched on the table. She was one of the people that wasn’t supposed to know he was in town.
“Instead, it was easier to stick a knife in Beth’s back. I can think of several names for you. But first there is something I wanna know, been wondering ever since they walked in the door. He fuck as good as he look?” She pointed to Loker.
Natasha laughed. “Better.” All the time she had thought he was in Washington, he had been here in town having sex with the woman standing right in front of her. Winter stood, deathly afraid she was going to break down in front of everyone. She didn’t look towards Loker, aware he hadn’t taken his eyes off her.
“Damn.”
“Don’t matter how he fucks, none of you bitches are going to find out. Hell, he is keeping his own clubhouse of pussy warm; he’s not getting mine. Now get on the fucking bikes!” Ace’s face turned a mottled red. Winter winced, realizing that Loker had obviously been with more than one of the women who belonged to their club.
The women just sat at the table, ignoring the men. The Last Riders looked at the other motorcycle club in sympathy, which Winter was sure had to sting their pride.
“That’s it.” Ace moved forward to grab Sex Piston, who threw her drink glass at him. When he dodged it, he accidently shoved the bald headed Last Rider, who shoved him back.
“Let’s get out of here,” Shelly said, jerking Winter toward the door. Both groups of bikers began a free-for all, with the women joining in with just as much violence.
“Which of these bitches is Bliss? I am going to take care of her tonight too,” Winter heard one of the women yell.
Shelly and Lexi were both grabbing her arms, trying to get out of the way of the escalating fight. A hard shove almost sent the women to the ground. A scream left Shelly as they found themselves held upright by Loker and tattoo man.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Loker ordered.
Winter tore her arm free from his grasp. “We’re trying to.” Shelly and Lexi were pushed through the doorway first, while Loker blocked the fists flying his way. A grunt escaped his lips when a vicious punch landed on his ribcage. Another biker slammed his friend in the face with a tray that the waitresses used to carry drinks.
Loker managed to push her outside before the rival bikers bombarded him. Winter’s face was ashen as she tried to remember where she had parked her car. Shakily reaching into her purse, she located her keys. Scared stupid, Shelly and Lexi were standing by her car trying to get in while the doors were still locked, causing the shrill car alarm to fill the parking lot. Quickly, Winter hit the alarm button on her remote, then unlocked the doors. The women scrambled into the car, locking the doors behind them. Exasperated by this point, Winter was afraid she was going to lose what little control she had left. Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the doors again, opening the driver’s door before they could lock her out again.
Winter’s shaking fingers put the key into the ignition as the three women watched Razer walk out of the Pink Slipper with Beth struggling on his shoulder.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Shelly screamed.
She turned the key in the ignition before realizing they were trapped in the parking spot by dozens of motorcycles.
They could do nothing but wait and watch until the police were finally able to break up the fight, arresting all of the men and the Last Riders’ women. Beth’s friends came outside to taunt everyone as they were loaded into the waiting squad cars. Loker was brought outside with his hands handcuffed behind his back and put in the back of the Sherriff’s car. Winter hoped they locked him in jail and threw away the key, but didn’t have high expectations that her prayers would be answered.
***
Winter heard the knock as she stepped out of the shower. Hastily pulling on a pair of pink sweats and pink t-shirt, she rushed to answer the door. Opening the door to find Loker in the doorway was not what she wanted after the revelation that she had been nothing more than pawn used to get closer to Vincent. She hadn’t been home ten minutes before the small town rumor mill had been at work. When she had hung up from the third call, she had known everything there was to know about the president of the Last Riders.
She tried not to appreciate his muscular frame dressed in jeans and black shirt. The suits he had worn disguised how physically cut he was. Winter was embarrassed that she had ever believed a man like him would want her. In the two years she had known him, he had never come to her house dressed so casually. She figured now that the whole town knew his true identity, there was no longer a need to pretend.
“Loker, why are you here?” Her tone was less than welcoming.
“I would like to come in and explain.”
Winter held the door firm. “I don’t thin
k that will be necessary.”
Loker reached out and pushed the door open, easily forcing her back from the door.
“We need to talk.” She was smart enough to realize there was no way to avoid the humiliating end to the farce of a relationship they had. Sighing, she closed the door. This time it was her turn to paste on an expressionless mask.
“I was just about to pour myself a cup of coffee, would you like one?”
“No thanks.” He followed her down the hallway to her bright kitchen. The sunny room was warm and inviting with touches of her personality. She loved to cook, spending her free time in the room. She had even padded the chairs at the table because she preferred to do her paperwork there instead of her office.
“Take a seat.” She offered, not turning around to see if he had taken her suggestion. Removing a cup from the cabinet, she poured herself a cup of coffee. Out of habit, she did not add sugar, even though she liked her coffee sweet. With the sweetener, it tended to put her in hyper drive. She already felt on edge, she didn’t need the added stimulation.
Unable to put it off any longer, she turned to face Loker to see that he was sitting at her table, grimacing as he adjusted himself carefully in the chair.
“I see you’re a little worse for wear today. I did notice they seemed especially intent on you and the one with all the tattoos,” Winter said unsympathetically.
“They were.”
“I don’t think they appreciated their women wanting to fuck you two.”
Loker froze at her use of the explicit word. Winter had never even said damn in front of him since they had met.
“Winter…” She broke in before he could continue.
“Of course from what I heard, the women would have to wait in line. A long line.”
“Sit down and I will explain.” At one time she would have done just that; did whatever he told her, how he told her. Those days were over.
“I don’t need your explanations. I am not stupid or even blind as I obviously was. I can understand English and can figure out exactly what happened. I was a way to get close to Vincent, wasn’t I?”
“Yes, Ben Stiles also. I didn’t know which of the two was responsible for my brother’s death.”
“Congratulations, mystery solved.” Winter could not prevent herself from tacking on, “I am sorry about your brother.”
“Thank you.”
“Now will you leave Loker, or do you prefer Viper?”
“Whichever you prefer,” he said, trying to remain patient.
“Very well then, Viper, get out.”
“I am not leaving until I explain. I want to maintain our friendship, and whether you believe me or not, I care about you.”
“As friends?”
“Yes.” A knife to her gut would hurt less. It was time to level this playing field.
“I am afraid that’s not going to work for me. I don’t want or need a con artist for a friend.”
“I didn’t steal your money. You think because I am in a motorcycle club that I am a criminal?”
“You stole something from me that I will never get back. Well, to be honest, two things, my time and trust.”
“I was very careful to maintain a platonic relationship with you. I never led you to believe that it was an exclusive relationship.”
“But you were aware my feelings were not the same.”
His silence said it all.
Winter sat the coffee cup down on the counter before she threw it at him. Viper’s dark eyes followed the movement. She had put on her shirt without taking the time to properly dry off and put on a bra, the thin material clung damply to her breasts. Her hair was drying in a mass of curls that she always blow dried out and styled into a professional look, well aware she needed to maintain a certain image with her job. She had to project an appearance of authority and professionalism or the students and parents wouldn’t respect her position. She only relaxed her guard in the privacy of her own home.
“Wow. You are a complete and utter ass. I thought we had a relationship, you knew I thought that. I waited patiently for you like a fool when you were out of town, while you were fucking your own personal stash of women in not one motorcycle club, but two.”
“They are not my own personal stash. The women in the Last Riders don’t belong to anyone,” Viper sighed. He had not wanted the conversation to turn ugly, but he could see that had been a false hope. “The members are not exclusive to anyone; neither male or female.”
Winter could only stand there with her mouth open, her mind unable to comprehend the sheer magnitude of his deceit.
“Like a sex club? You share the women?”
“It is a motorcycle club first and foremost. We share different interests, one of those are sexual. To answer your question as best as I can, we have sex with whomever we want within the club. We are very careful with safety and have stringent rules that are followed.”
She felt it bubbling up her throat, unable to prevent it bursting free.
“Two freaking years.”
“Winter, I had to find out the truth about my brother.”
“You could have been honest with me, you know I would have helped you and never opened my mouth. You knew that!”
“I couldn’t take the chance.”
“Because it was easier to let me be hurt. You met my mother; you let me introduce you to her knowing that I was hoping we would eventually become more than friends. You could have made it perfectly clear you had no interest in me that way. Instead you played me, using my desire to be with you to manipulate yourself into situations where you would come into contact with the men you believed killed your brother. Any man would realize when I introduced you to my mother that it meant something. She died with that lie. I… hate... you. You are lying and deceitful. You could have made sure, anytime within the last two years, that I knew our friendship wasn’t going to grow into something else, but you did not! Instead I felt like it was something I was doing wrong.” Winter furiously blinked back her tears. “Did you even realize how embarrassed I was to ask you to spend the night? I offered myself on a silver platter and you couldn’t run away fast enough. Instead, you practically fucked everyone you came in contact with in two states but me.” Taking deep breaths, Winter tried to regain control of her boiling temper.
Viper stood, coming towards her. She put out her hand to stop him. “If you come near me, I will slam my fist in those ribs, and by the look of you, are extremely painful.” He came to a dead stop. “I think it is past time for you to leave.” He stood there silently, taking in how deeply he had hurt her, unable to make excuses for himself. He had done exactly what she had accused him of doing.
“I’ll go. I wanted to explain, but now I can see I should have given it time. I hope you will be able to forgive me someday. I am sorry.” Winter followed him to the door, trying to maintain what little control she had until it closed behind him. As he was going out the door, she asked him the question that had been on her mind since last night.
“Which woman at your club has blond spiked hair, about average height?”
“Bliss?”
“She the one that group of biker women wanted?”
“Yes.” Viper’s jaw tensed.
“That’s what I thought.” Winter took a step back and slammed the door in his face.
Chapter 1
The fenced in backyard of the church was filled to capacity with the congregation and the members of the Last Riders. Winter carefully balanced the potato salad she had prepared, thankful the buffet table was empty of guests as she slid it among the colorful array of choices.
Glancing around the yard, she saw her friend and secretary drawing flags on children’s faces.
“Hello Emily.” A highlighted strand of hair had fallen across her forehead into her eyes. With her paint stained hand, she was unable to move the irritant. Winter casually brushed it away, receiving a thankful sigh in response.
“Keeping busy?” Winter grinned.
/> “I could use some help,” Emily admitted.
Winter jumped into the fray, organizing activities for the children in different areas of the yard so that Emily was allowed a breather. She was setting up the horseshoe game when a large cheer from the picnic table area drew her attention.
The Last Riders were gathered around Beth and Razer. It was obvious what the cheers were for as she was holding out her hand to the women in the group to examine the ring on her finger. Winter went back to handing out the horseshoes to little hands anxiously waiting, her face carefully blank. She had been conscious of Viper’s eyes on her, but she ignored him, turning her back so that she could no longer see the group.
Winter hadn’t seen him during the last four months, but the small town rumor mill had been active. She had stayed away from the gossip, but her friends, (self called), had made sure that she was aware of Viper’s actions. No longer hiding his connection to the Last Riders, her friends spitefully let her know each and every time he was seen out in public with one of the women from the club. She eventually quit taking their calls and avoided them in public. She had quickly learned not only to hide her reactions from the viciousness of the gossip, but also to suppress them until she no longer felt much of anything.
The only reason she stayed in Treepoint was because she loved her job and the few true friends she had left. She hoped eventually the gossip would die down, but having grown up in Treepoint, she realistically knew that it would be a long time coming.
Winter was playing freeze tag with the rambunctious preschoolers when Lily joined the group with a grin. She smiled at the beautiful girl as she chased the children around the yard. Lily was one of the few friends she had remaining. Winter had been a student teacher when she had tutored Lily, then eventually taught her in high school for a couple of years before she had been promoted to principal.
When her mother became ill with cancer, both of the sisters had been there for her. Beth had been an excellent caregiver and made it possible to let her pass away at home. Winter didn’t know if she would have been strong enough to do it without their help. Lily had also helped by giving her time to rest; she would stay by her mother’s bed when exhaustion would claim Winter. She felt she owed both women a debt of gratitude.