Chapter 54
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
T ying his hair back, Moon stood over the bed, watching as Larissa slept. He glanced at his watch. He only had a few minutes to spare if he was going to be on time for work.
Sitting down on the side of the bed, he tried to gently nudge Larissa awake by removing the pillow she had placed over her face to block out the sun shining through the window. As he lightly kissed her, he couldn’t help but smile when she raised a hand to push his face away.
“Go away,” she mumbled, reaching for her pillow again to smash it down on her face.
Amused at how cute she looked, Moon tried to move the pillow away. “Isn’t that dangerous for the baby?”
“If I can breathe, he can breathe.” Raising her arms, she pinned the pillow over her face, but she did lift the pillow so it only cover her eyes. “Go away.”
Moon laughed. “I’m going. I just wanted to know your plans for the day.”
“You could have texted me when I was awake.”
“I wanted to know before I left.”
“So, I could get your permission before you leave?”
His grin widened. No, she wasn’t a stupid little airhead.
“I don’t expect you to ask my permission,” he lied without losing a beat. “I just want to be kept informed in case I can meet up if I get off early. If Viper doesn’t need me, he might cut me loose for the day.”
“Oh … now I feel bad.” Larissa moved the pillow off her eyes. “I’m sorry. I misjudged you.”
Pretending to take affront, he stood up from the bed to take his bike keys from the nightstand. “I have to go. Have a good day. I’ll see you when I get home.”
Larissa sat up in bed as he headed for the bedroom door. “Moon, I’m sorry.” Pushing her tousled hair from her face, she stared at him beseechingly. “I’m going to go to the office for a couple of hours. Then neither Priss nor I have any appointments for the rest of the day. The church is having a family fun day. There’s going to be a rummage sale, and a farmers’ market. Killyama told us that Ginny is going to be selling some of her jellies. She said Ginny’s jellies are to die for.”
He had to cross his arms over his chest to keep from laughing when her hand went to her baby bump.
“I need at least one of those jellies.”
Moon recognized that tone of voice. It was the same one when she had wanted her cookies or hamburgers. The woman could become a raving lunatic when deprived of a food source she craved.
“Why? Have you tasted one?”
“No, but I have to. I feel they’re going to be even better than what Killyama told me.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because when I asked Sex Piston if they were good, she said they tasted like dish soap.”
“How did you decide who to believe?”
“I helped Killyama have a baby,” she told him, as if the bond between Killyama and her trumped the relationship Sex Piston and Killyama had shared for years.
Larissa gave him a wondering look. “Have you tasted Ginny’s jelly?”
He nodded. “Every now and then, she brings a few jars over to the clubhouse.”
Her gaze turned piercing. “Is it as good as Killyama says it is?”
“What time does the farmers’ market open?”
“Ten.”
He gave her a cunning smile. “I would be there early if I were you. Everyone will be going for the blackberry, but don’t snooze on the apple. That’s my favorite. She makes it from crabapples.”
She gave him a conspiratorial nod. “I got you. How does breakfast for dinner sound?”
Moon glanced at his watch again. “Sounds like you need to get your hiney out of bed and get a move on, or you will be buying store-bought jelly for our toast.”
M oon drove down the main street on the way to the club, passing the church, where he saw several of the brothers’ wives setting stalls up for the farmers’ market. Ginny, Lily, Beth, and Rachel were already there, and Winter was getting out of her car.
He gave Lucky a casual wave as he drove past, then came to a stop at the red light. As he waited for the light to change, he glanced toward the lone motel, narrowing his eyes at seeing at least ten motorcycles parked at the back from his viewpoint. The actual building could be blocking his sight of more. So, when the light turned green, he took a right down the side street to get a better look.
As he drove down the side street, Moon saw he had been right. The back parking lot was filled with motorcycles.
He did a U-turn at the end of the street and traveled back up the street, taking a quick picture with his cell phone as he passed, which he then sent to Shade and Viper.
Returning to the main street, Moon took a right to head back toward the church instead of going to the club. Lucky was the only brother watching over the women, as far as he could see. If Shade wanted to rip him a new one for being late, so be it. He wanted to hear an all-clear from Viper or Shade before leaving Lucky alone to oversee the women’s protection.
His gut instinct was having a field day. The motorcycles looked like they belonged in a junkyard rather than being on the road. Usually, motorcycle clubs took care of their bikes. Those who didn’t were clubs who mainly spent time on the road, traveling from one state to another, dodging the law after creating chaos for the town they had descended upon.
He was parking his bike when his cell phone rang.
“Yo.”
“Are you watching the motel?” Shade asked in a cold voice, giving no hint if he was worried about the picture he had sent or if he was late for work.
“No. I’m at the church. I didn’t want Lucky here alone without backup.”
“Nickel and Rider should be there,” Shade told him sharply.
“If they are, I don’t see them. Their bikes aren’t here, either.”
“Stay there. We’re on our way.”
Shade didn’t bother saying goodbye, just disconnected the call. He wasn’t surprised when his phone buzzed with a text message, sent out to all The Last Riders to show up at the clubhouse.
Pocketing his cell phone after texting Larissa to stay away from the church sale, he strode over to where the women were arranging their stalls.
“Hi, Moon,” Willa greeted him as she placed quilts on a table. “We aren’t open yet, but feel free to look around.”
“Thanks.”
Walking to the table where Ginny was setting up, he eyed the jars of jelly she was setting out.
“We don’t open for another hour,” she began.
Taking out his wallet, he looked at what had already been set on the table and saw two other boxes she had yet to unpack. “How much are you expecting to make today?”
Ginny smiled at him. “I’m hoping to raise two hundred for the church. I wanted it to be five hundred—Lily usually makes the most, but I’m hoping to win the prize this year—but Gavin and Silas took half of my inventory. They promised to give me the money I lost before I have to turn the money over to the pastor to be counted.”
“What’s the prize?” Trying to mask his interest, he looked toward the stall where Beth was setting up to sell cookies.
“Whoever wins gets their choice of which Sunday school class they want to teach. I want the nursery, and so do most the women.”
“I could help you with that, and you won’t even have to unpack those boxes next to you.”
Ginny stared at him suspiciously. “How?”
“I’ll buy everything you were going to sell today for five hundred.”
She seemed undecided about accepting his offer.
“It wouldn’t be fair to sell it to you before the sale starts.”
“Then, technically, it wouldn’t be fair to count the money from Reaper or Silas if they didn’t buy it from the sale today, either.” He counted out five hundred-dollar bills then took out another three. “I’ll give you the extra three if you deliver them to Larissa’s house. I’ll text you her address. It’s in the new housing development.”
Ginny still stared at the money indecisively.
He placed another two hundred on the pile. “Will that do it?”
She grinned at him. “That’ll do it. I’ll box everything up and put in my car until after the sale. Then I’ll deliver them before going home.”
Shaking his head at her, he stared at her seriously. “Go ahead and pack what’s on the table back in the boxes. I’ll load them into Lucky’s car. He can deliver them for you later today. That way, you can go ahead and leave for home.”
Ginny stared at him curiously, but he was already walking toward Beth’s stall. He didn’t let her get a greeting out. “How much?”
He bought out Beth’s stall then moved on to Lily’s when Lucky finished setting up the tent he was working on and stopped him.
“Brother, save some for the customers.”
Moon raised a brow at him. “You haven’t seen the text messages?”
“No, my phone ran out of charge.” Lucky frowned. “It’s charging inside the church. Is something wrong—”
The loud sounds of motorcycles could be heard coming down the street. Both men turned to look in the direction they were coming from. Lucky, unaware of the bikers staying at the motel, showed no concern at the roaring motors coming closer, whereas Moon narrowed his eyes, hoping it was The Last Riders and not the nomad group.
When the first one came within sight, he took a quick glance around to place each of the women.
Lucky turned to look at him at the same time. “Who in the hell are they?”
The concern in Lucky’s gaze only compounded that his initial gut instinct had been right. Lucky was just as uneasy at the sight of the unknown bikers as he was.
“Fucking trouble. Where are Nickel and Rider?”
“Rider went to the bank for cash and change, and Nickel went to the gas station for ice. They should have been back by now.”
“Be nice if they were here,” Moon stated the obvious as the nomad bikers reached the point in the road where they could enter the church parking lot.
It was anti-climactic as they watched them continue to ride past.
“Damn.” Lucky gave a loud sigh of relief. “I was worried for a second there.”
Moon was as surprised as Lucky sounded until it became clear why the nomad bikers hadn’t stopped. The Last Riders were giving them an escort out of town. His gut muscles didn’t relax as his eyes met the last biker riding in front of The Last Riders.
His long, dirty blond hair hung to his shoulders as the biker’s gaze took in the parking lot.
As the out-of-town bikers passed, Viper and Reaper swung their bikes into the parking lot, stopping next to Lucky and him.
“They don’t seem too happy,” Moon remarked, his gut still clenched despite the bikers being almost out of sight.
“They aren’t.” Viper turned his motor off. “We showed up just as they were about to ride. They said they had just stopped for the night to rest and get some sleep before moving on. They want to grab a bite to eat before leaving. I told them our restaurants suck and to move along.”
Lucky looked at Viper skeptically. “They? Who was in charge?”
“None of them admitted to being their leader.” Viper’s scowl showed he didn’t believe them.
“I’m willing to bet it was the one riding the black and silver vintage Vespas. Most of the others seemed to be riding secondhand crotch rockets.”
“I agree.” Reaper kept his eyes on his wife as she repacked the canning jars back into her boxes. “What is Ginny doing?”
The men all turned their head to look toward Ginny.
“Moon bought out her stall and told her to go home. He also bought out Beth’s and was about to buy out Lily’s,” Lucky explained.
Reaper’s gaze turned back to Moon’s. “You were getting the women out of danger.”
“I knew if they spotted your women, they would stop.”
Reaper gave him a curt nod. “Thanks for having our back.”
Moon returned his nod. “Anytime. I was just lucky I caught the red light and spotted their bikes behind the motel.”
Lucky made a twisted face. “I shouldn’t have let Nickel and Rider leave. I wanted to keep the women in one place.”
Viper took his own share of the responsibility. “I fucked up. I should have sent more men. I’ve been so busy watching the club after Pace’s death that I failed to take into account what the women could be stepping into in town.”
Moon felt bad for Viper. The Last Riders’ president never failed to hold himself responsible, even when shit was out of his control.
“You sent them with Nickel and Rider and knew Lucky was here.”
“I’m not exactly chopped liver,” Lucky joked, but there was no humor on his face.
“You warn Stud they’re heading his way?” Moon asked.
Viper nodded. “The Destructors will meet them as they come off the bridge and let them know Jamestown’s restaurants aren’t any better.”
Reaper was still facing the direction the bikers had gone. “What do you think they were really in town for? You think they were just passing through?”
Moon felt the vibration coming from his phone. “No, I don’t. I think it was a scouting mission. I think they’re part of a bigger group, testing the waters.”
He reached for his phone and pulled up his text messages, seeing Larissa had sent him a message.
Our morning appointment was canceled. Going to have lunch with Sex Piston in Jamestown since you don’t want me to have any fun at the church.
“Fuck,” Moon snarled as he hurried toward his bike.
“What?” Viper called out after him.
“Larissa is heading for Jamestown.”