Lily turned to the steps, snapping out, “Don’t you get tired of ordering me around?”
“No.”
Lily began to make another comment when he raised his brow and crossed his arms against his chest, waiting.
“I can’t believe I ever thought you were a gentleman.”
Shade burst out laughing. “I’m no gentleman.”
“No shit.” Lily clapped her hand over her mouth. “You’ve driven me to cussing.”
“Lily, cussing isn’t going to be the worst thing I teach you.” Oh, yeah, he was going to teach her plenty.
Shade couldn’t help laughing some more when she immediately ran upstairs at his comment. She must have read the lust-filled fantasies going through his mind.
* * *
Shade had finished his breakfast by the time Lily came in the diner with Diamond, Winter, Viper, Evie, Razer, and Beth. She took the seat farthest away from him, facing the door while the others crowded around the table.
Watching Lily, Shade thought her attitude toward Beth seemed slightly cool. It was going to take a while for that relationship to heal.
The harried waitress refilled his cup then took the orders for the rest of the table while Shade surveyed the room around him. The restaurant was packed, and several tables were filled with faces he had never seen in town before. When his gaze drifted over where Rachel was sitting with her brothers, her nephew, and Holly, she nodded at him and he returned it. Then Lucky came into the restaurant and joined them, bringing his focus back to his table.
Lily and Diamond were talking, and he could see the women becoming good friends. Despite Diamond being older, she was sensitive to other women’s feelings, something Shade hadn’t seen that often in the opposite sex.
As Lily listened to what Diamond was saying, their eyes met momentarily until she tore her gaze away to stare off somewhere in the restaurant. Shade shifted his attention to the table with a small family. He studied them, trying to see why Lily was focusing on them.
There was a little girl with dark brown hair sitting with her mother and father as the waitress set their plates in front of them.
“You want to go for a ride after lunch? I want to go to Jamestown. I’m thinking of asking Stud to build a bike for me,” Rider said.
“I wouldn’t mind the ride,” Shade agreed.
Lily was talking to Evie as Shade listened to Rider describe his perfect motorcycle. Shade didn’t want to know how many bikes the brother had. He kept them stored in the back of the factory and would change the bike he was riding as often as he did the women he fucked. He had one Shade had debated buying from him, but he had his broken in the way he liked, so he didn’t feel the need for a change.
“Lily?” Evie said loudly.
Shade frowned, looking at Lily to see she had gone as pale as a ghost and was staring in terror at the table he had seen her watching before.
“Diamond. Please call Knox.” Lily’s hoarse voice had everyone sitting at the table going silent as her hand went to the rubber band on her wrist, snapping it repeatedly.
As Diamond called Knox, asking him to come to the diner as fast as he could, Shade scooted his chair out from underneath the table. Razer tensed, beginning to rise, and Beth moved her chair closer to Lily’s side. Whatever was going on in Lily’s head was leading to a panic attack.
“Lily, what’s wrong?” Beth asked.
When Lily didn’t answer, he stood up and walked toward her. Then Shade looked at the table Lily wouldn’t take her eyes from.
The little girl’s lips trembled when her mother’s hand disappeared under the table. Her obvious pain had Lily moving to the end of her seat, about to rise, when the girl’s father spoke sharply to the mother. He then reached out to soothe the little girl.
Shade’s gaze went back to Lily when he heard her scream of pain. She was bent over, gripping her head.
“Lily!” Beth yelled her name.
Lily didn’t try to reach for Beth like she usually did; she pulled away, rising blindly from her chair before trying to run from the restaurant. Shade caught her around the waist, but in her panic, she fought him, catching him off-guard. She managed to get loose from him as she screamed in agony before falling to the floor, writhing in torment.
Shade dropped down on the floor next to her.
“Lily! Baby, what’s wrong?”
“Help me! Help me!” Lily screamed.
Shade gripped her hand tightly in his as the people in the diner began crowding around.
Shade thought quickly.
“Rachel!” he yelled, and then he turned to Razer. “Get them back!”
Razer and The Last Riders made the crowd move back while Rachel elbowed her way through the crowd, dropping down and pulling Lily’s head onto her lap.
“Everyone shut up!” Rachel yelled, and the diner went silent.
Knox rushed in, crouching down next to him. “I called an ambulance. It’s on the way.”
Lily tried to roll away from the agony consuming her, but Shade held her hand tighter.
“Help me!”
Rachel placed both her hands on Lily’s shoulders, and the next moments became the most surreal of Shade’s life, causing goose bumps to rise all over his body as he heard Lily talk to a voice which never responded.
“Help me shut the door!” Lily screamed.
Rachel closed her eyes.
“Everything. Help me. She can’t get out,” Lily sobbed.
Rachel raised one hand, pushing at something no one but she and Lily could see.
After a few minutes, Lily said, “I have to lock it.”
Rachel’s face ticked.
“I can’t remember what’s behind that door,” Lily sobbed.
A pause.
“Not ever,” Lily replied to the unspoken voice, curling into a ball.
Rachel soothed her hands over Lily’s face and Lily relaxed, her breathing returning to normal, her body going limp. She finally passed out, her mind seeking the only peace it could find.
“Shade, the ambulance is here.”
He was forced to watch helplessly as the EMTs loaded Lily onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. He was about to climb inside when he turned back to Knox.
“I don’t know what set Lily off in there, but something bad did, Knox. She was staring at the family with a young, dark-haired girl when it happened.”
“I’ll talk to them,” Knox promised. “Go with her, brother. I’ll find out what happened.”
Shade gripped Knox’s hand before jumping in beside Lily, taking her hand as the EMT slammed the door shut.
Shade didn’t give a damn what Knox found out. The only reason he had asked for it to be checked out was he had a feeling that whatever it was would be important to Lily, and that was reason enough.
* * *
Shade opened his bedroom door, coming to a stop when he saw Lily was awake and standing in the middle of his bedroom.
“Where am I?” Lily asked, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
After she had been hurt back in the summer, he had purchase
d a whole new bed. None of the women had lain in the bed Lily was sitting on.
“My room,” Shade replied, coming in and shutting the door, carrying a tray.
Walking across the room, he set the tray on the coffee table. “Come and eat.”
Lily got up from the bed, going to a chair next to the coffee table and looking down at the tray of food.
“How did…? Why am I here?” She looked at him.
“What do you remember?” Shade asked patiently.
Lily sat down on the chair, her eyes on the tray of food. “I was at the church helping Rachel.”
Lily licked her lips. Reaching forward, she took the bottled water and opened it, taking a long drink.
Fuck. Her mind had erased the car almost hitting her, the attempted break-in, and the diner. Her mind had completely wiped out anything which could hurt her.
Shade didn’t say anything as Lily set the bottled water back down on the tray, keeping her eyes on him.
“Lily, you had an episode at the diner after church on Sunday. That was two days ago,” Shade explained gently, wanting to be as truthful as possible.
“An episode?”
“You became hysterical.”
“Oh, God. Where’s Beth? Why am I here instead of my bedroom?” Lily asked, looking around the room as if Beth would magically appear.
“You had to be sedated, Lily. The doctor felt it was best that someone kept an eye on you. Since Beth works, we agreed this was the best place for you now.” Of course, Shade had to persuade Razer with various threats to his safety to get Beth to agree.
“Where are my clothes?” Lily asked. “I want to get dressed.”
“Eat first. Your clothes are in the closet and drawers. I’ll show you when you finish.”
Lily picked up an apple slice from the plate, chewing on it. Swallowing the bite, she then said, “I need to get back to school after I’m dressed. Would you—”
“Lily, you’re going to be staying here for a while.” Shade tried to break the decision he had already made to her gently.