“How long, Lily?” he demanded.
“Always, Shade. I’ll always belong to you.”
Chapter 67
“The fucking bitch. I was looking forward to firing her today.” Razer kicked a rock across the parking lot.
“Cool it; here comes Lily,” Shade warned.
He, Razer, Rider, and Train all stood around in a circle by the end of the factory building.
Lily was walking down the pathway from their house, heading to the parking lot. He had left her in bed still sleeping because he had to be at work two hours before she had to open the church store at nine. He had dressed quietly so he wouldn’t wake her, since he had kept her up late the previous night and he didn’t want her going to work tired.
It was the fourth day of their marriage. He wondered how long it would take before he would stop counting the days. Hell, he had been lucky he had made it past their second day when Lily had caught Raci wearing his jacket. She had been furious at him and had stormed back to their house where they had made up.
Shade promised himself he would pick a fight with her the following Friday night. He wanted to ease her into the many scenes he had planned for them.
“What’s up?” Lily asked, walking up to them with her coffee cup in hand.
“Nothing. We came out here so we could talk without being overheard. Georgia has several friends in there,” Shade replied.
“What about Georgia?” Lily stiffened. Shade had told her the night before at dinner that he and Razer were planning on firing Georgia that day.
“She quit. When she didn’t come in this morning, I called her. She told me she wasn’t coming in to give us the satisfaction of firing her. Then she told me what to do with the job, so I hung up on her.” He’d wanted to jerk the woman through his cell phone so he could tell her personally what she could do with his fucking clipboard. Instead, he had hung up, ultimately glad to be rid of the vicious bitch.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Lily said, blowing on her coffee.
“What doesn’t? That she’s a fucking bitch or that she quit?” Rider asked grimly.
“Both. Not a month ago, she was giving me heck because she thought I took her brother’s job. Now, suddenly she’s calling one of her bosses’ wives bad names in front of a large group who will spread it all over town so she wouldn’t be able to deny it. It’s almost like she wanted to get fired,” Lily answered, blowing on her coffee again.
She reached up, giving her husband a quick kiss on the lips. “Later.” She grinned, walking away, not paying attention to the stunned looks on the men’s faces as she left.
* * *
Shade was standing next to Razer in his office when his cell phone rang. The caller ID showed Lucky was calling.
“Yeah?”
“Thought I’d let you know that your new wife found a lock box in the basement this morning. Want to take a wild guess what was inside?”
“Lily’s adoption papers?”
“Yes.”
“Fake?”
“Yes. I’ll take them by Knox’s office when I go to lunch.”
“Thanks. Want to hear something interesting?” Shade asked before Lucky could hang up.
“Hit me.”
“Georgia quit this morning. Beat me to firing her ass. Thing is, Lily came up with this idea. She seemed like she wanted to be fired, so we checked it out. Seems the bitch had a chunk of money put in her checking account the day after Halloween.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand. Not only that, another deposit of thirty was put in first thing this morning. This is the first day the banks have been open since Christmas. Someone paid her not only to start the fire, but to start an argument at the church,” Shade concluded.
“Why start an argument at the church?”
“I think to try to rattle Lily into running out of the church. A month ago … Hell, two weeks ago, it would have worked. Whoever wants her dead is getting desperate to try to get to her. We don’t leave her alone, so someone was trying to make their own opportunity.”
“I’ll call Knox to come here and pick these papers up. I’m not going to leave the church from now on when Lily’s here.” Lucky’s voice was grim over the phone line.
“I’ll call you if I find anything else out. Once Knox has the proof from the bank, he’s going to arrest Georgia. I took him her coffee cup, so if the DNA matches the evidence found from the fire, we have her ass, and we may be able to find out what the fuck is going on,” Shade’s anger carried through the phone line.
“All right, I’ll talk to you later, Shade.”
“Later, Dean.”
* * *
“Why the truck?” Lily asked, climbing inside Rider’s truck. Usually, Shade rode his motorcycle to pick her up.
Shade stared back at her from behind his sunglasses. “I wanted to talk to you on the way home,” he said, making no effort to put the truck in gear.
“Is something wrong?” Lily questioned, frowning.
“Knox arrested Georgia this afternoon.”
“Why? What did she do?” Lily’s breath caught in surprise.
“She’s the one who set the basement on fire.”
“What? Why would she do something like that?” Lily asked, shocked.
“Someone paid her fifty thousand dollars. The same person who probably tried to run you down on the street and attempted to break into your house,” Shade explained.
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Knox is questioning her now. He’s going to be at the club tonight, so we can find out more then.”
She sat quietly, staring out the window as he drove them home.
“You better tell Knox to keep an eye on her. When she was younger, she tried to kill herself twice. This is going to humiliate her, Shade,” Lily warned.
As soon as he parked the truck, Shade made the call to Knox. Then they went to their house to get changed before going over to eat dinner at the clubhouse. This was their first party since they had gotten married, and she had made an effort to dress up for him.
She had worn a skirt which he was surprised she owned. Almost all her dresses and skirts came down to her calves. This one came barely a half an inch above her knees.
Shade grinned. He was willing to bet she considered it risqué. He liked it, though, because it hugged her perfect ass.
The soft pink sweater she wore with it showed the top globes of her breasts when it slid off her shoulder. Shade want
ed to tug it down all the way yet decided to save that deed for later.
“You look pretty tonight,” Lily complimented Beth after they had walked into the clubhouse.
Shade frowned behind her back. She had been glowing with confidence before they had walked in the door. It finally clicked with him that she was trying to be sexy. His angel just had to walk in the door to get his attention. He didn’t give a shit how she dressed.
“You do, too. I might have to borrow that sweater,” Beth said enviously.
“You can have it. It won’t quit sliding down my shoulders.” Lily pulled it back up in frustration.
“That’s what makes it so pretty,” Winter said, coming up behind her.
Shade fixed himself a plate of food, letting the women bolster Lily’s ego for the moment; he would show her later how much his dick appreciated her effort.
The women decided to play cards, ignoring the men. Shade and the brothers sat on the chairs and couch, talking quietly about who could have hired Georgia and if the money in her account could be traced.
Shade was sitting on the end of the couch with his feet on the coffee table while Viper sat at the other end. Razer was sprawled on the chair next to the couch.
He saw Lily approaching and warned the other two men. She wore an angry frown, while Winter was sending sneaky looks his way. She must have spilled the beans about the card game being rigged.
Lily noticed they had stopped talking and turned to leave but Shade caught her hand, dragging her down to sit on his lap.
Viper began talking about their clubhouse in Ohio and the new recruits they had wanting to join.
“Got one wanting to go for the patch here,” Shade said, lacing his hand through Lily’s.
She lost her angry expression, rubbing her thumb back against his.
“Who?” Viper asked, his eyes going around the room.
“Dude against the left wall with the eight-ball tat,” Shade answered without turning his head.
Lily started to turn her head, but Shade’s hand tightened on the hand he was holding. Lily took the hint and remained still. That time, it was his thumb rubbing hers.