“Are you all right?”
“Just morning sickness. I thought I was over it, but certain smells set it off. Watching Cash eat bacon and biscuits and gravy is more than my stomach can handle right now.” She waved him toward the kitchen. “Go on in. I’m going back to bed.”
“Feel better,” Drake said as he went into the kitchen to find Cash with a huge plate of food in front of him.
“You eat like that every day?” Drake asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee without waiting for the offer.
Cash took another bite of his food. “It’s Christmas Eve. I’ll work it off this afternoon. What has you up so early? I thought you would still be in bed after last night.”
Drake sat down at the kitchen table across from him. “That looks good.”
“Help yourself. There’s more on the stove.”
Drake got up to make himself a plate, putting an extra spoonful of gravy on top of the biscuits. He then sat down, enjoying the taste of the carb-rich breakfast.
“Why were The Last Riders at the daycare center last night?” he asked after he was finished.
“How do you know we were?”
“I saw you when you left.”
Cash took a sip of his coffee. “Stark likes to strike when no one’s looking, so it was the only place the coward could attack.”
“That explains why Stark was there, not The Last Riders.”
“One of us was always keeping an eye on Bliss. Shade noticed several bikers join up with Stark the day before, so we increased the number of men watching her.”
“Why care? She’s not a Last Rider.”
“Bliss will always be a Last Rider. Have you seen that tattoo she has?”
“I’ve seen it.”
“You give her shit about it?”
“No, and I’m not going to. Bliss loves The Last Riders. They’re the only part of her past that doesn’t hurt her, other than the mistakes she made with the wives.”
“Those were pretty big mistakes. That’s why we had to cut her loose. She was fixated on Shade. He and Lily both tried to ignore it, but it only got worse.”
“Because she felt more and more alone with each one of you marrying.”
“We knew she was afraid of being alone. That’s why we didn’t want to have to cut her loose. But when she went after Willa, she had to be punished.”
“So, you threw her out?”
“It was the worst punishment for her. She was so afraid of losing us that she was pushing us away. We figured if she lost us and learned she would still be okay, she would see she didn’t have to be so afraid of being on her own anymore.”
“Then Stark came back.”
“Yes. We were going to take her back to the safety of the club, but Shade said you could handle it, and you did.”
Drake didn’t give a fuck if Shade had confidence in him or not. What he did care about was the woman sleeping in his bed.
“Bliss misses The Last Riders.”
“We’ve never taken someone back that’s been voted out. That means she would possibly have to earn the votes again, and our women are only allowed to be with The Last Riders.”
“Is there any other way for her to get the votes without fucking for them?”
“She told you that?” Cash’s glare showed Bliss had told him a club secret.
Drake hid the satisfaction that gave him. He didn’t think Cash or the other members would be as happy with that knowledge.
“Word gets around.”
“Mm-hmm,” Cash said doubtfully, picking up a piece of bacon to chew on thoughtfully.
“I’ll tell you this: markers can substitute for votes. No one will give Bliss markers, though. She’s burned too many bridges. The men won’t expect her to earn the votes again but she will have to have the votes of all the eight members and their wives. Like I said, she burned a lot of bridges.
“I could earn the markers,” Drake suggested.
“To do that, you would have to become a Last Rider.” Cash put the bacon down on his plate. “You want to be a Last Rider?”
“Do I have to fuck anyone but Bliss?”
“No, who you fuck is your choice.”
“Do I get to fight a lot?”
“Some.” Cash’s lips twisted into an anticipatory smile.
“Then I’m game. It’ll give me someone to ride with now that Jace is going into the service.”
“It’s not that easy. You haven’t been asked to join. You become a prospect first—we see how you do with the other members, how you carry yourself. We don’t need someone with the Porter temper running his mouth off. We keep our business to ourselves. In other words, we have to trust you and make sure you’re loyal to us before we let you through the last step of the initiation, which is taking on four of the original members. Then, if you get past them and are still alive, you become one of us.”