A chill ran down Diamond’s back at the expression on Shades face. His hands clenched and unclenched as he stood still.
“Shade, Razer is waiting on you.” Winter’s voice broke the tension-filled moment as she came up behind him, her eyes flashing a warning. Shade leaned over Lily, reaching for Diamond’s empty plate.
“You think cowboys don’t know how to punish their women, Lily? They have whips and spurs they use on their horses.” A terrified look came over Lily’s face and her hand went to the wrist with a rubber band. Shade’s hand covered the wrist before Lily could touch it. “I’ll take that to the kitchen for you, Diamond. At least when I punish someone, I don’t leave a mark,” he said suggestively, rising with Diamond’s plate in his hand, leaving the quiet group behind.
Rider started laughing, breaking the tension. “I think I’ll get another plate.”
Diamond stared at him in surprise. “Rider, you’ve been back twice.”
“I have to have plenty of energy for the dancing,” he said with a meaningful look at Beth, laughing at her red face while she gave her husband a threatening glare.
Rising to her feet, Beth took Lily’s hand and went upstairs to help Winter get out of her wedding dress.
Diamond looked at Knox. “I don’t want to know what that was all about, do I?”
“Nope, just do what I do.”
“What’s that?”
“Stay out of it,” Knox said.
“That’s good advice.” Diamond didn’t want to invade Lily’s privacy and she wasn’t about to piss off Shade. That man took the term intimidating to a whole new level.
“Let’s go outside and sit.” They went outside, finding a couple of chairs.
“I didn’t realize this backyard was so big.”
“The property extends for several miles. Razer and Beth are building a home over there.” Knox pointed to a clearing that had several piles of lumber stacked and a frame already well under way. It was close to the house, but not too close; giving the impression of privacy while still having the feeling of being close to the main house.
“They wanted to have it finished by next year when Lily graduates. There was another clearing farther away with its back to the mountain. That’s where Shade plans to build his house when Razer’s is finished.”
“It’s a beautiful spot.”
Music began playing. “Dance with me.”
“I shouldn’t, Knox. I shouldn’t be doing any of this. I could get censured.” Diamond attempted to half-heartedly resist.
“No one is going to open their mouth about you even being here today.” The thought suddenly occurred to her that he had driven her, not letting her take her own car, ensuring that no one would see her car parked outside for any length of time.
They went to where several of The Last Riders were dancing in a spot that obviously had been used to dance several times. Diamond was amazed at how tame everyone was; no liquor, the women were all dressed modestly and on very circumspect behavior. Her dad’s former club would have torn the place apart by now, celebrating an occasion of their president getting married. Diamond knew of two instances where fires had been inadvertently set.
Everyone in the club was dancing, so Diamond and Knox danced several times before Lily, Beth and Winter came outside; Winter having changed into a cream dress that suited her and wasn’t as formal. While Viper and Razer grabbed their women for a dance, Lily saw Diamond and came over to them to sit down by her and Knox.
They sat, talking until Diamond began to feel uncomfortable. It was obvious Lily wanted to dance, yet no one had asked her. Diamond tried to give the hint to Knox with a shake of her head when Lily wasn’t looking, however she received a firm “No” in response that made Lily jump and Diamond want to kick him. She thought Razer would ask, yet when he approached with Beth, they only joined them to sit and relax. Beth also tried to unobtrusively get Razer to dance with Lily, which was ignored.
Diamond noticed that all the men in the group gave Lily a wide berth, which led Diamond to draw two conclusions; one was that because of Razer they were showing respect by leaving his sister-in-law alone, the second that they were afraid of someone. Diamond had grown up with bikers; when they wanted a woman, no harm no foul, anything was game on.
So that left the only conclusion; they were afraid, and she had a feeling she knew who they were afraid of. The man in question was dancing with Bliss who had been in Knox’s bedroom the day they had served the warrant. She was also the woman her sister and crew wanted to beat the shit out of because she had been the woman Razer had two-timed Beth with.
As Lily sat talking with Beth and Razer, she never once looked at Shade and Bliss. The oblivious woman had no clue of the wolf stalking her.