Lucky shook him off. “Leveling the playing field.”
After Moon was helped to his feet by Rider, spitting out blood onto the floor, Rider stared back and forth between Moon and Lucky, his body taut, waiting for the two men to go at each other. Moon sat on the chair that Knox had placed near him until the brother could regain what sense he had left.
Lucky wanted to punch Rider for agreeing to put up a motorcycle because it would only incite Moon further. Moon’s bet would provide him with the woman he wanted with none of the work to actually get to know Willa.
Lying in wait for Willa at King’s was the most effort Rider had put out on a woman. Usually, he sat back and let someone else lead his prey to him. As a result, Lucky wasn’t worried that Rider would get near enough to Willa to seduce the woman, because he lacked the one thing that would lure Willa to his bed.
Lucky stormed from the police station before he changed his mind and taught Rider his own lesson. Reaching his bike, Lucky managed to calm his raging fury. With his hands on his handlebars, he sat facing the church that was completely dark.
“I won’t be led back to you.” Unconsciously, Lucky lowered his head. “For years, I’ve watched and waited as others lived the life I wanted. I can’t live the life I would have to in order to serve You. Let me go.”
Lucky raised his head, and the invisible thread that always seemed wound around him felt like it was suddenly released. Blood rushed through his veins, his heart pounding as Lucky felt the last tie holding him back evaporate. He breathed in as if his lungs were no longer constricted for the first time in years. Lucky breathed in deeply again then released it, tasting freedom on the tip of his tongue.
Starting his bike, he pulled out of the parking lot, riding away from the church without glancing back.
Chapter 7
Lucky glanced to his side, grinning at Viper as they rode their bikes through the countryside. Decreasing his speed as they neared Treepoint, which was busy with traffic, he heard Bliss make a sound at his back. The woman loved speed.
As he brought his bike to a stop at the red light, a car pulled to a stop behind him. Looking in his mirror, he saw Willa sitting behind the wheel, her ugly minivan filled with the children she had taken in. His hands clenched his handlebars when he saw where her gaze was focused. He knew exactly because it was the same sight he had been treated to when they had first departed from the clubhouse.
Bliss was wearing a black leather halter top with a pair of low, hip-hugger blue jeans that showed the top of her ass when she leaned forward to hug the rider. She had begun the trip on the back of Train’s bike, but when they had stopped for lunch and returned to the bikes, she had climbed on behind him. He had almost told her to get off, but the other brothers had already peeled out.
He could imagine the thoughts going through Willa’s mind, remembering Georgia’s cruel comment to her about being too large to ride a bike.
The sound of Viper’s accelerating engine when the light turned green had Lucky riding forward, following the president’s lead, but the hurt expression on Willa’s face tore at him the entire ride back to the clubhouse.
When he came to a stop, Bliss jumped off, joining the rest of the members as they went up the steep flight of steps.
“Coming?” Shade asked with his arm around Lily’s shoulder, keeping her close to his side.
“No, going out for a while.” Lucky backed his bike out, turning once again to the road.
He wasn’t ready to go inside yet. Shade would disappear inside his home with Lily, and the rest of the crew would be ready to party. However, with Willa’s reaction to Bliss heavy on his mind, he wasn’t in the mood to fuck or drink.
The feelings the timid woman roused in him were harder to escape than leaving the church. The more he fought against them, the harder he was being wrenched back.
After two hours of riding, Lucky came to a stop behind a stand of trees that hid him from the sight of a solitary small house where a light shone in one of the windows. He leaned against one of the trees, watching as the sun set and darkness fell.
He was still as a statue when the front door opened before a heavily built man left the house and went down the front steps into the yard, moving to the side to pick up a bucket. Lucky watched as he went to a kennel containing the two dogs inside, his lips thinning as the dogs were fed and watered. He had observed the same scene several times, enough to know what was coming next.
After they were fed, they were released to roam the land. Bridge used the dogs to guard his property from the predators that roamed the night.