Lily began talking, revealing the monsters she had lived with while hiding them from the ones she loved. She had suffered alone with the memories of her childhood. Shade had heard most of it the night he had turned the lights out in the hospital. However, it wasn’t any easier hearing it again; it was actually worse because, this time, others were listening. He almost made them leave then decided against it.
For Lily truly to heal, she had to have others around her who loved and understood the horror she had survived. Keeping it a secret was driving her to lose her mind. The Last Riders were a family, and it was going to take a family’s love and compassion as strong as them to destroy her monsters.
Chapter 57
Shade carried Lily upstairs with the doctor following on his heels. He opened the third door down, thinking Raci could sleep with Rider or Jewell. He wasn’t letting Lily sleep in his basement room until the situation with the fire was sorted out.
He laid her on the made bed, brushing her hair back from her face.
“Go downstairs while I check her out,” the doctor ordered, pissing Shade off, but then Beth came into the room.
“Go ahead, Shade. I’ll stay with her in case she wakes,” Beth urged, coming to stand by the bed.
He nodded. “I’ll be right back. I want to shower and get some clean clothes on. I don’t want her to smell the smoke on me when she wakes up. Find something to change her into and wash her off when the doctor leaves.”
“I will,” Beth said, sitting down on the side of the bed.
Shade left the bedroom, going to Razer’s room where he showered quickly, looking through Razer’s clothes for jeans and a T-shirt to borrow before getting dressed.
Then he went downstairs to see if Viper had discovered where the fire had started, finding The Last Riders still standing in the living room. Viper was holding Winter who was crying. Bliss was sitting on a chair with her head buried in her hands, also crying. Train was holding Jewell while Rider had his arm around Evie. The rest were shell-shocked.
“We’re not going to let Lily know that we know she was abused when she was a kid.” Shade placed his hand on the banister, wanting to rip it to pieces at the things she had talked about happening to her. “She was too young to defend herself then. Fuck, she was too young to even know she was supposed to defend herself. We’re going to act as if nothing happened unless she wants to talk to us about it.”
Viper looked at him. “Anything you need for her, you tell me, and it’s yours. We’re going to find out who fucked with her, and then we’re going to fuck their lives up permanently.”
The members all agreed.
Shade nodded. “I’ve already been looking into it. Beth doesn’t remember much, and we can’t find her adoption papers. That’s why Lucky wanted the basement cleaned to see if we could find Beth’s father’s legal papers. Nothing’s turned up so far.”
“Lucky knows?” Razer asked.
“Only that it was important to Lily’s safety that we find out about her adoption.”
“You knew how bad it was before tonight, didn’t you?” Razer asked.
“Yeah, I knew.”
Razer ran a hand through his long hair. “I’d heard some of it a couple of times when the lights went out or she had a panic attack, but I didn’t think it was to that extent.” Razer turned from the group, giving them his back as he raised a hand to his face. “I promised to protect her … but I was too late, wasn’t I?” he said in a choked voice.
“We’re here now, Razer. We all are. She’ll never have to go through that shit again,” Shade vowed.
“That’s for fucking sure,” Train muttered fiercely.
The doctor came down the steps, carrying his bag.
“She’s sleeping comfortably, for now. When she wakes up…” He shrugged.
“Thanks.”
“If she needs—”
“I’ll call,” Shade said, shaking his hand.
After the doctor left, Shade turned back to the brothers and women. “Let’s get the basement cleaned and cleared out after Knox gets here. Cash, Viper, let’s find out what started that fire.”
Shade followed the brothers toward the kitchen, looking up the stairs where he saw Beth standing with clothes in her arms. She had heard them talking.
She nodded to him as he passed underneath, saying without words her gratitude that she wasn’t alone in her battle to save Lily. The Last Riders would stand with them to the last man and woman. Beth knew that, and soon, Lily would, too.
*
Shade opened the back door to Knox’s car. Then He reached in, taking several pizza boxes before he closed the door after Knox reached in to grab the rest.
“It’s going to be a mess to get that smoke odor out of there,” Knox griped as they went up the steps.
“We’re going to rip out and replace anything that was damaged. The carpet is destroyed from the water, so that was the first to go, and the brothers have already started ripping out the walls that were burned,” Shade replied as they went in the door. “With all of us working together, it shouldn’t take long to make the repairs.”