Bliss got up from the table, going to Viper. He held the bag out to her, and Bliss put her hand out and dug inside the bag. When her hand came out, she was holding a folded piece of paper.
“Rider.” Rider, who was leaning on the kitchen counter next to him, walked to Viper. He also pulled a piece of paper from the bag.
Viper repeated the procedure seven more times. “That’s everyone.” Viper handed the bag back to Cash before going to the counter to grab himself a beer while everyone read their punishments.
Shade unfolded the slip of paper he had drawn.
“I got the worst one,” Bliss complained.
“What did you get?” Natasha asked.
“Laundry for two weeks.” She pouted.
“That’s not bad. I got dishes for three weeks. Want to switch? I don’t mind the laundry if it’s for two weeks,” Natasha bargained.
“I don’t want to pack everyone’s laundry up and down the stairs for two weeks. I may be willing to switch.”
“Seed inventory,” came from Winter, and Natasha and Bliss switched papers.
Nobody wanted seed inventory.
“Mine seems the easiest.”
Shade almost felt sorry for Winter. If he wasn’t such a bastard, he would offer to switch with her. However, he was, so he held onto his own punishment.
“Dinner’s ready,” Evie called.
Shade got in line behind Evie and Stori.
“I’m surprised Viper made her pull a punishment after she found out from her aunt that Sam’s baby isn’t Gavin’s,” Stori remarked.
“Viper plays fair.” Evie shrugged.
“Have they been able to find any trace of the baby yet?” she asked.
“No. Viper said the sheriff is working to find out, and he ordered the brothers to help run down the clues,” Evie answered.
The line moved fairly quickly with Shade and Rider last in line.
“You want to go over today’s orders?” Shade asked Rider.
“Yeah, give me a minute,” he said, going to the table Winter was sitting at.
“What punishment did you get?” Rider asked Winter.
“What did you get?” she asked first. Winter was a fast learner.
“Cooking, two weeks,” Rider answered. Winter looked at Shade.
“Cleaning the stove, fridge, and pantry,” Shade answered, despite having already made up his mind. He wasn’t switching punishments with her.
“I got seed inventory.”
Shade turned away when Rider did.
Chapter 21
Shade and the original members stood outside, waiting for the brothers to eat their dinners. Many had started riding from Ohio right after work on Viper’s orders.
“You better be right about this, Shade, or we’ll be walking into a trap in the morning,” Viper warned.
“I’ve checked out The Blue Horsemen’s president. Stud keeps the club clean of drugs, but he does run a chop shop which is lucrative. His brother Calder is the wild card; he has a bad habit which Stud is trying to help him break. I don’t think he’s going to succeed, but it’s his brother, and he’s not the type of man to turn him out in the cold.
“Like he told you this morning, those assholes belonged to The Blue Horsemen until they robbed a grocery store in West Virginia. Then they were cut loose, but they didn’t return their colors and kept bragging about belonging to the club. That club may be a lot of things, but they don’t condone their men attacking women.”
“We’ll stick with the plan, then.” Viper paused before he continued. “There’s another piece of business we need to discuss before we go inside.”
“What?” Cash asked.
“Joy.” Shade waited impatiently for Viper to get to the point, and then understanding came when he and Razer exchanged looks.
“The votes?” Shade asked intuitively.
Viper nodded his head. “She has Rider’s, Knox’s, and Cash’s. She needs three more to become a member.”
Shade leaned his hip against the picnic table. Joy required six votes from the original eight members to become a full fledged member of The Last Riders. She needed three more from either Shade, Train, Lucky, Razer, or Viper.
“Razer told me he wants to relinquish his voting rights.”
“That’s not a problem. That still leaves enough men for the women to get six votes,” Train reminded Viper. Train didn’t get what Viper was beating around the bush about instead of coming out and saying it.
“I want to relinquish mine also, and since Lucky won’t vote while he’s committed to his job, right now that leaves us one short of voting in new members.”
“Fuck,” Knox growled.
Rider didn’t look any happier. The men both enjoyed breaking in the new members.
“You could always give them your markers,” Shade suggested.
“I don’t like giving out my markers for new recruits. We came up with this idea so we would know the women were loyal to the club, not just a few brothers they fucked. It’s about building trust and loyalty.”
“Then give them your votes.” Shade shrugged. “I don’t see the problem.”
“I won’t betray Beth,” Razer snarled, taking a step toward Shade.