“Oh, okay.”
Pastor Dean gave Beth a warm smile. “Beth, you have plenty to keep you busy with our food outreach program. I think that’s enough of a contribution of your time.”
Beth laughed. “I do stay pretty busy. I’ve promised Razer I wouldn’t take on anything else until we get in our new house.”
“I have every confidence that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, Beth.” Lily watched as Beth gave Pastor Dean a bright smile at his response. Her sister was so pretty standing in the sun with her flaxen hair shining and her light-colored, paisley dress. She looked like an angel. Lily turned away, her eyes darkening with torment. Not like me with my demons constantly chasing through my mind.
Attempting to shake herself from the feeling, Lily walked to the sidewalk and waited for Beth and Razer. Her eyes drifted across the street to the diner, seeing the motorcycles outside the restaurant.
“Ready?” Beth asked, coming to stand by her side.
“I’m not going to join you today. I thought I would go on home. I’m not very hungry.” She wasn’t in the mood to go to lunch and watch everyone monitoring their words around her.
“That’s fine. I’ll go with you and fix us something later,” Beth said.
“Don’t be silly. Go have lunch. I can manage an hour on my own, Beth.”
Beth hesitated. “All right. I’ll see you in a little while.”
Lily smiled, brushing a kiss on her sister’s concerned face. “You worry too much.”
Lily waved at the others as she left, walking down the sidewalk back to their home. It really was a lovely morning and Lily enjoyed the walk on the tree-lined road. They always walked to church and then would have lunch at the diner. The Last Rider members that didn’t make it to church would meet them at the diner afterward for lunch.
She had seen Shade’s bike outside and knew he would be waiting inside with Train and Rider. Those three needed to go to church more than anyone else. From the way her friends acted, they kept the women population busy.
Several of her girlfriends from high school, who still lived in Treepoint, were constantly talking about how good looking the men were. They had even tried to use Lily to gain an introduction to them. When they saw that Lily wasn’t going to perform the introductions, though, they had devised other means. A couple had even succeeded, unable to hide their glee at showing off in front of the others, yet when the others would ask what they were like, a secretive look would appear, and the girls would change the subject.
Lily wasn’t a fool. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the club had a policy about keeping quiet about what took place at the clubhouse. Again, Lily had to smother her hurt feelings. She felt as if each day she and Beth were drawing further apart.
Pushing away yet another bothersome thought, she turned the corner onto her street. It never failed to give her a sense of homecoming when she saw her house.
As she walked, Lily began to feel as if someone was watching her, though. She looked around, not seeing anyone, yet she unconsciously began to walk faster, not sure why. She felt chills crawl down her back and goose bumps rise on her arms.
Thankfully, she came to her house, rushing up the two steps to the door, and quickly slid the key into the keyhole. Once inside, she locked the door behind her, taking a step back to stare at the closed door.
It took several minutes for the quiet sound of the house to steady her nerves, feeling silly that she had overreacted.
Sitting her purse on the table by the door, she resolved to herself that maybe letting Shade teach her a few moves on defending herself might not be a bad idea after all.
Chapter 3
Lily pulled into the parking lot of The Last Riders. As she parked her car, she saw Train talking to Kaley. She was the sister of a friend of hers from high school, Miranda. Miranda had been worried about her sister since her divorce from her high school sweetheart. Kaley had caught her husband cheating, and ever since then, she had been trying to even the score.
Lily felt terrible for Kaley. She didn’t know her that well, but she still remembered the agony that Beth had gone through when she had caught Razer cheating.
Lily parked her car and stepped out. She had to walk by the two as she went to the door of the factory.
“Good morning, Kaley, Train.”
“Hi, Lily.” Kaley stared back at her with a frown.
“Morning, Lily.” Train nodded his head. Of all The Last Riders, Lily knew Train the least. She had been around him as much as the others; he was just the quietest of the group.
Lily continued on to the factory, hesitating briefly when she saw Shade standing in the doorway and holding the door open for her.
“Good morning, Shade.” Lily smiled.