“Rachel told me she saw you at the diner. I thought you would have already gone home.” Lily smiled up at her husband.
“I thought I would stop by and see if you wanted to close the store early and take a nap before the party.”
Lily bit her lip. “We haven’t had a customer in two hours.”
“Go ahead, Lily. I’ll stay,” Rachel offered, not missing the envious look that was quickly concealed by Brooke.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Go. I have to stay in town anyway,” Rachel urged.
“All right, then.” She gathered her purse.
“Go ahead. I’ll be right behind you,” Shade said. Lily shot her husband a curious look but left without question.
“Do you mind excusing us, Brooke?” His tone of voice implied he really didn’t give a damn if she did. Rachel was shocked at his rudeness; Shade wasn’t the friendliest man she knew, but she had never seen him be outright rude to a woman.
Brooke’s face blushed bright red. “Not at all.” She turned on her high heels, leaving with an expression that made Rachel shiver.
“Anything wrong?” Rachel asked.
“Could be. You tell me.”
“What about?” Rachel didn’t understand why he was looking so angry.
“The men you had lunch with, how long have you known them?”
“An hour. Willa and I were having lunch, and the restaurant was crowded; they asked if they could sit with us. Is there a problem with that?”
“Those men are bad news, Rachel. Stay away from them,” Shade warned.#p#分页标题#e#
Rachel felt her anger rising. “Let me get this straight. You’re telling me not to talk to them again?”
“Yes.”
“Shade, I can talk to anyone I want. I don’t even let my brothers tell me what to do anymore,” Rachel snapped.
“Listen, Rachel. They aren’t someone to get involved with. You’ve never dealt with men like them before. You’re a friend of Lily’s, so I’m giving you a heads up.”
Rachel swallowed back her anger. “As Lily’s friend, I’ll take it under consideration. Willa and I shared our booth with them. We ate, we left. It was that simple.”
“And Willa gave them her card?”
“They want her to make some desserts for them for their next cookout.”
Shade nodded.
“Satisfied?”
“Not really, but I guess it’s all I’m going to get. You might drop a word and tell Willa to think twice about going out with one of them. You’ll handle it better than me.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” Rachel gave him a wry smile. She thought he may be overreacting to the presence of a new group of men in what they considered The Last Riders’ territory.
“All right, then; I’ll see you tonight.”
“Bye, Shade.” She watched him leave then walked across the store, going to the front window and looking out. Shade crossed the street back to the diner where The Last Riders were sitting on their motorcycles, waiting for him.
While he talked to them for several minutes, Cash’s angry expression was easy to see even from this distance. As Shade got on his bike and they rode out, heading in the direction of their clubhouse, Cash rode out next to Viper in the lead, his body language showing his irritation.
She wondered what had him so pissed off. Surely it wasn’t the fact she had shared lunch with those men, was it? She had told Shade there wasn’t anything to it, and she was sure he had repeated her words to The Last Riders.
She went back to work, straightening the store until a couple of customers came in, diverting her thoughts.
After they left, she closed the store and drove toward Mrs. Langley’s house. She would talk to Willa at the party tonight. The woman would never have met the men if she hadn’t let them sit down at the table with them.
Rachel hoped she hadn’t set something in motion that was too late to prevent.
Chapter 9
“Can I have another hotdog, please?”
Rachel ruffled her nephew’s hair while reaching onto the platter to hand him another.
“Rachel, it’s his third one,” Holly reprimanded her.
Rachel could never say no to him; she spoiled him shamelessly.
“Last one, I promise.” Rachel winked at Logan, giving Holly a hotdog to pacify her. Holly threw her a mock dirty look, taking the hot dog to go sit at one of the patio tables they had set up around the pool. Her brothers had hung fairy lights around the area, and with all the food and birthday balloons, the area looked very festive.
“What did you get in trouble for this time?” Lily asked, picking up a hotdog for herself.