Shade(13)

“For Christ’s sake,” he finally exploded.

Unable to watch any longer, he swept her off her feet and into his arms. The crutches fell to the ground as she arched her back, trying to throw herself out of his arms as if his touch were burning her flesh.

He knew Beth didn’t like him touching her pretty little sister. He saw her take a step forward, but Razer held her back as Lily continued to struggle.

“Wait, I can walk on the crutches.” Lily tried to reason with him.

He gave her a small toss into the air, as if he was going to drop her, causing her to circle her arms around his neck, holding on to him.

“Be careful, you don’t want me to drop you.” He laughed, trying to ease the tension. However, the feel of her breasts against his chest had him clenching his teeth until she leaned away from him as he packed her into the house.

“Where do you want her?”

Beth motioned to the couch, where he gently laid her down on it, making sure her back was propped up with a pillow and another under her sprained ankle. He then went outside to get her crutches without explanation, afraid his hoarse voice would give away how her nearness had affected him. He went back inside without knocking, taking the crutches to lay them within her reach. When he saw her face turn up to him, her lips parted as she tried to catch her breath, Shade turned on his feet immediately and got the hell out of there.#p#分页标题#e#

Closing the door behind him, he worked to slow down his breathing.

“Fuck.” He was in trouble.





Chapter 6



The car door opened, and the sheriff slid into the front seat of his cruiser. He was about to start the car when he glanced into the rearview mirror.

“Shit, Shade, you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“No, I just wanted to give you a heads-up. Checked out Beth’s car, only thing wrong was cut brake lines. Looks like someone was trying to hurt, if not kill her.”

“You could have told me this in a phone call without scaring me to death,” his father snapped.

“I could have, but that wouldn’t have been as much fun.” Shade gave his father a wry smile before becoming serious. “Call Beth in for a talk. Try to find out who would want to hurt her, and tell her to be careful. Make sure she understands that someone wants her dead.”

“I don’t want to scare her,” his father argued back.

“If she doesn’t take you seriously, Lily will be put in danger again. If you tell her the truth, she’ll watch Lily closer or keep her away entirely.”

“Lily’s the one you’re concerned about? What’s going on with you two?” Concerned eyes met his in the mirror.

“Nothing.” Shade looked out the squad car’s windows before opening the door to slide out. “Have your deputies do patrols around her house, too.”

“Anything else?”

“Tell Rachel I said hi.” Shade hadn’t been able to visit his stepmother lately, and he was getting tired of her text messages asking him to come by.

Shade quickly disappeared into the trees bordering the sheriff’s office. He had one more stop to make before he could return to the clubhouse.

He watched the church until he was sure no one was inside except Lucky. The dumb fuck left the doors open until he went to bed at night, in case a parishioner wanted to stop by for a chat. Shade had warned him that, if his cover was blown, anyone out for revenge could walk right in to take him out, but he wouldn’t listen.

Shade didn’t knock on Lucky’s office door; he simply went in and closed the door behind him.

Lucky wasn’t surprised to see him, either.

“Is that all you do, play Peeping Lucky when you’re bored?” Shade took a seat in the chair in front of Lucky’s desk.

“I don’t have a lot to keep me occupied,” Lucky replied, turning away from the window. “How’s your dad?” The comment let Shade know he had seen him get out of his father’s car.

The windows behind his desk faced the sheriff’s office, the ones on the left faced office buildings behind the church, and the windows to the right faced the diner. He had the whole town under his surveillance without leaving his fucking office.

“He’s fine. I was just telling him someone cut Beth’s brake line.” That time, it was Shade watching for Lucky’s reaction.

“Do you know who did it?”

“No, they didn’t leave a calling card behind,” Shade answered sharply.

“I gave Razer his chance. Has he used it?” Lucky decided to change topics and acknowledge the elephant in the room. “I’ve avoided her and her calls, but I’m not waiting forever for Razer to make up his mind.”