Coming to a decision, he let her leave.
“I forgot something at the factory. I’ll be right back,” Shade told Lily.
“All right. I’ll put the chili back in the pot so it won’t get cold.”
He went out the door, easily seeing Rachel walking down the path and coming to a stop by the gazebo. She froze on the pathway for several seconds, and then she started walking again until she barreled into Train.
Shade leaned on the porch rail, watching the show as Train and Rachel talked briefly before they walked together down the pathway.
Bliss came out of the gazebo a minute later, stomping toward the clubhouse. When Cash came out, he didn’t go to the clubhouse, walking down toward the parking lot instead.
Shade stayed on the porch until he saw Train and Cash coming back up the pathway toward the clubhouse. Then he walked down his steps, wanting to have a word with Cash yet coming to a stop when he heard the two men talking.
“Train, I ... I…”
“Brother, if you don’t want me to touch her, all you have to do is ask.”
“I’m asking.”
“Cool, I’ll leave her to you then.”
Cash slung his arm around Train’s shoulder, and then Train helped Cash inside.
Shade waited a minute before entering behind them, giving Train enough time to get Cash upstairs. The brother was the most dependable of them. Train always managed to be there when he was needed; however, because he was so quiet, he tended to be overlooked. If Shade was in a life-or-death battle and could only pick one brother to back him up, it would be Train. His skills were as sharp as when he had left the military, and he had been lethal then. His skills as a chopper pilot were unequaled. He was a fucking legend.
Once, a helicopter he had been flying was transporting troops when he had been shot down behind enemy lines. The helicopters in the Navy were pieces of shit, but Train had managed to bring it down without any loss of life. He and the troops had spent five days behind enemy lines, and they had all made it out alive except one, a woman.
After Train came back downstairs, throwing himself down on the couch next to Jewell, Shade went up the steps, noticing the members’ eyes on him. He went to Cash’s bedroom door, rapping on it with his knuckles.
“Go away,” Cash snapped from inside.
“I want to talk,” Shade snapped back, opening the door.
The room was dark, and Shade heard the mattress squeaking as Cash rose up to turn the bedroom light on.
“It couldn’t wait until morning?” Cash asked.
“Brother, you used to fuck all night and work all day then start all over again,” Shade said, leaning casually against the doorway.
“I haven’t gotten all my strength back yet.”
“If you’ve gotten enough to fuck Bliss in the gazebo, then you have enough to start taking a couple of shifts a week. Starting tomorrow morning.” Shade tossed him his set of factory keys.
“No problem,” Cash said, catching the keys in his hand. “You pissed at me for not pulling my weight, you should—”
“I’m not pissed at you, Cash. Brother, I’m glad you’re back and doing well. It’s just I haven’t spent that much time with Lily lately, and with the baby due, I’d like to,” Shade admitted, telling the partial truth.#p#分页标题#e#
With Brooke going back and forth from Georgia to Treepoint, his sense of foreboding told him she was up to something. The next one she took, he wanted to follow her and to do that, he needed Cash back at work. He had talked to Cash’s physical therapist, and she had told him she was getting ready to release him.
“I’ll be there bright and early.”
Shade nodded.
“Shade?”
“Yeah?”
“Why was Rachel at your house tonight? She’s never been there before.”
“Lily called and told me she had lost the church store’s keys, and she was going to run into town and borrow Rachel’s. Since Rachel would be closing the store, and she’s still staying at Mag’s, I suggested Lily call her and see if she minded dropping them off to her.”
“She saw me with Bliss in the gazebo.”
Shade narrowed his eyes on Cash, studying his reaction. “Did it matter what she saw? She’s the wrong type of woman for you. Besides, you’d have to put up with her brothers,” Shade warned. “She’s the type of woman who would never fit in the clubhouse … unless…” He stopped, bending to pick up an empty condom wrapper which must have fallen out of Cash’s pocket before tossing it into the trashcan.
“Unless?” Cash prompted.
“Hmm…? Oh, unless she loved you. Then I think she would do anything for you. She’s a Porter, though, so remember that.”