“Why do you want to become friends with them? They hate your guts.” Of course the boy was a Porter, and he was suspicious of their motives, despite the gleam in his eyes when the motorcycle had been mentioned.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shade saw Cash wince at the blunt question.
“I was hoping you could help me out with that problem. I’m going to be straight with you: I don’t give a shit about your cousins, but Rachel won’t go out with me without their permission,” Cash admitted.
As the two boys looked at each other and burst into laughter, Cash shifted uncomfortably on his bike.
“You have a whole clubhouse of chicks, and Rach is giving you trouble?”
At Cash’s silence, their laughter continued.
“Do we have a deal?” Shade intervened before Cash made another relative of Rachel’s an enemy.
“Yeah, I’ll help. But let’s be clear: if he hurts my cousin again, I’ll tell my dad, and believe me, if you think Rachel’s brothers are a pain to deal with, he will become your own personal nightmare.”
“I have no intention of hurting Rachel,” Cash said through clenched teeth.
“Cool, it’s settled then,” Shade intervened once again, seeing Cash’s temper wearing thin. He shot him a warning look.
“I’m going hunting with them this weekend. We’ve been dying to hunt on your private land. We could stay the night at your cabin. That would win some brownie points with them.”
“All right. Set it up. I’ll pick you guys up Saturday morning at five a.m.”
“We better go,” Shade warned.
Everyone in town knew the cherry-colored Porsche at the red light, ready to pull into the theater’s parking lot, was Jace’s father’s car.
“Later,” Cash said, starting his motor.
While both men rode out as Drake pulled in, Cash lifted his hand in acknowledgment. Shade shook his head, not missing the gloating look on Cash’s face. The poor fucker was actually looking forward to getting the Porters on his side; however, Shade would rather make friends with a pack of rabid dogs.
* * *
He opened the door to his house later that night, seeing Lily sitting on the floor beside the couch, going through her purse.
“What are you doing?”
Lily looked up, smiling at his worried question. “You’re going to be mad if I tell you, so before I do, could you help me up?”
Shade hastily walked to her, bending down then easily lifting her to her feet.
“Thank you.”
“Now tell me what happened.”
“Nothing. I over-estimated the size of my belly. I didn’t realize that I couldn’t move the table back once I scooted down from the couch.”
“You actually wanted to sit on the floor?” Shade asked patiently.
Lily nodded. “I was looking for my driver’s license. I must have dropped it the other day when I switched purses.”
“Did you find it?”
“No. I must be getting careless, trying to get everything ready for the baby. I’ll go into town tomorrow to get a new one.”
“Why didn’t you wait until I came home?”
“Because I can do some things for myself,” she said stubbornly.
“It didn’t seem like you were doing so well when I walked in the door.”
“Don’t pick on me. I’m pregnant,” Lily teased, reaching up to kiss him. “How was the movie?”
“It was good,” Shade said, picking her up into his arms then carrying her up the steps.#p#分页标题#e#
Lily laid her head on his shoulder. “I didn’t know Cash was a fan of romantic movies.”
“I didn’t, either, until he asked me. He was afraid the brothers would bust his balls if he asked any of them to go see it with them.”
“You’re a good friend.”
“I try.” Shade took her shoes off, noticing her feet were swollen. “You need to stay off your feet more.”
“I will, but we were busy today.” She yawned. “There’s so many in town needing our help, and more and more people are coming in each day. Brooke asked us to make several bags of clothes and household items for a new couple that recently moved to town.”
“You don’t seem too happy about it,” Shade said, surprised. Lily never seemed to resent giving to people who came into the store whether they attended church or not.
“I’m happy she was able to help them. It’s just that she gave them so much, I don’t know how I’m going to replace it all at one time.”
Shade’s hands went under Lily’s dress, pulling off her underwear before helping her to sit up. When she did, he tugged off her dress, laying it carefully on the bottom of the bed before reaching behind her back and unsnapping her bra.