by Jamie Begley
“I tried to run, but Viper wouldn’t let me,” Winter gently butted into the conversation. “It was after my attack. Believe me, if I’d had use of my legs, he wouldn’t have been able to catch me, either.”
“I would have caught you,” Viper stated. Rachel believed him. With his hard, muscular body and long legs, Winter wouldn’t have gotten far.
Beth’s scream and her chair falling back as she rose terrified Rachel as she looked to see what was happening.
“No!” Rachel’s own scream parted her lips as Beth yelled for someone to call nine-one-one.
Mag had turned deathly pale and had passed out, her head falling back over the wheelchair. The men quickly pushed it back from the table, laying her on the ground. Rachel watched as Beth frantically took her pulse. Shade moved Lily back as she came out of the restroom, turning her so she couldn’t see what was going on. Cash knelt by his grandmother, holding her hand.
“Her heart is racing,” Beth told Cash.
Rachel stared down at Mag, crying. She fell to her knees beside Mag, laying her hand on her heart. After she had touched Cash, she’d had nothing left. For the last few months, her gift hadn’t shown a trace of itself.
Gathering her strength, she reached for her…
* * *
“Mag… Mag!” Rachel kept calling desperately, searching for the woman’s soul. She didn’t want to give up. “Mag, answer me, dammit!”
“Rachel, I’m here.”
Rachel moved her spirit to where she heard Mag’s voice.
“Thank God.” Rachel dropped down next to Mag, her pale eyes staring up at her.
“Don’t leave,” Rachel begged. She looked up, seeing the bright light approaching, and then held her hand tighter.
“Girl, I wasn’t meant to stay here forever. It’s time I went home.”
The acceptance in her voice had Rachel shaking her head. “Your time is close, but not now. It doesn’t feel right,” Rachel begged. “Listen to me, Mag. Something is wrong, but it’s not anything wrong with you. I would feel the pain. Please stay…” She was unaware of the small cries escaping her as she pleaded with the woman she had come to love.
Rachel felt Mag’s acceptance; she wasn’t even putting up the least resistance. Life was not given freely; it had to be wanted… she needed to be wanted. The answer came to her.
“I need you, Mag. Who is going to make Cash behave if you leave? Don’t you want to stay and see your first great-grandchild born? Isn’t that worth living for?”
“I’m going to have a great-grandchild?”
Rachel felt the spark within Mag flicker, the light pausing above her.
“Yes!” Rachel felt no qualms about lying to her if she lived. “Stay, please, stay… for Cash, me, and our child.”
Rachel put her last bit of strength into Mag’s fluttering heart, holding it steady until she could see the blinding, beautiful light receding away from Mag.
Rachel looked up; the light was moving toward her. She instantly understood the peaceful serenity that Mag hadn’t wanted to give up…
* * *
Cash was holding her when she woke. He held his breath as her eyes opened, staring up at him groggily.
“Cash?”
“I want to shake you. Don’t you ever fucking do that again. I don’t care who it is. Not Ever Again!” His hands tightened on hers, trying to give some of his warmth to her ice-cold flesh.
“Is Mag okay?”
“She’s fine. Wants to know what’s for dinner.”
Relief at his grandmother’s rapid recovery had been offset by his fear for Rachel. If he’d had any doubts of his feelings for her, they had been destroyed when he had come so close to losing her.
“What happened? I remember Mag fell and I helped her. I didn’t pull back in time, did I?”
“No, you didn’t. You almost died. The paramedics had to shock your heart back into rhythm.”
“I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
Cash couldn’t believe the lack of concern she had for her own safety.
“You knew when you helped her what was going to happen, didn’t you?” When he saw the guilty look in her eyes, he had to get up. Moving to the window, he stared out.
“I didn’t know for sure. After I helped you my gift disappeared, I thought it was gone. My mother and grandmother both warned me that our gift is limited. We can’t do what we’re doing unless we give away a piece of ourselves. I gave too much.”
“It happened when you saved me, didn’t it? Lily didn’t tell me that part.”
“I made her promise.”
Rachel’s soft explanation raised his fury.
“Stop keeping secrets from me. You didn’t tell me that you saved my life, you sure as hell never told me that you’re a damn genius, and you didn’t tell me you’re pregnant.”
“What!” She tried to sit up in bed, only to fall back when she couldn’t contain the laughter erupting from her chest. “I only told her that to give her the will to live,” she tried to excuse the lie she’d told.
Cash wasn’t going to let her off that easily. “Mag has told anyone who will listen that she’s expecting her first great-grandchild.”
“You have to stop her. If my brothers hear that rumor, they’ll kill you.”
Seeing she was getting upset, he decided to ease her worry. “I’ll talk to her,” he assured her. “In a couple of days,” he clarified. “We don’t want to set her recovery back, do we?”
“No, I don’t want to do that,” she said suspiciously.
“Good. That’s settled, then.”
“Do they know what happened to Mag? Was it another stroke?”
“No, it wasn’t a stroke or her heart. She was poisoned.”
“Food poisoning?”
“No, not food poisoning. I wrote down what it was called.” Cash took the piece of paper out of his pocket and tried to say the large name. Giving up trying to pronounce it, he instead gave her the paper.
Rachel looked down at the paper, turning deathly white.
“What’s wrong?” Cash’s hand went to ring for the nurse, but she placed a hand over his.
“Cash, did they tell you what this was?” she asked shakily.
“No. I haven’t had time to check it out; I’ve been with you.”
“It means species unknown.”
“Well, I knew that much. The closest they could come to was the family it belonged to.”
Her voice went low. “This is the plant I’ve been working with…”
“Could she have been poisoned from touching it?”
“No, it had to be ingested. I don’t understand. I only found that plant in one spot on the mountain by a small creek that gets runoff. No one goes there but me. I brought back some of the plants to use on my experiment, but they are all at Mag’s house. All five…” Her voice broke off sharply.
“What?”
“A few weeks back, I went into the sunroom and a few plants were missing. There was a broken pot. I thought Mag had broken it and cleaned it up. I didn’t check with her. Oh, God, Cash. I should have asked her, but I didn’t think to. There aren’t any small children around and—”
“When did the plants disappear?”
“I don’t remember… Maybe the day you were working on your truck outside, and you came in without your shirt on?”
Cash smiled at what she had remembered about that day. It wasn’t all he remembered, though. “That was the day Pastor Patterson and Brooke were there.”
“Are you saying Pastor Patterson tried to poison Mag?”
“Not Pastor Patterson, Brooke. I think Brooke tried to poison Lily.”
“How would she even know it was poisonous?”
Cash thought a moment, “Does that notebook your always writing in tell that it’s poisonous?”
“Yes.” Rachel whispered. “I always write down everything in that notebook.” She remembered back to that day, Brooke had stayed away from the table for an extended length of tim
e.
“Why would Brooke try to poison Lily? She doesn’t like us, but I don’t think she would try to kill one of us.”
Brooke was a mother, for God’s sake. What kind of person would do what Cash was suggesting?
Cash remained quiet.
“I see. I’m not supposed to keep secrets from you, but it’s okay to keep them from me.” Rachel turned her head on the pillow, hurt.
She heard a loud sigh before Cash answered, “Shade and Brooke knew each other from high school. From what I understand, she has an obsession with him. She hurt Evie in the past because she resented her close relationship with him.”
“Brooke hurt Evie?”
“Yes, they’re sisters. Evie no longer has a relationship with her because of her sister’s destructive behavior.”
“That’s why she switched churches,” Rachel mused.
“Yes. This is confidential, what I’m telling you. Shade is a very private person.”
“I won’t say anything. Thank you for telling me,” she said sincerely, feeling terrible she had made him break a confidence.
Cash squeezed her hand. “The doctor said he’ll release you in the morning.”
“I have to stay the night?” she complained.
“Yes. Now lie back and get some sleep.” She wanted to argue with him, but she was tired, already closing her eyes.
“Cash?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you stay?”
“I’m not going anywhere, Rachel.”
* * *
When Cash opened Rachel’s hospital door, Shade was waiting on the other side.
“You got my text,” Cash stated.
“Yes. You sure Brooke is the one responsible?”
“We have no concrete proof of the poisoning other than she was there the day the plants disappeared from Mag’s house, but I found the motel her and Lewis were using. She was manipulating the stupid bastard.”
“She’s an expert at that.”
Shade’s grim visage had Cash questioning him.
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing for now. I can’t take care of personal shit until the mess with Scorpion is cleared up. As soon as it is, I’ll deal with Brooke. I’ll keep Lily home for now. She’s far enough along that she shouldn’t put up too much of a fuss.”
“Good luck; you’re going to need it.”
“Lily won’t jeopardize our baby; she’ll listen.”
“I’ll ask Rachel if she’ll take over the store,” Cash offered.
“Thanks, brother.”
The men shook hands and parted.
Cash went back inside, staring down at Rachel sleeping. Shade was showing more patience than he would have. That crazy bitch was out to kill Lily, and it was going to take someone just as cold-hearted to stop her.
Chapter 33
Monday morning she wasn’t surprised when Cash asked her if she would manage the church store until after Lily’s baby was born.
“Of course.” Rachel was just as concerned for Lily’s safety as The Last Riders. The store was slow right now anyway.
“Is Knox going to arrest Brooke?”
“No. We have no proof. You didn’t see Brooke take the plants, nor did anyone see her put it into the serving she gave Lily. I looked in her kitchen and around the house, but I couldn’t find a trace of the plant to get a search warrant.”
“She’s going to get off scot-free?” Rachel couldn’t believe Brooke was going to get away with almost killing Mag.
“I wouldn’t say that, only that we can’t prove anything in a court of law. If we pressed for a larger investigation, the only tie to the plant is you.”
Shocked, Rachel’s eyes widened. It was true; she had been the one to uproot the plants and bring them into Mag’s home.
“Don’t worry, Rachel. Brooke will get exactly what she deserves soon.”
“Not soon enough,” Rachel complained, furious that the woman had almost killed Mag¸ and if Lily hadn’t had a bout of morning sickness, she would have fallen victim to the crazed woman along with her unborn child.
Cash’s arm circled her shoulders. “Want me to give you a ride to work?”
“No, I can drive.” Rachel started to move away, only to find herself hauled back into his arms.
“Make sure you play it cool with Brooke.”
“I will,” Rachel promised. She would be damned if she would let the woman know they were on to her.
“Good. Now give me a kiss,” he demanded.
“Did none of your women ever complain that you’re bossy?”
“No.” His eyes twinkled down into hers. “When I spanked them, they just wanted me to spank them harder.”
Rachel shivered at his words, at the picture it planted in her mind.
“I need to get to work,” she hurriedly changed the subject.
Cash gave her a brief, hard kiss on her lips. “Hurry home.”
She nodded before fleeing.
She was still staying with Mag. Cash had stayed last night with her in her bed, not wanting her gallivanting through the woods after being released from the hospital. Mag would be a few more days in the hospital before they released her.
Rachel had stopped to see her after she had been released. Mag had been beaming with pleasure at the birth of her great-grandchild. Rachel had been unable to break the news that she wasn’t pregnant to the happy woman. Looking to Cash for help, he had shrugged, ignoring the silent plea. Rachel promised herself that, as soon as she was feeling better, she would gently break the news to her.
It was anticlimactic that the day passed without incident. It wasn’t until she was about to close the store and Pastor Patterson stopped by that she found out Brooke had gone home to visit her mother. Only Cash’s warning had her remaining silent to her pastor of the viciousness his wife was capable of.
She closed the store to find Cash leaning against the side of her car, waiting for her. She looked around to make sure no one was around to hear their conversation.
“Brooke isn’t in town. She went to visit her mother.”
“She’s a smart bitch to get out of town,” Cash stated.
“It was everything I could do not to say something to that poor man. He’s completely clueless.”
“But you didn’t?” he asked sharply.
“No.”
“Good. Let Shade handle it.”
Rachel didn’t believe anyone but the police was capable of dealing with Brooke, but if that was the way they wanted to handle it, she would go along with it. For now.
“What are you doing here?” she asked curiously.
“I thought we would have dinner and hang out tonight at the clubhouse.”
Rachel knew if she and Cash were going to have a relationship then, sooner or later, she was going to have to deal with being there.
“All right. I’ll follow you in my car.”
Cash seemed about to argue with her but changed his mind, getting on his bike.
Rachel dreaded the coming evening and had to bolster her courage for the drive to the clubhouse. As she got out of her car, she noticed construction going on at the end of the factory.
“You’re expanding the factory?” she questioned.
“Yes. Business is doing well, so we thought we would add some more items to our inventory.”
“That’s great, right? Will there be more jobs becoming available?”
“One or two. It’s still in the planning stage.”
“You guys are quick. You already have the walls up,” she complimented, going up the steps to the clubhouse.
The kitchen was full as everyone was in line to eat the buffet of food laid out. Rachel relaxed when she saw Lily, Beth, and Winter. She was suddenly hungry.
Filling her plate with fish and a baked potato, she sat down at the table with her friends and their husbands.
“Thanks for waiting for me,” Cash said sardonically.
“Sorry.” Rachel blushed. She had just been s
o relieved when she had seen her friends that she had wanted to latch on to the safety of their company.
“It’s okay.”
Rachel thought he was trying to convey a silent message to her, which she understood, relaxing against the back of her chair instead of being tense at interacting with the women who had shared a sexual relationship with Cash for so many years.
“How was work today?” Lily asked.
“Fine. It was slow. You would have been bored.”
“It’s better than sitting and watching television all day,” Lily complained.
Rachel caught the entreating gaze she cast Shade, which he ignored impassively, continuing to eat his dinner.
Shade was a hard-ass. She had dealt with him several times when he had purchased weed from her brothers for the club. She had to agree with him, though; Lily was safer away from the church after Brooke’s attempt on her life.
“How’s Mrs. Langley doing?” Rachel asked Beth as she took turns feeding her boys. She hadn’t been able to go by as often since she had moved in with Mag.
“Much better. She’s finally getting over her gallbladder surgery. She actually got in her car the other day to go to the beauty shop.”
“I’m glad.”
After dinner, they went into the room next to the kitchen where there was a large television. Rachel sat next to Cash as the others settled around to watch a movie Train had rented.
She became so engrossed in the movie she barely paid attention as Lily and Beth told her goodnight. Winter and Viper had already gone to bed after they had done the dishes. Rachel liked the way they split up the house duties among them. She was disappointed when the film ended, wanting to watch another.
“It’s bedtime,” Cash said with a leer down at her.
Self-consciously, Rachel got to her feet, realizing they were alone.
“Go on up to my room. I need to check that the alarms are set for the night and all the doors are locked.”
“All right.” Rachel left him in the kitchen, going upstairs. She had to pass several bedroom doors on the way to Cash’s room, where some doors were open. As she passed the first door, a loud moan had her involuntarily glancing inside.
Train was lying on his back with Bliss on top. Rider was on top of Bliss, both men fucking her. Rachel stopped, stunned. She had heard of two men having sex with one woman, but she had never imagined a woman would actually enjoy it. Bliss was ecstatic, her loud moans and enraptured expression leaving no doubt she was experiencing the height of sexual enjoyment. Rachel found herself watching for several moments before she heard a sound from the end of the hall and fled to Cash’s room.