“I left the car running. She’ll be fine.” Lisa reached down, taking Darcy’s hand before leading her outside into the blowing snow.
Bliss went to the window, watching Lisa uncaringly walk the child through the deep drifts. She only had on tennis shoes, which would be getting wet.
As the woman was about to get into the car, Bliss saw her stop to talk to someone walking down the sidewalk. It was Danny Owens, the town mayor. They stood, talking for several minutes in the freezing cold.
“Get in the car,” Bliss spoke out loud in the empty room, looking over at the clock. They had already been standing there for over five minutes.
“Get in the car.” Bliss was becoming more and more irritated. She could easily see Darcy shivering in the cold air under the street lamp. Still, the child never once moved to hurry Lisa up.
“Get in the fucking car!”
“Who are you talking to?”
Bliss spun around to see Drake standing in the room, looking at her strangely. She turned back to the window to see Lisa finally putting Darcy in the car.
“No one.” Giving a sigh of relief, she moved to the desk to grab her purse and jacket. Then she grabbed the keys and went to the light switch to turn them out.
“Who were you watching out the window?”
Bliss knew Drake wouldn’t stop until he had his answer. “I was watching Lisa keep Darcy out in the cold while she flirted with Danny.”
“I thought you might have seen Stark.”
“He’s out of jail?” Bliss guessed trying to kidnap the town slut wouldn’t constitute a high enough bond to delay him getting out.
“He posted bail an hour ago.”
He probably had enough in that tacky wallet that was chained to his jeans to pay himself out.
“Merry freaking Christmas to me,” Bliss snapped, going out the door. She waited just long enough for Drake to come outside before slamming it shut and locking it.
“It’s going—”
“Please don’t tell me it’s going to be fine. I don’t know why people say that. It’s not. It never is.” Bliss took off, walking angrily down the street.
“Wait! Where are you going?”
“To the house.”
“I came to drive you. Get in my car.”
Bliss wiped the snowflakes from her cheeks angrily. “I want to walk.”
“If you need to blow off some steam, I’ll drive us to the hotel and we can fuck until you feel better, but you’re not going to walk in the freezing snow.”
Bliss ignored him, taking a step away, only to find herself falling. She prepared to hit the icy pavement, but her momentum was stopped when Drake managed to catch her and lift her into his arms.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, knowing her well enough to see there was more bothering her than Stark.
“I hate Lisa. She couldn’t care less about that little girl.”
“Do you want me to find someone we can report her to?”
“No. Jessie told me today they have to find a new home for Darcy. Lisa has decided not to foster anymore. Jessie doesn’t know how much longer she’ll be at the daycare.”
“I’m sorry. I know how attached you are to her.”
Drake carried her to his car, and Bliss opened the door before Drake put her inside. He drove home carefully.
The snow on her driveway had already been cleared by the neighborhood boy she had hired. She hated shoveling snow, and it was one of the chores she had volunteered for since Ginny did most of the cooking. As long as the job was done, Bliss didn’t think Ginny cared whether it was actually her out there shoveling or not.
Bliss got out of the car before Drake could carry her. “I can walk.”
“You sure? I don’t mind.”
“I’m sure.” Bliss’s frustrated anger was beginning to dissipate.
Drake never let her moods affect his, and his calmness managed to make her feel as if she had more control over her own emotions.
“Want a cup of hot chocolate?” Bliss asked as she opened the front door.
“Will you put a shot of whiskey in it?”
“I’ll see if I can find some.” Bliss took off Ginny’s coat, hanging it in the closet before going into the kitchen.
“Jessie says you’re doing a great job.”
She paused while pouring milk into the small pot as Drake took a seat at the table.
“When did you talk to Jessie?”
“Yesterday when she and her brothers came into the diner.”
Bliss turned the stove on to heat the milk.
“Have you met her brothers yet?”
“No,” Bliss answered absently. “Have you been out with Jessie?”
“No.”
The shocked look on Drake’s face relieved her. Jessie was a very attractive woman, and she was nice. Bliss had lost The Last Riders because of women just like her. The thought of losing Drake to another nice girl created a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Bliss scooped in the powdered chocolate and stirred the creamy liquid quietly.
“Are you jealous?”
“Yes,” Bliss admitted.
She felt his arms surround her, curling around her waist and pulling her backward against him. “You’re the only woman I need, Bliss. I wanted you every time I saw you around town with The Last Riders. I would have joined if that was the only way to get you.”
Bliss took the hot chocolate off the stove, pouring it into the mugs she had set out. “You wouldn’t have made it past the initiation.”
Bliss felt him stiffen behind her. “Why?”
“You have to fight the men to get in, and they’re good.”
“I’m beginning to feel insulted that you don’t believe I can take care of myself or what’s mine.”
Bliss opened the cabinet, taking out the whiskey she had bought for him when he had asked if they had any the last time she made him hot chocolate. “You can’t use guns. It’s bare-handed fighting, and it’s dirty. They don’t play by any rules.”
“I don’t need my gun to win a fight. I’ve fought in—”
“These aren’t high school fights,” Bliss cut him off. “Some men haven’t walked away when they’re over. They want to make sure that, if you’re a Last Rider, you can not only protect yourself but another member, as well. Besides, we’re arguing over nothing. I’m not a Last Rider anymore.”
“No, you’re not.” Drake released her, moving to the side to take his mug. “You miss it, don’t you?”
“Not as much as I did. I miss the women who have been my friends for a long time. I miss Beth and Razer’s twins. I miss the men.” At that, Drake’s face went hard and cold. “Not the sex. You’re more than enough for me,” she added hastily. “I miss Rider aggravating everyone, Lucky and Shade picking on each other, going to Viper when I need someone to talk to, Crash fixing my computer, and watching Cash fight and Razer with his kids. Mainly, I miss knowing no one would fuck with me because I belonged to them, that when I lay down at night to sleep, I wouldn’t be woken up with a disgusting piece of filth between my legs. They never took without asking, and I always knew that what I gave, I wanted to give.”
She lifted her mug, taking a sip of the warm hot chocolate. Damn, why did chocolate always make everything better?
“Sweet Bliss … I might not be able to give you everything they can, but I swear I can protect you. You only have to come to me when you need me. You went to them when you wanted something, now give me a chance to prove myself to you. I may surprise you. I even know a little bit about computers.”
Bliss laughed. “I promise, the next time mine gives me trouble, you’ll be the first one I call.”
“You do that.”
“You want marshmallows?”
“No, you’re the only sweet I need with my chocolate.”
“Aw, are you trying to be sweet to get in my pants?”
“Is it working?”
“Yes. Did I mention Ginny called me an hour ago? She’s
spending the night at Willa’s house, so she won’t have to drive to the clubhouse in the morning.”
“You forgot to mention that.”
“I am now,” she teased.
“So, no hotel tonight? Damn, that’s going to be nice. I had to give an extra fifty bucks last time we stayed for breaking the bed.”
“I told you that ride was going to cost you.” Bliss giggled.
The cell phone in her pocket chimed, indicating a text. Bliss reached into her pocket to take out the phone, going to her messages.
Devon’s mom called. She found a couple of lice in his hair. He won’t be back until we get a note from his pediatrician that he’s clear. I’ll check the rest of the children’s hair when I get there in the morning. Night.
“Something up?”
“No, Jessie just needed to tell me something about work.” She moved away from him to set her mug down on the counter. “I need a shower. I feel like I’m covered in glitter and glue. If you’re hungry, you could order us a pizza. I won’t be long.”
* * *
Drake frowned at the kitchen door Bliss had rushed through. She had taken off like a scalded cat after her face had gone white when she had read the text message.
He would ask again what it was about when she came back. Whatever it was, it had bothered her. He almost texted Jessie, but he didn’t want to deal with her crazy-assed brothers’ questioning of why he had texted her.
They protected their sister like she was Fort Knox. Any man wanting to get close to her would have to take on those two knuckleheads, and Drake was man enough to admit he wasn’t up for that job.
They lived deeper in the mountains than his cousins. Drake had never been on their property, because he was smart enough to obey the “No Trespassing” signs that were posted with several dire warnings.
The Porter land was next to Creech land. Behind both lay the Hayes land. The two sets of brothers were constantly bickering over the property line, and Greer and Holt were constantly trying to outdo each other with their signage. Personally, Drake thought Holt had won it with his large white sign with red paint spattered across a drawing of a stick figure with a target circling it.
Tate had asked him several times to find someone to survey the Porter land for him, but Drake had just snorted. No surveyor in the state of Kentucky would be willing to take on that job. It would be their last.
He ordered a couple of pizzas to be delivered, thankful Jace wasn’t working with the weather getting so bad. The boys were both home, playing their computer games.
Drake finished his chocolate as he waited for Bliss, going into the living room where he turned on the television. However, when the thirty-minute comedy was almost over and the delivery driver had rung the doorbell, Bliss still wasn’t downstairs.
He paid for the pizza then carried it to the kitchen before glancing at his watch, thinking Bliss should definitely have been downstairs by that point.
Abandoning the pizza, he went upstairs to her room, figuring he would find her blow-drying her hair in the bedroom. Instead, he heard the shower still on.
Coming to a stop, he listened and became fearful when he heard crying and Bliss’s muffled voice coming from the bathroom. He hurriedly opened the bathroom door and was immediately hit with steam.
Once it cleared, Drake found Bliss crying in the shower stall.
“What the fuck!” He rushed forward, opening the shower door and staring down at her in dismay.
The water splashing on him was scalding hot, and Bliss’s entire body was bright pink from the heat as she scrubbed her hair that was covered in a foul-smelling shampoo.
“Get them off! Get them off!” Her cries were gut-wrenching.
Drake reached in, adjusting the water temperature so it wasn’t as hot. Hastily, he then jerked off his clothes before stepping into the shower with her.
“Get out! You’ll catch them. I have to get them off,” she moaned, still scrubbing her head through her cries.
Drake jerked her hands away from her scalp, ignoring her pleas as he swallowed back the bile rising in his throat at the damage she had done to herself.
He saw her nails were bloody and so was her scalp. Furthermore, tufts of hair were on the shower floor, slowly trailing a path to the drain.
“Stop it, Bliss.” He grabbed both her hands again when they went right back to her head, forcing them behind her back until he could hold her still long enough to get the thick shampoo out of her hair. “What kind of shampoo is this?” he asked softly, her sobbing tearing at his heart.
“Lice shampoo.”
Carefully tilting her head back, he rinsed her hair while she kept trying to get her hands free. The blood-tinged soap slid down her body, going down the drain.
“Quit struggling or you’ll break both our necks.”
She stopped fighting him immediately at the order, standing passively as he finished rinsing her off.
The medicated smell of the shampoo turned his stomach. Looking to the side of the shower, he saw a bottle with flowers on it. It nearly killed him to squeeze a small amount onto her ravaged head, but he did so and gently rubbed it in her hair with the palm of his hand then rinsed it off.
As soon as he was finished, he jerked her from the shower to dry her off. Seeing a blue robe on the back of the door, he put it on her himself before tying it closed. Then, picking her up, he carried her into the bedroom to sit her down on the side of the bed. Going back to the bathroom, he grabbed a fresh towel before returning to Bliss. Dazed, she hadn’t moved from where he had left her.
“Why in the hell did you do that to yourself?” he asked as he gently dried what was left of her hair. When he pulled back the towel, spots of blood were on it.
“I can’t get them again.”
“What?”
“Lice.” Her body shuddered. “They’re terrible to get rid of.”
“What makes you think you have lice?”
“Jessie told me Devon’s mother found them on him. I’m around him all day.”
“Did you check before you tore out most of your hair?”
“No, I didn’t need to. I always catch them. When my mother and I lived on the streets, I kept them. I managed to get rid of them when she found a room for us to stay in for a while, but I caught them again when I lived with the Devil’s Rejects. Evie helped me finally get rid of them when The Last Riders took me in.”
“Jesus, is that why you keep your hair so short with all that gunk in it?”
“Yes. I don’t want to catch them again.” Bliss sobbed, her hands going to her head once more.
Drake jerked them back down. “Don’t you fucking dare touch your hair again. There’s barely any left.”
“A single strand can have—”
“Bliss, believe me, nothing’s alive on your head.”
Drake made sure nothing was still bleeding before going to the bathroom to hunt for something to help her with the pain she was going to feel when the shock wore off.
Opening a drawer, he found the three joints he had given her. Taking one to the bedroom, he pulled a lighter out of his pocket.
“You need to take a couple of hits. It will help with the pain.”
“It’ll make me barf. I hate the taste of pot. It reminds me of the Devil’s Rejects.”
“Shit.” Drake threw the pot into the trash can beside her bed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to stop doing it just because I didn’t like it.”
“Why the hell not?”
“I didn’t want you to stop liking me.” She stared up at him earnestly. Her hair was torn to fucking shreds, and she was worried over how he felt about her reaction to smoking pot? Shit.
He felt as if he had been kicked in his stomach.
“Jesus.” Drake sat down on the bed next to her, putting his arm around her to pull her close. “I rarely smoke one unless I want to bash someone’s face in. It mellows me out. I won’t touch it again.”
Bliss
shook her head. “I don’t mind. You’ll resent me if you can’t—”
“Shut up. Please, shut up. You’re breaking my heart.” The more time he spent with her, the more he noticed she always followed his lead, waiting to see how he would react to certain situations. If he showed the least bit of displeasure, she would always put what he wanted first. It drove him insane and he had hoped he had been wrong, that it was only the newness of them dating. It wasn’t. It was a habit ingrained in her since she was fifteen.
She turned her face into his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for. You had a fucked-up childhood, you know that?”
“That’s what Viper told me. He promised me The Last Riders wouldn’t hurt me, that I could go anywhere I wanted and do anything I wanted. I begged him to join The Last Riders. It was the first home I ever had.”
“They became your family.” Drake had thought her connection with The Last Riders would eventually be severed as time went on, but he realized they would always remain in Bliss’s heart. The Last Riders were a family not related by blood, but by the experiences and loyalty they shared.
“Yes. At least, they were until they started getting married, and they didn’t need me anymore. If they didn’t need me for sex, I was afraid they wouldn’t want me anymore. I thought at least Shade would, because I tried to make him the happiest, but he only wanted Lily. Then Lucky fell for Willa, and he didn’t need me, either. I kept trying to be what they needed me to be, but it was never enough. You’ll eventually get tired of me, too.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“It will. It always does.” Her voice was matter-of-fact. Bliss truly believed she wasn’t worth holding on to.
“It’s not going to happen. I’m telling you the truth, Bliss. I’m in love with you.” He sighed. “I didn’t have sex with you when we first started dating because I was courting you.”
Her face peeked up from his shoulder. “You were?”
“I was until I realized it wasn’t working. Then I went to plan B.”
“Plan B?”
“To make you fall in love with my dick.” He wanted to see the laughter back in her eyes.