She tried not to appreciate his muscular frame dressed in jeans and black shirt. The suits he had worn disguised how physically cut he was. Winter was embarrassed that she had ever believed a man like him would want her. In the two years she had known him, he had never come to her house dressed so casually. She figured now that the whole town knew his true identity, there was no longer a need to pretend.
“Loker, why are you here?” Her tone was less than welcoming.
“I would like to come in and explain.”
Winter held the door firm. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Loker reached out and pushed the door open, easily forcing her back from the door.
“We need to talk.” She was smart enough to realize there was no way to avoid the humiliating end to the farce of a relationship they had. Sighing, she closed the door. This time it was her turn to paste on an expressionless mask.
“I was just about to pour myself a cup of coffee, would you like one?”
“No thanks.” He followed her down the hallway to her bright kitchen. The sunny room was warm and inviting with touches of her personality. She loved to cook, spending her free time in the room. She had even padded the chairs at the table because she preferred to do her paperwork there instead of her office.
“Take a seat.” She offered, not turning around to see if he had taken her suggestion. Removing a cup from the cabinet, she poured herself a cup of coffee. Out of habit, she did not add sugar, even though she liked her coffee sweet. With the sweetener, it tended to put her in hyper drive. She already felt on edge, she didn’t need the added stimulation.
Unable to put it off any longer, she turned to face Loker to see that he was sitting at her table, grimacing as he adjusted himself carefully in the chair.
“I see you’re a little worse for wear today. I did notice they seemed especially intent on you and the one with all the tattoos,” Winter said unsympathetically.
“They were.”
“I don’t think they appreciated their women wanting to fuck you two.”
Loker froze at her use of the explicit word. Winter had never even said damn in front of him since they had met.
“Winter…” She broke in before he could continue.
“Of course from what I heard, the women would have to wait in line. A long line.”
“Sit down and I will explain.” At one time she would have done just that; did whatever he told her, how he told her. Those days were over.
“I don’t need your explanations. I am not stupid or even blind as I obviously was. I can understand English and can figure out exactly what happened. I was a way to get close to Vincent, wasn’t I?”
“Yes, Ben Stiles also. I didn’t know which of the two was responsible for my brother’s death.”
“Congratulations, mystery solved.” Winter could not prevent herself from tacking on, “I am sorry about your brother.”
“Thank you.”
“Now will you leave Loker, or do you prefer Viper?”
“Whichever you prefer,” he said, trying to remain patient.
“Very well then, Viper, get out.”
“I am not leaving until I explain. I want to maintain our friendship, and whether you believe me or not, I care about you.”
“As friends?”
“Yes.” A knife to her gut would hurt less. It was time to level this playing field.
“I am afraid that’s not going to work for me. I don’t want or need a con artist for a friend.”
“I didn’t steal your money. You think because I am in a motorcycle club that I am a criminal?”
“You stole something from me that I will never get back. Well, to be honest, two things, my time and trust.”
“I was very careful to maintain a platonic relationship with you. I never led you to believe that it was an exclusive relationship.”
“But you were aware my feelings were not the same.”
His silence said it all.
Winter sat the coffee cup down on the counter before she threw it at him. Viper’s dark eyes followed the movement. She had put on her shirt without taking the time to properly dry off and put on a bra, the thin material clung damply to her breasts. Her hair was drying in a mass of curls that she always blow dried out and styled into a professional look, well aware she needed to maintain a certain image with her job. She had to project an appearance of authority and professionalism or the students and parents wouldn’t respect her position. She only relaxed her guard in the privacy of her own home.
“Wow. You are a complete and utter ass. I thought we had a relationship, you knew I thought that. I waited patiently for you like a fool when you were out of town, while you were fucking your own personal stash of women in not one motorcycle club, but two.”
“They are not my own personal stash. The women in the Last Riders don’t belong to anyone,” Viper sighed. He had not wanted the conversation to turn ugly, but he could see that had been a false hope. “The members are not exclusive to anyone; neither male or female.”
Winter could only stand there with her mouth open, her mind unable to comprehend the sheer magnitude of his deceit.
“Like a sex club? You share the women?”
“It is a motorcycle club first and foremost. We share different interests, one of those are sexual. To answer your question as best as I can, we have sex with whomever we want within the club. We are very careful with safety and have stringent rules that are followed.”
She felt it bubbling up her throat, unable to prevent it bursting free.
“Two freaking years.”
“Winter, I had to find out the truth about my brother.”
“You could have been honest with me, you know I would have helped you and never opened my mouth. You knew that!”
“I couldn’t take the chance.”
“Because it was easier to let me be hurt. You met my mother; you let me introduce you to her knowing that I was hoping we would eventually become more than friends. You could have made it perfectly clear you had no interest in me that way. Instead you played me, using my desire to be with you to manipulate yourself into situations where you would come into contact with the men you believed killed your brother. Any man would realize when I introduced you to my mother that it meant something. She died
with that lie. I… hate... you. You are lying and deceitful. You could have made sure, anytime within the last two years, that I knew our friendship wasn’t going to grow into something else, but you did not! Instead I felt like it was something I was doing wrong.” Winter furiously blinked back her tears. “Did you even realize how embarrassed I was to ask you to spend the night? I offered myself on a silver platter and you couldn’t run away fast enough. Instead, you practically fucked everyone you came in contact with in two states but me.” Taking deep breaths, Winter tried to regain control of her boiling temper.
Viper stood, coming towards her. She put out her hand to stop him. “If you come near me, I will slam my fist in those ribs, and by the look of you, are extremely painful.” He came to a dead stop. “I think it is past time for you to leave.” He stood there silently, taking in how deeply he had hurt her, unable to make excuses for himself. He had done exactly what she had accused him of doing.
“I’ll go. I wanted to explain, but now I can see I should have given it time. I hope you will be able to forgive me someday. I am sorry.” Winter followed him to the door, trying to maintain what little control she had until it closed behind him. As he was going out the door, she asked him the question that had been on her mind since last night.
“Which woman at your club has blond spiked hair, about average height?”
“Bliss?”
“She the one that group of biker women wanted?”
“Yes.” Viper’s jaw tensed.
“That’s what I thought.” Winter took a step back and slammed the door in his face.
Chapter 1
The fenced in backyard of the church was filled to capacity with the congregation and the members of the Last Riders. Winter carefully balanced the potato salad she had prepared, thankful the buffet table was empty of guests as she slid it among the colorful array of choices.
Glancing around the yard, she saw her friend and secretary drawing flags on children’s faces.
“Hello Emily.” A highlighted strand of hair had fallen across her forehead into her eyes. With her paint stained hand, she was unable to move the irritant. Winter casually brushed it away, receiving a thankful sigh in response.
“Keeping busy?” Winter grinned.
“I could use some help,” Emily admitted.
Winter jumped into the fray, organizing activities for the children in different areas of the yard so that Emily was allowed a breather. She was setting up the horseshoe game when a large cheer from the picnic table area drew her attention.
The Last Riders were gathered around Beth and Razer. It was obvious what the cheers were for as she was holding out her hand to the women in the group to examine the ring on her finger. Winter went back to handing out the horseshoes to little hands anxiously waiting, her face carefully blank. She had been conscious of Viper’s eyes on her, but she ignored him, turning her back so that she could no longer see the group.
Winter hadn’t seen him during the last four months, but the small town rumor mill had been active. She had stayed away from the gossip, but her friends, (self called), had made sure that she was aware of Viper’s actions. No longer hiding his connection to the Last Riders, her friends spitefully let her know each and every time he was seen out in public with one of the women from the club. She eventually quit taking their calls and avoided them in public. She had quickly learned not only to hide her reactions from the viciousness of the gossip, but also to suppress them until she no longer felt much of anything.
The only reason she stayed in Treepoint was because she loved her job and the few true friends she had left. She hoped eventually the gossip would die down, but having grown up in Treepoint, she realistically knew that it would be a long time coming.
Winter was playing freeze tag with the rambunctious preschoolers when Lily joined the group with a grin. She smiled at the beautiful girl as she chased the children around the yard. Lily was one of the few friends she had remaining. Winter had been a student teacher when she had tutored Lily, then eventually taught her in high school for a couple of years before she had been promoted to principal.
When her mother became ill with cancer, both of the sisters had been there for her. Beth had been an excellent caregiver and made it possible to let her pass away at home. Winter didn’t know if she would have been strong enough to do it without their help. Lily had also helped by giving her time to rest; she would stay by her mother’s bed
when exhaustion would claim Winter. She felt she owed both women a debt of gratitude.
A touch on her arm had her freezing in place, not far from where one of her female students was standing. Carmen was leaning against a tree with her boyfriend standing next to her and they appeared to be arguing. Winter was about to interrupt them when Carmen caught her eye, shaking her head. A small family arrived, distracting her attention from the arguing couple.
“Hi, Jenny.” Winter greeted the parents of nine-month-old twin boys. Dressed in matching blue jean overalls, they were adorable. Her hands were reaching out for one of them before she had finished her greeting.
“Hello, Winter.” Laughing, Jenny released her child into Winter’s grasp.
Lily was already snagging the other twin from the proud father.
“I remember when everyone was glad to see us, now it’s all about the boys,” Jenny mocked reproachfully to the two baby thieves.
“That’s what happens when you have two adorable babies,” Winter complimented. “Why don’t you let Lily and I watch them while you two go eat?”
“Are you sure, they can be a handful?” Dan replied.
“Don’t question our luck,” Jenny laughed.
“Go ahead,” Lily agreed.
“All right, if you’re sure.” Dan questioned before taking his wife’s hand, leading her towards the buffet table.
Winter and Lily grinned at each other with their prizes in hand. The other children quickly regained their attention, both of them running with a baby balanced on their hip. Their laughter sounded sweetly through the yard, drawing attention to the women.
Lily’s boyfriend approached and Winter watched him hand her a drink. Lily looked at him with a grateful smile. Winter’s heart lurched at the emotion evident in Charles eyes. He had always loved the girl, and everyone in town knew it. Winter had experience being around hormone crazy young adults and knew when the chemistry was there. With them it wasn’t. Something was missing and it was missing on Lily’s part. The passion was plainly visible in Charles’ face and body language; Lily treated him like a friend. They had dated since high school and now that Lily was in college, she didn’t see them together as often. It hurt Winter to see someone make her own mistake of
caring for someone who would never return their feelings. She had a feeling Charles would one day learn his own painful lesson.