Blade (Silver Shadows MC #1)

Chapter Ten

Blade

Fucking Ryder.

What the hell was he doing taking her to the cemetery? Now that I knew he knew I wasn’t there, I couldn’t help but wonder what game he was playing? Despite being pissed at Ryder, I couldn’t help but speculate what happened at the cemetery.

I didn’t think they’d made it to my grave. They weren’t in there long enough.

I wasn’t there for my funeral. I didn’t know how many people had attended, who they were, or how they felt.

Visiting my grave was something I did right after I came back. That was a trip. Seeing my name with my birth and death listed below was surreal. Standing in the cemetery in the town where everyone thought I died had a way of making me feel my mortality.

When the club set up here in Diamond Creek, I had come to terms with my previous life. I made peace with my past and to do that I went to see my grave.

My empty grave.

Grams, Rachel, and Ryder told me that Beck didn’t handle my death well. That’s it. She didn’t handle it well.

What the fuck did that mean?

Did she cry?

Did she throw herself on the casket?

Was she even there?

Did she still mourn me?

Was I really an asshole for wanting to know how my best friend reacted to my death? Talk about ego. What made it worse was that I wasn’t actually dead, and she didn’t know.

I’d been following her for days since she left the diner.

I couldn’t help it. I kept telling myself I was protecting her. Really, I wanted to know what she was doing, who she was seeing.

She didn’t know I was following her.

Until today.

Today I let her know I was watching.

She didn’t know I knew why she was at the cemetery. She didn’t know I knew anything about her past.

Ryder knew.

Fucking Ryder.

Pulling into the clubhouse, I ignored the prospect at the gate when he waved. He was an ass-kisser. Sure, obedience was important for a prospect, but the club looked for loyalty above all else. Not fucking likability. This pussy thought he needed everyone to like him in order to make it as a brother.

Clearly, that wasn’t true.

I pissed off my brothers’ right and left, especially lately.

Ever since she had come back.

She wasn’t supposed to fucking come back!

I swung my leg over my bike and headed inside to the bar. Sitting down on the stool, Johnny had a beer waiting for me. Johnny would make a good brother. He did what he was told without question, without whining. That was more than I could say for some of the patched brothers.

“Everything ok, Blade?”

I grunted, looking over at Ghost. He was sitting at the end of the bar. “Your girl sure is a looker.”

“She’s not my girl.”

“So, she’s available then? Good to know.”

“Go near her and I will fucking bury you.”

Ghost just laughed before bringing his beer to his lips.

“Hey, Blade.” My shoulders fell forward as Shotgun slapped my back. “Your girl sure is something.”

“She’s not my girl.”

“Really? So, you wouldn’t mind if I shoot my shot?”

I watched Shotgun as he sat down next to me.

Most people would assume he got his name because he was good with a gun. Nope, the man took his shot with every girl he met and usually got gunned down with rejection every time.

“Did you assholes not hear King in church? Willow’s granddaughter is off-limits. That means no one is taking a shot!”

I slammed my hands on the bar as I stood and took off to my room. If one more brother asked about Becca, I just might lose my shit.

Laying down on my bed, I couldn’t stop the thoughts of Becca that consumed me.

I still remembered the first time we met.

My parents and I had moved to Diamond Creek when I was seven years old. I hated being the new kid, but Becca made my transition into school seamless.

Eighteen years ago

I hated new schools. This was the third time in two years; a new school, a new name, new life.

No new friends.

As soon as I had friends, we would leave again. Someone would come after us. Someone would find us.

I was sitting at lunch alone when a girl came over and sat down with me. Even if I made new friends here, it wouldn’t be a girl. I sat and stared at her, waiting to see what would happen.

“Hi.”

I didn’t answer.

“I’m Becca. What’s your name?”

I didn’t answer.

“You’re new here, so you don’t have any friends yet. I can be your friend.”

I still didn’t answer.

Sighing, Becca just sat there.

I figured if I kept quiet, she would go away.

I was wrong.

“Listen, my grams says, I am te-na-sis. She says it means I don’t give up and always get what I want. So you should tell me your name, cuz I won’t go away till you do.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“How will we be friends if I don’t know your name?”

She didn’t get it.

“What if I don’t want friends?”

Her eyes went wide.

“Everybody wants friends.”

“I don’t.” I went back to eating my lunch, trying to ignore her. That wasn’t easy to do when she yelled to someone on the other side of the lunchroom.

“RYDER! Come here!”

A boy came running over. It made me think everyone came running when she yelled at them. That wasn’t good for me. I was lonely, and I would give in someday. I just knew it. That couldn’t happen, though. If I made friends here, we would leave again, and I was tired of leaving. I just wanted to stay in one place. I just wanted to be safe.

“Hey,” the boy, Ryder, said. “You new here?”

“Of course he’s new, dummy. You ever seen him here before? This is his first day, and he needs friends. He says he doesn’t want any, but everyone wants friends, right?”

“George doesn’t want friends.” Ryder looked over at a boy sitting at a table, eating his lunch alone.

“George is too mean to have friends,” Becca proclaimed, following Ryder’s gaze to look at George.

“Maybe I’m too mean to have friends. You don’t know,” I grumbled, hoping she would think I was right and leave me alone.

“Nope. I can tell you aren’t mean. I know these things.”

“She’s right. And she won’t go away, so you should just give in and be our friend. Becca always gets what she wants.”

I guess I was right about my first thought.

“Ok, class, lunch is over. Time for recess,” the teacher called as she got up from her seat. “Let’s clean up and get outside in the sunshine.”

I sighed. How was I going to get away from these two?

Looking up at Becca, she smiled at me.

Her smile said I was never getting away from her.

I didn’t know back then just how right she was. Becca, Ryder, and Rachel wormed their way into my life and into my heart like no one else had. They never left, even after I did. I never forgot them. Some might say it was because in this little nowhere town that was barely even a dot on the map, we were safe for a while.

Safe enough to breathe.

Safe enough to live.

Safe enough to love.

Until we weren’t.

Leaving Diamond Creek and Becca at fifteen years old hurt more than losing my mom. I felt nothing when I lost my dad. He was the one that had gotten us into the position where we needed to hide. He was the reason I lost Mom. The reason I lost Becca.

If she knew who I really was now, she might change her mind about me not being mean enough to not have friends.

If she found out who I really was, would she still be the girl who refused to let me be alone? Who was I kidding? She wasn’t that girl anymore. Becca was no longer the girl who wanted to be friends with the lonely kid. Becca wasn’t the tenacious little girl who always got what she wanted.

She was different and quiet.

She didn’t stand out anymore.

Becca was the one hiding now.

Before I knew it, Friday snuck up on me. While I tried to forget that Becca was going out with Grant tonight, nothing worked. I needed to keep myself from going over there and knocking him out when he showed up at her door to pick her up.

As far as she knew, there was no valid reason for me to be jealous. We had only met less than two weeks ago, that she knew of anyway. There would be no way to explain to her she was mine and mine alone.

Only, I couldn’t have her.

I couldn’t stop her from living her life. Why did she have to include him, though? The guy was shady as fuck. I just couldn’t figure out what he was doing. He wasn’t on the up-and-up.

I’d spent my entire childhood hiding from the bad guys. Spent more than a few years being the bad guy myself, but when King started this chapter, we all decided we didn’t enjoy living outside the law. We might live right on the line, but we weren’t outside it.

Because of the life I lived, I knew criminals.

Grant Nicholson was definitely a criminal. He might wear a suit, but I knew for a fact, criminals who wore suits were often worse than those that didn’t. They were just better at hiding their crimes, and that made them more dangerous.

Hearing my phone ring dragged me from my thoughts.

Pulling it from my back pocket, I saw Grams’ number flash and sighed. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I knew this wouldn’t be good.

“Hey, Grams, what’s up?” I asked, blowing out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

“Blade, I need you to come to dinner tonight.”

Dropping my hand, I motioned to the prospect for a beer.

“Why?”

“I would like to spend some time with you, and with the mother chapter coming tomorrow night, I won’t be cooking at the clubhouse. So I thought it would be nice to cook for you tonight,” she explained.

I knew this woman. Spent most of my childhood at her house. She did nothing without a reason. She was cunning and always had a motive. I was pretty sure I knew what that motive was, but I wasn’t stupid enough to call her out on it.

Despite knowing she was setting me up to be there when Grant arrived to take Becca on their date, I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

I wanted him to see me when he picked her up.

Wanted to make sure he knew I was watching him.

“That sounds like a great idea, Grams, how about I bring Jack too?”

I would need Jack there as a buffer. To keep me from losing my shit when Becca left with Grant.

“That is a wonderful idea; the more the merrier. Maybe King would like to come too?”

“I think we both know that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“No, probably not.” She chuckled. “Ok, well, you and Jack it is then. How about five thirty?”

“We’ll be there.” I hung up and went in search of Jack.

I found Jack quickly.

He’d been outside working on his bike.

He watched warily as I walked over to him.

“Hey,” I greeted, giving him a chin lift.

“Hey, what’s up?”

For some people, things might be strained when you shove your friend against the wall and threaten his life. Not that Jack didn’t think I was serious. He knew I was. He knew more than anyone, even Rachel and Ryder, how much Becca meant to me.

Deep down, I knew he would never step in, but I didn’t always think rationally in regard to Becca.

Who was I kidding? I never thought rationally regarding her. Despite that, Jack was my best friend. We had been through a lot together over the last seven years since I joined the Silver Shadows.

Jack knew everything.

He never held it against me, because he had his own demons.

I was thankful they played nicely with mine.

“Grams called. She wants us to come over for dinner tonight.”

Jack stood, wiping his hands on a rag. He never took his eyes from mine. He knew immediately what was going on.

“She did, huh?”

“Would you like to see my phone, asshole? See that she called me, not the other way around?”

I knew he knew why we were going. He was just skeptical as to whose idea it was. He didn’t know Grams like I did. None of them did except Rachel.

“No need.” He threw his rag on the seat of his bike. “The two of you are conspiring.”

He held his hand up before I could interrupt.

“You know this will piss her off, right? You better have your story straight before we barge in on her night.”

“Grams said she wanted us to come have dinner since she wasn’t cooking tomorrow night with the Mother Chapter coming.”

“I see.” Jack looked across the road at the house Grams and Becca lived in. “That won’t stop her from thinking you’re there because of her date.” Looking back at me, he continued, “Beck doesn’t know why you and Grams are so close. She’ll see this as you interfering, and she won’t understand why.”

“She knows I don’t trust Grant. I made that clear to her when we ran into him at the store.”

My eyes never wavered.

I wasn’t ashamed of my need to keep her safe.

“So, you need me there to keep you from doing something stupid?”

“You know your lot in life is to keep me out of trouble.” I smirked when he snorted at my statement.

“No one can keep your dumb ass out of trouble. I don’t even think she could.”

Shaking my head, I agreed with him, “Not regarding her safety. No.”

“Ok, I need to finish up here and then take a shower.”

“Thanks, man.”

I turned to head back to the clubhouse when Jack called after me. “Don’t thank me. I’m not doing this for you.” He chuckled. “You know I can’t resist Grams’ cooking. Especially when it’s dinner and a show.”

He laughed at that.

I flipped him the one-finger bird over my shoulder as I muttered, “Asshole,” only to hear his laughter get louder.