The sound of a gunshot ripped Lilly from the peaceful slumber she was submerged in. Disoriented and confused, she bolted upright in the bed and looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was alone. Cass was no longer in the room or bathroom. She listened carefully for any indication that things were going awry downstairs, but she didn’t hear anything else. She leaned over to open the drawer on the nightstand beside the bed, knowing Cass kept a piece in there.
Lilly grabbed the nine-millimeter and turned the safety off before chambering a round. If anyone was coming in here with bad intentions, she wasn’t going down without a fight. Rising to her feet, she tiptoed through the dark room toward the bedroom door that was halfway open. Peering out, she didn’t see anything, but she could hear people talking. She strained to make out anything that was being said to no avail. She eased the door open a little bit more, pistol in hand and ready to shoot, and tiptoed a few steps out of the door.
“Just grab their book and get the hell out. Meet me at the spot in twenty.” Lilly heard a man talking in a hushed voice before the front door to the clubhouse clicked closed. Whoever was there wasn’t supposed to be. The realization that a shot had been fired had Lilly on edge. She replayed their morning over and over in her head. Hell, she didn’t even know what time it was or how long she had been asleep, and the clubhouse’s lack of windows didn’t help any.
She couldn’t see what was going on down below and the only way she was going to get a glimpse was if she walked down a few of the steps, putting herself in the line of sight for anyone between the bar and the front door of the clubhouse. Thinking better of it, she eased her way back into the room and checked her cell. It was already six in the evening.
Opening her text thread, she tapped out a message to Cass.
Lilly: Someone’s here at the club house. Shots fired. I’m okay, but get here ASAP.
She pressed send, double checked to make sure it was on silent, then slid it into her back pocket. She drew Cass’s nine and tiptoed into the hallway again. She could hear rummaging coming from downstairs and it sounded like it was coming from the meeting room. Without further thought, she went as quickly and quietly as she could down the stairs.
Her heart was nearly beating out of her chest, but she kept walking forward. She peered into the meeting room and found the back of a Moccasin cut facing her. He was kneeling down, trying to break into the cabinet that sat behind the head chair. From what Lilly could see, he didn’t have a weapon on him. Good. I have the upper hand.
Lilly kept the gun trained on the intruder and commenced to sneaking up behind him. When she was close enough to press the barrel to the back of his head, she did just that. He froze in place and lifted his hands in surrender. She shoved the cold metal harder into the back of his head, trying to scare him into not moving. She’d never done anything like this before and she was surprised that she was keeping her cool for as long as she had.
She needed to say something to let him know she was serious, but she was scared if she spoke and he realized she was a woman that he’d somehow get the gun from her. She’d seen it happen so many times on television, but she still didn’t know what to expect.
Gathering all the courage she had in her, and channeling some of her anger toward these bastards, she found the nerve to speak.
“Don’t you fucking move.” Her demand was met with a raspy chuckle, which only fueled her anger.
“Or what?” the man countered.
“I won’t hesitate to decorate that cabinet with pieces of your brain.” Lilly dug deep inside herself to find the most stern, threatening voice she had.
He chuckled again, but didn’t move. She smiled internally because her warning appeared to be working. For that, she was relieved because the last thing she wanted was blood on her hands. She was scarred enough from watching Cass kill two men in front of her. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she could pull the trigger if he did do something stupid.
“I’m going to remove this barrel from your head and I want you to replace it with both your hands, interlocking your fingers.”
“Oh yeah? That’s what you want me to do? Fuck you, bitch,” he spat, but didn’t move.
Lilly pressed the barrel as hard as she could into his head, his words only pissing her off further.
“I fucking said...” she gritted, moving forward to press her foot in the center of his back. “To put your hands here.” She pulled back and hit him with the barrel.
“Dammit,” he growled, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his head.
“I knew you’d come around to see it my way,” she purred.
“Again, fuck. You. Bitch.” He enunciated each word with hatred, pressing Lilly’s buttons. She pushed hard with the foot that was centered on his back until he was on the floor. She stood with her feet on either side of him, still aiming at the motherfucker’s head in case he got cocky.
He landed with an “oomf” before things got out of hand. He was laying flat on his stomach one minute, then the next he had grabbed her ankle and she was sitting on her ass looking up at what she could only guess was another “throw-away”. His dark blue eyes were sunken in and he had this empty, far-away look in his eyes.
Size was something that Lilly didn’t quite notice, but when he stood up, she saw just how big this guy was. It wasn’t that he was muscular, but more so that he was tall and broad. In fact, there wasn’t any muscle on him and he looked sickly. His arms were visible, and just like the others, he had track marks and bruising. Sitting there beneath him, she no longer felt like the badass that she thought she was moments before. The good thing was that, somehow, she had held onto the gun on her way to the ground. The bad thing was that he was in a position to easily gain the upper hand.
Lilly focused on her next move, because whatever it was going to be, it needed to be good. She hadn’t shot a gun in months, and she wasn’t that good at it. She didn’t understand the way “aim” worked because when she thought she was going to hit one spot, she hit the polar opposite.
What she did know was she didn’t want to kill this man, though she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if he got his hands on that gun. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the gun higher and pointed it at his head, hoping the look on her face was more deadly than terrified.
“I bet you’ve never even shot a gun before.” When he spoke, Lilly could see that he was missing most of his teeth and the ones he did have were either chipped or black.
“You willing to take that chance?” she asked, her eyes daring him to make a move all the while she prayed he wouldn’t. She didn’t want to take a chance on firing this damn thing.
As if by a miracle, she heard the sound of pipes wracking outside. They were here. She sighed in relief as the guy’s face distorted from confident to worried at the sound of motorcycles parking and engines being killed. Just like those engines, this guy would be next.
Panic crossed over his face and Lilly could see that he was debating on something when he lunged at her. She rolled to the right, swiftly moving the gun out of his reach but not moving herself out of the way. His body barreled into the left side of her, knocking her flat on the floor as a gunshot rang out.
“Cass!”
She screamed his name as loud as her voice would allow. She didn’t know where the gunshot had come from or who it hit, if it hit anyone. Her heart accelerated, and she was freaking out until she realized she had fired the gun in her hand in an effort to not let it go upon impact.
She looked toward where she had shot and exhaled a breath of relief at the hole in the wall that was on the back of the building. The man was up again in an instant and still trying to get the gun from her hands when Cass, Scott, and Snapper ran into the room.
Cass didn’t speak a word. He ran up behind the guy, pulled his shoulder to turn him around to face him, and began pummeling his fists into his face. Cass’s brows were furrowed deep, his breathing was rugged, and his mouth was in a set line.
A large hand wrapped around Lilly’s arm while another set on top of the hand that held Cass’s nine. She looked up to see Scott at her side, easing the gun from her firm grasp and helping her to her feet. He didn’t say anything, but led her out of the room. He shut the door behind him, leaving Snapper and Cass alone with their intruder. Lilly’s hand flew to her mouth and tears pooled in her eyes at what she saw. Old School was lying on the ground by the bar in a pool of blood. Thick, red trickles oozed slowly from his side.
Gater was kneeling next to him, holding his head up off the ground and Leo was behind the bar, rummaging through a first aid kit. She stared blankly down at someone she had grown closer to in the past few weeks and fought to maintain control of her emotions. He’s going to be okay. He has to be.
She didn’t find Clayton or Brock anywhere, though. Lilly felt a pair of eyes on her, then remembered Scott was still standing at her side. Looking up at him, his face was impassive, as usual. He always looked sort of angry or at the very least, agitated.
The last time she was attacked by the Moccasins, they were directly attacking her to get to Cass. Now, they didn’t seem to give a fuck one way or the other who it was they hurt, they were attacking the entire fucking club. Lilly seethed with fury the more she thought about what was going on.
These low-life, bottom of the barrel junkies were trying to kill Hounds because of a war that they started.
“This is bullshit,” she said, looking around the clubhouse.
“Yeah.” Scott’s one-word response let her know that he wasn’t going to say very much on the matter. He was like that sometimes when it came to club business. The front door to the clubhouse opened, catching her attention. In walked a man seemingly in his fifties, with metal-framed spectacles and a black suitcase-like bag. He was dressed in a normal T-shirt and blue jeans with black shoes. His face was grim as he approached Gater, who was still seated on the floor next to Old School.
Once the man knelt down and opened his bag, it was quite obvious he was the doctor. Unable to watch anymore, she turned away from the scene before her and walked to the other side of the room where there were a few tables set up next to a cigarette machine.
She’d been hanging out here so much, she knew where the key was for the machine and quickly undid it, grabbing a pack of menthols and a lighter from inside. She lit a cigarette and sat down in the chair closest to her.
When she slid her hand in her back pocket in search of her phone, she came up empty. It must have fallen out in the scuffle between her and that junkie Moccasin. There was no way she was getting her hands on it anytime soon, either. She imagined Cass and Snapper would be busy for a while with him, especially considering the condition they found Old School in when they came in.
That was a sight she wasn’t sad that she was missing out on. She could already picture the look Cass got that sent chills down her spine, and not the good kind of chills. He was a force to be reckoned with when someone messed with what was his. Almost on cue, she heard a howl echo from their meeting room. She almost laughed at it. He had come in here expecting things to go a completely different route, but now listen to him.
She was grateful that she didn’t have to be the one to kill him, though. She replayed the events of the evening in her head as she took one last pull from her cigarette then dabbed it out in the ashtray. Her mind traced over every detail, everything that she could or should have done differently. Sighing, she stood up from the table and headed upstairs.
The first thing on Lilly’s list of things to do was shower, and fuck did it feel good to get clean. She stood beneath the shower head, soaking in the steam and hot water that flowed onto her. She washed away all the bullshit, all the worries, all of everything that was unwelcome in her life. For only a few moments, she needed peace and tranquility and she was trying her damnedest to achieve it.
But, like anything else, it was short-lived. A knock on the bathroom door cut through the silence she was very much enjoying.
“Yeah?” She tried and failed to hide the irritation in her voice.
“Cass sent me up here. Said to tell you to pack your bags and get ready to leave.” Scott was on the other side of the door, barking out Cass’s orders.
She rolled her eyes. “Alright.”
Toweling off, she went straight to the closet and packed a bag. At least if they were leaving together, then she would get some sort of explanation on what the hell was going on. He had to have gained intel from the man in the meeting room.
Lilly dressed in jeans, her favorite black riding boots, and a cream-colored long sleeve shirt, just in case they were taking the bike. When packing, she made sure to roll her clothes up and conserve as much space as possible, throwing them into a small bag that would fit in the saddlebags if necessary.
Once she was ready, she grabbed her things and found everyone downstairs. Cass, Gater, Snapper, and Leo were sitting at the bar and Shorty was bartending. Old School was nowhere to be seen, nor was the doctor. All heads whipped in her direction as she approached the bar.
“Hey, baby.” Cass wrapped an arm around her lower back, pulling her into him from where he sat at the bar.
“Hi,” she whispered, kissing his temple.
“We’re gonna be leaving soon.”
“Okay, baby. Hey, do you have my phone?” she asked.
“Yeah, here. Gonna have to replace the screen, but it still works.” He handed her a broken phone as she set her things down in the chair beside her. Shorty approached their side of the bar and gave Lilly a questioning look. She nodded, knowing what he was asking. He was asking if she wanted a drink. Fuck yeah was more of the answer she wanted to give, but a simple nod would have to do for now.
The blood that was splattered on the floor before she went to shower had been cleaned up, but that view would stay burned into Lilly’s brain.
“Is Old School gonna be okay?” she asked. She wanted to know what happened, yet she didn’t at the same time. When Cass’s face fell, along with the others’ she got her answer.
Her heart shattered because she knew the only reason they would have such upset looks on their faces could only mean one thing. He wasn’t going to be okay.
“He was bleeding internally, and it was bad. The doctor gave him a sedative. Says he will pass sometime during the night, but he won’t be in pain.” Cass took a swig of his beer and set it down on the bar. A hint of a tear glistened in his eye for a second before he gained his composure and his face was stoic once again. Her heart hurt, not only for the loss of Old School, but for Cass’s loss.
Footsteps behind Lilly caught her attention and she spun around to find Scott nearing. Cass squeezed her side for reassurance. She turned back around to face the men that she now considered her family. Shorty had just set her drink down and she didn’t waste any time before she picked it up and took a sip.
The Crown Apple hit her stomach almost instantly, and it was then that she realized she hadn’t eaten all day. The guys were telling stories about Old School while Lilly sat there quietly. She listened to them talk of their memories of him as well as things they had only been told. Evidently his real name was Leslie, but no one would have dared call him that. He once hit one of his brother’s over the head with a pool stick because he had warned him continuously not to call him by his first name and the guy did it anyway, so Old School broke the pool stick across his forehead and split it open. He ended up with eighteen stitches and became an example of why you didn’t call him Leslie.
Lilly laughed at the thought of Old School being so ruthless when he was always so kind to her.
“The first day I met him, he hit on Carrie and told her that she’d look better with a patch than a prospect,” Leo chuckled.
“Sounds like some shit he’d say. He was a sucker for the ladies. I bet you back in his heyday, he’d have stolen any one of our ol’ ladies,” Cass said, pulling at Lilly’s hip. The smile he wore was not that of a happy man. It was one of a hurt man, a hurt man who was smiling to keep from breaking down. She’d never seen this side of Cass and it was strange to her. Lilly was used to a happy Cass, hell lately she’d even gotten used to an angry one, but this? This was different, and she didn’t know how to handle it. She decided she’d do the only thing she knew how, and that was to leave him be, let him reminisce with his brothers.
“I’m gonna go call Mindy,” she whispered to him, excusing herself from their conversation. She grabbed her phone then dug her cigarettes and lighter out of the bag she had packed and stepped outside the front door of the clubhouse. The temperature had dropped since yesterday and she got a chill when the cool air brushed against her skin.
She plucked a cigarette from the pack and lit it, enjoying every second of the nicotine coursing through her. The first drag of a cigarette was always the best for her. It eased her mind and enabled her to relax. Unlocking her phone, she found another missed call from her mom. She felt like such an ass for not returning her calls, but right now wasn’t the time. She set a reminder for tomorrow at noon to give her mom a call before she dialed Mindy’s cell. On the third ring, Mindy’s voice rasped into the phone.
“Hey, love.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t. I was just cat-napping anyway. You’re an ass, by the way.”
“Me? Why?”
“You left this morning without saying bye. Linc was pissed when he woke up, too.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t sit there any longer, though. You know hospitals drive me crazy.”
“I know. What happened at the clubhouse today?”
“Umm…” Lilly trailed off. She didn’t want to worry Mindy with shit going on that didn’t have any bearing on what was going on with her. She needed to focus on getting better and getting out of the hospital, not these jackasses that presented a danger to people she cared about.
“I heard Linc on the phone earlier, you may as well just tell me.”
“What’d you hear?”
“Mostly him cursing. Something about those fucking Moccasins. His words, not mine. Oh, and he said something about them fucking with the wrong people.”
“Two of their junkies came to the clubhouse today trying to start shit, but it’s handled now.”
“Oh. Well why didn’t you just say so?” she asked, as if that were silly to withhold from her.
Lilly laughed at her. “I don’t know. I don’t want you worrying, I guess. Mainly because I’m worrying enough for the both of us. I’m worried about you, I’m worried about the bullshit. It doesn’t need to consume us both.”
“You go ahead and worry about the heavy shit, I’m gonna sit here in this hospital bed and worry about this shit they’re trying to call food. Seriously, it’s gross. I need a damn cheeseburger and French fries or something. Something that has flavor!”
Lilly pictured Mindy waving her hands around as she spoke for emphasis.
“You’re waving your hands around right now, aren’t you?”
Mindy burst out laughing. “I might be.”
The sound of the door opening caused Lilly to turn around. Cass emerged from the doorway, her bag in hand and pointed toward the bike. She nodded before telling Mindy she had to go but would call her later and hung up.
Cass was closing the lid to the saddlebag when Lilly walked up. She wrapped her arms around his waist, locking her fingers together and resting her chin on his shoulder as he reached for his helmet. He stopped, mid-reach, and leaned his head on hers.
“Where are we going?” she asked, curious.
“Home.” One word. One fucking word that may as well have been an extravagant display of fireworks bursting through the sky. Excitement coursed through her. She kissed his cheek and squealed a little.
He laughed and patted her hands. She quickly unwound them from around his waist and put her helmet on. She was ready to see what home looked like. She had almost forgotten about his impromptu question at the beach. With everything else going on in their life, it slipped her mind.
Between rushing home from Gulfport, worrying about Mindy, then the events of tonight, Lilly hadn’t thought about much of anything outside of chaos.
Cass was seated on the bike waiting for her. She hopped on, eager to see where he was going to take her. The roar of the engine made Lilly’s heart rate quicken. She was ready for a ride, just her and Cass, headed for solitude. She had enjoyed being at the clubhouse, but she was ready for the next chapter in her life with Cass. One without so much chaos.
Lilly leaned back on the sissy bar and rested her hands on her thighs. They were out of the driveway and on the road when Lilly realized just how cool it was outside. The thin material of her long sleeve shirt didn’t do much to keep her warm. She was silently kicking herself in the ass for not grabbing a light jacket.
No matter how cold it was, though, it wouldn’t put a damper on her mood. She was finally going to have a place that she could call home. A place with just her and him. A taste of normalcy. Lilly paid careful attention to the turns they were making and read every road sign that they turned on, recording it to memory.
They were on an old back road that had just been redone. The asphalt was dark, and the lines were fresh. Traffic on the road was average, but Cass easily passed multiple cars that were going less than the speed limit. They wound around curves left and right while Lilly sat back there, listening to the radio and the wind. She tapped out the beats to different songs on Cass’s back as they played.
The first time she had done that, he craned his neck to look at her, but he was used to it now and didn’t pay her any attention. At the end of the back road, they turned right onto a main highway that took them into a small town outside of Hammond.
They came to a red-light, and Cass turned left then right into the parking lot of a small café. He killed the bike and unstrapped his helmet. Lilly steadied herself with his shoulders the way she did every time and stepped off. He followed suit just as she set her helmet down on the seat. His foot connected with it, sending it flying off just as quickly as she had set it on there.
She went and retrieved it from where it stopped and set it back on the seat.
“I always forget that you have to get off the same way I do,” she said.
He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s one thing I do have to do like you.”
“You get hungry?”
“Kinda. I stopped for you, though. I heard your stomach rumbling at the clubhouse before we left and this place has the best food there is.”
“Awe, baby. You’re so damn sweet.” She wrapped her arms around him and leaned up to kiss his cheek.
“I try,” he grinned and grabbed her hand, leading her to the entry.
The café was small, but relatively busy. Busier than Lilly thought it would be. The building was a faded shade of pink with “Juanita’s” painted across the side of it in faded black lettering. There were small tables inside scattered throughout with a small bar that sat three people and had a television directly above it.
There was a large opening at the counter to place your order and behind it stood a young girl. She looked to be in her teens, still in high school. She wore her brown hair in a messy bun and smiled at them nervously, revealing the braces on her teeth.
“Welcome to Juanita’s. What can I get for y’all?”
Cass looked at Lilly in question. Lilly scanned the menu. “Go ahead and order. It will force me to pick something.”
Cass ordered a double bacon cheeseburger and gravy fries before looking at Lilly again. She was going to get the same thing, but she saw hamburger steak on the menu and that sold her.
“I’ll take a hamburger steak dinner. Can I have rice and gravy instead of a salad and fries?”
“Umm. I...I think so,” the girl said, looking to her left behind the wall where Lilly and Cass couldn’t see. She waved in her direction.
“Hold on just a sec,” she said, walking off. She returned quickly, writing something down.
“That’s not a problem. Is that all for y’all?” she asked.
“You didn’t bring your imaginary friend, did you?” Cass asked.
Lilly’s jaw dropped along with the young girl’s.
“Uh...I...” Lilly stammered, unsure of how to respond to him. Her face instantly flushed and she just knew her cheek were giving away her embarrassment.
“I think she left her at home, so that should be all,” he said, as if he were talking about any other normal thing.
The young girl rang up their ticket and Cass paid while Lilly picked a booth for them to sit in. Cass snickered when he sat down at the booth.
“You should’ve seen the look on your face,” he laughed.
“That was mean!” She slapped his arm, jokingly.
“So, did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Bring your imaginary friend?”
She tried to keep a straight face, but he was charming and she couldn’t fight it. Her façade came crashing down and she fell into a fit of giggles.
The young girl walked out with their drinks and set them on the table. She awkwardly walked away while Lilly and Cass caught their breath.
“I needed this.” Lilly reached across the table and grabbed Cass’s hand.
“Good. I’m glad I could help. But, if you think this made you feel better, just wait.”
Lilly was waiting. She was beyond excited to see his house. Before she let herself get caught up in thoughts of what it could look like or what they could do to it to make it hers, too, she remembered she had a question.
“Where are Clayton and Brock? They didn’t leave did they?”
“They had something to take care of today. They’ll be back around tomorrow. No, baby. Don’t worry, neither one of them is going to leave without saying goodbye to you.” He rubbed his thumb over her hand back and forth in a soothing motion.
Their food was at their table within ten minutes and Cass was right. The food there was delicious. That was the best hamburger steak Lilly could remember having. Either that, or it only tasted so damn good because she was starving half to death and couldn’t remember the last time she ate. They finished their meal quickly and were back on the road.
Fifteen minutes later, after they went through the outskirts of Hammond and made umpteen turns, they finally ended up in a nice subdivision that was small and spread out. Lilly was looking around at the small, homey-looking homes with their pretty front yards and beautiful brick frontings. Then, she saw it. The only house in the subdivision that was gawk-worthy. It was dark, no lights shone from inside and there weren’t any vehicles in the driveway. Cass turned into that driveway.
Lilly was trying to pick her jaw up off the concrete when Cass pulled into a large, open carport and killed the engine. A motion light kicked on, allowing Lilly to see.
“Let’s go check it out. What do you say?”
Lilly hopped off and undid her helmet. Cass got off and she lay her helmet on the seat. She was speechless and in awe of the beauty. He grabbed her hand and led her around to the front yard. The house was solid white with dark shutters. It was hard to tell whether they were blue or black with how dark it was outside. For Lilly, it had a modern-day plantation feel to it without the actual plantation to go with it. Multiple medium-sized trees lined the roadside, giving them a good bit of privacy.
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” Cass said, jogging towards the front door. Ten seconds later, the entire front of the house was lit up. Lilly stared in awe of the beautiful home that sat in front of her. She watched as Cass walked toward her from the house, falling more in love with him every second.
“This is your house?” she asked when he made it back to where she stood.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and looked down at her. “No, baby. This is our house. I just bought it…for you.”