Chapter Eight

BISHOP

"My foster parents already got their last check," Rafe explained, strumming his fingers on my table. His knuckles were bruised, a couple of them broken and bleeding—a clear sign he'd been taking out his anger and frustration on someone or something. "I'm eighteen next week, and they said I need to find somewhere else to go by next weekend."

That was it.

They'd kick Rafe out and replace him with another kid. In and out like a revolving door.

"I want this. I want to be a part of the club," Rafe insisted, sitting a little taller. "I've never been a part of anything, nothing important anyway. Never had a family who gave a shit. Never had people who wanted to have my back and fight for me."

Blue stood against the wall behind him, watching the kid plead his case. It was obvious my sergeant at arms had given him the rundown on what the club was and what we stood for, and he saw something in Rafe he believed would be an asset to the club. The kid had fight, not just physically but deep within him.

And while I hadn't been able to spend the time with the kid to get to know him, I trusted Blue with my life. I trusted his instincts.

He and I were both brought into the club by Rook. We'd both lived and learned the club life from a man who embodied what it meant to be a part of a brotherhood you may not have been born into. Rook showed us more love and respect than either of our fathers ever had, and I was sure Rafe was looking for someone to do the same for him.

Unfortunately, I'd had the boys so focused on finding this girl I hadn't had time to call church and see what the rest of my brothers thought about inviting Rafe to prospect. Still, I also didn't want the kid to end up living on the fucking street.

"You need to understand something, so listen very fucking clearly." I tapped the patch on the left side of my chest.

EFFE.

Exiled Forever. Forever Exiled.

"This here. It means if you want in, you want in for life. Not for now, not for a while, not until you figure out what you want to do with your future."

He nodded sharply. "I understand that."

"You're going to be pushed to your limits," Blue added, walking around to stand at the end of the table. "Prospecting is a year minimum before the club will even consider inviting you to patch in. That's a year of washing your brother's rides, getting them drinks, running their old ladies around, babysitting if you fucking have to. It's all about proving that you're willing to go through all that bullshit and work hard for your place. Your brothers need to feel like they can trust and rely on you."

I watched the kid carefully as Blue spoke, looking for any sign of apprehension.

But he stared directly at me. No flinching. No screwing up his nose at the idea of having to be the club's bitch.

"I'm willing to put in the time to earn everyone's trust. I'm a hard worker and don't mind starting at the bottom."

My chair scraped the wooden floors as I pushed it back and got to my feet. "Good. Because once you prove yourself and your loyalty to these men and get that patch, there is nothing these men won't do for you. This brotherhood is second to none. Our family… the fucking strongest. You just have to earn your place in it."

Rafe swallowed hard and got to his feet. "I won't disappoint either of you."

I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was a little after six o'clock, and I needed to get moving. "I'm heading out with Hawk soon," I told Blue as I grabbed my cell phone and keys from the kitchen counter. Both men followed me toward the front door. "We'll do the vote at church in a week."

The three of us walked down the front stairs to where Blue's old truck sat next to my Harley. They climbed in, and I stepped up to Blue's window. "In the next week, you need to get him introduced to all the boys, make sure he gets to know them, so when we vote next week, no one has a reason to be unsure that he deserves this chance."

Blue nodded and started the engine. "I'll get on it, Prez."

I followed them down the driveway as he backed out onto the road, his shitty fucking truck leaving a cloud of smoke billowing as he pulled off down the street. It was an old Chevy and Blue's pride and joy. He'd built it from scratch, but it still needed a lot of work.

Swiping my hand in front of my face to try and get some fresh air, I walked across the road to Hawk and Missy's house. It was the fourth night since Evan Hersh had walked into the bar and asked me to find his daughter. We'd had men out for a few hours every night since then, and we still had no fucking leads.

I couldn't waste my time on the search forever when no one was even talking, not a soul recognizing her or at least not that they wanted to say so.

I had to consider that she could already be dead, or there was a hell of a lot more to this story that we hadn't been told. Both options had me concerned.

Hawk sat on his front steps, a beer in his hand as he watched me approach. "You ready to go or what?"

"We're gonna have to wait ten minutes or so," he said as I leaned against the banister at the bottom and kicked one ankle over the other. "Missy got called in for a shift, and Kadey's babysitter wasn't available."

"You call Whip or Boon to come look after her?"

Those two were our current prospects.

Whip's year would be up in a couple of months, and I anticipated he'd patch straight in with no issues. The kid was smart—street and book. Boon was a little newer, about halfway through his prospecting time and still needed a bit of work.

And a lot of common sense.

Hawk shook his head and nodded to the street just as Calli's car pulled in and parked at the curb—not Calli's car, Shay's car. At least, it was while Calli was away. "Shay texted Missy a couple of days ago and said she'd take any extra hours behind the bar or doing whatever 'cause she needed the money. So she's here to babysit."

Calli and Shay had helped out at the bar a handful of times since they moved up from Pennsylvania, mostly when there were large sporting events, and we were run off our feet.

Nurses weren't paid near what they deserved, but I knew she was at least making above average. Was she having problems with debt? Bills?

Did she have some secret addiction that was sucking it all away?

"Hey." Shay trudged up the driveway, a backpack tossed over her shoulder. "Sorry I took so long. I got here as quick as I could."

"Don't be sorry. I'm the one who called with no notice," Hawk told her as he got to his feet, tilting his beer vertically to get the last few drops out of the bottle. "I'm just gonna say bye to Kadey, then I'll be ready to head out."

He ducked back inside, and Shay paused beside me at the bottom of the stairs, dumping her backpack on the steps with a hard thud.

"The fuck do you have in there? Bricks?" I questioned with one brow raised. "You and Kadey planning some kind of smash-and-grab I should be aware of?"

Still slightly out of breath from carrying whatever was in there up the driveway, she let out an airy laugh and took a seat on the staircase. "Yeah. We're going to hit the CVS and steal all the feminine hygiene products."

I swear this woman surprised me with something new every time I saw her. "That's an interesting choice."

"Then we're gonna drive down Main Street, tossing them out the window like modern-day Robin Hoods. Steal from the rich, give to the women!"

I couldn't hold back my smile. Her enthusiasm, though completely overdramatized, was infectious. "While your crusade is admirable, getting Kadey's criminal record started early is not something I'm sure her mother will be on board with."

She sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth. "Yeah, maybe you're right. And Missy is pretty damn scary." She reached over and unzipped the bag, holding it open so I could see the weights piled inside. "Lucky my backup plan is just to finish the workout I was doing when Hawk called and asked me to come over."

That explained the sports bra and matching shorts she was wearing. The navy-colored set left little to the imagination, though mine still ran fucking wild, wondering if her porcelain skin was just as soft and silky as it looked.

"I know, I know," she started as her long hair caught the breeze and whipped around her face. She struggled to tame it, gathering it in her hands and pulling it up onto her head. "I rushed out of the house without thinking about what I was wearing."

She'd caught my eyes roaming.

Not that I'd tried to hide it, but when it came to Shay, my self-control had recently begun throwing itself out the window. Fighting a pull toward someone who was so fucking beautiful but so off-limits had me constantly wanting to kick myself in the balls or shoot myself in the foot just to give me a different pain to focus on.

Shay pulled a ponytail holder from her wrist and wrapped it around her hair, finally forcing the mess into submission. "And to top it off, I forgot to grab a sweatshirt and promised Kadey I'd take her to putt putt."

Without thinking, I shrugged my club cut off my shoulders. "Here."

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "I didn't mean—"

"Come here," I demanded again, hanging my cut over the banister while I pulled my hoodie over my head. The club colors were branded across the back, and a slogan on the front read, Support your local Exiled Eight MC.

There were very few people in the world I would take off my colors for, but the thought of seeing her wrapped up in clothing with the club's name and logo branded across it had me hauling them off before I even had the chance to consider what I was doing.

Shay got to her feet, and I scrunched the material in my hands, pulling it over her head. When she had her arms through the sleeves, I let it go, and it practically swallowed her, falling to her knees. Although the hood hung over her face, I saw her smile grow as she pulled the long sleeves down over her hands and wrapped her arms around her body.

This was the Shay I was used to.

Constantly hiding inside oversized hoodies. T-shirts, and loose-fitting scrubs. And not because she wasn't confident about her body—the skimpy workout shit she'd shown up here in proved that—but because she prioritized comfort over impressing anyone. She wasn't walking around with her tits and ass out to get attention. She was secure in who she was, and honestly, that was the second most attractive thing about her.

The first was how fucking good she looked wearing my club's colors on her body.

Goddamn.

"Thanks," she said, finally tilting her head back to look up at me from beneath the hood. "Though, you better be prepared not to get this back. I've been eyeing Calli's for a while, but she refused to share."

"Keep it," I told her with a shrug, reaching out and pushing the hood so it fell away from her face, hating the way it shadowed her eyes. "Looks better on you anyway."

When her lips fell apart and she leaned in, I fought my body's urge to linger and allow her to close the space between us, instead forcing myself to step back. The sparks had been flying since the day we met, but so far, we'd managed to keep them from starting a fire. We both knew the risks if that happened. I'm sure we both felt that deep dread, knowing that we weren't the only ones in this who risked getting burned if we couldn't control it.

Yet, moments like these continued to add fuel, making it harder to keep the insidious embers at bay.

I reached for my cut, pulling it on over my black T-shirt. I was going to freeze my ass off while we were in the city later, but maybe that was a good thing.

A reminder that next time, I shouldn't surrender to temptation.

Nothing good could come of it.

Only opportunities for people to get hurt.

And neither of us wanted that.

So I needed to get back in fucking control. I took a couple of steps back down the driveway. "Can you let Hawk know I'm gonna grab my ride? I'll meet him at the end of the driveway."

"Bishop?"

"Mm?"

"Have you found that girl yet?"

"Not yet," I admitted, still moving as I heard Hawk's footsteps within the house. "We're working on it."

Her shoulders slumped a little, and she nodded. "Well, just be careful."

"We will," I agreed with a nod. "You and Kadey keep out of trouble tonight. Don't get arrested."

Her face instantly changed, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "Guess we can save those plans for another night."

Honestly, with this woman's tenacity and determination, I wasn't sure if she was actually joking. I laughed anyway because it didn't matter.

I'd still be her fucking getaway driver.