Page 193 of Moon's Promise

Imitating him, she stood like him. “If you’re waiting for an apology, you’re not going to get it.” She kept her voice low even though Moon had closed their door. She was done letting him see how much she cared about him riding with Saffron. “I’m the one who deserves an apology.”

Conflicting emotions crossed his face. “You had no business being on Jesus’ bike, or any motorcycle for that matter,” he stated calmly.

“Why not?” She raised her hands in defeat at what he’d said. “You certainly weren’t going to take me.”

Moon nodded. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Why?” Hurt that he refused to let her ride with him while he let another do so sliced through her. It showed he was never going to share the more important parts of his life with her. “You don’t want people in town seeing us together?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. People see us together when we go out,” he argued back.

“We haven’t gone out together since Jace was born. Are you with Saffron and you don’t want to tell me because of Jace?”

Moon raked a hand through his hair. “Larissa, there are parts of the club I can’t discuss with you. Saffron being on my bike today is one of them.”

“What in the heck does that mean?”

“Club business is kept private.”

“So, you’re not allowed to tell me?”

“No.”

“Does it go for all of the women or just me?”

“The rest of the women belong to the club.”

“And I don’t?”

“No.”

“I see.” Her crossed arms dropped to her waist. Turning, she stared down at the nightgown dangling from her hand.

“I don’t think you do.”

Hearing his frustrated sigh only heightened her awareness that Moon would never let her into his world, that he only wanted to allow her into a small part of his life, and she wouldn’t have been allowed in at all if she hadn’t gotten pregnant with Jace.

“All the women are Last Riders. They attend church meetings, are willing to accept the rules of the club, and when they break the rules, they accept the punishment.”

Listening, Larissa turned back to face him.

“They accept that Viper has the final say-so over our lives as long as we belong to the club,” Moon continued. “They keep their mouths shut with whatever goes down because they know if one falls, we all fall.” Moon paused.

Letting him talk without interrupting to ask questions was hard, but he was filling her in on some of the blanks she’d been wondering about. When he paused, she could tell he was debating leaving out something, but when his eyes met hers, she mentally prepared herself. Something told her that she wasn’t going to like what he was about to tell her.

“To become a Last Rider, there are certain requirements. The men have to fight six of the original members.”

Thank goodness she wasn’t a man, was all she could think. She had seen most of The Last Riders; she could imagine the damage having to fight so many would cause.

“There are also requirements for the women to become members.”

Was she willing to fight six women for the right to become a Last Rider? Maybe, she mused, if one of those women was kissy face Saffron.

She straightened to her full height to show him that she wasn’t scared, which she was, but she didn’t want him to know. Would they give her time to take fighting lessons?

“How many women would I have to fight?” she asked with more confidence than she felt.

“You don’t have to fight any women. Actually, fighting between the women is prohibited. They could get thrown out.”

---