Page 43 of Ride or Dies

Heat flooded my face and I looked down at the table, twisting the edge of the napkin in front of me.

“I know you were with Tucker when I called,” she said. “But Mason and Levi didn’t seem mad. Does that mean you chose Tucker and they’re all okay with it, or what?”

Shit. We hadn’t talked about how we were going to explain things to people. Hell, I didn’t know if they even planned on this being anything that we’d need to explain.

“Evie, excuse me.”

I breathed a sigh of relief as RJ came over.

“I was wondering if I could ask a huge favor.”

“What is it?” I suspected I knew what it was, and under other circumstances, I might’ve refused, but right now I needed something to keep Jenna and me from having an awkward conversation.

“Do you think you could do a couple songs?” He glanced up at the stage where Clayton was ending his second song. “Maybe ‘Kentucky Sky’ and something else? It’d really help get some good publicity for the bar.”

“I’d be happy to,” I said with a smile. “When will Clayton be finishing up?”

“He’s here all the time,” RJ said. “I’ll just have him take a break and we can get you right up there.”

“I’ll have to do it a capella,” I said. “I don’t have my guitar with me.”

“Not a problem,” RJ assured me. “The one Clayton’s using is actually mine. It’s pretty cheap, but it works just fine. I bought it after he kept forgetting his.”

“Perfect.”

As RJ headed for the stage, I looked at Jenna, who seemed more amused than annoyed by the interruption.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “We can finish this conversation later.”

“What the hell, RJ?”

Clayton’s voice carried over to us and he clearly wasn’t happy. I stood up, hoping to smooth things over, maybe by suggesting that we do a duet or something like that. Before I could take more than a couple steps in the direction of the stage, Clayton stormed off, slamming down the guitar hard enough to make me wince.

RJ gave a slightly nervous laugh as he reached for the mic. “Sorry about that, folks. Just a little misunderstanding.” He gestured toward me. “We have a treat for you this evening. You know her as one of country’s hottest stars, but she’s actually a Bedford native. Please give a warm Rocky’s welcome to Evelyn Hayes.”

Everyone clapped as I walked up on the stage and picked up the guitar. A lot of musicians got their starts in their hometowns, playing local bars and parties and that sort of thing, but I wasn’t one of them. The only place I played back then was my bedroom, or for Jenna, so it was strange for me to face an audience of two or three dozen people who’d never looked twice at me before I hit it big.

“Good evening, ya’ll,” I said as I settled onto the stool. “Like RJ said, I’m Evelyn Hayes, and I grew up here in Bedford. In fact, I wrote my very first number one song not too far from here. I’d like to play it for you.”

I strummed a bit, fiddled with two of the strings, and then started in on my best-known song. I’d performed it enough times that it was practically second nature, giving me the chance to relax into playing for an audience again. The applause was warm and genuine as I finished the song, warming me in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time. I smiled as I transitioned into a second song, another popular one—a song that described how I had felt going from who I’d been here in Bedford to who I was elsewhere.

I’d just started the chorus for the first time when I heard the loud roar of more than one motorcycle. My eyes were drawn to the window, a part of me hoping I’d see the Bradshaw brothers driving by even though I knew that much noise meant probably six or seven bikes, not three.

I barely had time to register that the first biker was pulling something out of his waistband before the first gunshots cracked the window and all hell broke loose.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Levi

“Please tell me I’m not the only one who’d like to see the two of them hog-tied, naked, covered with honey, on an anthill,” Mason said as we left the hotel room and headed for our rides.

“That’s an oddly specific image,” Tucker said with a laugh.

Mason shrugged. “What can I say? I get creative when people piss me off.”

I rolled my eyes as my phone rang. A glance at the screen told me Judge was calling, and I had a sudden stab of fear that something had happened to Evie.

“Hey, Judge.” I was surprised at how even I managed to keep my voice.

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