Lucky's Choice
Page 2

 “I just asked if anyone had seen anything, Leanne. Maybe one of you put the other up to doing it?”
 A firestorm was unleashed at his words.
 “We don’t put each other up to doing stuff that will get us in trouble!” Sissy snapped. The oldest girl, at seventeen, had been hit the hardest by her mother’s death.
 Lucky guiltily admitted to himself that he was wrong. This wasn’t a prank a kid would play.
 “What does the word mean?” Charlie, the eight-year-old, questioned as he held his younger sister Caroline’s hand while his other sister, Chrissy, stared at him, sucking her thumb.
 The three younger children Willa was fostering were Lewis’s, Georgia’s brother, who had also been raising his nieces after her death. Lewis had been determined to marry Willa to help care for his large family. The sick bastard had gotten his wish; he just wasn’t around to benefit from it. Willa had shot and killed him when he had come to her house in a rage and attacked not only her but also Rachel, who had tried to help her.
 “It means that Pastor Dean isn’t acting like a pastor anymore.” Sissy smirked at him.
 Lucky knew her age and recent difficulties were responsible for her attitude, but it didn’t keep him from snarling back at her. “You have a problem with me, Sissy?”
 “I have a problem with you treating Willa the way you just did.”
 “Willa needs to learn to take up for herself. She doesn’t need another person taking up for her. Certainly not a seventeen-year-old.”
 Caroline’s foot kicked out, striking him in the leg.
 “Stop it!” Lucky had long since lost control of the embarrassing situation.
 He noticed Shade was parking his bike on the street as Willa rushed out of the house. Great, all he needed was an audience to his embarrassment.
 “You a-hole!” Sissy yelled.
 “Sissy!” Willa moved between Lucky and the girl, handing Lucky a towel and a plastic bottle.
 “What am I supposed to do with this?” Lucky snapped, staring at the items in his hand.
 “I thought you could use them to clean it off.” Willa pointed at his bike.
 Shade got off his bike, moving to Lucky’s motorcycle, while Willa grabbed the items back from Lucky’s hands.
 “I’ll clean it for you.” Willa was about to spray the words with the cleaning solution when Shade stopped her.
 “What happened?”
 “Lucky thinks one of the children or I did this while he was inside Jenna’s house. I told him they didn’t, that they were playing in the backyard, but he doesn’t believe me.” Willa’s lashes blinked furiously, trying to hold back the tears brimming in her eyes.
 Lucky was now flushing a guilty shade of red as Shade stared back at him angrily.
 “I didn’t say they did. They”—Lucky pointed at Charlie and Sissy—“were both out front when I came outside, and Willa was going inside her house when I got here two hours ago. I was just trying to ask if they had seen who did it.”
 “That wasn’t the way it sounded to me,” Willa said.
 “Then I’m sorry.” Lucky pointed at his bike. “I was just angry when I saw that. Maybe I overreacted.”
 Willa ignored his apology, again moving to clean the word written across the entire frame of Lucky’s bike.
 “Don’t touch it, Willa.” Shade stopped her. “I’m going to call Knox and get him to come take pictures and see if he can find any prints.”
 A frightened look came to her eyes as she stared at the children behind his back. “That’s not necessary. I can pay for the damages.”
 “Why would you pay for something you’re not responsible for?” Lucky snapped.
 Willa always worried about others more than herself.
 “I don’t want you thinking we did it. There’s no need for a police report.”
 “I’ll take care of it,” Lucky said as the front door of Jenna’s house opened and she walked out, dressed in her uniform of a short, black skirt and a red, silky blouse. She used to work at Mick’s until King’s new restaurant opened, and then she had been hired to work there. He wished she didn’t have to leave for work; he didn’t need her putting her two cents in to make Willa feel even worse.
 “I thought you left,” Jenna said, coming to Lucky’s side and placing an arm around his waist.
 “I was side-tracked,” Lucky replied without moving away. He had already put her in her place before he had left her house. However, if Evie was right about Willa having a thing for him, then it was kinder to let her know she wasn’t his type by showing who was.
 That plan kind of backfired, though, and Lucky cursed himself when a hurt look flashed briefly across Willa’s face.
 “Who…?” Jenna finally noticed the bike sitting in her driveway then looked accusingly at the children. “You fucking brats. You need to have the—”
 “Shut up, Jenna!” Lucky interrupted. “They didn’t do it.”
 “Then who?” Her eyes went to Willa. “You jealous bitch.” Her hand flew out, smacking Willa across the face before Lucky or Shade could stop her.
 Willa cried out, her hand going to her cheek. Lucky grabbed Jenna back while Shade stepped forward, fury storming through his eyes at Jenna’s unnecessary violence toward Willa.
 “Go to work, Jenna. I’ll deal with you later,” Lucky said harshly.
 Jenna paled as Lucky let go of her roughly, causing her to stumble. Nodding her head, she went to her car and got inside, but not without shooting a retributive look toward Willa as she drove away.
 “If she touches Willa again, we’re going to have a problem,” Shade warned. “She’s a friend of Lily’s.”
 Lucky didn’t need Shade’s warning; he planned to deal with Jenna himself when she got off work.
 “I’ll talk to her tonight,” Lucky promised before reaching out to pry Willa’s hand away from her face, but Willa jerked away from his touch.
 “Since you don’t want my help cleaning the paint off, there’s no need for us to be here. Shade, go ahead and call Knox. I’ll talk to him when he comes. Let’s go, kids.” Willa bustled the kids inside her house, the flaming red handprint on her cheek standing out starkly.
 Lucky winced at the sound of her front door closing. Any other woman would have slammed it shut, yet the quiet sound of the door closing was a testament to the embarrassment the woman had just suffered. Not only did he feel like an ass, but Shade had been there to witness the fuck-up.
 “Don’t say a fucking thing,” Lucky warned between clenched teeth.
 Shade remained silent as he took out his phone, calling Knox and asking him to come to Jenna’s house.
 Willa was hurt, Shade was pissed off, and his bike was going to have to be repainted. His afternoon fuck session with Jenna hadn’t been worth any of the hassle.
 As soon as he hung up, he told Lucky, “I have to get back to the hospital.” Then he slid the phone back into his pocket and nodded at Willa’s house where the two older girls were staring out the curtained windows. “You going to send Knox over there?”