Tanner (Dirty Misfits MC Book 5), page 11
“Ugh, Mom. He’s so awesome. You should date him.”
Summer gasped. “Chey!”
“Well, I’m just saying! I’m tired of seeing you alone. It’s dumb. I don’t like being alone, so you shouldn't either.”
I peered over at Summer and watched her eyes gaze out the passenger window. I’d never seen her without a response. Summer was always the one to get the last word in. But as she sat there—unwilling to rebuttal her daughter—so many things clicked into place. So, I let the silence ride itself out as we inched our way down the highway.
That was, until I got a call from Brooks just as we cruised into town.
“This is Tanner,” I said.
Summer looked over at me. “Everything okay?”
I shrugged as Brooks rattled off in my ear. “You two get back as quickly as you can. Have you dropped off your daughter yet?”
“No, we haven’t. What’s going on?”
Summer’s face filled with worry while Chey played on some sort of gaming device in the back seat.
“Well, me and the rest of the guys rolled out to The Body Shop. We figured we’d take the distraction to them. The plan was to set off a couple of dumpster fire explosions and let them scramble for a while after cutting their phone lines. But Finn was made and a shootout started.”
My eyes widened. “Is everyone all right? What happened? Are you guys back at the—”
“Simmer down and shut up, dude. We’re good. Everyone’s fine. But the damage will have them scrambling for a while, and now their sights are on us. Right now, we’ve all split up and are just riding around town, keeping them occupied. But we won’t be able to do it all night.”
I nodded. “I read you loud and clear.”
Chey gasped. “There’s Auntie Sloane! There she is!”
A woman waved us down and cleared my throat. “Gotta go. I’ll hit you up when we’re about halfway back.”
“Don’t worry. Porter’s keeping me updated. Just drive like a hellion when you head back.”
I grinned. “Can do.”
“Good. See you tonight.”
“See you soon.”
I wasn’t sure if Sloane would even recognize me, but when we pulled up to her townhome, her eyes connected with mine. She glared at me as Chey ran into her arms, and she didn’t tear her eyes away from me until her and Chey headed back into her place.
And if Summer saw the look her sister gave me, she hid her reaction very well as she slipped back into the car.
“Ready to head out?” she asked.
I peeked in my rearview mirror and found the guys perched underneath a shade tree at the back of the lot.
“Ready when you are,” I murmured.
Summer buckled in. “Great. Then, let’s get out of here. I’m starving, so can we stop and get food through a drive-thru or something before getting back on the highway?”
I stared forward and saw Sloane piercing me with a deadly look through her window.
“Yeah, we can go get food,” I murmured.
Then, I put the car in reverse and headed out of the complex. Leaving Chey behind, even though every single part of my being wanted to stay with her and make sure she was safe myself.
Eighteen
Summer
After driving through one of my favorite fast food places, I took a massive bite of my burger wrap and chewed as quickly as I could. I’d been so nervous on the ride down that I hadn’t even thought about eating. But once we dropped Chey off and I knew she was with the safest person I knew, all I could think about was a juicy burger wrap with sweet potato fries and a gigantic banana-mocha shake.
But Tanner hadn’t spoken since we left my sister’s forty-five minutes ago.
“You okay?” I asked as I wiped my mouth off with a napkin.
I watched him slurp on his shake. “Sloane still doesn't like me, does she?”
I blinked. “What are you talking about? She’s never not liked you.”
He snickered. “The look she gave me through the windshield could’ve killed me had it had the power to.”
“Really? I didn’t even notice.”
He sighed. “Summer.”
I rolled my eyes. “All right, all right. No, she’s never really been a fan of yours. But that’s only because she thinks you’re the reason our family fell apart.”
He balked. “What the fuck!? Are you kidding me? I’m nowhere near responsible for that shit. That’s on your parents and your parents alone.”
“Trust me, I know. But she was young when everything happened. She was only fifteen when I left home. She was the only person that knew I was heading out, and she did everything she could to stop me.”
He took my hand. “Is she okay?”
I leaned back and shrugged. “I don't know. She’s on a good path now, but I kept up with her when I left home. She rebelled a lot after I left. Got in with the wrong crowd. Got herself into so much trouble that she almost finished out her high school career in juvie.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t even sound like Sloane.”
“Right!? But you have to look at it from a fifteen-year-old perspective. I tried to protect her and shelter her from the wrath of Mom and Dad a lot. So, whenever she did experience their anger and hatred, she assumed it was only her being punished. To this day, she’s got no idea what I threw myself in front of most days, so when I left, she saw it as me spitting in the face of the family because of you.”
“So, she doesn’t know that you didn’t leave with me.”
I swallowed hard. “No. Telling her that would mean telling her everything, and I guess over the years I got so used to keeping things to myself that I saw no need to unearth it.”
“Until now, at least.”
I turned and looked out the window. “Yeah. Until now, at least.”
He squeezed my hand. “You know that whatever you do, I’ll support. But if we’re going to be a family, that means being the best family we can be.”
I sighed. “I know, I know. Just—let’s get through this one major hurdle, then we can do things like introduce you to Cheyenne and unearth years’ worth of painful secrets my sister knows nothing about.”
“I’m sorry.”
I clicked my tongue. “Not your fault. Like you said, my parents are to blame.”
Silence fell between us for a little bit before his comforting voice filled the spaces between us.
“When did Sloane move to Santa Barbara?”
I cleared my throat and blinked back tears of worry. “The second she graduated. She cleaned up her act during the back-half of her senior year and ended up applying for every job she could. She couldn’t find anything in the area, though, and that’s when Mom and Dad started breathing down her throat. She called me a lot. You know, to kind of rant and get things off her chest. And I was the one that started daydreaming of one day moving somewhere far away and starting a whole new life for myself.”
“Is that how the idea of Santa Barbara came around?”
I nodded. “Eventually, yes. Took a few weeks of ranting, but eventually she started looking into other places. Other cities. She found a lot of job opportunities in Santa Barbara, and when she landed a full-time gig as a cashier, she stole money from my parents to help get her first place so she could settle in and start working.”
He chuckled. “Let me tell you, you girls have some serious balls.”
I snickered. “Yeah, well. My sister and I aren’t perfect. While she loves Chey with everything inside of her, she hates that I got pregnant in the first place.”
“Which is really why she hates me.”
“I don’t know, she thinks you ruined my life or something. When really, I didn't have a life until I met you. Until I got pregnant. I had no dreams or aspirations for after high school. I had no want to go to college only to take more tests and learn shit I didn’t care about. She blames me stripping on the pregnancy, and blames the pregnancy on you, so…”
“So, you started stripping because of me? That’s what she thinks?”
I closed my eyes and leaned back. “I honestly don’t know. She won’t talk about it. I can assume all I want, but until she learns to talk like a regular, normal person like she used to before all of this detective stuff, all I can do is assume and pass judgment.”
After that conversation, the ride was pretty much silent. I watched while Tanner kept an eye on Porter and Cole while we all traveled anywhere from two to five car lengths away from each other. Sometimes, they were even in opposite lanes, and during those times where they passed us, Tanner would kick it up a notch just to make things look genuine. Like we were two cars filled with people just trying to get on with our days.
But the second we passed the sign that told us we were entering Santa Cruz, I heard the revving of bike engines.
And when I looked back to try and find Porter and Cole behind us, I saw them diverting off.
Heading straight for a couple of bikes parked on the side of the road.
“Summer?” Tanner asked.
I turned back around and faced forward. “I know, I hear them.”
Tanner white-knuckled the steering wheel. “Are you buckled?”
I tugged on the seat belt until it came all the way out. And when it clicked back into place so I couldn’t lean up or move anywhere, I nodded.
“Yeah, I’m buckled,” I said breathlessly.
Tanner nodded. “Good.”
And when he hit the gas, propelling us forward, I watched as a dozen or so motorcycles came out of nowhere. All of them, blacked out. All of them, topped with men in black leather jackets with eyes of steel and hearts of ice.
“Go, Tanner! Hurry!” I exclaimed.
To which he booked it down the road as quickly as he could before he took a sharp left, sending us careening down a dark alleyway.
Nineteen
Tanner
“Tanner!” Summer exclaimed.
“Hang on just a bit longer,” I growled.
I had to keep weaving in and out of alleyways because none of us had come prepared to shoot it out with people while driving around in beat-up old cars. I swerved around dumpsters and lost one of our side mirrors back a few miles as I tried to lose the four bikes that were still on our tail. I hadn’t seen Porter and Cole surface after they took a nosedive off the edge of the road and plowed themselves into a group of four or so bikers that had been perched and waiting for us.
Then, Summer blurted out a question that worried me.
“Holy shit, do they know where Chey is?”
I put on my best confident voice as I careened us back onto the main road. “No. There’s no way.”
“But I thought the distrac—holy shit!”
Our tires skidded as I drifted around a corner and tore back down an alleyway.
“The distraction was to keep us safe while we dropped Chey off. But that’s it. That’s all the time they could buy us.”
She sniffled. “Well, at least it’s—look out, Tanner!”
I played chicken with one of the bikes before he pulled out a gun, and at the last second I swerved. The man fired his gun and hit the guy chasing us from behind and I watched in the rearview mirror as both of those assholes took bullets to the chest that were meant for us.
But when Summer tried to turn around, I gripped her shirt and sat her back down.
“What gives!?” she exclaimed.
I turned my gaze toward her. “Don’t look back. Ever. You got it?”
Her eyes welled with tears. “Okay. I won’t.”
I settled my hand on her knee. “Thank you.”
Just as we got back onto the main road, Cole and Porter came tearing out beside us. I looked over and found Porter aiming a gun out his window while Cole kept his head on a swivel, but when I heard that bike engine coming up behind us, I knew I had no choice.
“Summer, I know you can shoot, so you have to listen closely, okay?” I asked.
She wiped at her tears. “Okay, yes. All right. What do you need?”
“I put a sawed-off shotgun under your seat. It’s gonna have a hell of a kickback, but you’ll be able to mount it on your window glass once you roll it down.”
She did as I asked and rolled her window down about halfway. “Okay, now what?”
“See the notch at the bottom? Settle it on the flat part of the glass and pull back. That’ll cock the gun.”
I heard that glorious sound before she turned her body toward the window. “Now what?”
I nodded to Porter before he fell back behind us and came up on my side.
“Now, you take aim and shoot once the guy comes up beside us.”
I looked over at Porter and he gave me a thumbs up. I watched as Cole kept his eyes trained on the road while two Black Assholes tried to come up on our asses. They split off, one of them heading toward Cole’s side and one of them headed to Summer’s.
But the second that man came in line with Summer’s shotgun, she fired.
Knocking the man clear off his bike.
“Go! Go! Go!” she exclaimed.
While Porter and Cole dealt with the last person that had found us, I raced through town. I blazed a trail through yellow lights and wrapped our way around red lights so that we didn’t stop until we were at least ten solid miles into town. And once we found our way into an area I liked to call “Park Central,” we pulled beneath the shade of a massive tree in the parking lot.
“Holy shit,” Summer said breathlessly.
I dug out my cell phone from my pocket. “I want you to call Sloane. Make sure they’re both okay.”
She slowly looked over at me. “I thought you said—”
“Just do it, please!”
Then, I turned my attention to my own phone and quickly dialed the first person that came to mind.
Blaze.
“Well, well, well,” he said as he answered, “long time no talk, Tan. My guys tell me that you were in Santa Barbara a few hours ago. Not gonna stop and give your brothers from other mothers a hug?”
I chuckled. “I know, it’s been a while. How’s the chapter?”
“Eh, little worse for wear, but we’re making it. About half of our guys are prospects right now, so.”
“Ah, transition. Love it and hate it.”
“Don’t I know it.”
I sighed. “Look, I got a favor to ask.”
He snickered. “Is this favor any chance connected to the reason you were in town? Trying to sort some shit out?”
I licked my lips. “I’m gonna text you an address along with some details that are going to shock you, but please just do as I ask.”
“You sound worried. What’s going on?”
“I’ll text it, just tell me you’ll do it. I’ve got two people that are very important to me that need to be guarded, but discreetly.”
Summer hissed at me. “She’s going to hate that.”
I put the phone to my shoulder. “Not if she doesn't know.”
Then, I put the phone back to my ear as Blaze spoke. “You know we’re always there for family. Shoot me who they are and where they live. We’ll take care of the rest.”
“I owe you one. Big time.”
“Family never owes a damn thing. I’ll stand by for the details.”
I hung up the phone with Blaze and quickly sent him a text, letting him know the place and some of the details. But I didn’t even get my phone back in my damn pocket before he called.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he asked.
I groaned. “Dude, I can’t talk right now. We’re kind of in the middle of—”
“You drop the bomb that you’ve got a daughter who’s currently shacked up with your baby mama’s sister, who also works for the police, and you think I’m not gonna have questions?”
I rolled my eyes. “Just be discreet about it. Stick to the shadows, don’t make too much noise. You know the drill.”
“You have a daughter, Tan.”
I puffed out my cheeks with a sigh. “Yeah, I know.”
“You have a daughter, and she’s in trouble.”
“You don’t think I don’t know that!? Huh!?”
Summer rubbed my back as I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Sorry,” I murmured.
Blaze chuckled. “Hey, you know I know what you’re going through. If something was ever going on with my son and I had to get him to safety? I’d be pretty rushed with things, too. Just put it on your calendar for us to really get together and talk when this is all said and done. It’s about damn time I had someone to pass all of this fatherly wisdom to.”
I snickered. “You’re insane, you know that?”
“Hey, if you wanna be in that girl’s life you got a lot to learn, and quickly. How old is she?”
I closed my eyes. “Eleven.”
“Yep. She’s nearing teenage-hood, too. I’ve got some great advice. You and me, coffee, soon. Promise.”
I smiled. “I promise.”
“Good. I’ll send my best men for the job. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
“I really appreciate this.”
And after we said our goodbyes, we hung up the phone.
“Everything okay?” Summer asked.
I looked over at her and leaned in to kiss her lips softly. “Yeah, everything’s okay. Let’s get back to the warehouse, yeah?”
She rolled up her window, put the shotgun back beneath the seat, and took my hand. “Yeah. Let’s get back to the warehouse.”
We stayed in the middle of traffic as much as we could, but I didn’t see Cole and Porter anywhere. I wanted to call them and make sure they were all right, but if they were in the middle of some shit, I didn't want to give them away. Or give them something else to worry about. So, I did something I never thought I’d do in my wildest dreams.
I sent up a silent prayer to heaven, hoping that someone up above might hear it.
Then, I focused my sights on getting Summer and myself back to the warehouse safely.
“Tanner?”
“Hmm?”
She leaned her head against my shoulder. “Can we take a hot shower together when we get back?”
