Page 22 of Brooks (Dirty Misfits MC 1)
I slid off my bike and offered her my hand. “What?”
She slid off the bike without taking mine in return. “Accepting me back. I mean I haven’t seen or talked to anyone since… well…”
I put my hand down. “That night was hard on everyone. I’m sure they all understand. Come with me.”
The second we walked up the steps, the front door whipped open, and Porter stood there with a judging face. Guess he didn’t get my fucking text message after all. Archer peered over the man’s shoulder and shot me a look that said, “Are you fucking kidding me?”, and I wanted to claw his damn eyes out. Nevertheless, I took Raven straight back to my room at the compound in order to get her away from everyone’s prying eyes and figure out what happened.
Only to throw the door open and find someone else’s shit there.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
Someone charged down the hallway before Porter spoke. “They gave that room to Finn.”
I slowly turned around. “Well, tell him to come get his shit and move. And get someone to spray-paint my name back onto my parking space, for crying out loud! It’s not like I died.”
Raven whimpered and I immediately felt like shit. Anger from the likes I hadn’t felt in a very long time rushed through my veins and when Porter’s frown deepened, I wanted to smack it right off his face. It was like nothing was sacred to these men anymore. Not my place, not my stuff, not even my goddamn room.
It was almost like they didn’t expect me to make it out or something.
“Sorry, hold on,” Finn said as he slipped by me.
I stood by as patiently as I could and waited until he tugged his shit out of my room. Then, I slipped inside and pulled Raven in with me.
Before slamming the door closed.
“Think you could’ve been anymore tasteful about it?” she spat.
I swallowed down my anger. “We need some privacy to talk. I’m not sure who I can trust right now.”
“Then, why didn’t we just go back to your place? Or do you not have one right now?”
I snickered. “For all I know, someone’s subletted that place out right from underneath me.”
When she didn’t answer, I turned to face her and found her perched on the edge of my bed. With her back to me and her eyes facing the blank wall, she stared at a picture that hadn’t been taken down yet. I slowly walked over and eased myself down beside her. I rubbed her back while she stared at the last picture Gage and I had ever taken together.
“He loved that bar,” she said softly.
I nodded. “Maybe you and I can go there sometime. Talk about the good ol’ days.”
She drew in a curt breath. “I don’t think so. Rehashing the past has never been good for anyone.”
“We always did agree on a lot.”
She quickly stood to her feet, crossing her arms over her chest. “So, uh, what now?”
I looked up at her. “Start from the beginning and tell me everything you remember?”
“With the Black Flags?”
I nodded. “Unless there’s other things you’d like to tell me. Then, that’s fine, too.”
She swallowed hard, her eyes diverting from mine. “They knew your knock, Brooks.”
I blinked. “What?”
She scoffed. “Yeah. The two big knocks before a slew of little knocks. They knew that. I swear to fuck, I thought it was you at the door. It’s why I answered.”
The hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end as her eyes came back to mine.
“How did they know, Brooks? How would they know something like that?”
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know.”
She swallowed hard. “There was something else that man said. I mean we fought for a bit and he had me pinned down, but I used what Gage taught me and—”
Tears rushed her eyes and I stood, taking her hand in mine. “He’d be proud of you. I’m sure he currently is.”
She looked up at me, her eyes reddening with her sorrow. “I almost killed him.”
“You would have had every right to, had you done exactly that.”
“But there was something he said that stopped me.”
I furrowed my brow. “What did he say?”
She drew in a broken breath. “I kept asking him why he was really there. And once he got past making jokes about paying their respects to Gage, they said they were looking for you.”
“For me.”
She nodded. “Yes. For you. And when I told them you hadn’t been by, and that I hadn’t heard from you—”
“You lied to them and got away with it?”
Her cheeks turned red and she looked away. “Yes.”
So, she did get my letters. “What happened next?”
Her back fully faced me now. “They were under the assumption that your first stop out of prison would be my place. But I told them you hadn’t popped by.”
