Page 36 of Brooks (Dirty Misfits MC 1)
All eyes were on me as I looked across the room at our president. “Gotta go see about a thing.”
Then, I started down the hallway.
The floorboards creaked as I made my way to my room. I saw the door cracked open and paused to draw in a deep breath before I reached for the doorknob. I cleared my throat to announce myself without startling Raven.
However, when I eased the door open, she wasn’t inside.
“Raven?” I asked.
I walked over to the bed and gazed around the room. “Raven, you here?”
Worry clenched my gut as I rushed over to the closet. I rolled the pocket door open before darting down the hallway toward the bathroom. Maybe she had relegated herself to a shower or a nice hot bath.
I knocked on the door. “Raven?”
Tanner sighed. “For fuck’s sake, can’t a guy take a shit?”
I sighed. “Sorry, man.”
I walked up and down the hallways, trying not to run about as I searched for her. But with every room I ducked my head into, the chances of me finding her on the property grew slim. I slipped into the other shared bathroom only to be met with darkness. I walked into the back room where we kept extra food and toiletries for emergencies to see if she simply wanted to get away for a little while.
“Raven?” I asked as I flipped on the light.
Yet, she was nowhere to be found in any of the dark corners of the clubhouse.
I dashed down the side hallway and froze. The lingering scent of her body spray caught my nose and led me toward the side door. My hand fell to the knob and it still felt warm, giving me hope that maybe she wasn’t far away.
“Raven?” I asked.
It got harder and harder not to roar out her name as I slipped onto the side of the porch. I kept my feet as quiet as possible, hoping and praying that no one heard me panicking. The last thing I needed with a prostitution-hungry president was to let the one woman I loved out of my sight around him.
If Chops has already run into her, I swear to fuck I’ll—
As I scanned the side of the clubhouse, I saw her standing at the edge of the cliff face. Our clubhouse sat on the edge of a fall-off, dropping straight down into a secluded beach with waves lapping against the shoreline. And standing there, with the wind whipping through her hair and her arms folded across her chest, was Raven.
Gazing out at the horizon as I hopped over the porch railing.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, trotting up to her.
She didn’t bother looking up at me. “Leaving.”
I stood beside her as my anger mounted. “You shouldn’t be standing out here without someone with you. It’s stupid and dangerous.”
She shrugged. “Don’t really care.”
I scoffed. “Well, you might not care, but I do. I made a promise to Gage that I’d—”
She finally looked up at me. “That promise include fucking his wife?”
I winced, but I didn’t say anything. And when she sighed, I heard a pain whisper itself along her breath.
“It was a stupid idea for you to try and leave. Especially after those Black Flag jagoffs came knocking at your door. For all we know, they’re watching you,” I said.
She drew in a deep breath. “Yes, it was a stupid idea.”
I blinked. “Right. Yeah. So, let’s get you back inside.”
She shook her head. “I’m not going back in there.”
I slid my hand onto her shoulder. “I’ll walk back inside with you. But you can’t leave.”
She shrugged off my touch. “While I’m still not sure how I’m getting home, I’m not going back into that clubhouse.”
“And why not?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Too many memories, Brooks. And they all hurt.”
I turned my eyes out toward the blue horizon. “I suppose it’s a bit awkward being there after all these years.”
She snickered. “I knew you’d at least understand that part.”
“Kind of feels like I don’t recognize anything anymore.”
She shuffled on her feet. “Exactly.”
I peeked down at her. “Things aren’t recognizable between us anymore, is it?”
Her head fell off to the side. “No. It’s kind of awkward.”
I nodded slowly. “Right, right.”
She cleared her throat. “But anyway, this thing between us isn’t important right now. What’s important is what I overheard before I came out here and got entranced by the ocean.”
I blinked. “Wait, what?”
She looked up at me. “Did you know that Gage loved the ocean? Skinny-dipping, especially.”
I turned to face her. “Raven, what did you overhear?”
Her eyes grew scared. “Did you know that about him?”
I shook my head softly. “No, I didn’t.”
“Maybe we should take a walk on the beach down there, then. You know, to memorialize him. You never really got to do that with us, you know.”
I caught onto what she was asking, so I offered my arm. “Ladies’ first.”
