Page 41 of Brooks (Dirty Misfits MC 1)
The sound washed over me like the waves of the ocean that beckoned to us yesterday and it gave me pause. After everything that had transpired and everything that Raven had been through since I got released two days ago—holy shit, it had only been two days—didn’t she deserve a right to know about the church meeting?
Especially now that I understood the threat Chops had given her?
“What is it?” Raven asked.
She sat across from me with a plate half my size filled to the brim with fruits and hard-boiled eggs.
“No bacon?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Gotta watch my figure. I’ve put on a bit of weight since—”
“You look perfect, Raven.”
Her eyes met mine. “Well, my doctor doesn’t think so.”
“Your doctor sounds like a quack.”
She giggled. “A quack, huh? What are you, from the fifties?”
I grinned. “I can be anything you want.”
Something passed behind her eyes, but it was so fleeting that I didn’t have time to decipher it. But whatever it was, it made her cheeks flush the deepest shade of red I’d ever seen against her skin.
And I loved it.
“So, I had a lot of time to think in bed last night,” Raven said.
I took a bite of my eggs. “Me, too.”
She snickered. “Your nightmares reveal something?”
I shrugged. “They usually do, once you think about them long enough.”
She sipped her diesel fuel coffee. “Want to talk about it?”
I took a bite of bacon. “Actually, I think maybe we should talk about Chops.”
She blinked. “Why?”
“I know why he made the threat to you that he did yesterday, and I think you deserve a right to know.”
She put down her fork. “Actually, I’m glad we’re on this topic, because I think I might know who he was talking to on the other end of the line.”
That caught my attention. “Who?”
She leaned back. “So, you get out of prison and the Black Flags show up at my door, right?”
I nodded. “Right.”
“And despite what I’ve seen, I know they’ve been watching. At least, watching me long enough to know your secret knock.”
I chuckled. “It’s not really a secret.”
“But it’s the knock you always use. Three big knocks before a series of small ones that I’d like to break your knuckles for, especially when it’s so damn early in the morning.”
I smiled. “I didn’t know you cared so much.”
She barked with laughter. “What I’m saying is, they knew that knock. That Black Flag guy? He used your knock.”
“You know, I remember you saying something about that.”
“And now that I’ve had time to think about it, it makes me wonder: they’ve been watching my place long enough and frequently enough to know that knock. Then, they just happen to use it the day you get out of prison?”
“You think they wanted you to think I was at the door.”
“Oh, I know they did. What I don’t understand is why. So, what if the ‘why’ is Chops?”
My stomach hit the floor. “You think—”
She reached for her coffee. “You have to admit, it makes sense. If Chops is, for some reason, working with the Black Flags, it answers a lot of questions that didn’t add up beforehand.”
Yes, it does. “Fucking hell, if you’re right about that then none of us are safe right now.”
“It’s a theory you should tell the guys, especially if they’re going to be around Chops for any given length of time. There’s no telling what this ‘other plan’ of his is. And if he’s doing it with the Black Flags?”
I licked my lips. “Then, it’s certainly not good.”
“Nope.”
Tell her. “Since we’re kind of on this topic, I’d like to speak with you about something.”
“Regarding the Black Flags?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“About Chops?”
I blinked. “Okay, so we’re a bit past the topic. But I’d still like to talk with you.”
She smiled. “Sure thing. What's it about?”
God, you’re gorgeous when you smile. “About our encounter yesterday.”
Her smile fell. “Oh.”
I leaned forward. “I need you to understand that, while that was kind of the heat of the moment for me, it’s not like it was spontaneous.”
She furrowed her brow. “I’m not following.”
Step carefully. “What I’m saying is that—I mean I’ve kind of always—”
Shit. I had opened this fucking can of worms and now my tongue wouldn’t work right.
“Brooks, just say it,” she said softly.
Almost as if she knew what was coming.
“All right, then,” I said as I clicked my tongue. “Raven, I’ve had feelings for you since that night Gage and I first stumbled upon you at that bar. You looked so beautiful in the light of that booth lamp, and I don’t know why the fuck I didn’t make a move before Gage did.”
She giggled softly. “He was almost more outgoing than you.”
I scoffed. “Don’t I fucking know it. He was always pragmatic and loud as fuck. But that only added to the good man he was. I loved him as if he were my brother. Hell, he was my brother. And that day he asked you out in the car shop was the day I knew I needed to stop rather than pursue you.”
