Page 17 of Tanner (Dirty Misfits MC 5)
I slowly turned around and found her leaning against the doorway. “I’d appreciate that.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Nothing to be worried about, huh?”
I clenched my jaw. “You just have to trust—”
“All right,” Finn said, “ready when you are with that address.”
Summer walked up to my side and rattled it off before Finn and Porter confirmed that they were headed to the location. I gave them explicit instructions to stay out of sight, but to keep an eye out overnight and make sure that no one rolled up to pluck Cheyenne from her bed in the middle of the night.
And after I hung up the phone, I handed it to Summer. “That conversation clocked in at twenty-eight seconds.”
She took the phone from me. “I won’t be any longer than that. No one ever picks up the front office phone. I’m just going to leave a message saying that I have the flu, and I’ll request another week before I start.”
I nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
And as I brushed past her, wanting to give her a bit of space to place the call she needed, I perched outside and timed her phone call.
Just to make sure I didn't have to cut the power to the SAT phone in order to preserve the sanctity of our location.
Eight
Summer
As I perched on the edge of the bed in some room I had been tossed into, only one thought tumbled around in my head.
I don’t want Cheyenne to know I’m in trouble.
“Tanner?” I asked.
He thundered down the hallway before wrapping into the bedroom. “You all right? Need anything?”
I didn’t bother facing him. “I don’t want Cheyenne around all of this.”
He walked over to my side. “What do you mean?”
I peered up at him. “I mean, I don’t want her coming back to this compound. I don’t want her around any of this.”
He blinked. “She doesn't have anywhere else to go. Plus, you know she’s gonna want to be with you. You’re her mother.”
“Yeah, and everything around here is about two seconds away from slipping the fact that you’re her father to her without any sort of preparation.”
He cocked his head. “Is that what this is about?”
I shrugged. “It is, and it isn’t.”
He sat down beside me. “You don’t want to tell her who I am, do you?”
I looked back at the wall. “Not when we’re entrenched in shit like this, no.”
He sighed heavily. “Well, we have one more secure location we could take you both to, but it would still require me staying with you. Though, I wouldn't have any issues just telling Cheyenne that I’m a family friend. For now, at least.”
I shook my head. “No, nothing like that.”
“We don’t have any other options.”
I stood to my feet and whipped around on him. “I know you don’t get it because you're not a parent, but I don’t want Cheyenne to know there’s any danger afoot at all. I don’t want her to even get the hint of danger, Tanner. That’s what this is about.”
He stood to his feet. “First of all, I am a parent. That girl is as much my daughter as she is yours.”
I glared up at him. “Well, being a DNA donor doesn’t make you a father. It takes a lot more than that.”
“And it’s a chance I would have had if you would’ve stuck to the plan of meeting up with me after I graduated so we could run off and be together. You know, like we both discussed.”
“This isn’t about us right now. This is about Cheyenne and her safety.”
“This is exactly about us!” he exclaimed. “And her! And the fact that our family is currently under siege!”
I pushed my hands against his chest. “Your family’s under siege! My family’s been ripped into your bullshit just because you can’t move on!”
He growled at me. “Well, maybe I don’t want to move on. Maybe I never wanted to stop loving you in the first damn place.”
I steeled my beating heart and forced the words out. “Then, maybe you should have thought about that before choosing this as your life’s path.”
I stormed by him, heading for the hallway. I needed to take a walk. I needed to clear my head. But as I left the room, Tanner shouted the only other option we had.
And it honestly wasn’t a bad idea.
“What about taking her to Sloane!?”
I froze in the middle of the hallway. “What?”
Tanner walked out and leaned against the doorframe. “You said she’s a detective now. I assume she’s got her own place?”
I nodded. “In Santa Barbara, yes.”
“Well, then why don’t we take her there? She’ll be safe, she’ll be over four hours away from this shit, and if anyone heads toward that area we’ll know well before they get there.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’d want to go and drop her off.”
