Page 3 of Tanner (Dirty Misfits MC 5)
“We’re ready when you are,” Brooks said.
I cleared my throat. “I briefly remember one point in time where Finn and I were comparing tattoos.”
Finn gasped. “Oh, shit! I remember that! We planned my arm sleeve at that party.”
I pointed at him. “Yep. We did. I pulled up my shirt to show him the big chest piece I have, but he was more concerned about—”
“Wait, oh shit. The matching tattoo.”
Porter cocked his head. “What matching tattoo?”
I motioned for Cole to help me up off the couch, and he did. And even though my hand was sore, I kept talking.
For fear that I might not remember if I didn’t spit it out.
“Finn and I were comparing tattoos and he came across this little number I have on the back part of the right side of my ribcage. It’s a tattoo I got with Summer when we were back in high school. It was supposed to resemble us always being together. But when we parted ways, I used my back tattoo to sort of blend it in with the rest of me.”
Finn raised his hand. “But I found it. I saw it. It’s pretty neat, too. Very sweet.”
“I take it you told Chops this?” Brooks asked.
I turned to face him. “No. But that’s not to say he didn’t overhear it. We were all pretty wasted that night. Fuck only knows how loud I was talking.”
Brooks’ head fell back. “Well, that would do it. A matching tattoo and a high school sweetheart. That would be enough information to track someone down with.”
“Which means they’ve been planning this for a very long time, if he stored that information for that long,” Porter said.
Archer puffed his cheeks out with a sigh. “Or they’ve been working on this plan for that long. Which means they’ve got at least a five-year head start on us.”
“God DAMN IT!” Brooks roared.
He whirled around just like I did and punched the wall behind him, giving Cole more work to do as Porter swept up the mess. Our lives were utter chaos, and yet the only thing I could think about was getting Summer and our daughter back to safety.
But once Cole was done with Brooks’ hand, he stood and let his voice bellow over our heads.
“Our main mission is to get Summer and the little girl back. And we’ll start by figuring out where she lives so we can stake out her place,” he said.
Archer pulled out his phone. “I’ll give Josie a call. Her and Summer are close, so she probably knows where Summer lives.”
I looked over at him. “If they’re good friends, she might be of more use to us.”
Archer shot me a look. “One step at a time.”
I rolled my shoulders. “But if we get there, I’m just telling you to be prepared. Because I’ll beg her to help if necessary. My child’s at stake.”
“A child you didn’t know about,” he spat.
“That doesn’t make her any less my child!” I said curtly.
“Enough,” Brooks growled.
That silenced us quicker than anything he could have yelled over our heads. And once the room had settled down once more, I drew in a deep breath as it hit me.
“What if this was a last-ditch effort for them?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Brooks asked in return.
I swallowed hard. “I mean, what if the Black Flags are holding her hostage at her place or something? What if they’re already there? What will we do then?”
And when no one answered, my heart shattered in my chest.
Two
Summer
I stared at myself in the decorative living room mirror and fondled with the small tattoo just behind my right ear. I turned to the side so I could see it, and the memory made me smile. The two little swans were small, but the heart they made with their heads and their necks seemed bigger than ever before.
It was a matching tattoo that Tanner and myself had gotten back in high school when we were young and stupid.
But just as rapidly as things changed back then, things were changing now.
Six months. It had been six months since I’d seen Tanner at The Body Shop, and the man didn’t so much as utter ten words to me. Ten words, after all we had been through as kids. We both grew up on the other side of the tracks, so to speak, and we weathered the teasing together like the team we were. High school was brutal, and I was terrible at math, and soon Tanner had become my math instructor just to get me to pass the damn class in the first place.
He always thought I’d make it out of there. Go to community college and get a degree.
He always thought much more of me than necessary.
I wanted to tell him, though. The second I laid eyes on him at The Body Shop all those months ago, I had wanted to blurt it out. But after he practically avoided me like the plague and refused to talk to me while also staring me down like a fucking creep, it made me second-guess telling him about things.
