Page 44 of Tanner (Dirty Misfits MC 5)
Cole grinned. “Best thing I’ve ever seen.”
Brooks’ eyebrows rose. “Did she kill him?”
Summer groaned. “No, I didn’t kill him. I shot him in the leg. Enough to get him off his bike, but not enough to have his soul on my conscience.”
“Anyway,” Porter murmured, “no. There’s no way they know about Cheyenne. We took double precautions.”
Finn walked up to us. “The shootout and us rolling up on them at the strip club could’ve tipped them off, though.”
I nodded. “Which is why we took the long way around and avoided all traffic cameras in Santa Barbara.”
Brooks leveled me with a stare. “All of them? Can you guarantee that?”
I swallowed hard, but it was Summer that answered for me. “No. Not technically. Though, we were very thorough.”
Brooks sighed. “Church, everyone. Now.”
Summer looked up at me. “So, no shower?”
I kissed her cheek. “Why don’t you go and get started, and I’ll join you when we’re done.”
She looked at me curiously. “All right, but try not to be too long.”
I grinned. “I’ll do my best, beautiful.”
After all of the women hugged our necks, they left the living room, leaving all of us men behind to figure out what the hell came next. We waited until the women’s voices filtered all the way down the hallway, so much so that even we couldn’t hear them.
Then, Brooks shuffled us all into a corner and spoke as quietly as he could.
“We have to start making moves. We can’t just be on the defense any longer. We won’t make it out of this alive if we do.”
Porter sighed. “Finally, someone said it.”
I shrugged. “I’m all for it. But where do we step next?”
Finn held up his hand. “Brooks and I were actually talking about this for a bit on the ride back from the strip club. Wanna tell them what we talked about?”
Brooks shook his head. “You do the honors.”
Finn smiled. “Great. Okay. So, we’ve already kicked up shit with The Black Flags, and after laying low for so long that’s probably what tipped them off to the fact that something was up.”
“So?” Archer asked.
Finn rolled his eyes. “So, why don’t we keep taunting them? Not with big things, but enough to cover our tracks so that when we do need to pull something off, our distraction doesn’t become a beacon of warning to them.”
Cole blinked. “That’s your brilliant plan? Piss them off more than before?”
Finn shrugged. “You got a better idea?”
I scoffed. “Yeah. Don’t piss them off.”
Brooks glared at me. “Unless you want to offer up a plan, don’t shit on other people’s.”
Porter wrinkled his nose. “Even if it’s a shitty one?”
An argument broke out and our voices started to rise. I clamped my jaw shut and looked around at all of the crazed, wide eyes and the spittle bursting forth from their lips. And as I looked into each and every one of my brother’s eyes, I noticed something.
“I get that we’re all worried!” I exclaimed above all of them.
They all shut up and turned their attention to me.
“I know that none of us are used to worrying like this, but that only means we have to be on our guard,” I said.
Brooks groaned. “We can’t keep playing the same playbook over and over again. If they push back, we’ve got nowhere else to go. We’ll be scattered to the wind, and they’ll take over. You know this.”
I nodded. “So, we take them on. Head on. Like we’re used to doing.”
“But the girls,” Porter said.
“Dude, I got a kid coming,” Cole said.
I balked. “And what the fuck do you think I just did? Dropped my best friend off at someone’s house?”
The guys looked down at their feet before they raised their heads high with pride.
“We want to protect our club and our families, right?” I asked.
They all nodded as Brooks spoke. “Right.”
I shrugged. “Okay, then. It’s time to retaliate. It’s time to take this fight to them, it’s time to start the shit, and it’s time to have the last blow.”
Porter crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m with Tan. We’ve cowered away long enough.”
Archer nodded. “We’re becoming a joke to them, and you know it.”
Cole sighed. “And rumor on the street says that they’ve accepted five new prospects onto their team.”
I stepped toward Brooks. “They’re growing, which means their reputation is getting around town. That means we’re fading away, which means we need to strike. We need to show our city that we aren’t going anywhere, not even in the face of some of the meanest, most disgusting people to ever occupy this place.”
Brooks sighed before he licked his lips. “Assuming we retaliate, anyone got a plan of attack?”
Finn raised his hand once more. “We could storm their compound. Put a bullet in Chops’ head for all he’s done to us.”
Brooks chuckled. “Anyone got anything else to add to that?”
