Page 34 of Finn (Dirty Misfits MC 6)
But, Sloane’s voice stopped me in my tracks halfway to the stairs.
“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, Finn.”
I paused. “It’s fine.”
She heaved a heavy sigh. “And I’m sorry that I threw all of that out there in an attempt to one-up you. I just--.”
I waited for her excuse, but she didn’t give one.
“Anyway,” she said breathlessly, “thank you for opening up to me. If you’d like me to look into it for you, I can--.”
I peered over my shoulder. “A word from the wise? Don’t jump so quickly to conclusions about the Dirty Misfits, either. We aren’t the people you think we are, and while we can be rough around the edges all we want is to take care of our own, including the women they love. Like you’re doing with Summer and your niece.”
She grimaced. “You think Tanner really loves my sister?”
That got my attention. “You don’t think so?”
Her gaze fell to her feet. “It’s nothing. Just asking for another perspective.”
I turned to face her. “Sloane, what’s going through your head about Tanner?”
She shook her head. “It’s fine, really. Just lots of things.”
I took a step toward her. “Lots of past things?”
She drew in a deep breath and stared at me with a blank stare that I didn’t know what to do with.
“How I’m feeling is that Tanner is responsible for getting her into this whole mess in the first place. I mean, if Tanner never started things with Summer at all, then things with our family would be a hell of a lot better. Hell, things with me would probably have been a lot better. Tanner got her pregnant, and then he abandoned her. Instead of coming to look for her like she always told me he’d do, he left and never looked back. And now, I’m supposed to think that he’s just got his life all together? After being absent for so long and pulling her into this bullshit with these crews?”
Her word vomit caught me off-guard, but the emotion in her voice called to me. “What happened with your family after your sister got pregnant?”
She swallowed hard. “Things just… dissolved.”
I took a step toward her. “And you blame Tanner for that?”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Yeah, I do.”
I paused a mere five feet away from her. “If you give him a chance, he’ll surprise you. I mean, I don’t know the Tanner you grew up with, but I know the man he is now.”
Her eyes slowly met mine. “He’s a good man now? Even with the hellfire that now requires me to fix?”
I didn’t hesitate to respond. “We’re all good men. Even with the hellfire that now requires you to fix.”
I watched her quickly throw that idiotic facade back up. “Well, I guess time will tell then, huh?”
I felt myself being drawn to her, so I moved a little closer. “Maybe time will tell you lots of other things, too.”
She gazed up into my eyes. “Like what?”
I closed the distance between us. “Like… maybe it’ll show you what you want out of your life by the time you’re done with all of this.”
Her stare found my lips. “And what is it that you think I want?”
I drew in her scent silently through my nostrils. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
Her eyes lingered on my lips and I felt my cock lurch against my pants. This woman was strong, and intelligent, and just as broken as the rest of us. She had a passion behind her eyes that called to me even when she was yelling at me, and as I lifted my hand I had every intention of fisting her hair and crashing our lips together like we had done earlier.
Before we heard sounds of other hotel guests outside.
“Anyway,” Sloane said as she took a step back, “I should probably finish preparing for tonight.”
I cleared my throat and backed away from her. “Yeah, let me know when you are ready to leave.”
She headed back to her room. “I’m surprised you aren’t being cocky about me allowing you to come along.”
I let out a laugh. “I like how you think you are allowing me, like I wouldn’t just follow you anyway.”
“Overbearing biker,” she smirked.
“Overbearing cop.”
She let out a laugh and I watched her for a few seconds as she walked into her room and shut the door. It wasn’t until I closed the door behind me that my cock finally settled back down.
What the hell had happened tonight?
One second, we had been arguing with each other, and the next minute I was seconds away from fucking the living hell out of her. Then within minutes we were back at each other’s throats.
Sloane was infuriating, and definitely not my style. However, as I wondered whether or not opening up to her had been a good idea, a thought kept creeping up in the back of my mind. A whispering thought that threatened to challenge everything I knew about myself.
