Page 4 of Finn (Dirty Misfits MC 6)
“Can you shut up? I’m sure Cheyenne can hear you.”
“Good!” I exclaimed. “Because she deserves to know the truth and not live in the fucking fantasy world you apparently never stopped living in!”
“Can you just listen to me? I really have to ask you something.”
“Did you ever stop to think for one second as to what this might do to your own child? Have you become so fucking selfish that you’re willing to dump your offspring onto me just so you can go impress some guy who got you pregnant and bailed?”
Summer yelled at me through the phone. “We need your fucking help, and I’m the one asking for it!”
I stormed into my bedroom and closed the door behind me. “Help with what?”
“Promise to stop yelling if I tell you?”
I scoffed. “You lost the right to dictate how I react when you dumped your daughter off at my doorstep because you wanted to go play some sick version of “house.” Tell me what you need.”
She clicked her tongue. “I need you to get Cheyenne somewhere safe so you can come to Santa Cruz and help us take this crew down. They’re trafficking women, for crying out loud. They’re using The Body Shop as a sex shop, essentially. It’s bad, and it’s only going to get worse if we don’t do something.”
I felt steam coming out of my ears. “I’ll get CheyChey somewhere safe, and then I’ll place a call to local law enforcement.”
“No, that’s not going to work. That isn’t what I’m asking you to do.”
I shrugged. “It’s all I can do from here.”
“Which is why I want you to get her somewhere safe, so that you can travel up here and actually help us.”
I scoffed. “And your precious Tanner can’t do anything about this, I take it?”
“Will you get off his nutsack already?”
“No. I never will, because what he did to you was fucked up beyond all reason and you know it.”
“You don’t even know half of what happened between us.”
I growled into the phone. “I know enough.”
Silence fell between us and I drew in a deep breath.
“Is he really worth all of this, Summer? I mean, really. Take a good, hard look at where your life is right now. Is it worth it? Not being with your daughter? Being on the run? Do you really want this kind of a life?” I asked.
And when she didn’t hesitate, I almost died from shock. “This, and so much more.”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“I made a mistake leaving him all those years ago, and it’s a mistake I won’t make again.”
“So he can cause more problems in our family that we’ve tried so hard to piece together?”
Her voice grew hard. “Look, I don’t know what the hell you have against Tanner, but you know that Mom and Dad were to blame for what happened between me and him. You know because we’ve talked about it.”
“He should have used protection, Summer!” I shrieked.
She glowered at me. “I swear to fuck on high if Cheyenne hears you, you’ll never see her again. You got that?”
My back straightened. “Last I heard, you were the one that needed my help. Not the other way around.”
I heard her sniffling on the other end of the line and I knew I’d relent. As much as I hated Tanner, I loved my sister even more. And if she needed help--if this was the only way to keep my niece safe for good--then I had no choice.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What do you need from me?”
Summer sniffled. “Are you serious? Really?”
I rolled my eyes. “I know I’ll regret it, but yes, really. What do you need?”
She cleared her throat. “Local law enforcement isn’t doing anything to arrest this crew. I know they know what’s going on because some of their law enforcement are regular goers to The Body Shop. I know because I’ve given several of them multiple lap dances.”
“Not a picture I wanted, but great. Okay. So, why don’t they arrest the guys if they’ve got proof of what’s happening?”
She lowered her voice. “Because I think the cops that pay for services there are dirty, and that’s why they’re still roaming the streets and doing what they’re doing.”
If there was one thing I hated, it was a dirty cop. Santa Cruz was terrible for them, and it’s why California’s police departments had such a bad rap on the street. My blood boiled at the mere idea of dirty cops allowing something so heinous and so disgusting to go down on their own turf.
So, I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled out my pen and notepad from my bedside table.
“Tell me everything you know, and don’t leave anything out. I’m taking notes,” I said.
My sister rattled off everything she could. She talked me through what the club had done and the little bit of evidence they had in their possession. She told me about the undercover stings and the corners she had been backed into. She told me everything she had overheard and she even told me about the “new dancers” that barely knew English and were scared out of their minds. She told me how she took them to the police station, but she got a really weird feeling while she was there.
