Page 45 of Finn (Dirty Misfits MC 6)
He nodded. “Well, go on and pick it up. See if she’ll work with you.”
So, after drawing in a deep breath, I answered the phone. “Hello?”
Beth’s voice sounded on the other end, filling me with relief. “Hi there. It’s uh, it’s Beth.”
I smiled. “Hey there. I wasn’t sure you’d call.”
She snickered. “To be frank, I wasn’t sure I would, either. But, could we meet up? Tonight?”
I pointed to the right and Finn nodded. “Of course. Are you hungry?”
“I’m always hungry.”
God, don’t I know it. “Do you know where Kinship’s Diner is?”
“That place with the yellow neon sign and the massive milkshakes?”
I smiled. “That’s the one.”
Finn took the right we needed, putting us on a path toward the diner as Beth cleared her throat.
“Yeah, I know where that is. I used to go all the time as a teenager with my friends.”
I giggled. “So, you grew up around here?”
I heard the smile in her voice. “Never wanted to leave. I love Santa Cruz, even if it has given me a life I’m not really proud of.”
My heart broke for her. “Well, we’re going to change that, okay? I’ll be at the diner in about thirty or so minutes.”
“Thank you. Thank you so, so much.”
I blinked back tears. “You don’t have to thank me for something like this. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
But, the second I hung up the phone, Finn chimed in with a question I hadn’t considered.
“You sure this isn’t a trap of some sort?”
I tucked my cellphone back into my leather crop top. “It is an awfully quick turnaround for her to be calling me.”
He white-knuckled the steering wheel. “I think you should call her back and have an honest talk with her. I don’t know, something about this just doesn’t feel right.”
And he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. But, what the hell was I going to do? Call back the restricted number? I didn’t even know where she had called me from.
“This is normally the point where I’d call in backup,” I murmured to myself.
Finn snickered. “Let me guess. Budget cuts?”
I rolled my eyes. “Isn’t it always about money, in the end?”
He groaned. “I hate that, too. There’s more to life than--.”
“Green and gold.”
He smiled at me. “Exactly. But, luckily for you, you’ve got an entire M.C. behind you that would do anything to end this shit with Chops.”
I slowly looked over at him. “You mean, call in the crew as my backup?”
He shrugged. “You’d have six tanky men surrounding the diner, waiting for something to pop off.”
“Itchy trigger fingers. Wonderful.”
“Or, you could go in blind by yourself and take your chances.”
I snickered. “What? You mean you’re not secretly Superman?”
He barked with laughter. “My abs are much better than Superman’s.”
I grinned. “Don’t I know it.”
Finn cleared his throat. “I know it’s probably against some sort of cop protocol to call in some crew to protect a scene like this.”
I sighed. “At that point, I’d risk losing my job altogether if they figured out I’d dragged you guys to a meeting like this.”
“But, what other choice do you have? Especially if this is the in you need to keep Summer and Cheyenne safe.”
And that was all I needed to hear. “Call Tanner first. Run it by him and see what he thinks, because as much as I hate the guy he’ll have the kind of head on his shoulders that I need. If he feels this is too risky, I won’t jeopardize what he feels is right and good by my sister.”
He dug around for his cell phone. “I’ll pull off up here into this parking lot and give him a call.”
And as I sat there, listening to Finn mumble into his cell phone, I drew in a deep breath.
Because something told me that tonight was about to get nuts.
“A rental car?” Tanner whispered. “Seriously?”
Finn shrugged as I sat on the back of his bike. “Hey, it kept her from nailing me.”
I leaned out from behind him. “Figuratively speaking.”
Tanner snickered. “Funny that you needed to specify that.”
I blushed and scooted back behind Finn as the rest of the guys arrived. I didn’t like how loud all of their bike engines were, but I also liked the fact that Finn had ditched the rental for his own bike. I’d never been on the back of one, so clinging to him while we rode the rest of the way toward the meeting point had been a hell of a journey.
But, forty minutes later the rental car had been dealt with, the guys had met up with us, and Finn was back where he belonged.
On his bike, with his family, and ready to rumble.
“So, what’s the plan?” Tanner asked.
The guys circled us with their bikes as all eyes fell to me. “It’s simple. I need you guys posted around the diner. I need the exits covered and as many windows as possible. I’ll go in and find Beth, and hopefully I can talk her into helping us. But, if this is an ambush, I’ll be focused on getting people out while you guys focus on taking out whoever the fuck is ambushing us.”
