I charged out of her hotel suite and booked it for the railed balcony. I paced up and down the concrete pathway, gazing down at the unsuspecting people that had no idea what the fuck was going on just a few floors above their heads. If Sloane honestly thought I would let her go to this strip club alone and go undercover without someone to back her up, she was clinically insane.
Hell, we were all clinically insane at this point.
My feet moved as quickly as my mind, and before I knew it I felt beads of sweat dripping down the back of my neck. I paused and drew in a deep breath, hoping that the smell of the ocean would settle my raging soul. But, all it did was kick up more anger the longer I stood still. So, I pivoted on my feet and went back to pacing.
Before I ran smack dab into Tanner.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you’re gonna burn a hole right through the damn walkway,” he said.
I tried to swallow down my anger and not say anything, but the more he studied me the more I felt my facade crumbling.
Not like I had much of a facade to begin with, though.
“She’s pissed you off somehow,” he said.
I clenched my jaw. “Just getting some fresh air.”
He snickered. “I know Sloane back from my teenage years, and even then she was a handful. Don’t worry, it’ll pass.”
I brushed past him. “Glad you’re here. I need to take a ride.”
“Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second,” he said as he jumped back in front of me, “I’m not staying. I’m just coming to check on Sloane.”
I glared at him. “Why? Because Summer got back and was pissed, too?”
He blinked. “Summer was here?”
I rolled my eyes. “I really hate you bringing them into our lives, you know that right?”
He furrowed his brow. “What did they do? What’s going on?”
I thumbed over my shoulder. “I need a ride, and you need to go talk to Sloane.”
I tried to walk away again, but he fisted my shirt and dragged me back in front of him. “Specifics. Now.”
I shoved him away. “If you grab me like that again, you better be prepared to go over this fucking railing. And if you want answers? Go ask the chick who’s trying to force Summer to leave.”
And when I tried leaving again, he leapt in front of me with all of the fervor of an angry lover and pressed his hand into my chest.
“What the hell does that mean?” Tanner asked.
I slapped his hand away. “Just go talk to Summer or Sloane, damn it! I’m not your fucking gossip boy!”
I shoved Tanner so hard that he almost went over the edge of the railing, and I didn’t care. He didn’t listen the first two or three times, so it was on him as far as I was concerned. I stormed off, hearing him calling after me as I jammed my hand into the button for the elevator.
And I was thankful when the sliding metal doors automatically opened.
I heard footsteps rushing toward me before the doors closed and I slumped back against the wall. I closed my eyes and drew in a few deep breaths, hoping to calm myself before I got on my bike. The last time I got on my bike this angry I ended up with a speeding ticket that was so bad it took me to court.
I almost lost my prospect status over that little stunt, and I wouldn’t let Sloane or her bullshit sister rip this away from me.
Because some days, it was all I fucking had.
When I got back to the hotel, I slammed my way through the front door and didn’t give a shit who I woke up. Not only did Sloane dig into a past she had no business digging around in, she also was hell bent on bringing down our club. She wasn’t here to help us like Summer said. She was here to put us all away. The whole situation only confirmed my theory about cops. They took advantage every second they could and then used the knowledge they had to manipulate people to do what they wanted them to do. She even said it herself: she would do what she had to in order to get Summer out. That meant she could gun me down whenever she felt like it!
Just like Melody had been gunned down because he felt like it.
A gentle knock came from the other side of our adjoining door, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Finn, look, I’m sorry if I upset you,” Sloane said.
Her voice grated against my ears and I wanted to punch her in the face. Except, she was a woman, and I didn’t dabble in that shit.
I wasn’t a Black Flag, after all.
“Finn, come on. Seriously, I didn’t mean to make you so upset.”
I whipped open the adjoining door and stared her down. “Then, maybe don’t threaten my club with jail time because you can next time. Leaves sort of a bad taste in someone’s mouth.”
She sighed. “I admit that sometimes I can see cases as very black and white, and sometimes I forget that most things operate within the gray. I will also admit that I am not the biggest fan of Tanner which can cloud my judgement. But, I realize now that I am going to need your help tonight. I can’t do this alone.”
I turned back around and stalked into the suite. “Then, start acting like it. Because right now, you’re just like them. You’re just another cop acting before you have all of the facts.”
I expected her to rebuttal, but she didn’t. She did follow me into my room, which I didn’t like, but then again I’d been following her around so at least I understood how intrusive that had become. I ripped open the mini fridge and grabbed a beer before I saw her dainty little hand appear in my field of vision.
And after she grabbed herself a beer, I slammed the door closed.
“What happened that night?” she asked softly.
Her voice had taken a completely different tone and it made me sick. “Don’t.”
She cracked open her beer. “What?”
I peered over at her. “I’m not one of your perps. I’m not some asshole you’re interrogating. Lose the fluttery voice.”
She took a long pull before she righted her voice. “Fine. What happened that night, then? I’m all ears.”
I opened my own drink. “You questioning me like a suspect in the case? Or, are you asking me as the grieving boyfriend?”
Her face fell. “You two were dating?”
I took a long pull from my beer. “Yep.”
Her face softened. “I want to understand. Help me understand what happened, and maybe I can put some things at rest while I’m trying to dig my sister out of trouble.”
“You’re here to help all of us.”
She shook her head. “Make no mistake, Finn, I’m not here to help you guys. I’m here to help my sister and to keep my niece out of harm’s way. And if that means helping you guys by proxy, then that’s what I’ll do. But, I’m not here for you, or your crew. I’m here for Summer and my own family. That’s it.”
I walked over to the living area of the suite and flopped down in a chair. “Defending family no matter the cost. That, we can both agree on.”
She came and sat in front of me. “So, what happened? What happened leading up to her death?”
I gazed into her eyes and I no longer saw the hardened detective that had blown in here on the cusps of the northern wind. Instead, I saw a curious woman who was genuinely worried for the person she was staring at. And while I would have never opened up to anyone else, if she was telling the truth about trying to figure out what happened, then I could save her some steps.
Because I already knew what had happened.
I sighed heavily. “Fine. I’ll explain what happened. I’ll even tell you what I know happened, even though you probably won’t believe me since I don’t have proof. But, you can’t jump to conclusions, and when I’m done filling you in we’re done talking. Got it?”
She nodded. “Got it.”
So, I drew in a deep breath. “Melody and I had been dating unofficially for a while. Her stepfather wasn’t a big fan of mine, probably because I rebelled at such a young age and he considered me a terrible influence on her. But, we were as in love as two sixteen-year-olds could get, so we snuck around. Sometimes I’d rearrange my school schedule to get more time with her, and she’d lie about after-school extracurriculars just so we could walk up to the coffee shop and hang out for a while.”
“What happened after that?” she asked.
I clicked my tongue as I let my memories wash over me. “I don’t know, honestly. Her stepfather started acting strange one day. Just out of the blue. He was acting all creepy around Melody and hovering a lot. I figured it was because he knew we were still seeing each other so he was trying to keep tabs on that, but when Melody started trying to elongate our moments together after school I quickly picked up on the fact that it was because she didn’t want to go home.”
She nodded slowly. “What did you guys do?”
I shrugged. “I finally got it out of her one day during lunch that her stepfather was making passes at her. Making her feel uncomfortable. One night, she even woke up and saw him standing at her door just staring at her. She called me crying that night.”
“Jesus,” she whispered.
I snickered. “Oh trust me, it gets worse. I overheard him on the phone one day complimenting her tits and how they were filling out while she was sneaking a phone call to me on her cell phone, and the next school day she came to school in a long-sleeved shirt when it was seventy degrees outside.”
She gripped her beer bottle so hard that her fingers turned white. “I already want to kill him, you know.”
I clicked my tongue. “Well, I tried to get her to tell someone about it. Anyone. My parents. A guidance counselor. Her teacher, for crying out loud. But, she wouldn’t do it. She was so scared of what he’d do to her if he ever found out and that fear was enough to keep her silent.”
She leaned forward. “What happened that night, Finn?”
My gaze fell to my opened beer. “One night, in the middle of the night, I hear something banging against my window. I wake up and see Melody downstairs throwing shells she had found in the sand out in the backyard and I snuck out to go see her. She was sobbing. I mean, crying so hard she couldn’t breathe. So, I took her into my arms, held her, and kept telling her that things would be okay. And she was a fucking mess, Sloane. Her clothes were ripped to shreds. She had bruises already forming around her neck and down her legs. I got her to tell me that her stepfather was drunk, and then I was the one that asked her if she had been raped.”
She clenched her jaw in fury. “He got drunk and raped her.”
I closed my eyes. “The only person I wanted to kill that night was him. The only person whose blood I wanted spilled was his. But, Melody was so sweet and so kind and so adamant, and she stopped me because she wanted me to take her somewhere.”
“Let me guess: to the drugstore.”
My eyes slowly opened. “Was that in the file?”
She nodded. “Yeah, it was. That’s where your testimony picked up.”
I chugged back the rest of my beer. “I did as she asked. I took her in the middle of the night to this twenty-four-hour pharmacy and told her to wait in the car. I walked inside, told them that the Plan B pill was for my girlfriend, and they didn’t hesitate to sell it to me. I didn’t want her going through the humiliation of walking into a place looking like she had only to ask for something like that, so I did it for her. And after I bought the pill with my parent’s credit card along with a bottle of water, I took it back out to her so she could take it.”
“You were there when she needed you the most,” she whispered.
My stare clung to her face. “When we got back here, I asked her if she wanted to stay. I told her that my parents wouldn’t ask any questions whatsoever if she wanted to stay, but she said that her stepfather was on the night shift that evening so she’d be safe going back home. But, her stepfather had called in sick that night, so he was home when she got home.”
Her eyes slowly widened. “Oh, my God.”
I swallowed down the bile creeping up the back of my throat. “I’m sure you want to know how I know that he called out, so here’s the skinny: her stepfather told me. That next morning, his hungover, bullshit piece of ass showed up on my fucking doorstep with two other police officers and tried to arrest me on the spot. Dad stepped in between me and the officers, demanding to know the charges, and as Mom carted me off into the kitchen I heard them saying something about Melody. And when I peered out the kitchen window, I saw her–.”
I couldn’t continue. It was like a wave had crashed over me and flooded my nostrils. I felt myself drowning in my own anger and I forgot how to breathe.
And it wasn’t until I felt Sloane’s hand on my shoulder that I drew in a long breath through my nose.
“The sand was coated in blo–blood,” I choked out. “She was face-down, just–just spread eagle. And I remember vomiting up my dinner before I fell to my knees, and Mom kept whispering that she knew I was innocent. That I couldn’t be capable of something like this.”
She squeezed my shoulder. “What did your dad think?”
I wiped at the tears that had escaped onto my cheeks. “Dad was the reason I got juvie instead of being tried like an adult. But, that’s not even the kicker.”
She dipped down, her eyes finding my own. “What’s the kicker, Finn? You can tell me.”
My stare slowly gravitated to hers. “When that man was shoving me into the cop car, he admitted what he had done. He admitted that he had killed his own fucking stepdaughter, and that I’d take the blame for it.”
Her hand slid down my arm before her touch faded away altogether. “Have you told anyone about this? What her stepfather said to you?”
I shrugged. “My lawyer. But, he said it would be impossible to prove.”
She nodded slowly. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“And since he was a big-wig cop, it would’ve been easy for him to stack the deck against me.”
She cleared her throat. “Unfortunately, you’re also right about that.”
Silence fell between us and I couldn’t look at her any longer. I stood to my feet and tossed the empty beer bottle into the trashcan before making my way out of the kitchen. I didn’t want to be around anyone anymore. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts and my memories.
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.
And as I landed on my bed for the night, the thought grew louder until I could no longer ignore it.
As much a Sloane infuriated me, part of me what falling for her.
