After driving through one of my favorite fast food places, I took a massive bite of my burger wrap and chewed as quickly as I could. I’d been so nervous on the ride down that I hadn’t even thought about eating. But once we dropped Chey off and I knew she was with the safest person I knew, all I could think about was a juicy burger wrap with sweet potato fries and a gigantic banana-mocha shake.
But Tanner hadn’t spoken since we left my sister’s forty-five minutes ago.
“You okay?” I asked as I wiped my mouth off with a napkin.
I watched him slurp on his shake. “Sloane still doesn’t like me, does she?”
I blinked. “What are you talking about? She’s never not liked you.”
He snickered. “The look she gave me through the windshield could’ve killed me had it had the power to.”
“Really? I didn’t even notice.”
He sighed. “Summer.”
I rolled my eyes. “All right, all right. No, she’s never really been a fan of yours. But that’s only because she thinks you’re the reason our family fell apart.”
He balked. “What the fuck!? Are you kidding me? I’m nowhere near responsible for that shit. That’s on your parents and your parents alone.”
“Trust me, I know. But she was young when everything happened. She was only fifteen when I left home. She was the only person that knew I was heading out, and she did everything she could to stop me.”
He took my hand. “Is she okay?”
I leaned back and shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s on a good path now, but I kept up with her when I left home. She rebelled a lot after I left. Got in with the wrong crowd. Got herself into so much trouble that she almost finished out her high school career in juvie.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t even sound like Sloane.”
“Right!? But you have to look at it from a fifteen-year-old perspective. I tried to protect her and shelter her from the wrath of Mom and Dad a lot. So, whenever she did experience their anger and hatred, she assumed it was only her being punished. To this day, she’s got no idea what I threw myself in front of most days, so when I left, she saw it as me spitting in the face of the family because of you.”
“So, she doesn’t know that you didn’t leave with me.”
I swallowed hard. “No. Telling her that would mean telling her everything, and I guess over the years I got so used to keeping things to myself that I saw no need to unearth it.”
“Until now, at least.”
I turned and looked out the window. “Yeah. Until now, at least.”
He squeezed my hand. “You know that whatever you do, I’ll support. But if we’re going to be a family, that means being the best family we can be.”
I sighed. “I know, I know. Just—let’s get through this one major hurdle, then we can do things like introduce you to Cheyenne and unearth years’ worth of painful secrets my sister knows nothing about.”
“I’m sorry.”
I clicked my tongue. “Not your fault. Like you said, my parents are to blame.”
Silence fell between us for a little bit before his comforting voice filled the spaces between us.
“When did Sloane move to Santa Barbara?”
I cleared my throat and blinked back tears of worry. “The second she graduated. She cleaned up her act during the back-half of her senior year and ended up applying for every job she could. She couldn’t find anything in the area, though, and that’s when Mom and Dad started breathing down her throat. She called me a lot. You know, to kind of rant and get things off her chest. And I was the one that started daydreaming of one day moving somewhere far away and starting a whole new life for myself.”
“Is that how the idea of Santa Barbara came around?”
I nodded. “Eventually, yes. Took a few weeks of ranting, but eventually she started looking into other places. Other cities. She found a lot of job opportunities in Santa Barbara, and when she landed a full-time gig as a cashier, she stole money from my parents to help get her first place so she could settle in and start working.”
He chuckled. “Let me tell you, you girls have some serious balls.”
I snickered. “Yeah, well. My sister and I aren’t perfect. While she loves Chey with everything inside of her, she hates that I got pregnant in the first place.”
“Which is really why she hates me.”
“I don’t know, she thinks you ruined my life or something. When really, I didn’t have a life until I met you. Until I got pregnant. I had no dreams or aspirations for after high school. I had no want to go to college only to take more tests and learn shit I didn’t care about. She blames me stripping on the pregnancy, and blames the pregnancy on you, so…”
“So, you started stripping because of me? That’s what she thinks?”
I closed my eyes and leaned back. “I honestly don’t know. She won’t talk about it. I can assume all I want, but until she learns to talk like a regular, normal person like she used to before all of this detective stuff, all I can do is assume and pass judgment.”
After that conversation, the ride was pretty much silent. I watched while Tanner kept an eye on Porter and Cole while we all traveled anywhere from two to five car lengths away from each other. Sometimes, they were even in opposite lanes, and during those times where they passed us, Tanner would kick it up a notch just to make things look genuine. Like we were two cars filled with people just trying to get on with our days.
But the second we passed the sign that told us we were entering Santa Cruz, I heard the revving of bike engines.
And when I looked back to try and find Porter and Cole behind us, I saw them diverting off.
Heading straight for a couple of bikes parked on the side of the road.
“Summer?” Tanner asked.
I turned back around and faced forward. “I know, I hear them.”
Tanner white-knuckled the steering wheel. “Are you buckled?”
I tugged on the seat belt until it came all the way out. And when it clicked back into place so I couldn’t lean up or move anywhere, I nodded.
“Yeah, I’m buckled,” I said breathlessly.
Tanner nodded. “Good.”
And when he hit the gas, propelling us forward, I watched as a dozen or so motorcycles came out of nowhere. All of them, blacked out. All of them, topped with men in black leather jackets with eyes of steel and hearts of ice.
“Go, Tanner! Hurry!” I exclaimed.
To which he booked it down the road as quickly as he could before he took a sharp left, sending us careening down a dark alleyway.
