Sly kissed the top of my head. “Hey, hey, hey. You gotta dry those tears. Your brother needs us to be strong.”
Hope patted my shoulder. “Yeah. He’s going to need you to hold down the fort until the guys can get to him.”
I sniffled hard. “I’m good. I’m good. It’s just—my life sucks so many fucking cactuses right now.”
Hannah giggled. “Sucking cacti, huh? Sounds painful.”
I groaned. “Don’t I know it.”
Sly brushed my hair away from my face. “I have to go. But I need you to know something.”
I drew in a deep breath. “What’s that?”
His finger crooked beneath my chin and he pulled my gaze up to his again.
“When I get back? You and I are going out for a celebratory dinner before we go back to my place. And no, you don’t get a choice.”
My heart slammed against my chest. “By all means.”
He pulled my face toward his and my eyes fluttered closed just as our lips crashed together. And as his arms blanketed my back, the girls started to whoop and holler. Whistles cascaded from every corner of the bar as his tongue slid against my own, shooting hot electricity through my veins. My knees grew weak. I clung to his leather jacket as he slowly dipped me backwards. The girls clapped and cheered us on as I gave into him, allowing him to support my weight as he held me against his body.
Oh, how I wanted him to whisk me away.
His teeth raked along my lower lip, causing me to shiver before he pulled me upright once more. With a small kiss to the tip of my nose, our moment was over, and I knew I was willing to do anything to get it back. To have another one. Over and over, until this man knew nothing but the sound of my name falling from his lips. I stumbled against him and he clutched me tightly, his grin growing wide across his cheeks like the damn Cheshire Cat.
“There’s more of that coming after I get your brother, you know,” he murmured.
I kissed his cheek. “Then, go get him and come back to me. Both of you. Okay?”
His lips found my ear. “You have my word.”
With one more soft kiss to the shell of my ear, he released my body. I stumbled backwards into someone’s arms before the girls helped me plant myself onto the ground again. I caught a glimpse of Sly’s determined features before he turned around, storming back for the door.
And as he slammed himself out the double doors that led into the bar, I drew in a deep breath of air.
“I need a fucking drink,” I said breathlessly.
“Bartender!” Hope exclaimed.
Simone led me back to our booth as a bike engine struck up in the parking lot. I flopped into my seat and watched out the window as Sly rode off into the distance. I tracked him for as long as I could before the nighttime swallowed him whole. The girls were silent as something slid against the table. And when I looked down, a glass of wine sat in front of me.
“There’s more where that came from, too. Got two bottles secured for the table. Drink up,” Joanna said.
I picked up my glass of wine and chugged it back until every drop was gone. And as I set it down, Simone promptly filled my glass again. I reached for a French fry that had long since grown cold and chewed on it. Though, my appetite had practically faded away.
Replaced with a worry I couldn't bear to stomach.
“They’re going to be okay,” Hannah said.
Hope nodded. “And if you really want to be with Sly, you’re going to have to get used to this kind of pressure.”
I sighed. “Are they always in life or death situations?”
Joanna snickered. “According to them? Not usually.”
Hannah shrugged. “But they are in a great bit of danger a lot more than I’d like them to be.”
Hope shook her head. “You know this shit is gonna die down once Skeleton and that awful crew of theirs is off the streets.”
Simone nodded. “That’s very true. Once Skeleton is out of here, I’m sure things will settle back down for the guys.”
I shrugged. “Why get into it in the first place, though? I’m sure they aren’t exactly squeaky clean when it comes to what they do as a crew.”
The table fell silent and I felt all eyes on me as Joanna drew in a deep breath.
“As the crew’s official attorney, I can neither confirm nor deny your statements. However, what you need to understand about these guys is that they have three rules they live by. And only three.”
I blinked. “Well, what are they?”
Hannah cleared her throat. “Always protect family.”
Hope smiled. “Always protect children.”
Joanna looked me straight in my eyes. “And never, under any circumstance, hurt women.”
It clicked over in my brain. “They’re going after Skeleton because they were plucking women from here. In town.”
Simone took my hand. “They’re good men. Do they straddle the line sometimes? Yes. But there’s a reason why our police departments willingly accept their help sometimes in exchange for—”
Joanna interjected. “Thaaaaat’s enough of that.”
I giggled softly. “I take it I’m not quite family yet?”
Hannah pushed my wine closer to me. “Play your cards right, and you will be.”
Hope reached for a chicken wing. “Your brother, too, once we can get things sorted out.”
I liked the idea of having them as my family. Especially if it put me at Sly’s side.
There was a silver lining, though, and that was the fact that the guys would soon be aware about my brother’s actual status. I was relieved that I no longer had to carry around that massive secret any longer, especially since emotions were now involved. I wasn’t sure if that would reflect poorly on me or not—you know, keeping that secret—but the girls seemed to enjoy having me around. Maybe the guys might come around, too.
Eventually.
“Is there anyone you should call regarding your brother?” Joanna asked.
Her voice pulled me from my trance. “What?”
Simone leaned back. “Does he have a partner or something? Someone to check in with while he’s undercover?”
I blinked. “Actually, I wouldn't know.”
Hannah furrowed her brow. “Why not? Aren’t you living with him?”
I swallowed hard. “Yeah. I am.”
Joanna held her arm out. “All right, all right. I think we’ve had enough excitement for one night. How about we get all of this to go, get some ice cream from the grocery store, and head back to my place? We can put on a movie, get into some comfy clothes, maybe watch some action films?”
Hope’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Oh! A Magic Mike marathon. Simone still hasn’t seen the movies.”
Joanna giggled. “Magic Mike, it is. You in, Tara?”
All eyes were on me as my mind ran away from me. How in the world could I live with my own brother and not know if there was someone to contact in an emergency? Had I been so up my own ass with my own problems that I hadn’t considered how much I was ignoring him in the process?
I’m such a shit sister.
“Earth to Tara. You there?” Hope asked.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry. I, uh… raincheck?”
Joanna scoffed. “Oh, come on. You’re the one that really needs this distraction. Come over and have some fun.”
Hannah reached for the wine bottle. “We can even take this with us.”
Simone pointed. “With the cork in it.”
“Psssh. I’m driving,” Joanna said, “you guys are fine.”
My eyes watered. “How could I not know something like that?”
Hannah paused. “Something like what?”
Simone’s face fell flat. “Who to contact in case her brother went missing.”
Hannah sighed. “Oh.”
Joanna tucked some hair behind my ear. “The guys are going to find him. Trust me on that.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. “What if they don’t find him in time, though?”
&
nbsp; Simone asked me a question that caught me off-guard. “Do you want to be with Sly? For real?”
My head whipped over toward the sound of her voice. “Yes. I really do. I care about him a lot.”
“Then, what you need to do is start trusting him and his instincts. Sly is many things, but he’s sharp. He’s solid. And if he says he’s going to get your brother back, then it’s happening. No questions asked.”
And while I didn’t have a rhyme or a reason for it, her words gave me great comfort.
I just hoped both of my men returned back to me in one piece each.
13
Sly
With the wind wrapping around my body like a flailing blanket, I sailed away from the bar. I kicked my bike into gear and skidded around sharp corners, trying to go as fast as I could. I had no idea where the hell to start looking for Skeleton and his bullshit marauders. But I had his last known location.
So, as I headed back to the warehouse, I called Link.
“About damn time we heard from you,” he said.
I took another sharp turn. “Get the other guys on the line. It’s an emergency.”
Link wasted no time in routing the rest of the guys through our call. And pretty soon, I had all of their voices in my ear.
“What’s up?” Ash asked.
“You got something?” Knuckles asked.
Bowser went to speak, but I cut him off. “Skeleton and some assholes showed up at my last warehouse and took Chains.”
The entire phone call went silent before Link barked in my ear.
“What!? How long ago!?”
I drew in a deep breath. “Uh… maybe twenty or so minutes ago?”
Bowser scoffed. “And you’re just now getting back to us? What the fuck happened?”
I started cruising out of town. “Well, the first thing I had to do was update Tara. I promised to get her brother back myself.”
“I’m going to kill you,” Link growled.
I rolled my eyes. “Save the theatrics. Yes, I should have called sooner. But I didn’t. This is her brother, and I wanted to promise her personally that we’d get him back. He’s Fed, by the way. Got her to confirm it.”
“Shit,” Ash hissed.
I shook my head. “None of that. If we know he’s a Fed and the girls know he’s a Fed, there’s a damn good chance Skeleton knows, too.”
“And if he knows, then Chains doesn’t have much time,” Knuckles murmured.
I sighed. “The third warehouse on my list was the one Skeleton ambushed us at. I’m headed there now to scout for clues.”
Link cleared his throat. “How the hell did Chains find you out there in the first place?”
My tires skidded along the asphalt. “My guess? He tracked me somehow. Maybe by phone or some shit like that. Those are just theories, though. He’s probably been keeping tabs on me anyway since my date with Tara.”
Ash chuckled. “Smart man.”
“Can it,” I said flatly.
“I’m going to find the most creative way to punish you for this. You know that, right?” Link asked.
I grinned. “Can’t be any more ‘creative’ than the time you employed me as the janitor for the Iron Horse for those few weeks. Remember that?”
Link snickered. “Yeah. Place has never been dirtier.”
The guys had a good laugh at that before we all fell silent again.
“Is no one going to address the fact that he put Tara’s needs over the needs of this crew’s well-being?” Bowser asked.
I groaned. “And here comes Mom.”
Link jumped in. “Bowser, we’ve got a delicate—”
Bowser interrupted him. “No. No, for once, no one’s gonna shut me up on this. You know damn good and well Sly breaks the rules. Always. And we’ve kept him in this crew for this long because he’s good at the few things he does.”
I smiled. “Including my hunches.”
Bowser sighed. “Whatever. Anyway. Let’s lay this out for a second: he knew Chains was Fed and yet he intentionally dated his sister.”
“I mean I didn’t know know it at that point. I just had a hunch.”
Bowser continued as if he didn’t hear me. “And now, instead of calling us the second he’s got a very serious issue on our hands—or contacting us the second Skeleton fell into his lap—he lets our rival crew take some Fed guy we’re going to be responsible for and he goes to inform some chick instead of the guys who are trying to clean up this situation? And he’s just gonna get out of it?”
Link cleared his throat. “I never said that, Bowser.”
I blinked. “Wait a second, how the fuck am I in trouble here?”
Ash laughed. “For so many reasons.”
I revved my engine. “Well, I wouldn’t have done a damn thing differently. So, if this costs me my leather cut? At least I still have Tara.”
The words flew out of my mouth two seconds before my brain clocked them. And it felt like the entire world stilled around me. Bike engines sounded off in the distance, no doubt soaring in my same direction. But as the warehouse came into view, I couldn’t concentrate.
I was much too worried about Tara.
“Well,” Knuckles said with a yawn, “guess he finally understands how we feel about our girls now.”
Ash snickered. “Does that mean you’re going to get off our asses for ‘selling out’ and ‘settling down?’”
I rolled my eyes. “I haven’t moved in with the chick or anything. But yes. She’s becoming important to me.”
Knuckles made kissing sounds over the headset while the guys had a chuckle at my expense. And while any other situation would’ve been grounds to choke him until his eyes popped out, I actually found it a bit funny myself.
However, once I pulled into the parking lot of the warehouse where Chains and I had been attacked, my smile quickly faded away.
I cut the engine to my bike. “I hear you guys in the distance. See you in a few.”
I shut down the call and slid my helmet off as darkness settled around the abandoned place. There were so many skid marks in the mud that I didn’t even know where to begin. I sat there, straddling my bike as the guys pulled in. One by one, in a heroic roar of justice, they filed in and lined up beside me. Their gazes filtering over the ground.
Clocking the same skid marks I was.
“I’ll get pictures of it all,” Ash said.
Link hopped off his bike. “Sounds like a plan. Knuckles, you stay with him. Take pictures of the perimeter and alert me if you find anything at all. The rest of you? Inside, with me. I want Sly to walk us through exactly what happened.”
I nodded. “I can do that.”
I followed Bowser and Link inside where I slowly walked them through what happened from my point of view. I showed them the hallway Chains and I had inhabited when they rolled up on us. I pointed in the direction of every sound I recalled and where it came from relative to where I had been hunkered down.
I didn’t leave a damn thing out of my story, no matter what it made me look like.
And when we made our way back outside, Ash trotted up to us.
“So, we got a pretty strong lead,” he said.
Link blinked. “Why do I get the feeling there’s a catch?”
I scoffed. “Probably because there is.”
Ash turned his phone around. “I’ve got this tracking application a friend of mine developed. Well, is currently developing. Anyway, not the point. The point is: I’ve been using it periodically to try and track Skeleton’s cell phone. But it hasn’t been active in months.”
Bowser put his hands on his lips. “Let me guess: you got a trace on it.”
Ash held up his phone to the man’s face. “See that blinking dot? It came up on my screen a few minutes ago and has been still ever since.”
My head fell back. “Great. So, either he’s fucking with us—”
Link jumped in. “—or he wants us to find him.”
Knuckles chuckled. “Who’s up for a
little night ride, fellas?”
We wasted no time in hopping on our bikes and making Ash the leader of this brigade. I took one last peek over my shoulder at the warehouse behind me, then brought up the end of the line as we made our way back onto the road. Ash swerved down back country roads and tore through patches of fields spotted along either side of the roads, and part of me wanted to know where exactly we were going.
But not knowing kept my senses alive and alert.
And that was the kind of sensory alertness I needed to make it out of this scenario alive.
I made a promise. I have to make sure I keep it.
As soon as Ash pulled off the road, I saw his finger jutted out. He pointed at an abandoned house that sat about a quarter of a mile off the beaten path with the yard grown up so much I knew there were snakes and other shit lying in wait. The dull red shutters against the moldy white house sat cockeyed against the exterior, and the front door hanging wide open left nothing to the imagination.
But something didn’t sit right with me.
So, I engaged everyone’s Bluetooth headset built into all of our helmets and spoke.
“Anyone get the feeling this is too easy?” I asked.
Link snickered. “Yeah. Pretty much all of us.”
“You wanna do the honors, Sly?” Bowser asked.
I parked my bike. “Ash. You're with me. We’ll clear the house and search for Ben.”
Ash paused. “Actually, the pinging is coming from around the back of the house.”
I looked around at the guys before we all swung our legs over our bikes. We removed our helmets and had our hands on the butts of our guns as we cleared both sides of the house. The weeds and grass of the front lawn came up to my hip as we eased our way around to the back. And when we all got back there, we stood as we stared at a storage container back at the edge of the property.
Where the trees met the yard.
Link patted my shoulder. “Guys, I’m heading with Sly. The rest of you keep an eye out.”
We didn’t even make a move, though, before we heard his voice.
Sly (Dragon Riders MC Book 5) Page 9