Cutter's Hope (12 page)

“Let’s make this call,” I stated dryly but couldn’t help but smile. She really wasn’t concerned, in fact she was as relaxed as could be. Tough as nails or had a death wish, this one.

She got to her feet and came to me and looked up the scant inch or two that separated us in height.

“Thanks,” she murmured and tipped her face up to mine for a kiss. I pulled her the rest of the way against me by her hips and kissed her slow and deep. She drew back and her expression was haunted, fearful, but not for herself. Her gaze was distant, her heart and mind wherever her missing sister was, dead or alive. I sighed silently.

“Come on, let’s see what kind of answers we can get you,” I murmured and she nodded, troubled. Sometimes it was better not knowing, but when you
had
to know… I knew that feeling too.

I dropped onto the center cushion of my brown leather couch and pulled her down between my knees, circling her waist with my arms. She settled into my lap and I brought up the laptop screen, signed in and put the Skype call through. It was a little early but the screen popped up immediately onto Dani and Thirteen. The small woman perched in her man’s lap, wide blue eyes filling up the screen as she leaned back, almost a mirror for me and Hope.

Thirteen’s eyes skated over Hope then me before he spoke, “Dragon said it was important. What’s up, Man?”

I sketched out what was what and Dani and Thirteen both went very quiet, Thirteen searching his girl’s face. She shifted uncomfortably in his lap and chewed her bottom lip, the wheels turning in her head.

“Please, anything, even if you don’t think it’s important it could mean the world… just whatever you can remember about her, about where she came from…” Hope was desperate and her desperation was showing in her pleading tone.

Dani sighed, “I don’t know what happened to Tonya, but I remember her. She was a social climber of the worst order. A total bottom feeder. She latched onto The Suicide Kings to run from some other bad situation. Thought they would protect her,” Dani snorted with derision, “She just leapt out of the fire into the frying pan, the Kings were a step up from whatever she was running from, but not by much.”

Hope was tense in my arms, “Do you know what she was running from?”

Dani shook her head, “Not what they were into, no… but I know they were Russian. Mob maybe? I don’t know, she let slip one name when she was drunk, Ivan something, I really can’t remember the last name. Said she’d like to see Ivan get through The Kings if he ever came looking.”

Dani looked off to the side, her eyes glazing and gaze distant, she was clearly trying, she finally shook her head as if waking from a particularly horrible dream and gave Hope a sympathetic look.

“Tonya was not good people, she was hooked on drugs, a scammer, selfish and cruel. She wouldn’t hesitate to throw one of the other girls up under the bus if it got her one step closer to whatever goal she had in mind. All I know is she came from New Orleans and she was running from some guy named Ivan because of something stupid she did to cross him. I wish I could be of more help, I really do.”

“Thank you, Dani. It’s something where there was nothing I guess,” Hope said but I could tell by the fine tremble in her hands she was having a tough time not breaking something. She was holding it together but I had a feeling something needed to give, and I was a shit for thinking it, but I was sort of half hoping it would be another wild and angry fuck.

We ended the call on an amicable note and Hope’s shoulders dropped, “Shit… another lead and probably another fucking dead end,” she sighed and I shook her a bit. She put her hands over mine.

“You don’t know that yet, Darlin’. Let’s go talk to the guys and see what we can come up with. I got shit to deal with in-house.”

“Tiny?” she asked.

“Sorry, Sweetheart, you don’t get to know that. That’s club business,” I told her. She nodded.

“Kick him in the balls at least once for me,” she said, “Guy is a prick,” she rose off my lap and stretched, “Where’re my clothes?” she asked.

“Right here,” Marlin ducked below deck and tossed a backpack at her feet, she stooped and picked it up looking inside.

“Thanks, I think,” she frowned, “You pick this?”

“No, Radar did, why?”

“Radar sucks at women’s fashion,” she stated dryly.

“Fuck you, Princess!” Radar called from above deck. Hope rolled her eyes and went for the water closet.

“I’m showering,” she said and I nodded.

“Go right ahead, Sweetheart; mi es tu castillo,” she ducked backwards out of the water closet and looked me over, apparently impressed that I’d said it right. Goddamn she was fine. She arched one dark eyebrow, blew me a kiss and shut the door behind her firing up the narrow shower.

“Above deck,” I said and followed Marlin up.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“In the Glades where we keep them kinds of things,” Radar said low and dark.

“Anything else we should know about Miss Thang down there?” Pyro asked.

Radar looked me over, and I looked right back, hard.

“Spill it man,” I demanded.

“She seems to be on the up and up, her sister went missing almost two years ago. She had a bunch of files back at her room, bitch travels light. What clothes she did have fit in a back pack and her purse along with the files. Went through her phone, took a minute to crack it but Atlas got it. She’s got a whole lot of law enforcement contacts…”

“Sort of have to, it’s part of the job,” her voice startled all three of us, she looked us all over in turn, “You want to know anything, all you’ve got to do is ask.” Jesus, she showered like a dude. Get in, get out; get on with it. I had to like that!

“You a cop?” Radar asked her point blank.

“Nope, all I do is teach them not to kill whoever they’re arresting. Army gave me a particular skillset, Junior. You can’t fault a girl for putting it to use. Plus, I figured it might help me find my sister somehow, someway, that’s about the extent of that.” Hope gave Radar a cool and appraising look. The gloves were off apparently, there wasn’t no lie in her face, her posture was guarded, but I think that was because with a rough lot like my boys she was expecting more violence.

“I just want to find Faith, I don’t give a fuck what you do or what you’re into… I just want to find my sister, or at least what happened to her,” she said. Radar nodded slowly.

“We ain’t bad guys,” Marlin said softly.

“Tell that to the bitch who last saw my sister,” she wasn’t going to give any quarter there and I didn’t blame her. Hell if it was a female close to me, like Li’l Bit or even Li’ler Bit, I would tear the Earth and sky apart right alongside their men to find them. I mean shit, what if it were Hoss? She’s got three kids counting on her…

I shook my head, “That wasn’t something any of us condoned, Sweetheart.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one, Baby Cakes. Your man that did it was walking around and doing just fine when I got here,” she leveled me with an accusing glare and I couldn’t argue with her logic, even if it was totally civilian. She didn’t understand our ways and the crash course in the MC life would have to come later, right now the rest of the boys were waiting. It seemed Radar thought now was the time though, he started in on her first lesson.

“You don’t get it, Princess. Good, bad, or indifferent, Tiny is a brother and we protect our own, even when they do extremely stupid shit,” Radar crossed his arms and stared her down. Hope gave him a bored look.

“Right, okay, I’m not going to pretend to get it, guess I just have to know one thing, am I supposed to be some kind of prisoner or something retarded like that because I know too much?” she asked, but she was asking me, her gaze fixed firmly on my face. I grinned wide.

“You going to the cops?” I asked.

“No.”

“Your word on that?”

“Yes.”

“Then for now, we’re straight,” I palmed the back of my neck and pulled on it trying to ease some of the tension there.

“Just like that?” she asked.

“Just like that,” I affirmed. She narrowed her eyes and I could see the questions dancing inside that pretty little skull of hers. She pulled her wet hair over her shoulder and braided it. She was dressed in what the boys had brought her, some flowery strapless dress that hung to her feet. It didn’t look like something she would wear and in fact looked like she had to safety pin it some.

“Where the hell did you get that thing?” I asked Radar, he shrugged.

“It’s my oldest kid’s,” he grated. His oldest kid was his 17 year old daughter. Dude was forty-three.

“Good to know, now where are
my
clothes?” Hope asked sweetly but her expression was sour as all get out.

“Moved your shit from The Nautilus to our safe house, it’ll all be there when you get there,” Pyro said. Hope’s expression darkened but then turned thoughtful.

“My, how heavy handed of you. I thought I wasn’t a prisoner.”

“You’re not, but as of now, I guess you’re our guest,” Marlin supplied.

“You touch my bike?” she asked.

“It’s at the safe house too, took it there myself. Nice little pasta rocket you got there,” Radar said. Hope looked positively mutinous at that.

“Hey,” I said and she turned back to me. “What’d I tell you?” I meant last night and she knew it, she didn’t blush but the memory of it slid behind her eyes. She looked at me thoughtfully.

“You’ve told me a lot of things, but I guess I’m picking up what you’re putting down. So what happens now?” she shifted on her feet, nerves putting her into a bit of a fighter’s stance. I smiled at her.

“We take you to the safe house, and then I go deal with some shit,” I said. She searched my face and nodded slowly.

“It’s going to have to do for now. I need to come up with a game plan on what to do, where to go from here,” she said.

I felt like telling her she wasn’t going anywhere without me, but it wasn’t my place to say, not yet anyways. I’d remind her that I’d promised I was going to help her find her sister after I dealt with cleaning house.

“Right this way, Darlin’,” Pyro said and held out his arm, he and I traded a look and I gritted my teeth. Bastard was doing it just to get my damned goat. Hope looked from one to the other of us.

“I think I got it,” she said and leapt lightly to the dock, “Which one of you jokers has my phone?” she asked.

Nope. She wasn’t going to give any quarter and the emotional storm of last night was over as far as I could tell. I smiled on the inside, a self-indulgent little smile. The chase was still on, and the carefully considering look she was giving me said she wanted me to chase her. Game on, Sweetheart. Game fucking on.

Chapter 13

Hope

“You know this is kind of bullshit,” I was sulking, but only mildly. Cutter’s chuckle thrummed through his back and into my chest where I was pressed tight against him. He pulled up in front of a modern looking house, a real nice place that looked like it belonged on the front cover of Better Homes & Gardens.

“I won’t be too long, Sweetheart. You and I have some things to talk about.”

Wasn’t that the ever loving truth? He shut off the bike and I got off of it, hiking the bag made out of old fishing net higher onto my shoulder. It had my shorts and tank from last night in it. Cutter slipped my phone out of his vest’s inside pocket and handed it to me. I palmed it and looked over the driveway.

My baby was indeed parked in the shade of a couple of palms in the front of the house, off to the side. The place was a two story monstrosity with wide stone steps out front and by the looks of things, sat right on the beach. We were a bit far out from town for a normal person to walk it but I wasn’t your average Joe, plus I had my bike. They didn’t know about the hidden key.

“So you leaving me here by myself?” I asked, not quite believing that I wasn’t some kind of prisoner or something. Not like they could hold me if they wanted to. I was pretty sure out of all of them that Cutter was the only one that could give me a run for my money. The rest could probably hold their own against anyone else, I was just far too trained for them to handle me one on one… Two on one might even be a stretch for them to be honest. It took Cutter to bring me down the night before and I was still deliciously sore from how that’d turned out. I still had some mixed feelings about that, but for now the good outweighed the bad.

“Sweetheart, look at me?” he said softly and I did because he asked and because he was treating me with more respect than I probably deserved. His eyes were a brown with deeper flecks of bronze to them. Lighter than mine but no less deep. He invaded my personal space so beautifully and brought his forehead down to mine while his boys looked on from a short distance away.

“You’re not a prisoner, not like we could hold you if you got determined anyways and I don’t want to see any of my guys hurt. Likewise, I don’t want to see you hurt either but things have gotta happen in a certain order here, you feel me?” he asked. I nodded, mouth suddenly inoperable due to his proximity. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to disappear into Cutter’s arms and never come up for air again. I wanted to forget, briefly, like he’d made me forget last night. Faith…

I closed my eyes and breathed out and somehow knew that he knew. He wrapped me up in his embrace and hugged me as I nodded my understanding even though I didn’t get it, I understood protocol and apparently his merry band of misfits had protocols in spades.

“Gimme a few hours, I’ll come back here and we’ll talk, figure out our next move. Okay?”

Our next move…
I liked the sound of that. It was the sound of not being alone anymore and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was tired. Really tired of carrying this fucked up burden all by myself. But it was my cross to bear, no one else’s.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked and leveled him with a steady gaze.

“I’m not a bad dude, Baby. Maybe I wanna prove that to you,” he murmured. I scoffed a little.

“You don’t give a fuck what people think,” I stated judiciously.