Cutter's Hope (3 page)

“I could have done it,” he said gruffly.

“You ain’t exactly been on the level with us lately brother,” Atlas said and he sounded sorry. None of us enjoyed this but we enjoyed dealing with cleaning up after Tiny even less. I knew the minute he’d told me he’d killed that girl that some serious bad juju would come our way. Now the storm was just on the horizon and maybe coming in fast, hard to tell.

“Just be grateful you’re still even here, Man.” Marlin shook his head and jerked his chin towards the door. Tiny scowled and went out to the bar, took two shots in rapid succession and went out. A second later his bike fired up and he peeled out. Fuck man. We all traded a look.

“Radar?” we all said in unison then broke into grins. Tiny was seriously the only fucking dude in this club not on the same page with the rest.

“Yeah, call him,” Marlin said. We brought Radar in. The rest of the club’s patched members were contacted, brought in, the vote cast and not surprisingly unanimously so. I bailed earlier than I intended and rode out along the strip. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking for that set of long, tanned legs out from under that short, white, fluttery skirt she’d been wearing. I was pretty sure I would see her again… The town just wasn’t that big and she’d gotten my attention for sure. Hope Elizabeth Andrews didn’t know it, but she was under my mark now. It’d be interesting to see where this was going to go. I just hoped for her sake and my club’s that it didn’t go anywhere tragic.

Chapter 3

Hope

I took my coffee off the marble countertop from the smiling barista and thanked her. I sipped the frosty confection and turned to head back out into the overcast, Ft. Royal afternoon, and stopped cold. Cutter, president of The Kraken motorcycle gang, was just outside the door to the place, shoulder leaned nonchalantly on the building’s overhang support pillar. He was the picture of smug carelessness, arms crossed over his cut, but narrow chest, clad only in his leather motorcycle vest. A pair of ratty cargo shorts hanging low on his hips. His well-defined hip flexors carved that delicious damn ‘V’ inviting my gaze lower and I wasn’t ashamed to take the invitation. Never have been, and never would be.

I caught his smug smile turning into a full on grin as I swept my gaze lower, pausing just enough where it counted even though there wasn’t terribly much to look at, the shorts just loose enough to leave you wondering. He had one foot crossed in front of the other, the toes perched against the cracked sidewalk, while the leg behind it remained flat to the ground. He was balanced well. Weight evenly distributed, and in total control of himself. I guess he hadn’t let his training lapse either.

“You following me?” I asked, arching one brow. His full lips crushed down in an attempt to look sincere as he suppressed his smile, and shook his head but his warm brown eyes sparkled with mirth.

“Nope, just coming in to get a cup of coffee. Small town, best place for it.”

As if on cue the barista at the register called out, “Usual, Cutter?”

“That would be fantastic, Lily,” he called past me.

I slipped out the door and onto the corner and waited for traffic to clear before I crossed.

“So? You find what you’re looking for yet?” he called nonchalantly, when there was nothing nonchalant about it, I looked back over my shoulder at him where he looked back over his at me. Our gazes locked and sparks flew.

“How do you know her?” I asked, point blank.

“I told you, I didn’t.” His eyes shut down, became calculating and I felt mine narrow.

“Oh, come on, Lieutenant. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter,” I raised my eyebrows and took a sip of my drink, holding the straw to my lips, and even though I didn’t show it, I let myself have a self-satisfied smile on the inside when his eyes fixed on the straw where I pressed it into my bottom lip. He smiled and it wasn’t warm nor cold, it spoke of a total lack of surprise on his part.

“You’ve done your homework,” he said quietly and the mock friendliness of a moment before crystallized and snapped into something much more real. We weren’t playing anymore. Good. Faith wasn’t a game to me, she was my sister and I needed to know what happened. Dead or alive, I had to find her.

“No doubt you’ve done yours too,” I said.

“No doubt about that, Sweetheart,” he winked at me and there was a lull in the conversation.

“How do you know her?”

“Why are you looking for her?”

“I asked first.”

“Uh huh,” he dropped his arms and buried his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hitching once in that thoughtful sort of physical expression people so often do but are completely unaware of. He chewed the inside of his cheek and stared off into space for a few heartbeats before shuffling into the coffee place. He picked up his drink off the counter and shuffled right on back out. It did not go unnoticed by me that he didn’t pay and the girls behind the counter paid it no mind.

I wasn’t really surprised, I’d been around law enforcement enough to know how this worked. Small town like this? The MC probably had more clout than the local P.D. I decided to test the theory some as Cutter drew up even with me after retrieving his drink.

“Let me guess, they pay you protection money or you have some other kind of racket going on with them?” I asked. Cutter grinned and goddamn it was disarming. I’m pretty sure if I’d been wearing any, my panties would have gone up in flames.

“Ha! What kind of thing you think we got going around here? Never mind, don’t answer that,” he stepped off the curb with me as I made my way up the street, the skirt of my summer dress swishing with each step. Okay, fine,
maybe
I put just enough swing into my hips to make it sway. It had the desired effect though. I stopped on the opposite side of the street and turned to look at him and most definitely caught him checking me out.

“What
do
you have going on around here?” I asked, since he opened the door, I would walk right through, thank you very much.

“You show me yours I’ll show you mine, Sweetheart,” his voice dipped low, for my ears alone and it was one hell of a sexy sound. He compounded the sexy by stepping just inside my personal space, I looked up defiant and he looked down the few scant inches separating us. His eyes flicked from my eyes to my lips and I
almost
wanted him to go there. God
damn
this guy was sex on a stick and it had really been too fucking long.

Hardcore attraction aside, I was always one to push my limits and to take things up a notch when challenged. I stepped just that liiiiiiittle bit closer and tipped my head back
just so
, so that our lips
almost, almost,
touched. I curled the edges of
my
lips into a heated, nasty little smile, and said, “I don’t give it up on the first date.”

I meant it to be a joke, a smart assed little remark because let’s face it, dry sarcastic humor and smartassery has always been my thing, but Cutter… fuck if he didn’t give me as good as he got.

The bastard smiled as if he’d won a fucking prize or something and touched the tip of his nose to the tip of mine rubbing out an adorable little Eskimo kiss. With a wink he said, “Fair enough, Sweetheart. What’re we doing?”

My brain went out to lunch without me for a second while the tip of my nose tingled from the contact, his warm, solid, energy pouring over me in a rush at our proximity, right along with the masculine scent of whatever cologne he wore. I blinked. Fuck, he got me… I wasn’t one to go back on anything I’d said when confronted with it, even if I had said it in jest. Backpedaling hadn’t, and would never be, my thing and now as a result I was at a disadvantage. I had somehow just put myself on a date with the president of a known illegal enterprise. This was
not
going to look stellar as a footnote on my resume but…
Faith.

Fine, okay, I could let him have this if it got me closer to him opening up about what he knew about the bitch who was last seen with my sister. I took a half step back out of his personal space and his smile widened.

“Your town, why don’t you tell me? What’re we doing?” I conceded defeat for this round and kicked the shit out of myself mentally. He held out his elbow all gentlemanly like and I scoffed but looped my arm through it.

“How about a nice walk on the beach? Get to know each other some?” I looked out towards the water. I’d just run my ass off on the beach this morning, but sure. Sounded like a plan.

“Alright,” I assented and we set off at a leisurely pace in that direction sipping on our frothy blended coffees as they melted in their ecofriendly plastic cups.

Chapter 4

Cutter

Oh boy, she was a hard ass, and did I ever love a chase! I held out my arm and she hesitated, she was even prettier up close under the cloudy skies, which were still a hell of a lot brighter than the dim interior of The Plank. She finally looped her left arm through my right and I led us at a leisurely stroll across the street and towards the water. I have to admit that I lost myself a bit in her damn good looks and my mouth got away from me.

“So what brings you to our fair town of Ft. Royal?” I asked. She dug into her purse and shoved the picture of the girl from the Sacred Hearts’ Lake Run at me again.

“This girl, you seen her?” she looked at me pointedly and it wasn’t friendly.

“Nope, I already answered that.” I smiled grandly and she shoved the picture back in her purse, switching her drink back to her right hand and taking a sip.

“Well I already answered yours,” she said tartly. The sass on this woman was out of this world, but I could tell, she would skate the line if not skate right over it into disrespect, which could either be problematic, or could lead to some really fun times.

“So tell me something I don’t know, Sweetheart,” I kept my smile on my face even though I let my tone carry some bite. She looked up at me and her dark eyes flashed emotion like lightning over the water, though what emotion specifically? I couldn’t tell you. She was quick to get her shit under control. I liked that. Solid. Different, and not entirely unrefreshing. I felt a little guilty for that last thought, a pair of pained green eyes flashing out from my memory, but I quickly buried it. I wanted to know more about the enchanting creature in front of me. I already knew all there was about a woman I loved but could never have.

“I don’t know what you already know, so how about you ask a question and I’ll answer it.” Hope’s voice rattled me loose from my pattern of thought and I smiled and nodded.

“Alright, where you from then?” I asked.

She snorted, “I thought you did your homework.”

“I did, but it seemed like a safe enough place to start,” I shrugged, “Don’t like that one? Okay, alright, let’s see… where to begin?”

“California. I was raised in California.” I could
hear
the eye roll in her voice and I grinned.

“West coast girl, nice. Your turn.”

“Oh, I get a turn? Goodie!”

“Yeah and that was it, next question,” she scoffed and gave me a little playful shove. I laughed.

“What branch of the military were you in?” she asked.

“Not your turn, Sweetheart… but, I’ll answer you anyways. I’m one of Uncle Sam’s misguided children.” She nodded carefully, thoughtfully, and I could see the wheels turning.

“What about you?”

“Army, enlisted when I was eighteen, stayed in for 10 years,” she shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly.

“See any action?”

“Some,” and that was really all that needed to be said about that. I was the last person that wanted to relive any of that shit. We walked in silence for a few moments.

“Family?” she asked.

“Got a brother but I might as well be an only child for how much we talk. Parents live in Virginia.”

“That where you’re from?”

“I get two questions if I answer that?”

“That’s one,” she said and I laughed.

“Fair enough, Darlin’, fair enough. What about you? Family?” she hesitated.

“Two younger sisters, mom died when I was eighteen, that’s part of why I enlisted, I needed to support them. They stayed with our grandmother while I was in basic, but I had to feed and clothe two sisters that weren’t even teenage girls yet and become sister-mom.” Her posture was stiff, there was more there but now wasn’t the time to press. I needed to find out what her agenda was when it came to my club before anything.

“Sorry to hear that, that’s rough.” She nodded and sipped her drink.

“Boyfriend?” I asked and she laughed.

“No. Girlfriend?”

“Nope.”

I tried to steer us into safer conversational waters, “What do you like to do for fun?”

She was quiet for a long time, and I took the opportunity to study her, we were still a ways from the water but our steady pace would get us there. She closed her eyes and sighed out in obvious frustration.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done anything fun, not sure I remember the meaning of the word,” she confessed and it was probably the most honest thing she’d said to me since we’d met the day before. The thing that struck me was her confession seemed to carry with it the weight of the world. Her shoulders dropped, and her gaze became distant as she stared out over the water, pointedly not looking at me. I think she was regretting telling me.

“Well you’re in a good place to fix that,” I shared.

“Yeah, back at you. What do you do for fun?” she asked.

“You just going to keep asking me the questions I ask you? Or you going to come up with some of your own? Geeze – Hey!” she knocked her shoulder into mine and leaned into me and I let her put me off balance some. I hopped on one foot in the sand and laughed and we returned to walking along, only this time she had a smile on her face, a genuine one and it lit her up from the inside out. Turned her from a pretty girl to a fucking gorgeous one in the space of an eye blink. I think my heart tripped over itself in my chest and I felt my cock stir in my shorts. Damn.