Page 19 of Cutter's Hope

“I’m going to tell you what I can, Darlin’, but I’ve got to think of my club,” he said and his voice was raw and honest.

“Bros before ho’s huh?” I asked and snorted derisively.

“Not to put too fine a point on it,” he said and he didn’t sound happy about it which earned him a few points in my book.

“Why the change of heart, Cutter?” I asked softly.

“I’m not a bad guy Hope, and I meant it about wanting to get to know you,” he said, voice low and heated in all the right ways to send my body into a fit of wanting. Damn he was good.

“See you tonight,” he murmured into the phone with that smooth velvet undertone and he hung up. I stood with my phone to my ear for several moments after he’d severed the call, my mind working overtime.

Too many games. Too many feints and jabs. That too-familiar sinking feeling took up residence beneath my breastbone again but Cutter sounded so damned sincere, I wanted to believe him. I really did. Either way I didn’t have a choice. I would go. I would see what was what and I would do what I’d been doing for the last, shit; almost two years. I would hang onto the hope I would see my sister again, and I wouldn’t lose faith. Either one of them.

I slid my phone into the pocket for it in my purse and stared at the white leather and rhinestones, picturing the very black revolver in its depths. Dusk was only a couple of hours off and I would hopefully havesomekind of an answer. Something to go on… I chewed my bottom lip.

I got the genuine feeling that Cutter wanted to help me. I also got the feeling he was hiding things from me. I didn’t like either, I wanted answers and I was going to get them. I snatched my purse off the bed and slung it over my shoulder. The bag rode high under my arm and the weight to it was a comforting thing. I went out the front and started walking. I needed something to eat, to fuel my body and mind and to kill the fading buzz from the beers at the bowling alley.

I slipped into a beach front fish bar and had some fish and chips, watching the smiling, laughing tourists walk by in the fading sunlight. I washed down my food with water and a squeeze of lemon, letting my mind blank for a bit. I didn’t want to think. The same thoughts just kept chasing each other in circles and drove me nuts anyways.

Finally, the sun hanging low in the sky, painting the sand in fire and blood, I rose, and with my mood darkening with the skies, I made my way towards the beach. I slipped off my flip flops and tucked them into my purse before looking left and then right. To the right, in the distance, towards Cutter’s marina where his boat was moored, a pyramid of wood smoked, light glimmering between the pieces as it caught fire. There were several people already gathered and I made my way down the beach, trudging through the soft, dry sand in their direction.

“Hey, Hope! Glad you could make it!” Hossler called out and I gave her a thin smile.

“Always, Chica,” I said but didn’t miss the wary looks from some of the men.

“Back again, Cap’ain’s cock must be made outta gold or something,” Tiny muttered. I eyed him speculatively. He was three sheets to the wind already and raised a flask to his lips taking a generous swig. I ignored him. Whatever his damage was, it wasn’t related to me and I wasn’t going to rise to the bait.

“Hey, Sweetheart…” I turned and eyed Cutter speculatively.

“Hey,” I answered and he held out his hand to me. Tiny snorted and I frowned. I took Cutter’s hand and he tucked mine in the crook of his arm and led me around the fire. He sat with his back to a fallen log and I sat beside him.

“I like this,” he said and trailed a finger over the silk of my tank.

“Thanks, but I have to admit, I’m getting kind of tired of dancing around the elephant in the room,” I said. He nodded and Tiny who had moved inside earshot barked a laugh.

“He ain’t gonna tell you what you want to hear, Girl.”

“Tiny…” the warning in Cutter’s voice was clear and my patience frayed that much more. I got to my feet and Cutter muttered a curse under his breath.

“Look, I don’t give two shits what any of you are into. That’s your fucking business, I just want to find Tonya, so how about we cut the bullshit and get down to business. Is it money you want?” I demanded and stared Cutter down.

He looked resigned, his expression holding an undertone of sorrow. Tiny started laughing like it was the funniest goddamn thing he’d ever heard and I frowned. The conversations around us had died and the atmosphere grew tense. I looked back and forth between Tiny and Cutter and realized there was some inner turmoil going on, something removed from me but connected to me all the same. Problem was I didn’t give two fucks, I just wanted to find Tonya and by default my sister.

“Look, we met the girl you’re looking for last year, we was asked to bring her back to Tallahassee, I told my boys to take care of her...”

“We took care of her alright,” Tiny said with a leer and gave Cutter a half assed drunken salute. The look Cutter was giving Tiny was one of pure fury and he was getting a lot of unfriendly looks from the rest of The Kraken too.

That sinking feeling returned and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t stupid. The women that had been around the fire started drifting back, edging outside the firelight.

“Tiny, shut your fucking hole, Man!” Atlas, the club’s Secretary looked murderous, his arms held out from his sides loose, feet shoulder width apart in a brawler’s stance. So far everyone’s attention was on Cutter and Tiny.

“I ain’t gotta shut nothin’! Fuck you fucking fucks, Man!” Tiny swayed on his feet and I met his eyes with mine. One of my commanding officers back in the day had once told me something that surfaced now. He’d said, “Don’t ever forget what someone says to you while they’re drunk, because drunk words are sober thoughts…”

Tiny’s mouth thinned down into a malicious smile and he spilled my worst fear across the sand at me…

“Bitch you’re looking for is dead, Cunt. Captain ordered me to do it, too.”

“Tiny, you fucking son of a bitch,” Marlin, the Vice President of The Kraken was suddenly there, roughing Tiny up, shoving him, male voices clamored, shouting obscenities and about betrayal and I didn’t care about any of it.

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