Page 5 of Cutter's Hope

“Of his rank or his whole goddamn patch?” Marlin asked disgustedly.

“Rank for now, probation for the patch,” Nothing clarified.

“I second,” Pyro said while Tiny sat there gaping like a landed fish.

“In favor of stripping rank say ‘yay’,” I said and immediately followed it up with, “Yay.”

“Yay.” Atlas.

“Don’t fucking look at me, I suggested it!” Nothing said flatly and I gave himthe look. He looked sheepish for half a second and entered his proper vote for the record, “Yay.”

“Yay.” Pyro

“Nay.” Tiny spit on the floor.

“Shut the fuck up! You don’t get a vote when you’re the one getting’ voted on. Yay,” Marlin finished. I picked up the gavel and clapped it against the arm of my chair.

“So entered, so ordered.”

Tiny made to stand up but Marlin and Nothing were already there, pressing him down into his seat. I got up and snapped open the Panak switchblade Reaver had gifted me upon leaving with his woman, six months or so back. Tiny made a noise of protest and jerked against the hold of the men to either side of him.

“I’d hold still, wouldn’t hurt my feelings none if he cut you on accident,” Pyro’s smile was decidedly unfriendly. I went in and slashed the SAA flash off his cut and straightened. Tiny was glaring daggers at me but he kept his fucking mouth shut. Marlin and Nothing let him go and he jerked his cut straight on his body over his black tank.

“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.

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.

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