Page 11 of Riding Dirty

“No!” I spit the words out like a woman I don’t know. “I didn’t mean to steal your drugs.I meant to steal your car.Plus, I thought you’re not supposed to be here. It’s against the rules or something.” I’m talking as though I’m justified in stealing his car, which clearly, I’m not.

A girl steps from behind him. I’d guess she’s twenty-two or twenty-three. She’s gorgeous and thick with long dark hair and big blue eyes. She doesn’t look like the type that should be hanging around a guy like Romeo. She looks like a good girl. The type of girl I’d ask to help me if I were out too late, and a guy was harassing me or if I needed someone to watch my drink while I went to the bathroom.

“Let her go, Romeo. She’s right. We shouldn’t be here.” The girl slides her hand into his and tugs him backward.

Oddly, he obeys. It’s almost funny to see this little girl having such control over a big, giant man. A second ago, he was barking out orders. Now he’s hand in hand with Tinker Bell and she’s giving him the business.

I have a feeling this isn't what he had planned.

As the two of them argue about something out of earshot, I study the train tracks and the clumps of moss that climb the pine trees a few feet away. I spent so many years looking out at the mountains from so far away, but I’ve never been lost in a forest or seen a chipmunk’s tail flicker through a hollow log. I thought I wanted to go to San Diego, but I think I was wrong.

It’s funny to come to this realization now. My whole life could be ending if Tink doesn’t get her way. Maybe it’s time to play my one and only card. If I’m going to have anything resembling a future, I want to know I did everything I could.

“Romeo, I’m your sister,” I blurt, causing an instant silence.

Romeo strokes his beard and laughs. “This is a new one. Nice try.”

I pull my birth certificate from my bag and hand it toward him. It’s one of the few possessions I had all those years being bounced from home to home. It comforted me to know that I belonged to a family… once.

“All I had of them were their names for all these years in foster care. I would Google them every time I was sad and alone, hoping to find anything. The one and only time they popped up was when they died. I was too late.” I wipe a tear away from my eye. “But there was one shining hope. I saw in their obituary that they were‘survived by their only child, Romeo.’I was hoping we could talk, and I don’t know… I chickened out and—”

“Stole a car full of drugs instead?”

I sigh and bite back a smile. “Yeah. That’s the one. I did that.”

He studies the certificate, then me. “You look like her.”

I assume he means our mother, which I’m not a fan of. From the photos, she was a train wreck of dry, frizzed hair, sunken eyes, and sharp cheek bones. She looked like a villain in a Disney movie. Despite this, I stay quiet and let him finish.

“She was beautiful before the drugs.” He must have noticed the look on my face. “It’s a shame that they let it wreck their lives.”

“But now you’re selling them to someone else’s mom.” I shrug. “The cycle continues.”

“He wants out!” the girl says from behind him. “This was his last shipment.” She glances up toward him. “We really need to get out of here. I hate being so close to my parents right now. I don’t want to know what my dad would do if he saw us together.”

I want to ask who her parents are, but Romeo gives that away immediately.

“Your dad has my car in his shop. It’s filled with drugs, Piper. I don’t think he’s going to forgive that in a million years.”

“He might. You don’t want this life anymore. You said it yourself!” Her voice is panicked and I’m starting to feel like this is less a kidnapping and more an episode ofThe Bold and the Beautiful.“Your sister can have the car towed back to the Death Rangers. They’ll get all their drugs back and you and I can disappear.”

“And go where? The MC is all I’ve ever known. What job is out there for a man my age with no experience, darling? We’ve talked about this. As much as I want to, I can’t leave.”

She stares toward him and bursts into tears.Oh god, why am I here?

I try to look away, but my gaze keeps dragging back to the two of them floundering. I have to say, I thought much darker things about a guy who’s in an MC called‘The Death Rangers.’I guess I figured he’d be tough all the time. No soft spot for anyone. Turns out, his soft spot is a five-foot six brunette with thick hips and a smart mouth.

Why do I hope Gunner feels the same about me?

Romeo pulls Tinker Bell into his arms. I know she has a real name, but seeing her as Tink is so much more comforting given the situation.

“Little one, get behind me.” Gunner’s voice echoes from the forest and the two star-crossed lovers separate like they’ve been caught. Levi would lose his mind if he knew who his daughter was with, but that pushes to the back of my mind as I leap into Gunner’s strong arms.

He holds me close until his warm breath is in my ear. “What the hell is going on? That’s Piper. Is she in trouble?”

I skip the part where I pretend I don’t know who she is and go straight to the explanation. “No, but you can’t tell Levi what’s going on. He’ll—”

“Piper!” Levi’s voice trembles as he barrels up the ravine toward his daughter, gripping her arm to pull her away from Romeo.

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