Twenty minutes later, the sun shines brightly on the sign for Sumner.

"All right, Tanner, let's check into one of the small hotels up the road here. You'll give them a different name-whatever you want-and pay cash. Got it?" Something tells me she learned more from my father than she's willing to let on because I've never seen this side of her.

"I don't have a lot of cash on me, Mom." That was a stupid move right there. I should have gone to the ATM and pulled everything I could out. I did buy gas with cash, so that's a plus in my favor. I make a horrible fugitive.

"When you stop, get the box," she says.

I instantly remember the box from her closet, and I can't help wondering what is inside.

"Were you planning on leaving him?" I ask, thinking maybe it's money.

"I didn't know what I was going to do. I just needed it for a rainy day ..." She trails off. "And today, it's pouring."

I do as she says and get us into a small, musty-smelling room with a carpet that is straight-out-of-the-seventies orange. Mom told me to leave most of the stuff in the car, but bring some clothes. I helped Mom the best I could, and with each step she took, she gritted her teeth.

She's always been strong, working job after job to take care of me and still being there when I got out of school. There is no one better than her. No one. Faults and all.

"I want you to put on s.e.xy jeans and a tight top."

I stare at her, my jaw slacked. Did she really just say that?

Her eyes meet mine. "Go with it," she announces like it's the final say, which it is since she's my mom, but really? I'm going to wear s.e.xy jeans to meet my father? The thought of it is beyond strange. "You need to cover up all the bruises and marks that you can. Your split lip will be hard, but we can put fire red lipstick on, and it will cover it from afar."

"Why do I need to do all this? You know him; why don't you do it?"

"Look at me, Tanner," she says, her voice weak. "You're going to the clubhouse where I'm pretty sure he is. To get in there, you need to look s.e.xy and hot. Once you get his attention, bring him out to talk to me. I'll take care of the rest." Her lip quivers, telling me she's nervous, which only makes me nervous.

"You sure this is a good idea, Mom?" I question as the pit of my stomach aches. Not only am I meeting my father for the first time, but I have no idea what I'm walking into.

"It's the best option we have right now. Cameron will know what to do."

WE PULL UP to this ma.s.sive warehouse thing with tall gates and barbed wire around the top. Maybe thinking this was a cult was right on target. The whole thing gives me an eerie feeling. The large, metal gate is open as cars line one side of the drive and bikes the other. To the left is a garage, and on the right, it looks like a big party area with people scattered all around.

"Mom?" My voice quivers with fear. My father is here, at a party?

People are scattered all around: women in barely-there clothes, couples making out and groping each other. It's like nothing I've ever seen, and that's just from the car. What the h.e.l.l am I going to see when I get in there?

I throw the car in park and look to my mother for guidance.

"I can see in your face you're petrified. Get it out of your head. Confidence and head up. You are so d.a.m.n strong, Tanner. I know what's happened has rattled you, but don't let it. Your father will help us. I know he will. I need you to walk in there like you own the place and plaster a smile on your beautiful face. The first guy you see with a leather vest on, you ask for Cameron Wagner. Got it?"

Do I have it? A huge part of me wants to scream to the heavens and run faster than the speed of light out of here, far from this. I can't, though. I have nowhere else to run to.

I pull out my inner b.i.t.c.h-with-'tude and nod to my mother. "Then what?"

"When you tell him who you are, he's not going to believe you. You're going to have to bring him out here to me." I catch that little tremor in her voice from the thought of seeing him. Holy h.e.l.l, after all this time, he still affects her this much.

"Let's get this over with."

Mom reaches over and grabs my hand, squeezing it, her eyes flinching in pain, but I feed off the comfort of her touch. "Tanner, there is nothing to be nervous about. Since there's a party going on, I'd normally wait, but we don't have time for that right now." She's right, not that I know what the h.e.l.l Cameron will do.

I suck in not only my confidence, but that of my mother. "I'm ready."

Walking up to the large door of a huge warehouse, my mind whirls when I see several couples in various stages of undress. One woman is actually pulling a guy's p.e.n.i.s out of his pants and bending down. Holy s.h.i.t! I'm no virgin, but in public, at a party, with everyone watching? He has one of those leather vests on, but there is no way I'm asking him. Screw that.

I open the heavy, wooden door and am blasted with loud music, cigarette smoke, and the stench of beer. I blink my eyes, getting focused from the onslaught of light from the room. With my smile plastered firmly in place, I look around, getting the lay of the land before I move toward the bar. People are scattered everywhere. Some are on the dance floor, dancing provocatively.

"Hey, beautiful. Where you been all my life?" is said.

I turn to the voice. The man attached to it has blond hair pulled back tightly with a red, white, and blue bandana gracing the top and across his forehead. His long beard matches his hair and comes down to his chest. His mustache pretty much covers his lips, but I can still see he's smirking at me. Wrinkled lines surround his leathered face.

"That work with all the ladies?" I ask with a soft smile, not allowing a bit of the uncomfortableness to come through. I'm strong. I have a mission. I'm on it. Done.

"Only when I want it to." His hand comes out to my hip, and it takes everything in my power not to flinch from the touch because of the bruises he cannot see. He's not bad-looking, just a stranger. Since when do I allow strangers to touch me? Apparently, this is a first.

I look to his leather vest and decide it's time. "Maybe you can help me," I say as sweet as pie. It's better to have this guy on my good side and not the bad.

"I'll help you with whatever you need." The man takes a step closer, and I immediately feel a presence to the side of me. My eyes dart in that direction.

Holy mother of G.o.d. I can't decide if this is the scariest man I've ever laid eyes on or the s.e.xiest. h.e.l.l, maybe both. His face is so intense, like grab you and never let you go intense. His blue eyes sparkle, but not in a pleasant way. No, like a predator of the night way, but they suck me in, nonetheless. His face is lined with thick stubble all around his strong jaw, his features aged with intent, and those lips ... I feel my knees begin to tremble as some sort of electricity floats in the air between us.

My already on-edge nerves seem to implode in my gut, spreading through my body like a wild fire. I clench my fists and reopen them as they dampen. My breath comes up a little short, and it takes me a moment to realize that I actually need oxygen. Never once in my existence has a man had this effect on me, and that is totally what he is-a full-blooded, older man.

I unlock my eyes from him, using every bit of strength I have to turn away, shaking my head and refocusing on bandana man.

"Thanks, but I'm looking for Cameron Wagner." The grip on my hip tightens painfully, and I wince because it's the hip I fell on earlier, or yesterday. h.e.l.l, I can't even remember. All I know is that it hurts.

Bandana man's eyes turn from l.u.s.tful to scary fierce in the blink of an eye, and my confidence gets shaken a bit. "What do you need him for?"

Strong vibes come from my side again. I know it's from the s.e.xy, scary man, but I don't turn away from the one in front of me as my pulse picks up, and fear creeps in. I try to push it back, but it's growing. Hard core.

"I'm Tanner, his daughter."

Bandana man quirks his eyebrow, his hand relaxing a bit on my hip. The relief is immediate, but he still holds tight.

"No Cameron Wagner here," the man says.

Shock fills me, my mouth gaping as everything inside me begins to crumble. He has to be here. There isn't another option, no other choice, nowhere else to go.

"He's not here?" I tremble out, looking around the room in haste. My take-no-prisoners att.i.tude slowly drops down, and if I had it in me, I would kick my own a.s.s.

My mom was wrong. He's not here. He's not part of this club. We came all this way for nothing. What in the world are we going to do now?

"Sorry I wasted your time." I step out of bandana man's grasp and take one more look at the s.e.xy, scary man whose eyes are narrowed on me. Great, nothing like making an a.s.s of myself.

Escape. I need to get out of here.

I move to head for the door when a hand grabs me around my arm, and I flinch, the pain radiating throughout my body. I try not to show it, but come up short. I wasn't prepared for it, so it caught me off guard.

"What's wrong with you?" the deep baritone voice from the s.e.xy, scary man asks, the sound of it penetrating all the way down to my bones, doing strange things to my body.

I let out a breath, the pain racing. "Nothing. I'm fine." I'm not telling anyone what the f.u.c.k is going on here if I don't have to, especially to men who look like they could rip my head off at any given moment.

"You're lying," he accuses.

My strength is about tapped out for the day. The fight is about gone. I breathe in deeply and look into his eyes. Something inside them compels me to tell him. I don't know what it is, but it's there.

"I have a situation. My mother told me that I needed to come here and find my father Cameron Wagner so he could help us. Since he's not here, I'm not going to waste your time," I practically plead with the man, hoping he will let me go.

"Office," the bandana man's voice comes from behind me, making me jump and whip around. Oh, no. I'm not going anywhere.

I try to pull out of s.e.xy, scary man's hold, but it's too tight, and with each movement I make, his grip tightens, only causing me more pain.

"We need to talk," he says, and my knees seriously begin to quiver.

"No, really. I didn't mean to bother you. I'll leave and never come back." Horrible, horrendous fear charges through me. If I go into a room with them, what will they do to me? I don't want that answer, really don't want it.

s.e.xy, scary man's lips come to my ear, and I quiver as his breath tickles me. "Relax. We just wanna talk. It's noisy out here with lots of ears."

I notice he said nothing about not hurting me or anything of the sort as he pulls me. I walk with him, his hand still attached to me. Stupid, Tanner!

With bandana man in front of us, I notice his long braid comes down his back. The back of his leather vest says Ravage MC with a large skull in the center with flames coming out of the top. The word Georgia is on the bottom. The leather of the vest looks old, worn, and I bet pretty soft to the touch.

I can feel eyes everywhere, watching us as we move through the crowded s.p.a.ce, both men and women's. This is not how this was supposed to work out.

My mother! I want to be p.i.s.sed as h.e.l.l at her, but I can't. She didn't know this wouldn't work, and all she wanted was to help us.

"In," bandana man says.

I move into a wood-paneled office holding a large desk with a computer on top. Pictures line the walls, but I only glimpse at them, focusing my attention on the man in front of me. The click of the door echoes in my ears just as all the music blasting through the place quiets down to a more tolerable level. The thump of my heart takes its place in my ears, though.

My arm is released, but the door is blocked by a wide chest, crossed with arms, each lined with tattoos. I look away and search the room for windows, a phone, even though I have no one to call, something. There is nothing. The windows are covered in bars, and if there is a phone, I don't see it. Dammit!

I shrink back from the thick, heavy tension in the room. I want to be the standup woman I know is inside me; however, something about these intimidating men makes me want to fall into myself. So not normal.

Bandana man strokes his beard thoughtfully. "You said your mother told you to come here?" I nod my head, words unable to escape my lips. "What is your mother's name?"

I absolutely do not want to give these men my mother's name. s.h.i.t, I already told them my first name, another stupid mistake. I don't speak, only stare.

"Look, Tanner, you need to tell us what the f.u.c.k is going on here. We don't like open-ended s.h.i.t and definitely don't like it showing up at our doorstep. You tell us what's going on, and we go from there." It sounds reasonable when he puts it like that. In fact, his matter-of-fact tone is welcoming, comforting, even through all this chaos. Not that these men will help me, but if I at least tell them, maybe they'll let me go. Maybe.

"My mother's name is Mearna."

Bandana man takes a step back like I've slapped him across the face then punched the wind out of him. He sits on the corner of the desk, his hands coming to grip it tightly. His knuckles are so white I'm surprised he doesn't crack the wood.

"And how old are you?" he asks.

"Twenty-three," I say quietly, keeping my eyes on both the men. Even when I was stabbing James, I never felt this kind of fear for myself. For my mother, yes, but myself? No, not until now.

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l!" Bandana man bellows, and I jump again at his furious words. "Mearna O'Ryan is your mother?"

I take another step back from him at my mother's full name. Holy s.h.i.t, he knows her.

My lips move, but nothing comes out. It must be shock.

The presence that I've come to recognize as the s.e.xy, scary man comes to my back. His hands grip my shoulders, and I tense. Then he moves them up and down my arms, and as weird as it sounds, it is actually comforting. It takes a beat, but it really helps with the nerves.

"Yes," I whisper, answering him finally.

"You have got to be f.u.c.king s.h.i.tting me!" bandana man booms, turning around to the desk and crashing everything to the floor in a huge sweep.

I step back, falling into a rock hard body with nowhere to go. My eyes widen as bandana man picks up a chair and throws it across the room like it's nothing. Then it smashes to the ground in a loud crash. The arms at my shoulders come around me as he leads me a few steps back toward the far wall.

Bandana man stands there, his chest rising and falling with obvious exertion.

"You about done? You're scaring the s.h.i.t out of her." The man behind me says, and he's not lying. If anything, it brings back memories of James, only adding to my fear of this man.

"f.u.c.k!" bandana man screams and turns around, his back to me. It rises and falls, his intakes of breath very audible in the room.

s.h.i.t, what have I gotten myself into?

"It'll be okay," is whispered in my ear, not helping much.

Bandana man turns around and stares at me, really stares, taking every single one of my features in, which I feel very uneasy about. This goes on for long moments while I stand here, feeling like I'm drowning, and all the while, my mother is outside in the car. G.o.d, I hope she's all right.

"You look just like her," bandana man finally says, and I gasp. "Same reddish hair, same rich green eyes. I should have known just by looking at you." He pauses. "She really think Cameron Wagner is your father?"

I suck in deep. "She's never told me his name until we were on our way here. I never knew about him. She said he's the only one who can help us right now. That's why we came here."

"We? She's here?" the bandana man questions, and my stomach falls. Me and my freaking mouth. How come I can't keep a lid on it? Oh, no, I seem to keep sticking my foot so far in it I'm surprised I'm not choking. No use in lying; they'll just go out to the lot and see.

"She's out in the car."

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l!" bandana man says, pushing off the desk and going to the door.

I try to move, but the grip is still around me.

I have to stop the angry man.

"Wait, please. She's hurt really badly. Please don't hurt her anymore. Take it out on me, not her," I say in a rush, the words coming out like verbal vomit. I'll take the hits for her. I'll take whatever this big man has if it will protect my mother.

He halts, turning to me. "What do you mean she's hurt?"

I bow my head and shake it. I don't want to say it, but ... "Her fiance beat the s.h.i.t out of her."

"Son-of-a-motherf.u.c.king-b.i.t.c.h!" he explodes. "You"-he points to me-"come with me. Rhys"-he points to the man behind me-"talk to Pops. Get this s.h.i.t closed out."

The strong arms leave me, and coldness invades my body. I immediately miss the comfort and turn to him, but he's already heading to the door.