The Thunder Wolves MC - Summer (Book #6)

2

Tats

At seventeen, I found myself in a hell hole foster home. My twin brother Joseph and I had been sent to different homes yet again. After the last foster home we were in turned out to be a s**t hole. The father liked to beat on the kids. It didn't take us long, and the both of us started hitting back. And well, we were stronger than that piece of s**t. So here we were, being punished by the state. Or their way of punishing us because the foster dad didn’t want to admit why he wanted us out of the house. One he didn’t want to say he had been beating the kids the state sent to his home. And two, he didn’t want to admit that a seventeen-year-old boy could kick his ass, let alone two seventeen-year-old boys could kick his ass.  There were several homes like that one, where the foster kids were treated like trash. So over the years, we learned to fight back. And if you didn’t know how to fight back, you were lucky to make it out alive. In a good amount of cases, the kids would have been better off with their biological parents. But for Joe and me, that wasn’t an option. Our mom bailed a long time ago. No one even knew if she was still alive or not. And our dad beat a guy almost to death when we were kids, landing himself in prison. From keeping in touch with him, I know that if he could go back and do it over, he wouldn’t have beat the guy. He felt bad that his boys were being raised in the system. He also felt bad that Joe wanted nothing to do with him because of it. Joe blamed our father for the life we lived. Which yeah, it was his fault to a degree. But our father wasn’t the only person involved in bringing us into this world. Our mother made a choice as well, and she could have stepped in and got her s**t together a long ass time ago. 

Being seventeen, I counted the days, months, weeks, minutes, and seconds until we turned eighteen and were set free. We would be on our own in this world, and no one could tear us apart again. We would be sure the two of us stayed close and took care of each other. This summer, I found myself shipped off to some summer camp for foster kids, out in the middle of nowhere and with no way to get out. They blocked off the road in and out of camp and kept track of all of us kids. Even being seventeen, I was still a camper and forced to participate in just about all the activities they had planned for us. It was just a way to keep us all busy and out of our foster parent's hair for a few weeks, if you ask me. Made easy money for them. While we were here, the parents were still getting a check for taking care of us. To be honest, I wish Joe and I had been sent to the same home again. At Least he was learning to hustle people out of their money while playing pool. No, I had to be stuck in the woods with nowhere to go. And then I met the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was from another camp in the area. She was there not because she was being forced to but because she had agreed to originally. The camp was full of smaller kids, and she did art classes with them every day. The moment I saw her sun-kissed skin, dark brown almost black hair, tall, thin body, and then those dark doe eyes of hers, I was lost. I was instantly glad I had been sent here. If I hadn’t, I would have never met her. I would have never had the best summer of my life. For once, I wasn’t treated like a loser for being a foster kid. She treated me just like any other person. Not caring about my background. However, that could be because we were always alone, and no one was there to see us or question her as to why she was with someone like me. After meeting her, the summer flew by so fast. It felt like only a day or two later, and we were f*****g for the last time, swimming for the last time, laughing for the last time, and saying good night for the last time. I asked her to draw me a sketch for a tattoo so I could get it later when I had the money, and she did. I was happy it was of her. I don’t think she knew that I realized it was of her basically naked. But I did, and I loved it. I stashed the picture away until my eighteenth birthday. Then I made it my first tattoo of so many more. It was that summer I also saw a way that I could maybe see her again. Her father had come and picked her up on his motorcycle. When they passed, I noticed a large patch on the back of the leather vest he was wearing. I later learned his vest is called a cut. But the patch was of a large scratch mark with a wolf showing through the scratches. The wolf had its head thrown back and was howling. And with a little bit of research, I learned that particular patch belonged to The Thunder Wolves MC. With that knowledge, I began working on my brother, and at the age of nineteen, we had found our way into the club. The club instantly became the family we never had. But still, I never saw Summer again until luck would have it after my brother and I had been forced to move. I was walked right into her place of work. Or should I say the bar she owned, which I later found out. 

As we all walked in, she greeted the other two members first. It made sense she grew up with them and would know who they were. When Joe, also known as Axel, and I were introduced, she greeted both of us with a warm smile. Her eyes moved over both of us quickly, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she paused on my arm with the tattoo she designed for me. But it was so fast I couldn’t be sure. She talked as though she didn’t recognize me and took our orders. I decided to keep my mouth shut for once in my life and didn’t say anything. My brother and I were new here, and I wasn’t sure how the two older guys would react if I talked to her like I knew her. So I acted as though I didn’t. But I kept an eye on her. And man, was she even hotter than she had been when we were kids. It was hard to pay attention as I talked with the other MC members as they all came in, joining us at the bar. Summer flirted with everyone, and it was hard to tell if she was with any of the guys or just a flirt. It was also hard not to be jealous as she flirted with all the guys. Then the next night, I returned to the bar to see if I could get her without so many members of the MC there. But that was impossible. They were packed into the bar by the time I got there after six or so in the afternoon. And she was there behind the bar flirting with everyone. I was so annoyed by it and unable to find a way to talk to her that I ended up getting wasted. So much so Axel had to come to save my ass and win back my money after I lost it playing pool with a guy named Tiny. The next night, I decided to skip the bar, take a night off, and rethink how to approach her. 

I had thought about skipping the whole weekend, but Axel had begun crushing on Lizzy, who just so happened to be Gunner’s daughter. Axel was crushing so bad that the fact Lizzy had gone out of town over the weekend he was driving me crazy. It wasn’t that he was doing anything in particular. No, he was just all grumpy and moping around the apartment the two of us were renting together. I dealt with it Friday, but by Saturday afternoon, I was over it and left him in the apartment on his own. The bar just so happened to be only a couple blocks down the road, so I decided to simply walk it. I was glad I did because I found my in. Summer was there, and the moment I walked in, it was like she upped her flirting game. She recognized me and had noticed her flirting with guys was driving me crazy. Without a ward to me, she pulled a bottle of beer, which I had told her was what I drank the other day, and set it on the bar for me. Then she turned and went back down to the other end of the bar and continued to flirt with a couple of guys that weren’t from the MC. I took my beer and found a table, and watched her. Tonight there were only a handful of MC guys with their old ladies here. The rest of the place was full of none MC people. It was easy to blend in slightly and not be noticed by the MC guys. In fact, I was sure my bike not being outside helped with that. As the guys came in, they greeted the guys whose bikes were outside. Almost like they saw the bikes and came in looking specifically for those members. 

By the time she called the last call, the place was basically empty. I finished my beer and then slipped into the back and waited for everyone else to leave. When I heard her cleaning up, I came back out. In the time she had kicked everyone out, she had removed the t-shirt she had been wearing all night. Leaving her in a tank top that showed off a rather large tattoo she had on her right shoulder. I recognized it from the sketch she had drawn the same night she had drawn the one on my arm. I was willing to bet my life she knew who I was the moment I walked into the bar. Crossing the room, I came up behind her just as she set a hand full of empty beer bottles on the bar. Taking a chance, I placed my hands on her waist. A mirror behind the bottles lined the back of the bar, and I watched her reaction through it. Her body tensed for a moment until she looked up, meeting my eyes in the mirror. Then I felt her whole body relax instantly. Leaning forward, I didn’t break our eye contact in the mirror. “How long are you going to act as though you don’t recognize me?” I let my breath fan over the side of her face as I whispered in her ear. Her breathe hitched slightly at the sensation. I watched as she set the rag she had been using to wipe the tables down on the bar. A large smile spread across her lips as she spun around in my arms, her arms wrapping around my neck. “The same amount of time it took you to let me know you recognized me.” Scoffing, I leaned down, slamming my lips to hers. I was pleased she responded instantly, just as she had that summer. I had never stopped thinking about her. She had made my shitty life actually seem pretty good, even for just a few weeks.