Tate (The Sinners MC #1)

Prologue

TATE

“Sophia, get your ass on my bike, or I’ll carry you on there.”

“I said… no, I’m not going back with you. I want to stay here. I want to stay in Ryan’s bed. I’m not ready to leave.”

She is driving me fucking crazy.

It’s been a month, and now it’s time for her to return to her life.

Sophia can’t keep living here, not that the Blood Brothers are trying to get rid of her, but because Jasmine loves having her around.

It isn’t healthy for Sophia to keep existing like a ghost of herself, drifting through the clubhouse like she’s waiting for something that’s never coming back.

She needs to pick her life back up and get back to her work. When her parents couldn’t reach her, they called me. They somehow got my number and begged me to bring her home. That’s exactly what I’m doing, but she’s being a stubborn little shit who refuses to listen to reason.

I pick her up, place her firmly on my bike, and shove the helmet down onto her head.

Then I point my finger at her and say, “Move, and I’ll put you back on there myself.

” She huffs loudly under the helmet, and I catch the Blood Brothers standing nearby, watching the whole thing play out with shit-eating grins on their faces.

Fuckers. I’ll give them something to smile about.

It’s been hard on all of them too. The club hasn’t been the same since Tracker died, and it’s not a wound that easily heals.

He meant everything to these men and to all of us.

Having to carry on as if Tracker never existed is damn near impossible because everyone who knew him loved him.

He had a way of making you laugh even when everything was going sideways.

And above all that, he was smart as fuck, the kind of smart that made you feel safer just having him in the room.

That night when I was taken, I never imagined Tracker would be the one to come for me.

I figured a deal was going down the following day, and I’d have to find my own way out, but Tracker had other plans and used every bit of that magic of his to find us.

When he was shot, there was no time to think or to do anything but run.

The wail of sirens cutting through the night told us the police were closing in fast, and we had to get the hell out of there.

The fire was blazing all around us, smoke thick and choking, blurring everything until the world felt like it was collapsing in on itself.

My only thought was getting Tracker’s body out of there.

But when I tried, Quill and Hawke grabbed me, both of them hauling me back, forcing me to leave him behind.

I begged them to let me go. I fought them on it.

But they wouldn’t budge, and deep down, even through the rage, I knew they were right.

If they hadn’t pulled me out, I wouldn’t have made it either, and then everything Tracker sacrificed would have meant nothing.

I’m not sure I’ve fully forgiven them for it, even now.

However, I understand it, and maybe that’s the closest thing to peace I’m going to get.

The hardest thing I’ve ever done was looking Sophia in the eyes and telling her that Tracker was gone.

I made him a promise that I would protect her, and that’s a promise I intend to keep, no matter what.

I owe him that much and then some, even when she’s being a goddamn hothead who makes it about as easy as pulling teeth.

“You got her bags?” I call out to Blaze, who’s standing over by the van. He nods, and I look back down at Sophia. “Now we’re moving. You’re getting on that fuckin’ plane and going home to your family. We clear, Sophia?”

“Fine. But I won’t forgive you for this, Tate.”

“Don’t give a fuck. Just shut the fuck up and do as you’re told.”

“Just wait a godda—”

“I said… shut the fuck up.”

She lets out a low growl of frustration, but I ignore it, swinging my leg over the bike and pulling out. I can’t help the smile that tugs at the corner of my mouth as I hit the road. Something tells me that woman is going to be the absolute death of me.