by R. E. Bond
“What the hell is so funny?”
“Look at how pathetic you are! Coming in here raging, when he obviously doesn’t even want you,” she giggled in an annoying pitch, making me consider shooting her anyway.
I faked a smile and fired a shot in their direction, watching her eyes widen as she screamed.
Not so tough now, are we?
“Skeeter! She’s crazy!”
Skeeter lifted her off his lap with a scowl, knowing he wasn’t going to get to finish.
“Fuck off home.”
“You’re making me leave, but your ex-girlfriend shows up and shoots at us and she can fucking stay?” The hoe-bag shouted, putting her hands on her hips to glare at him, but he snorted, standing to yank his jeans on.
I smirked when I noticed he’d worn a condom with her.
He literally had just seen her as one of the crew whores.
“She didn’t shoot at us, or one of us would be fucking shot,” he replied dryly, not seeming to give a shit about her complaining.
She kept screaming at him though, as if he would stand between me and her if I fired a shot.
“She’s seriously insane! Why does she get to wave a gun around here, anyway?”
Skeeter’s gaze landed on me and he growled, the promise of punishment lethal in his tone.
“I know she’s insane, that’s why I fucking love her. I’d also advise you not to call someone with a gun, insane. Lastly, she doesn’t get to just walk around, waving a gun at people, and get away with it. Now, get the fuck out, I don’t wanna see you back here.”
The bitch yanked her clothes on, making sure to shoulder check me on the way past, but I spun around and kicked her in the back of the knee so that she dropped to the ground.
I rolled her over, keeping her there with a foot on her chest, making sure to point the gun at her face for good measure.
“Do we have a problem, you stupid cunt?”
“Donovan!” Slash shouted as he stormed in, as if he hadn’t just let me rage for a few minutes first, making me scowl at the skank.
“You’re lucky. Get out of here and stay the fuck away from Skeeter. Next time I shoot a bullet near you, it won’t be at the fucking wall.”
She scampered away once I moved off of her, Slash snatching his gun back and pointing it at my face without hesitation.
He was a little bit mad at me, if I’d had to guess.
“Who the fuck do you think you are? We don’t shoot at fuckers in the shed, it draws unwanted attention to us!”
Skeeter moved towards us with an angry scowl, his jeans hanging low on his hips.
“Get that out of her fucking face, I’ll deal with her.”
Excuse me?
“Deal with me? Fuck you, Skeeter!” I growled, swinging my fist back with every intention on hitting him with it.
He caught my punch in his hand, squeezing hard enough to get his point across as he spoke.
“Trust me, I’m going to fuck you until you’re screaming, Aurora. Yes, I will deal with you, because you obviously need to be told the fucking hard way.”
Tyler had stood back by the door until now, but he stood up straighter with concern on his face.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Skeeter gave him a dirty glance, annoyance lacing his tone.
“None of your business, Johnson.”
“She’s my girlfriend too, dick head. Don’t fucking hurt her, or I swear to god, Skeet,” he warned, but Skeeter chuckled dryly.
“What are you going to do about it? She’s lucky she doesn’t end up in a shallow grave every time she stampedes in here and tries to fucking fight everyone. She’s really lucky that I’m not going to kill her for shooting a gun in my fucking shed and threatening my boss.”
“Skeet…,” Tyler warned in a low voice, but he cut him off.
“Go home, Ty. She’ll be home later once I talk to her about her manners and this apology she claims she showed up to give me.”
“If I turn up at the house without her, the guys will just come back for her and you know it,” he argued, but Skeeter just gritted his teeth and glared at him, getting impatient.
“Then go elsewhere for a few hours. Better yet, just go to your fucking house for once.”
Tyler took a step forwards and I growled, not wanting them to argue anymore.
“Enough, for fuck’s sake. Go, Ty. If they were going to kill me, they would’ve done it a long time ago, trust me.”
Most of the crew members that had congregated around the door snorted, but Slash glared daggers at me.
“There’s still fucking time, Donovan. Believe me.”
Fucking asshole.
Tyler looked wary but finally nodded in defeat.
“Call me if you need me, okay?”
“I’m staying at Jensen’s tonight, so I’ll be fine. Thanks though,” I replied, giving him a kiss before he stalked out of the room without another word.
He’d just driven away when Skeeter pointed to the chair by Slash’s desk and glared at me.
“Sit. You aren’t leaving until we have a long fucking chat, Aurora.”
I grumbled but did as I was told for once.
Slash moved to leave, but Skeeter stopped him, the rest clearing out and closing the door so that we had privacy.
Skeeter rubbed his tattooed hands over his face with a sigh, suddenly looking tired.
“For fuck’s sake, Rory. What the fuck am I going to do with you?”
“Well, I had some good ideas until I found you doing them with someone else. Her, Skeet? seriously?” I snapped, a dry laugh leaving him.
“You literally threw me out of your house this morning and broke up with me. Why can’t I fuck someone else?”
“The fact is, I had time to think about shit and realized with a good talk to Ty, that it was stupid to leave you and demand you walk away from this shit. It was selfish, and I’m fucking sorry, okay? I’d have been super pissed off and probably stabbed you if you’d told me to cut the guys off, so I’m sorry. I just thought I meant more to you than what I obviously do.”
His expression softened slightly, but Slash crossed him arms as annoyance flashed across his face.
“You told him to walk away from the fucking Psychos?”
I glanced at Skeeter who nodded, his voice casual.
“We had a fight about you this morning, so I told her why I didn’t want you two left alone together. Obviously, she flipped out because it’s a touchy subject and I don’t blame her for asking me to choose, but she also didn’t understand that I can’t just walk away whenever I want.”
Slash narrowed his eyes with pure anger.
“What the fuck do you mean about why you don’t want me near her?”
“You know why, Slash. Not to mention you seem to think she likes you a lot more than she does.”
Oh boy.
Slash slammed his hand down on the table, disgust all over his face.
“You think I’d rape your fucking girlfriend? Who’s a friend to me and proven herself loyal to our crew? What the fuck, Skeeter?”
Skeeter eyed me for a moment, running a hand through his hair and ignoring Slash’s outburst.
I couldn’t believe the prick had called me his friend.
We were not friends.
“Rory, you need to learn that this isn’t a game. You think I won’t hurt you because I love you? I can’t let other people see me not going through with threats, or I’ll lose the respect with my crew, and our enemies will see me as weak.”
“Do you know how much respect I have here?” I asked confidently, his jaw clenching in response.
“Doesn’t mean shit, babe. I know it’s old school, but we don’t let women boss us around. Not in our shed or at our get togethers. The others have chicks, but do you ever see them carrying on down here and causing a scene? No. They know the rules, because they either learned the hard way or they were smart enough to behave from the beginning. One of our members beat his wife bl
oody in the fucking cage to put her back in place once. We’ve had three divorces because of this kind of shit, and I’m not proud of it, but we’ve had a few raped by a crew member selected by the partner. It’s how our world works, so you’re either going to keep thinking you’re untouchable and hit the ground hard when reality comes calling, or you’re going to keep your mouth shut when you’re here. I can’t keep making up excuses for you lashing out. If you were any other members girl, you would have been shot today. Bled out until your last fucking breath.”
“So, are you going to beat me, have someone rape me, or kill me, Skeet? I’ll even let you fucking choose,” I bit out, lifting my chin in defiance that had him grinding his teeth.
“Are you stupid? Stop acting like you’re on top of the world. You fucking aren’t, Rory.”
“Like Jensen said when we first started hanging around together. Every king needs a queen, so he made me into a queen. It’s time you learned I stand beside you, not behind you,” I snapped, hearing his teeth grind again.
He was going to break a fucking tooth at the rate he was going.
“You’re not fucking listening. I don’t want you hurt! I don’t make the rules, and sooner or later someone’s going to overrule me about you, and I won’t get a say in what happens to you!” He suddenly shouted, making me scoff.
“Who’d actually hurt me? Everyone likes me.”
“You aren’t on their dicks or paying their fucking bills, so at the end of the day you’re disposable to them. Remember that, before you get seriously hurt.”
What absolute bullshit.
I went to tell him to fuck off, but I was knocked back onto my ass as Slash’s fist connected with my eye.
The fuck?
I blinked up at him in surprise as I rubbed at the tenderness, anger seeping back into my voice.
“What the fuck was that for, you piece of shit?”
Skeeter looked ready to kill him, but Slash gave me a serious look, pointing a finger in my face.
“That’s for taking my gun and shooting it in my shed. If you walk out of here without a single fucking mark, people will talk. I can’t let you leave without even a decent warning, and I’m sorry, but it’s the rules. You know this.”
Skeeter watched me hopelessly as he stood back, glancing away as Slash hit me again twice, splitting my eyebrow and lip in the process.
I peered up at Slash as he reached a hand out to help me to my feet, taking it with confusion.
He spoke gently with a sorry look on his face.
“It had to be done, and I’m not going to make Skeet do it, because I know it would destroy him. Think about that next time you barge in here, okay? You could be bloody in the cage, dead in a hole, or gang raped savagely, but I only hit you three times. Fucking remember that, Donovan, because it won’t be a few hits next time,” then he tossed me a small bag of cocaine as if we’d just done a goddamn trade, raising an eyebrow with sudden respect in his tone.
“You take a hit better than half my guys. Trust me, if we brought women into our crew, you’d be right at the top, babe. Now get the fuck out of here.”
I nodded, turning and walking out the door with my head held high as everyone took in the marks on my face.
I knew Slash thought he was doing me a favour, but I wanted to kick the shit out of him.
Fuck, my face burned.
I was about to climb into the Corvette when Skeeter spun me around, cupping my cheek gently as his eyes roamed over the damage.
“Hey, you alright? You know I couldn’t step in, right? I…”
“I’m fine. I’ll see you later,” I shrugged him off, but his hands went to my waist to keep me still.
“Baby, those were solid hits. Let me…”
“Go back inside, Skeeter. I’m well aware of my fucking face, message received,” I snorted, pulling back and yanking the car door open.
“Baby girl, why do you think I flip out every time you just show up here fighting mad? Slash took it easy on you. You should be in a fucking hospital bed right now, but lucky for you, he obviously likes you. Seriously take his words in. If you have any respect for him or me, you’ll take the warning. He’s serious when he says next time won’t be so nice. Everyone here will think I did that to you, so don’t deny it if they say anything, okay?”
I stared blankly at him for a moment then gave him a filthy look.
“Whatever. Just remember that I have my own rules in life which is why I lashed out at you today. You didn’t like it, but that didn’t matter, did it? Sure didn’t when I disagreed with all your rules. If I see that girl climbing on you or your dick again, I will fucking kill her. Whether we are together or not.”
“Are we together?” He asked gently, watching me cautiously as I hesitated, meeting his gaze.
My emotions were going fucking haywire, and I had no idea what to do.
“Let me sleep on it.”
“Okay. Can you let me know when you’re safely at someone’s house?” He asked softly, a snort leaving me as I climbed into my car and slammed the door, winding the window down.
“Slash told me you guys track my shit, so just…”
“I want you to tell me,” he cut in, waiting for me to nod before I started the engine and drove towards Jensen’s.
Chapter four
Rory
Jensen was home when I let myself in, but his smile dropped when he saw my face.
It was stupid to hope he wouldn’t notice.
“What the fuck happened to you? Jesus babe, come here.”
I shrugged him off as I headed straight upstairs to the bathroom to wash my face, staring at my reflection as I inspected the damage.
I knew I’d been stomping around with bigger shoes than I could fit, but I never thought Skeeter would let anyone hurt me.
That would fucking teach me.
The door creaked as Jensen quietly walked in, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Were you fighting?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?” He asked without moving from his lazy position.
I didn’t look at him as I spoke quietly, knowing the chances of him losing his shit were pretty fucking high.
“I shot at Skeet and the girl he was balls deep in at the shed.”
His eyes hardened as he ground his teeth together.
“Skeeter did that?”
“If his crew ask then yes, but no, he didn’t. Slash did it for him,” I replied, causing him to glare at me.
“Slash fucking beat you?”
“It was hardly a beating. Crew rules state that I was to be beaten bloody by Skeet, killed, or gang raped. Slash gave me another chance, and three hits was my warning, but I got coke out of it, so…”
He spun me around, staring into my eyes with obvious anger.
“So, you’ll take a beating for free coke?”
“No, but it could’ve been worse. I shot at a member in their shed, Jensen. I swung at Skeeter and stole Slash’s gun, so I’m meant to be fucking dead right now. Can we not talk about Skeeter, please? Is it just you and me tonight?”
He sighed, his face relaxing slightly at the change of subject.
“Lukas was going to come over, but if you don’t want…”
“No, he can come over. I just don’t want to deal with Caden or Ty tonight. Get much out of Lukas last night after Skeet upset him?”
He shrugged, a small smile crossing his face.
“Not really, but he curled up in bed with me, so I took that as a good thing.”
“Does this mean I can start bossing you two around in bed?” I grinned, a nervous laugh coming from him.
“We aren’t fucking, babe.”
“You seriously don’t want to?” I asked, cocking my head curiously.
I’d never say no to them giving it a go.
Watching them pound each other might even...
He scratched his head awkwardly as I moved to cuddle up to him, kissing his chest to give him
a little bit of courage to open up.
“I think it would be a little too gay, if you know what I mean? Is this weird? Lukas is my best friend, and you’re our girlfriend. Maybe he and I are just reading things wrong?”
“It’s not weird. If you guys give it a go and figure it out, at least you’ll know if it’s real or not. Mess around more and you’ll know.”
“I don’t want to fuck things up between us and you,” he cringed, and I ruffled his hair affectionately to ease his worry.
“You won’t, it just makes me horny,” I winked, giving him a kiss before we headed back downstairs to the kitchen.
Lukas arrived at dinner time, halting in the doorway when he noticed my face.
“Tell me the truth. Did Skeet do that?”
“Evening, Luke. No, he didn’t,” I replied, continuing to place plates on the table.
“Then who did? Because Ty said you and Skeet were having it out at the shed.”
I hesitated as Jensen walked over, taking pity on me as usual.
I was getting pathetic.
“Luke, just leave it, okay? Sit and eat, we cooked that pasta dish you like.”
“I don’t want to eat dinner, I want to know what happened to our girlfriend. Sounds like you already know,” he argued as Jensen ran a hand over his face with frustration.
“Look man, you know how the crew works. She literally shot at Skeeter with Slash’s gun at the shed.”
Lukas glared at me with betrayal in his almond eyes.
“Thought you said Skeeter didn’t do that?”
I walked up to him, speaking gently to calm him before he could explode.
“He didn’t. Slash did because he didn’t want Skeeter to, even though it’s crew rules. Well actually, crew rules state that I should be messed up in a hospital bed. I’m lucky it was Slash, because next time won’t be so nice, so I’ve been told.”
He pulled me close with a sigh, burying his face in my neck and just breathing me in.
“Jesus babe. Where’s Skeet at then?”
“Shed. I need to sleep on it before I talk to him again,” I mumbled as he kissed the top of my head before he moved back a step.
Considering I couldn’t even stand close to someone a few months ago, I sure as shit loved being kissed and cuddled a lot now.