by Sam Crescent
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2017 Sam Crescent
ISBN: 978-1-77339-379-7
Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs
Editor: Karyn White
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
STEVEN
The Skulls, 15
Sam Crescent
Copyright © 2017
Prologue
Steven took a sip of his whiskey, allowing the music drifting from the jukebox in the corner to slowly calm and relax him. He was waiting for a special someone to enter the shitty-looking bar. This was the next man on his kill list. The precious list he’d gotten from Lola. She wasn’t even part of The Skulls MC, but was in fact part of their closest allies, Chaos Bleeds. He’d needed the information fast and Whizz wouldn’t give it to him, so he’d had to make sure he went to someone who would keep his secret.
Lola understood what he was doing, so she’d given him the list with the promise that she wouldn’t say anything to Whizz, even though they were close friends.
Tapping his fingers on the counter, Steven thought about Sally, and the beautiful woman she had turned into. Like always, those thoughts changed, and he remembered the broken, scared girl that he had seen Whizz and Lacey bring home. She had been adopted as a teenager, and she’d had so much pain in her eyes it had threatened to break him apart simply looking at her, but look at her he did.
Over the last couple of years, he’d done nothing but watch as she flourished under The Skulls’ care. Lacey and Whizz became more than two people who’d taken her in out of compassion. They became her parents, and Sally had found a family. He’d seen that.
Then he’d seen the strength inside her when she’d lost her left leg from the knee down from being shot. She was one of the strongest women he’d ever known, and being part of The Skulls, he knew a lot of the old ladies. Angel was another strong one.
Sally, though, she was different. She belonged to him.
Whizz had warned him away from her, and told him that he wanted a better life for Sally. What Whizz didn’t know was that Steven wasn’t going to let Sally go. He’d had to watch her leave for college with that fucker, Drew, some injured star who was going to have a career on the pitch, who no longer had that chance.
Whatever. Sally was his, would always be his, and that’s because unlike every other man, he loved her deep inside.
“I don’t recognize your face here,” the bartender said.
“I’m not a regular, but you can do me a favor. Does this man frequent this place?” Steven asked, holding up a picture of a man that was on his list.
“Yeah, his name’s Dawg. Why?”
Steven pulled out an envelope filled with cash. “Because me and Dawg are going to have a little party, and you’re not going to call the cops. Get rid of your customers and I’ll double that money for you. You won’t even miss the clients.”
The bartender licked his lips, but didn’t ask any questions. Within twenty minutes they were gone, and the only person in the bar with him was the bartender.
“Can I ask that you try and contain the damage?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll clean up all my mess.” He finished off the shot and nodded for a refill.
Time passed, and Steven didn’t mind. He had the patience of a saint. Finally, the popular Dawg decided to enter.
Steven didn’t turn toward him.
“Wow, Ben, this place is fucking dead tonight,” Dawg said.
Steven kept on eye on the bartender to see if he gave anything away.
“Slow night, Dawg. Usual?”
“Yeah.”
Good man.
“I don’t recognize you here.” Dawg gave Steven a shove.
“I’m new.” He stared at the man, wondering how often the fucker had hurt Sally. He was one of the last men who’d had her before Whizz and Lacey had. She had told him once that she wasn’t a virgin, wasn’t pure or innocent. That had been taken from her. He was going to make sure those fuckers didn’t breathe another day.
“Well, you’ve come to a shitty place. But then again, everything about life is shitty. Clearly you’re in the wrong place.”
“Actually, I’m in the right place.” Steven finished off his whiskey and turned to the guy who had hurt Sally. He knew without a doubt that he had hurt her as there had also been a hospital admittance. This bastard had beaten Sally, and then accused her of stealing and other shit. Tilting his head to the side, Steven said, “I wonder if you even remember her.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Steven slammed down a picture of Sally. He watched the man as he picked it up, going a little pale as he recognized her. “Has the whore began spewing her lies to the first dick that will have her? Always spreading her legs for any—”
Steven wanted it to be longer, to feel more justice at what he’d done. Hearing the vile, disgusting words coming from the prick’s mouth, he had enough. Grabbing the blade out of his pocket, he embedded it into the man’s throat, slamming the head down on the counter.
“That ‘whore’ is my woman, and I know the truth, you disgusting fucker. Make your peace with the devil, because you’re rotting in hell.” He twisted the knife, relishing the gurgle and the blood that was being spilled.
Only when the man stopped jerking and was still did Steven pulling his blade out. Lifting the dead body over his shoulder, he carried it out, dumping it in the back of his truck. When he entered the bar again, he had the cleaning products at the ready, and while humming, cleaned away his mess.
The bartender’s mouth was wide open. Slapping down another envelope, Steven winked, and made his way toward the door.
“Do you need to use my bar again?” the man asked.
Steven looked back at him.
“You got any beefs you need to deal with, come back here any time. I know how to keep my mouth shut.”
“I’ll remember that.”
Steven hummed as he left the bar, and climbed into the truck. Before he headed back to Fort Wills he needed to bury the body, and then it was on to the next man on his list.
He pulled it out of the inside pocket of his jacket, and smiled, crossing off Dawg’s name. It was certainly an interesting way to spend his evenings.
Burying the body was easy to do, and so was cleaning his truck. There was no way he’d have his woman sitting in a truck covered with the blood of the scum that hurt her. With each person he killed, Steven felt a sense of peace wash over him. Most of the men were old and alone. A couple of the women were spiteful, but that was fine. He didn’t have any problem killing mean women.
After several hours, he finally arrived back at the clubhouse. Killer was outside, having a rare smoke.
“You’re out late. Decided to be a rebel?” Steven asked.
“Nah, I thought I’d see what had you going all hours of the day and night.” Killer threw his cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out. “I know what you’re doing.”
Steven stared at him and waited. He wasn’t about to speak up. “Oh, yeah, and what exactly am I doing?”
“You’re doing what I’d do. Sally’s past is out there, and you’re intent on hunting them down, killing each and every one.” Killer moved toward him. The guy was huge, like a fucking bea
r, and even though he’d settled down and now had a couple of kids, that hadn’t taken anything away from him. He was still a threat, still a killer inside. “It’s not smart.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
He went to go past, but Killer grabbed his arm. Steven had witnessed Killer throwing men around as if they weighed nothing.
“You better get your fucking hand off me,” Steven said.
“It’s not going to change anything what you’re doing,” Killer said. “This is going to throw a whole lot of dark shit on the club if you’re not careful.”
“No one is going to know shit.”
“No? All it will take is a dumb fucking detective to see the one connection between all of them. Sally. They’ll come here, and then what’re you going to do?”
“No one’s going to report them missing.” Steven shook off his arm. “Because no one even cares that they are.”
He left Killer glaring at him, but he didn’t care. This was what he had to do. Killer didn’t understand that.
Entering the clubhouse, he went straight toward his room, closing and locking the door. He closed his eyes, counted to ten and then twenty. He kept on counting until the rage finally began to dissipate.
This was what he had to do, and no one was going to stop him. Every single brother who was with an old lady would do exactly the same. They’d fight for their woman, and that was what he was doing, fighting.
Chapter One
“Ouch!” Sally winced and grabbed her finger, looking at the line of blood that began to seep up.
“Paper cuts are the worst,” Drew said, sitting beside her.
She sucked her finger into her mouth, and smiled at Drew. “Hey, you,” she said. “I didn’t think you were going to show.”
“Why wouldn’t I show?”
“Hello, you said your family kept wanting you to stay away from that rotten Skulls girl.” Sally put on her best man voice, which had Drew laughing.
“Damn, you’re a hoot, you know that.”
“You’re calling me an owl?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He smiled at her, and then down at her notebook, which had a heading in the center titled Future. “What’s that about?”
“Nothing.” She closed the book, and smiled at him. “You’re changing the subject. Was there a girl waiting for you?”
He sighed. “Yes, there was. She’s supposed to be some daughter of a businessman. A friend of my father’s. I don’t know.”
“Was she cute?” She took a sip of her water, and looked at Drew.
“They’re all cute, Sally. All cute, all beautiful. They just keep throwing them at me. I want to tell them that I’m gay.”
“But you’re not.”
“I know. I hoped they’d stop throwing girls at me.”
Sally laughed. “They’ll throw boys at you then. That would be so much fun to see. ‘Here you go, son, here’s a boy. We’re totally into the gay community and all that now’.” She winked at him.
“It’s sad what I think they’ll go to just to further their wealth.”
Sally took another sip of her drink. This was a long-running joke between them. They were unusual friends. She was the adopted daughter of the feared MC, The Skulls. He was the son of a rich man. Never would she have seen them forming any kind of friendship, but between their injuries, they had.
She stared down at her leg, the one that had a prosthetic attached to it. She had spent months learning to walk on it, and if she got too tired, she had to rely on crutches.
“Hey, why aren’t you smiling?” Drew said, reaching out to tuck some of her hair away. “I totally love this color. The purple makes you stand out in a crowd.”
“I got Mom to dye it for me. It made her feel better after nearly burning down the house, and color always makes her happy. She doesn’t like to conform like that.” She picked up a curl, and twirled it between her fingers. “Pretty neat, huh.”
“Like I said, you stand out in a crowd. I saw you a mile away.”
“Good.” Steven hadn’t seen her hair yet, but she’d not seen him in some time. It was kind of strange her feelings for him. They had kissed. It had been one kiss, but at the same time, it had felt wrong and right. She’d felt like she was breaking some kind of law kissing him. It had taken her a few days to be able to look at her dad, Whizz. He didn’t notice though. He’d been too busy dealing with Lola in Piston County to notice.
She didn’t mind though. Whizz didn’t need to know anything right now. He had other worries on his mind.
“Are you okay?” Drew asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She didn’t want to talk to Drew about Steven or about the kiss they’d shared.
“You know I’m here if you ever need to talk about anything. Anything at all.”
She stared at him for the longest time. “You’re a good friend, Drew.”
Sadness filled his eyes, and she hated being the one to put it there. They’d never crossed that barrier between friends, but she had a feeling that he wanted to. It was one of those things that she was thankful they’d never discussed. He shared everything with her, from the troubles with his parents to the fact that he missed playing ball so much. She’d tell him about her leg, and other things, but never her past. She never went back beyond Lacey and Whizz adopting her. They were her parents, and no one was going to take them away from her.
“Have you told your parents that you’re thinking of changing courses?”
“Not yet, I’m undecided still.” She had intended to become a social worker, or work in the fostering service. What she wanted to do was to be able to find people that suffered like she had to get them moved quickly. It had been a great feeling to think that she’d be able to help, unlike the people that couldn’t help her.
She’d had a nightmare of it, being moved from foster home to foster home. There had been times when she’d been happy, but of course that would always come to an end. The nightmares, she always had to do something drastic to get moved on, and that hurt her more than anything.
The nightmares no longer plagued her, which was a blessing in one way, as she got to sleep. There used to be times that she woke up in the middle of the night, and wondered what the hell she was doing and where she was. She’d be sure someone was in her room, watching her. No one ever was. But now the memories were the worst. No one could help her forget what it was like, and how it felt to be used just to get food. She didn’t know if she’d rather have the nightmares than her memories. Remembering her past was something she hated more than anything.
Placing a hand on her stomach, she grabbed the bottle of water and took a sip.
“You’ve gone pale. I don’t think this sunshine is for you.”
“It’s totally fine. Honestly, I’m just in crazy town at the moment. I’m confused. I’ve got the summer to figure everything out, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t think in this heat.”
“No one can think in this heat.” He stood and removed his shirt, and Sally glanced up at him, and heat filled her cheeks. Drew was a good-looking guy, there was no doubt about it. She’d heard many of the girls on campus were crazy about him, always saying stuff like they wanted to get under him, and other gross things she didn’t want to think about. She tended to ignore that, and just focus on everything else.
Yes, he was a guy, and she was a girl. They were best friends. That was all. She had never given him any reason to believe they could be something more, and he’d not said anything to her about feeling any differently.
Glancing across the park, she saw a group of girls giggling. She rolled her eyes. “You’ve got a fan club.”
Drew sat back down, and glanced over at them. “High school girls? Please, I’ve always been into college chicks.”
“You’re bad. Did you go with Lindsey yet? She was pouting the last time I saw her, and she wouldn’t say anything to me.”
“Lindsey and I have an understanding, and she though
t she could change my mind. It’s not going to happen.”
She shrugged. “That’s vague.”
“I know, but you’re not really interested in my love life.”
Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head. “You’re right, I’m not.”
When a car horn sounded, she looked up in time to see Fighter there waiting. He’d been a recent Prospect who had finally made it full-blown member of The Skulls. “I’ve got to go. That’s my ride.”
“Wait, I thought I was taking you home?”
“No, you were at your parents’, remember? You said you didn’t know if you’d be able to make it, and I should get someone to take me home as backup just in case.” She put her stuff away in her bag, and then began to stand. When she hadn’t gotten her balance, and was about to topple, Drew caught her.
“Whoa, you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He had hold of her arms. She took a deep breath. “Maybe the heat is really getting to me.”
Drew didn’t let her go. She glanced over to see Fighter watching them intently. She gave him a wave, and he nodded toward her. He’d gotten out of the car, and she knew he’d done it to assist if she needed help. This was why she loved The Skulls so much. They were all her family, and no matter what, she never wanted to leave them or Fort Wills.
“Here let me grab this.” Drew grabbed her bag, and then he was helping her move across the park toward the car.
“I think my leg has gone a little stiff.” She winced as the prosthetic seemed to cut into her knee. It was hurting and rubbing raw, but she didn’t want anyone to see her in pain.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Drew asked when she got to the car. Fighter took her bag from Drew.
“I can help her,” Fighter said. “You can go on home, momma’s boy.”
Sally rolled her eyes. “Will you stop with all the name calling?”
“You weren’t out there when she needed someone. I was.”