by Sam Crescent
Evernight Publishing ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2014 Sam Crescent
ISBN: 978-1-77233-018-2
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.
DEDICATION
I want to dedicate this book to an amazing author who has inspired me over and over again. Her books always draw me in, and I simply adore her. If you've never heard of her then I suggest you find her, Jamie Begley. Thank you so much for writing such addictive books that keep me coming back for more, and also listening to me ramble on about them LOL.
For the longest time I've wanted to write a BIG book and when I saw the direction of The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds, I knew my desire was going to be met. Revenge means a great deal to me and I've poured everything into it. I want to thank my amazing editor for putting up with the changes I've made throughout the series, without Karyn, Revenge wouldn't have been what it is now. Also, Evernight Publishing, my wonderful family, and my readers, without all of you, I wouldn't be writing this now.
There really are no words as you've all impacted on my life. Thank you so much.
REVENGE
The Skulls, 8
Sam Crescent
Copyright © 2014
Prologue
Six months from Blind Devotion
The Mess
“Butch, wake up, baby. Please, you’ve got to wake up. You can’t die,” Cheryl said, screaming his name. There was blood everywhere, and none of The Skulls agreed to help him. Everything had gone wrong, and she didn’t know how to make it all right. “Please, somebody, help me.”
Tiny, Devil, Alex stared down at the body refusing to help. Why wouldn’t they help? Butch had done everything they asked.
He didn’t tell you everything about the Savage Brothers MC, only part of it.
“He’s dead. Leave him be,” Tiny said, spitting on the ground. He was covered in blood, his arm holding a giant gash that revealed too much of his flesh. Gonzalez and the Savage Brothers had taken them all by surprise, and now both crews were having to pay the price.
“No, he’s not dead. I can feel a pulse. Please, you’ve got to help him.” Cheryl tried to cover the bullet wound to keep his blood from leaving his body.
No one was helping. Sandy was passing out across the room. What remained of the Fort Wills town hall left a lot to be desired. Civilians were running around trying to get away from the attack that had hit the town within days of Tiny going to war with Devil. For the first time in years Devil and Tiny didn’t get along, and it was all because of Gonzalez. They’d all been mistaken. Gonzalez had never intended to choose between the two men. He was going to take on Fort Wills and Piston County, killing all of them. Cheryl saw the glares they were shooting at her man. It was all a big mistake. They were all staring at Butch as if he was a rat, vermin, something they couldn’t bring themselves to touch. Didn’t they know he was helping them all?
“He’s not getting my fucking help,” Zero said, standing up. “He’s fucking dead to me.”
“This is what Gonzalez wants,” she said. Butch had told her nearly everything about what he’d done and why. He’d missed the part about the Savage Brothers coming today. He promised her that he’d given them a different location. Either Butch had lied to her or the Savage Brothers had lied to Butch. Gonzalez had to be put down. There was no way to stop what he had to do. He was betraying his brothers, and yet he was protecting them at the same time. She saw through the actions that had played out only moments ago, so why couldn’t they? The Savage Brothers club was in his blood. He was helping all three clubs without even picking one. The Skulls were his home.
Butch did what Alex told him to. He’d told her as much as he could. The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds were refusing to see the truth, and now the love of her life was dying in her arms. Glancing around the room, she saw members of both crews were dying all around them. It didn’t have to be this way.
She tried to think fast.
Staring from one man to the other, she tried to figure out the fastest way to help her man.
All of them, apart from Alex, were married. Those women were in a safe house, or at least they thought it was safe. Butch had arranged for the women and children to be at the warehouse in the hope of luring Gonzalez away from them. The Savage Brothers knew where they were, and perhaps Gonzalez did as well.
“If you let Butch die, every single person you hold dear will die,” she said, letting her words sink in. She hated threatening them, but she had to do something to save her man from dying. Butch was her whole life.
“They’re safe.”
“Are they? Have you heard from Lexie? Eva? Tate? They’re all where Butch put them, and I know I can end their lives if his heart stops beating.” She gritted her teeth as the blood seeped through her fingers.
Cheryl was willing to do everything to save her man, even put the lives of the clubs’ women at stake.
Chapter One
Tiny and Eva
Three months earlier
“Do you have any idea what you did?” Tiny asked, turning to glare at Devil. Their closest men were present for the fight that was about to happen. After hearing what had gone down in Piston County, Tiny wasn’t in the mood to play games. His daughter ended up in a fucking coma because he’d hit out at Gonzalez. Tate had almost died because of him, and for a month it had been touch and go. He’d spent so much time in the fucking hospital by her side begging for her to come back. She was a total bitch at times, but she was still his daughter and he loved her. Tiny didn’t want anything to happen to his women, family, or club. Everywhere he turned bad shit was happening to the people he loved, and he couldn’t stand it. How much was he supposed to put up with before enough was really enough? Devil was not only putting the Chaos Bleeds crew at risk, he was harming Tiny’s club, and that he didn’t accept. Whizz was working around the clock to get something on Gonzalez. There had to be something big for a man who could have so many men working for him. When they did have something, Tiny had every intention of hitting the man back, only this time he was going to do it in the right time and in style. He had faith that Whizz would come through. There was no way he’d accept failure, not in Whizz, not after everything that had happened. Seeing the smug smile on Devil’s face angered him. Tiny was pissed off, beyond pissed, and he wanted to kill the fucker standing before him. They’d been through a lot together, yet Tiny was having a hard time dealing with what had happened.
Devil took a step toward him. “You want to be pissed at me for lashing out at Gonzalez, fine. He called one of mine, Tiny. Ashley may have been a club whore, but she wasn’t just a piece of ass, she was part of us.” Pussy and the rest of the Chaos Bleeds crew threw their cheers in to agree. “Now, you can be pissed at me for that or for the last order that came through from Gonzalez, which was for us to transfer over one hundred fucking girls to be put to work. Those girls were exactly that. I don’t care what bitches do when they’re of age, but until then, it’s my business to make sure I don’t fuck up. Fucking look at it without all the fucking fear, Tiny. Gonzalez wanted us to take young girls, fourteen-year-olds with no hope of a future and let any dirty fucker touch them, rape them. I don’t give a fuck what anyone says, it’s fucking rape.”
Tiny gritted his teeth at the visual
being thrust upon him. He couldn’t back away when Devil got up into his face. There was no hope for any of them if he lost his shit. Everything Devil said was the truth, and knowing it, made Tiny sick inside. He had two daughters of his own. The very thought of something like that happening to Tate or Tabitha was like a punch to the gut.
“You’ve got a three year old daughter, Tiny. You want to start that shit with a kid, think about her when she grows up.” Devil voiced his very thoughts.
Tabitha and Miles were the twins Eva had given to him and were the light of his life. He’d never been so happy in his life until he finally claimed Eva for his own. The daughter of a fighter, Eva rarely took any kind of shit. Fuck, he loved that woman way more than he loved the club at times. If anyone threatened them, his family, the person ended up six feet under.
“No, I wouldn’t let that happen,” he said.
“The next generation are coming, Tiny. They’re right on us, and we’re going to hand them down our legacy. All of us, not just the two of us have something to pass onto our kids. Do you want them eating out of Gonzalez’s hand? I know my Simon is not going to be taking this shit. I will not have this become what The Darkness wanted. Fuck, Snitch would be loving every second of this. He’d be using the girls like they were his own. We fought to put a stop to this before. I’m not going to stop now. Gonzalez means war, and I’m going to give him one.” Devil stepped back, holding his hand up. “Chaos Bleeds does not accept shit. We throw shit back. What I did with his warehouse is simple payback.”
“He took Ashley from us. We deserve payback,” Pussy said, growling.
They were all in Fort Wills to celebrate Cheryl and Butch along with Pussy and Sasha’s coming wedding. Both clubs were using the event to deal with the main problem they all faced, Gonzalez, the drug dealing pimp, who happened to be big over in Europe and was working his way through their towns and further. At least, Gonzalez had been big until he decided to take on America. Whizz had found out some startling revelations that could tear Gonzalez’s operation apart. It seemed his absence over in Europe had created some waves with other crime lords, who’d decided to swoop in and take over. All of the deals Gonzalez had now only involved people in America. Everyone had severed ties and connections with Gonzalez. This could be the one thing they needed to finally draw Gonzalez to his knees. Tiny wasn’t ready to share any news he had with Devil. The leader of the Chaos Bleeds crew could end up reacting prematurely and ruining every chance they had of taking Gonzalez down. Tiny knew he needed to take his time and not screw this up.
“He took something from everyone—”
“But he hasn’t killed one of your team,” Pussy said, interrupting him. “He’s taken from us, and he did it because he could. You don’t know what it feels like.”
There was no argument for that. “I know and I’m sorry, but starting a fucking war with this piece of shit is not the answer at least, not now.” Tiny glared at all of the Chaos Bleeds men. “There’s a time and a place to take revenge.”
“Dude’s got a point,” Steven said, speaking up. “We’re fucking lapdogs, and this fucker is only going to get worse. Ashley was the beginning. He’s going to go after others, and if we’re not careful, he’ll kill all of us and get what he wants. We need to put a stop to this.”
Blaine cleared his throat. He’d been shot some months back but was fully recovered thanks to his woman and little girl, Emily and Darcy. “I’ve got to get my girls out of dodge if shit is going down. I can’t risk them. It has taken too much to get them back, and we’ve already had a lot of shit to handle.”
“We can’t take anyone out of town. Gonzalez has his men all over the place. None of us leave, but we can set up a safe house for us all,” Tiny said, staring at Devil. He saw his men looking tired of it all. “I know what you’re all are going through. My daughter was in a fucking coma because I hit out at this shit. Next time it might not be a fucking coma, it could be death.”
He was tired of fighting this shit. “I’m asking for you to trust me. We can keep them safe.”
“Where?” Devil asked.
“We stay in Fort Wills. The old warehouse where Nash went through his recovery and that we’ve converted it to a gym of some kind. We’ve been sorting that place out for us to work through. Every chance we had, some shit happened that pulled us away from it,” Tiny said, glancing around at his men.
Nash nodded. “That would do. We could work with that. The warehouse would be the perfect place to keep the women safe. They don’t have to stay here, and we’re still in town, but the warehouse is locked up tight. It’s safer than a fucking bank with Whizz controlling everything.”
“It still leaves us open to an attack,” Zero said.
“But it doesn’t put us at risk. The women will move to the warehouse, so they won’t leave the town. It’s a win-win,” Butch said, speaking up.
Butch had yet to be voted in, which Tiny was hoping to get done within the next couple of days. There was no way he was allowing Butch back in unless he proved himself. Lash and Angel were due back this afternoon. Once shit settled down, the club was going to vote on letting Butch back in, and then they could truly deal with Gonzalez.
“We’re all in agreement. We celebrate the weddings, and then we put the women in lockdown at the warehouse. Once that’s out of the way we can deal with Gonzalez.”
“I’ve got to collect the rest of my club, Tiny. We’re not going back to Piston County until we know what’s going on,” Devil said. “They’re at risk there, and I’m not going to put any of my men at risk.”
“Fine, do whatever you need to do. We’ll work together as a club, but when Gonzalez is gone, you’re out of here.” There was only so much time two MC clubs could work properly together. If they weren’t careful, the closely guarded relationship between The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds would shatter the longer they spent together. He and Devil were two different people, and they had different rules that they abided by.
“What should we call ourselves?” Pussy asked. “The Bleeds or Chaos Skulls? Maybe even The Skulls Bleeds.”
Rolling his eyes, Tiny turned away. Out of all of the men, Pussy was still the joker. Considering he was getting hitched to a blind girl, Tiny would have thought Pussy would grow up. It hadn’t happened. Pussy was as big a clown now as he’d always been. Sasha kept him in line to a point. How they were going to get on, Tiny didn’t know, and it wasn’t any of his business. Pussy and his woman were Devil’s problem, not his.
“Shut the fuck up,” Devil said, leading the way out of the room. One by one his men and those of the Chaos Bleeds crew left the room. Running a hand down his face, Tiny tried to clear his thoughts. Nothing was happening, and his thoughts were still as chaotic as before. Gonzalez was a big problem, one he couldn’t solve on his own.
“Are you all right?” Eva asked.
Opening his eyes, he saw his wife with her arms folded, leaning against the wall. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“You don’t look it.” She tilted her head to the side, seeing past his bullshit. No matter what he said, Eva always saw deep inside his soul. She was his other half, his soul mate, and the reason he was shit scared of Gonzalez taking her away from him.
“Shit’s going down all around, and I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.” He opted for the truth.
She walked into the room, closing the door behind her. They were alone, in private where no one could get them. “You’re not supposed to be doing this alone. This wasn’t our fight, Tiny, but we’ve been dragged in. You’re not alone in this. Devil’s part of it—his crew, our crew, we’re all part of it.”
Rounding the desk, he leaned against it, opening his arms for her. Without a second’s hesitation, she went to his embrace like she always did. He inhaled her feminine scent, finding her softness relaxed him. With Eva in his arms, he could think clearly. She was his reason for getting shit done.
“I love you, baby.”
“I don’t doubt your love. I worr
y about you. There’s only so much shit you can take. Don’t take it all on board now.” She stared up at him, stroking his chest. “You can come to me. I’m your woman, Tiny. This club is as much as mine as it is yours. My father will also help you.” Her father would help Eva and his grandchildren, and Tiny was just part of the mix. Ned Walker put up with him because Eva loved him, no other reason.
He saw the fear in her eyes. They’d been together for three years, and they had been the best three years of his life. Tiny had been married before to Patricia. His first wife had died of cancer leaving him to raise his daughter all on his own. Though he’d loved Patricia in a way, he’d never been faithful to her. He’d fucked sweet-butts as if they were going out of fashion. Most of his married life with Patricia had been filled with arguments, and he’d found solace in the arms of other women.
Three years with Eva and he’d not fucked any other woman but her. He didn’t even look at other women as they didn’t appeal to him. The only woman he wanted was right in front of him. She gave him everything he needed in life and in the bedroom. Eva completed him.
“It’s my club. This is my problem.”
“Your club is filled with men you helped to be something. Nash is straight, and Lash is as protective of the club as he is of Angel. You’ve got men around you who want to help. This is not just your club anymore. It’s so much more than that.”
Cupping her cheek, he stared into her eyes. He was in his fifties getting older by the second, but the love in her eyes kept him going, kept him moving forward. The constant problems the club was facing were making him feel older. Life should be getting easier, not harder, yet in the past couple of years life had become just one more battle at a time.