by Sam Crescent
“Use the guys, Tiny. They’re here for a reason. They all wanted to be part of The Skulls.”
“Gonzalez is not like any other enemy we’ve faced.”
“Why not?” Eva asked. “He’s a man with a dick and a heart. I’m with Devil on this one. He can be hurt like everyone else. There’s no difference between him and the other men. He’s in the same league as Alan, and we took him out. An enemy is an enemy, Tiny. See past the fear to the truth.”
“Prue took Alan out. The club hasn’t dealt with this kind of power before.”
“Are you telling me that you can’t take a man out? You’re Tiny, president and leader of The Skulls. You can do whatever the hell you want. You’ve fought far worse than Gonzalez.” She pressed a hand to his chest. “Don’t let him win.”
“Who have I fought, Eva? I’ve never had someone invade my fucking life, take my kids—”
“Snitch, The Darkness crew, The Lions, Kelsey’s husband, they’ve all been your enemies, the club’s enemies. Gonzalez is no different. He’s no fucking superhero.”
“He took our kids from us and threw us in jail, baby. I’m not going to risk it. I’m not going to risk you.”
The slap to the face he wasn’t expecting.
“Stop being a fucking coward,” she said, yelling the words. Eva tore out of his grip. Anger shot his way, pouring out of her gaze as if it was a physical thing. “This fucker needs to be hit back. Devil did the right thing. The whole of Chaos Bleeds are fighting. They’ve got exactly the same kind of shit to lose that we have,” she said, throwing her hands in the air and cursing. “You’re more worried about me and the kids. Stop being so damn blind and see what he’s doing to the two clubs. He’s tearing apart you and Devil. The only difference between you and Devil is he’s actually hitting back.”
“I know he’s got the same shit to lose, but I can’t let anything happen to you.”
“And he can’t with Lexie or his three kids, Tiny. You’ve both got the same to lose. You’re no different from him, and he’s no different from you.” She stormed toward the door, refusing to look back. “You need to decide if you’re going to stay and fight or if you’re going to run away like a coward. I don’t think either choice is an option that’s going to be easy.” She opened the door, and he watched her walk away from him.
Going back behind his desk, he dropped his head to the desk and let out a sigh. Shit was really starting to get serious. The last thing he was, was a coward. He wasn’t running from Gonzalez because he was afraid. No, he was running because he had a hell of a lot more to lose.
“Things go bad?” Devil asked, opening the door. Glancing up, he saw Devil entering the room.
“You could say that. I don’t know. I think I’m pissed off more than anything else.” Sitting back in his chair, Tiny stared at his friend. “Why did you do it?”
“I’m not like you, Tiny. I can’t sit on my ass waiting for shit to happen. I’ve been on the road longer than you have. It’s not part of me to simply take shit lying down.”
“You were going to.”
“They killed Ashley, and I promised her my protection. She may have been a club whore, Tiny, but to a point she was family. Everyone loved her, and she never pissed off any of the old ladies. They all liked and respected her. Someone kills your person then it’s time for us to take a stand and get rid of the bad blood going on. I’ve not got the head to sit around talking about what needs to happen and what doesn’t. My boys needed blood, I needed fucking blood, and I gave it to them.” Devil took a seat opposite him. “I’m sorry that I pissed you off.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I am. Regardless of what you think, I really am sorry about what happened. I never intended to cause a problem. The shit that happened with Tate and Murphy, it shouldn’t have happened. None of this should be happening, but it is,” he said. “I just couldn’t take the bastard’s taunting. He knows what he’s doing, and all he’s doing is rubbing our faces in it every time he issues out a new order.”
Tiny couldn’t dispute what Devil said. Frederick Gonzalez knew a shit load more than any of them. “Fine, I accept whatever you’re feeling. It still doesn’t change the fact we need to get our shit together, and right now, it’s not together.”
Running fingers through his hair, Tiny stood up going toward the one counter the cops hadn’t smashed up. He probably should look to getting some new furniture and the entire place cleaned completely up. This was the first time they’d been hit that he hadn’t come home and put shit right. He took out a bottle of scotch and poured himself a healthy measure.
“You going to pour me a glass?” Devil asked.
Pulling out a second glass, he handed one to Devil. Leaning on the edge of his desk, Tiny looked toward the door where his woman disappeared through.
“I fucking hate this shit,” he said.
“There’s not a lot we can do. This shit is going to have to be done, whether we like it or not.” Devil downed his liquor and made his way toward the door.
“What do you think’s going to happen?” Tiny asked, curious to know Devil’s opinion.
Devil paused at the door then glanced toward him. He shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think you need to accept some men are going to die here.”
“What do you mean?” Tiny asked.
“You don’t go starting a fight with a man like this without expecting some casualties. I hope for all our sakes, there are none.” Devil left the room.
Staring down at his scotch, Tiny cursed. He was supposed to be picking up Angel and Lash. With even one drink inside him he wasn’t going to risk being snatched up by a passing cop.
Leaving the room he looked around the pitiful excuse for a club he owned. There was a time when the room would be a bustle of activity whereas now it was nothing more than a shell. Men and women would be having fun in different states of undress, simply having a good time. Looking around his club, he barely recognized it.
Eva was nowhere to be found. Moving toward Sophia, Tiny touched her elbow. “Where’s my woman?”
“She went out the back to the park.” Sophia offered him a smile, but he didn’t respond. All of his boys had married good women, and that made the decision to take on Gonzalez even harder. There was so much more to lose than ever before. Leaving the clubhouse behind he rounded the front to find Eva sitting on a swing looking down at their two children playing. Miles and Tabitha were twins. He’d been cursed to have a boy and a girl at the same time. Tate had been a handful growing up, but at least he’d been younger. He hadn’t known shit about raising a baby, but Tate had come out all right. Staring at Tabitha he didn’t know what he was going to do in the years to come with her getting older and prettier. He just knew his girl was going to be the crusher of men’s hearts. She pulled at his heart strings every chance she got. What was he going to do when the boys started sniffing around her? It was hard enough not to kill Murphy at every chance he got. Their son, Simon, was living fucking proof that Murphy was screwing his daughter. No, he wouldn’t think about it.
“Are you done now?” Eva asked. She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes. He hated making his woman cry.
“Yeah, I’m done.”
“Are you going to fight, or are you going to back down?”
“We’re going to fight, but we’re going to have to do this clever.” He stood behind his woman, pushing the hair off the back of her neck. Tiny heard her sigh.
“I hate this, Tiny. I just want to go back to when things were simple and we only had a two bit asshole to deal with.”
He chuckled. “I know. Everything seemed easier back then, more certain.” He leaned down, kissing her exposed neck.
She shuddered, leaning back against him. “I can’t help but think this is going to be a disaster. There’s no way someone comes away unscathed from whatever this asshole has planned. I mean, Butch, he’s lost that doctor who took care of him. Pussy and the crew lost Ashley. Who else are we going to lose?”
“Don’t think about it like that?” Tiny said, banding an arm around her waist.
“How can I not think about it like that? People are dying. Girls are being sold like cattle. They’re forced to fuck men for money, and I don’t know if I can let it go on. We know it’s going on, Tiny. We’re helping it when we should be stopping it. I’d hate for Tabitha to be exposed to anything like this or any girl for that matter.”
He tightened his grip on her shoulder. “There’s not a lot we can do about it, baby. We got to stay alive.”
Eva let out a sob, but he saw no tears fall down her face. “It’s hard. I look at Tabitha, and I see that monster who could be in our lives when she grows up.”
Tiny tensed at the image she filled his mind with. Between Eva and Devil, his mind had been filled with images he didn’t want to have. He didn’t need this shit. “You’ve got to stop thinking like that, baby. Nothing is going to happen. I promise. I will do everything in my power to keep you, the kids, and the club safe.”
She glanced up at him and smiled. “You’re a sweetheart, but you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.” She tapped his hand, smiling. “You need a ride to get Lash and Angel?”
“How did you know?” he asked.
“I can smell your breath. I wouldn’t risk it either.” She tucked some hair behind her ear and stood. “Come on, let’s leave these to Tate, and we can go together to get your boy.”
****
Eva glanced toward Tiny, who was resting his head in his hand. The stress he was under was starting to scare her, and she regretted slapping his face earlier. She understood his fears. They were hers as well, but he had to see past it all. Gonzalez could do more than take the club away. If they weren’t careful, he was going to take Tiny away. For the past few nights she’d been watching Tiny sleep seeing the worry even when he was dreaming. He’d not been the same since Butch had left and then come back, only Butch hadn’t come back, not really. They all needed to take a vote before Tiny would allow Butch back into the fold.
“I can hear you thinking all the way over here,” he said, turning to smile at her.
She chuckled. “I’m just thinking about Butch. Maybe after tonight he’ll be voted back in and life can go back to some kind of normalcy. A club divided is dangerous, but a club that’s whole is unstoppable.”
“I’m hoping the same thing. At the moment we’re counting on Gonzalez not knowing the truth about Butch. He believes we blackmailed him to get what we want. We’re going to leave him believing that until the times right.” Tiny let out a sigh, shuffling in his seat. “The hope is for us to get inside Gonzalez’s head without him knowing. Whizz is handling the hacking and shit.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean, Butch dealing with this kind of stuff. It was his club that Gonzalez’s father took out all those years ago. He didn’t give away much of what happened, and we only know no one survived other than Butch.” She turned down a street getting closer to the airport. The drive was well over an hour away. Eva usually hated driving, but with Gonzalez’s involvement with The Skulls, she’d started doing it more and more. Not many of the cops pulled her over, but she’d been in the car when they did pull Tiny over. They made his life a misery just to get from one place to another. She never thought in all of her life that she’d be so afraid to live in Fort Wills.
She couldn’t even go back to her dad or take the kids with her. Another of Gonzalez’s requests was that no one leave the clubhouse and that they all stayed around. She talked to her dad over the phone, and he wired them all money. Tiny was going to pay him back, but Ned just wanted Gonzalez in the ground. Her own father wasn’t allowed to pay them a visit from Vegas. Gonzalez held all the power while they were merely puppets for him to play with. Ned was angry at Tiny. She kept trying to talk to her father but he wasn’t having her defend Tiny while they were talking. He didn’t want to know anything about the club or Tiny, only about her and the kids. They were trapped because of the powers of one man.
Running her fingers through her hair, she stared out of the window.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. I think anything that can take Gonzalez by surprise is a good idea, and using Butch just seems like the right thing to do.”
“It could get him killed.” No matter how much Tiny tried to play the tough guy, she knew it was always hard for him to deal with the death of a club member. She’d been with him for some of his club that had died. The ones that went before she arrived, though she hadn’t been present, she knew they’d hit him hard.
“I know. It’s the risk we’re all having to take right now. None of us like it, but it’s those risks that are going to determine if the club survives.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said, pulling into the airport.
Lash, Angel, and their little boy, Anthony, were nowhere to be seen. She pulled up into the parking bay that let her stay for a few minutes to wait. Tapping the wheel, she watched the double doors hoping to see them.
“Maybe you should go in and see if they’re there,” Eva said. She hated the fact they’d cut the couple’s vacation short. If anyone needed a vacation it was Lash and Angel. The young woman had been through so much in the time since she’d been an old lady to Lash. She never complained as far as Eva was aware, and she cared about everyone.
“Okay.” Tiny removed his belt and was starting to get out of the car when Lash and Angel appeared. Lash carried the bags while Angel held their son in her arms. The couple was a dream to watch. Even now, Lash couldn’t take his eyes off his woman. Her blonde hair blew from the light breeze, and her smile lit up her entire face. Finding herself overcome with tears, Eva climbed out of the car and rounded the vehicle to embrace the younger woman. She adored Angel, and knowing the other woman was safe made her feel happier. Eva wished she was bringing the couple back into a much happier situation rather than the chaos she was.
“Hey, Eva, did you miss us?” Angel asked, chuckling. Angel hugged her back, tightly.
“Yeah, I missed you. I’m so sorry to cut your vacation short.”
Angel shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I know you didn’t do it on purpose.” She pulled away as Anthony started to giggle and moan. “I think this guy doesn’t like being crushed between two women.”
“I don’t know. When he’s older he won’t complain,” Lash said, teasing.
Rolling her eyes, Eva took hold of Angel’s hand and led her back toward the car. “You’re going to have to tell me everything of what went on. I want to hear every second of your vacation time.”
“It was fun,” Angel said, securing Anthony in the car seat. Climbing behind the wheel, Eva started up the car.
“Why are you driving?” Lash asked, climbing in beside Anthony.
Glancing toward Tiny, she nodded her head. “You may as well bring him up to speed.”
Pulling away from the curb, she exited the airport then started the long journey home. She listened to Tiny tell Lash and Angel about everything that had happened. Between Butch and Nash, Lash had been updated about some things, but Tiny had asked for them to wait to tell the other man everything. Some of the stuff needed to be talked about face to face. This way Tiny got to tell Lash about everything Devil had caused.
“Butch still not part of the club?” Lash asked.
“We’re going to take a vote on it tonight. I refused to vote until you got home. It’s a club decision.”
“Why? You’re the president. Your vote counts more than anyone else’s.”
Tiny shook his head. “Not to me it doesn’t. I want everyone to vote on this matter no matter what they think or feel.”
Eva watched him out of the corner of her eye. He looked stressed, angry, and tired. Fears started to build inside her once again. Tiny could easily have a heart attack if he wasn’t careful. She didn’t know what she’d do if anything happened to him. He was the love of her life, the reason for her staying in Fort Wills. They had two beautiful chi
ldren together. Tiny, without even realizing it, gave her a reason to breathe. She didn’t want a life without him in it.
“You need to take it easy,” she said, reaching out to tap his hand.
“I will, baby. You need to stop stressing. What will be, will be.” He held her hand as he turned to look behind him. Every now and then she checked out the rearview mirror to see the worry on Angel’s face. “We all took a vote for Nash.”
“Nash was high on coke. We didn’t have much choice but to all vote. Drugs was serious, so even I wanted him to be voted back in with the club’s vote.”
“The same goes for Butch. He walked away. We need to know where his loyalty lies. We’re all going to take a vote, and that includes you.” Tiny turned back to the front.
“We go away on vacation and come back to a mess,” Angel said.
“Don’t, baby. This is club mess. When it’s all sorted, we’ll be heading back to Italy. I promised you an extended vacation, and we’re going to get it.” Lash placed his arm across the back of the seat to touch her hair.
Eva saw it in the mirror. Angel gave him one of her dazzling smiles.
“It would be easier for all of us if you taught me how to defend myself,” she said.
Lash let out a sigh. “I told you, I’m not going to teach you what you don’t need to know. I’ll protect you, always.”
“You’re not going to be with me all the time, Lash. I need to learn to defend myself and to defend our son.”
“Not discussing this, Angel. You don’t need it, end of story.” He cupped the back of her head, turning her to look at him. “This fucker is going down. You don’t need to worry about shit. Tiny’s getting more prospects, and we’ll be good.”
Angel sighed but didn’t argue further.
Keeping her gaze on the road, Eva tried to ignore the sudden silence in the car. Tiny was looking out of his side window, Lash kept looking at Angel, and Angel was staring out of the window. The tension mounted, making driving very uncomfortable.