by Sam Crescent
“Hey, watch the fucking car. Tate lives by her own rules. Not only that, this lockdown hasn’t been as tight as all the others. Women are coming and going. I’m not going to bitch at Tate for going to see her mother. You shouldn’t either.”
Silence filled the car at Alex’s anger.
“Shit, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to think. Who would desecrate Patricia’s resting place? It’s sick.”
“Gonzalez would,” Alex said.
“Why? We’ve done nothing to him.”
“We’re marrying Pussy with his woman and Butch with Cheryl. He’s seen us working with the Chaos crew. After the shit they pulled back in Piston County, I’d say Gonzalez is getting himself a little payback. I’m surprised it has taken this long for him to lash out.”
Neither of them talked for several minutes as Alex worked the small traffic in Fort Wills. Tiny was losing his temper with every moment that passed. Tate was a bitch at times, but she was still his daughter. He’d do anything for her even though she pissed him off. There were times he wondered what Murphy saw in her and if he could think that then he knew the guy loved her.
“What’s Butch saying?” Tiny asked. He was leaving all of the information gathering to Alex and Butch. There was only so much he wanted to be involved in. Butch was risking his life for the club, and he didn’t want to give away what he knew to anyone else.
“Gonzalez is playing it cool over what happened with Devil. He knows a hit is going to take place, but he doesn’t know where or when.” Alex turned the corner. “He’s laying low for now, waiting for his time to strike.”
“What else has Butch said?”
“That when Gonzalez comes out of hiding, we’re all fucked, but I don’t think that’s an actual threat. Butch is going by his gut and warning us.”
Tiny nodded. “It makes sense. Devil started stirring a pot full of shit. It’s only a matter of time before one or all of us end up on the shit list.”
“You’ve got to think about your allegiance with Devil and the Chaos Bleeds Crew, Tiny. They’re fucking dangerous. Devil will end up getting one or all of us killed.”
He glanced toward his former brother-in-law. Alex was a lot of things, but he was never jealous. Tiny knew if he was talking about getting rid of Devil, then it was for a good reason.
“Devil’s a friend. I’m not going to cut him off. He’s been there for The Skulls whenever we’ve needed him.”
“There’s a difference. We’ve never gone hunting for trouble or for a fight. Devil has. He’s going to start a war with Gonzalez, and everyone in his path is going to get stung in the process. It’s something you’re going to need to consider.”
“I’m not turning my back on Devil.”
“Okay, I’ll follow you, but if you put my son or niece in danger then I’ll fucking take him out. It’s got nothing to do with the club and more about my own feelings,” he said.
“Look, give Devil a chance. You’ve never been his biggest fan, but please, give him a chance. He’s got his club in his best interests.”
“Exactly, Tiny. He’s got his own interests for his own club in his thoughts.” Alex pulled up outside of the curb where the graveyard was.
Murphy was stood with his arms around a sobbing Tate.
“Here we go,” Tiny said.
Cops were inside the graveyard talking with the priest.
“Who would do such a thing?” Tate asked, crying out. When his daughter saw him, she ran into his arms. Holding her tightly, he kissed the top of her head as he looked toward the mess. “I hate whoever did this. Tell me you’re not going to let it stand.”
“I won’t, honey. I promise you that I won’t let this stand.” He stared at the mess before him. Gonzalez was going down, but he was going to do it with time and patience.
“She didn’t even get a chance to put her flowers down. It was like this when we got here,” Murphy said.
Shaking his head, he spun Tate away from the scene.
“The cops have already talked to her.”
“Get her out of here, Murphy. Make sure she’s taken care of.” He handed his daughter back to her man and turned to look at the graveyard. Gonzalez hadn’t done this with his own two hands. He’d sent someone to do his dirty work. The games were going to start. This one move was sure to set about the war.
****
“You did it?” Gonzalez asked. He sat in his hotel room in Piston County smoking a cigar. Ronald was preparing them some food while they waited for the news of what Butch had done.
“Yes, I did it.”
Gonzalez chuckled. “I have to say I’m surprised. I didn’t believe you’d fuck over someone’s grave.”
“This was a fucking test, asshole. If I didn’t do it you’d think I still had some allegiance to The Skulls. I did it, and now you know I can be trusted. You can start trusting me now.”
It was a good argument. Gonzalez had set the wheels in motion for Patricia’s graveside to be ruined. Whether Butch did it or one of his own men, didn’t matter to him. Now, Butch was on his side, and he could use him to get deeper within The Skulls. Gonzalez wanted them all to hurt before he finally killed him. Where was the fun in simply striking out? There was no fun unless he caused a little bit of pain.
“Okay. I’ve got a cop on the force in Fort Wills. His name is Andrew Bolton. He’s reliable and is helping me gain another search warrant for The Skulls’ compound. I want Devil and Tiny divided. I don’t like them being together. If you want to save yourself from being put in jail, talk to him, and he’ll tell you when he’s going to hit out. I’ll be in touch with more information when I’m ready.”
Disconnecting the call, he stared at Ronald.
“Are you going to approach Gash?” Ronald asked.
Since Homer had been killed, the company had been a little lonely. Ronald was great, but he wasn’t like Homer. Ronald hated hurting people Gonzalez wanted to be hurt in a specific way.
“Nah, I don’t need Gash to get what I want. All I need is to strike when they least expect it. Now, Tiny’s pissed and will spend time hunting for the man who desecrated his wife’s grave. Let’s see, it’s time to hit Devil I think. Andrew’s going to help split them apart with another raid on the club. It’s all coming together. They may even kill each other, saving me a job. It wouldn’t be as fun, but it would still be done.” Gonzalez ran a finger over his lip while he thought about what to do.
“I’ve got a friend I can bring in,” Ronald said. “He makes Homer look like child’s play.”
Pulled out of his thoughts, he looked at Ronald. “In what way?” Gonzalez asked.
“Homer was willing to hurt and kill women within a set time. My man is willing to do a lot more damage. The bastard gets off on taking a woman by force. The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds are devoted to their women. Getting to them is a lot easier than getting to the men. Angel, Tate, Sophia, Lexie, all of them are the weakness that we can use with the right man.”
Gonzalez held his hand up. “I’ll think about it. What’s the guy’s name?”
“Everett, that’s all he goes by. You won’t find him in the system. He doesn’t work for anyone but himself.”
“Will he get any job done that I set him?” Gonzalez asked.
“For a price he will.”
Sitting back, Gonzalez started to think about what he could do with a man willing to do anything.
“Call him. I want him available when the time is right.”
Getting up from his seat, he moved toward his bedroom. With Ashley gone and all of his women earning money, he was feeling lonely. “Ronald, while you’re getting your guy get a woman for me. I’m bored and want some entertainment for the night.” He closed the door to his bedroom. Smiling, he walked toward the window overlooking the night. Everything was coming together slowly. He didn’t have a complete hold over Ned Walker, but the more threats he put on The Skulls the bigger the chance he had of taking on Ned and Vegas. Some of the men he had on his payroll were no lo
nger taking calls from him. It didn’t bother him. All of his men were known for being busy. There wasn’t much he could do to stop it. Slowly, he was going to get exactly what he wanted. He just needed to be patient.
****
Butch ran fingers through his hair. Cheryl rubbed his back, but he didn’t need or want the attention. His love for her was absolute. What he did today didn’t deserve her love, but he’d gotten something out of it. A guy named Andrew was on the force, and there was another raid that was set to pit Devil and Tiny against one another. He could stop this from occurring.
“Tell me what’s wrong?” she asked.
“I need a minute.”
“You’ve been acting strangely for awhile.” She climbed off the bed to kneel on the floor in front of him. He didn’t deserve her. “I can see something’s eating away at you. I don’t know what it is, but you can’t keep hiding from me.”
“I’m not. I’ve told you everything I need to tell you. I’m not going to put you in danger with everything. I’ll tell you what I can.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, baby. I can’t tell you what’s going on right now.”
“We’re going to be married.” She cupped his face, forcing him to look at her. “Keeping secrets is not the way to make a marriage work. Please, let me in.”
He rubbed his eyes. “I fucked up, Cheryl.”
“How? You’re part of The Skulls. You’ve proven your worth. Why could anything be going wrong?”
Staring into her eyes, he knew in his heart he couldn’t keep the truth from her anymore.
“I took a job from Gonzalez, and now I can’t see a way out.” He did it all for Alex, but it didn’t stop him feel any less dirty.
She frowned. “What?”
“I had to prove to Gonzalez that I was against The Skulls. I was given the job of desecrating Patricia’s grave.” She gasped even before he finished. The disappointment was clear in her eyes.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I didn’t have a choice. Alex doesn’t know yet. I’ve got to tell him the truth, and to be honest, I don’t want to. He was so fucking pissed.” He rubbed at his eyes. If he’d not been asked to try and get into Gonzalez’s graces, he wouldn’t have to deal with this. You also wouldn’t know that Gonzalez intended to start another raid on the club. It was hard to be happy about the small bit of information he knew when he’d done something awful.
“Wait. You’re working for Alex to become a spy for him against Gonzalez, and he doesn’t even know you were the one responsible for doing what you did? He knows you have to do stuff like this.”
He nodded. “I didn’t get a chance to tell him. There was nothing I could do. It’s not going to stop him from being pissed.”
“I can’t deal with this. None of this makes sense. You’ve got to tell Tiny the truth about Alex, Gonzalez, the Savage Brothers. You’ve got to tell him everything. You could be killed for this. You could be killed if you’re found out.”
Butch shrugged. “I’ve got the guarantee that you’ll live.”
“No, I don’t accept that. It’s not right, nor is it fair.” She pulled away and started to pace in front of him. “You can’t risk your life for me or for Matthew. This is hurting you, Butch.”
“You don’t have a choice. This is something I did, and you’re just going to have to accept it.”
He stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to tell Alex I’m the one who had to disturb his sister’s resting place.” He put a hand on the door. “And I finally got something out of Gonzalez. I guess it’s a little tit for tat.”
“Don’t do this, Butch. If you loved me, you’d back off and stop this.”
Her words cut to his heart.
Glancing over at her, he shook his head. “It’s because I love you that I’m doing this. Baby, I can’t back out now. I’ve already done what needed to be done. There’s no backing out until Gonzalez is dead.”
Closing the door behind him, he walked toward the main part of the club. With both The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds crews in residence, the clubhouse was back to being livable. Gonzalez had paid a bunch of cops to come and trash the place while he’d been out of the club. He found Alex at the bar drinking.
“I need a word,” he said, noticing the way Devil was watching them.
Alex turned to him. His eyes were red-rimmed, but no tears were present.
“Do you really want me to talk now? I’ve had to deal with a lot of shit today. I’m not in the best moods to be talking or chatting.” Alex downed a shot of brown liquid.
It hadn’t taken Tiny long to get the alcohol back in.
Closing his eyes, Butch blew out a breath. “It’s today that I need to talk to you about and something else.”
Alex stared at him then nodded his head. “Fine.”
Another shot was downed, and they moved outside.
Glancing around the compound Butch made sure they were all clear before talking. “Gonzalez ordered me to prove myself.”
“So. It’s what we want.”
“He told me to do that to Patricia’s grave today. I was the one who desecrated her stone.”
At his words, Alex stared at him silently.
The fist landed in his gut as Alex lashed out. The other went in his face. Collapsing to the floor, Butch coughed as the pain traveled through his body.
“I know why you did it, but you touched my sister. Warn me before you do shit like that.” Alex’s fists were tight to his side. The anger emanated from him, and he looked ready to strike once again.
“I tried. You weren’t answering your cell.” Coughing, Butch curled up. The agony from the beating of being voted back in mingled with the punches from Alex, and the pain intensified.
“Fine. You better get us something on Gonzalez, as otherwise I’ll fucking kill you myself. There are limits, and he crossed the line with touching my dead sister’s memory.”
“I did get something.” Butch got to his feet, trying to ignore the pain.
Alex glared. “Then spit it out. I’ve not got all day.”
“There’s a guy on the force in Fort Wills. Andrew Bolton. He’s looking to organize another raid on the club.”
“What else?”
“Gonzalez wants to create a rift between Devil and Tiny, hoping they’ll kill each other before something else happens.”
“If we take out Andrew, Gonzalez will know we’re onto him.”
“Then we make sure Andrew meets an accidental death, say a fire, or a car accident,” Butch said, already planning the next step.
“Good work. I’ll make sure to deal with Andrew. Let me know the next time you get a hit like that. I don’t want to have to be getting a call.”
Alex stormed back inside the clubhouse. Butch was no longer in doubt. If The Skulls found out about his helping the Savage Brothers MC then he was dead no matter what.
Chapter Four
Several days later the sun was shining outside, and the heat was gracing them with its presence for the first time in what felt like weeks. Eva, Lexie, and the men were arranging the tables outside to welcome Gash into the fold. Nash, Steven, and Whizz were going to get Gash from the prison.
Glancing over the door, Eva saw Angel standing on a chair with Lash holding onto her waist as she started to pin up the welcome home sign.
“It’s looking good.” Eva held her thumbs up for the couple to know she was talking to them. All the kids were inside the play area Tiny had built in the compound. Tate was looking over them. She wasn’t too traumatized by what happened, and Murphy kept a close eye on her.
“Right, we’ve just got the food to bring out when it’s ready,” Lexie said.
“No, I’ve got to bring the booze out. The guys are going to want their drinks. Also, we need to fill the main room with balloons. Nash’s orders and he got them approved by Tiny. I don’t know what it is with the balloons, but I’m not going to argue with him.” Running fingers through her hair, Eva walked ba
ck into the clubhouse. Tiny was going over some figures while he sat at the bar.
She’d not been to bed with him for two days, not since he’d lied to her.
Approaching him, she glanced over his shoulder to see all the numbers he was looking over.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Eva wasn’t jealous of his first wife, far from it. She knew his first marriage wasn’t as perfect as people thought.
“I’m fine. Is Tate okay?”
“She will be. She’s getting stronger every day.”
“I’m starting to think she’s not cut out to be an old lady.”
“The club takes a lot of getting used to. Tate’s been through a lot. She’s expecting her second child. Please, Tiny, give her a chance.”
He shook his head. “It’s not just about dealing with the everyday crap. I don’t believe she’s cut out to be this kind of person. She’s nothing like you or some of the other women.”
“You can’t cut her off.”
“I’m not going to cut her off, Eva. She’s my daughter.”
“Where is all of this going? Why would you be thinking about Tate in my role?”
Tiny shrugged. “I’m not going to be the president of The Skulls forever. I know my time is coming to an end. I’m just thinking of the future.”
She chuckled. “It’s going to be some time yet.”
“Even so. I’m old, baby. I’ve got to start preparing for the future. I don’t want to be riding my bike and dealing with this shit into my seventies.”
“It’s over twenty years away.” She made to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go.
“No, it’s not that long, Eva. You think it’s that long, but time goes by so fast. Before we know it I’m going to be seventy, and I don’t want to spend my days riding and dealing with shit.” He spun in his chair and pulled her closer to him. “I want to be with you. Loving you, spending my time with you.”
“Are you trying to suck up to me?” she asked.
“No. I’m trying to let you know that no matter how much I disappoint you, I’ll always love you, no matter what. I’m sorry for lying to you. I just can’t stand the fact you’re scared. It pisses me off.”