by Sam Crescent
Slowly, he eased the door open so only a small light shone into the room. There on the floor beside Matthew was Alex.
The light had disturbed him.
“What?” Alex asked.
“I’ve got news.”
Alex got to his feet and started to move away from his son’s side.
“What could you possibly have to say to me?” Alex asked.
“Why are you sleeping with Matthew?” Butch asked.
“Being with him calms me. I’ve been out of his life for too long. I don’t like it. He’s my son, and I’m not going to miss a chance to be with him.”
Understanding what he meant, Butch glanced up and down the long corridor, making sure they were alone.
“Gonzalez has been in touch. He’s asking about Eva and what she does in her spare time.”
Alex stretched, groaning. “Fuck, sleeping on a floor is not fucking fun.”
Clicking his fingers, Butch drew his attention back to him. “He’s going to make his move at the wedding in the town hall.”
“What?”
“The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds crew are all going to die at this wedding. This could be our chance.”
“How did you get him to spill that easily?” Alex asked.
“I didn’t. He slipped up. I don’t think he was meant to tell me what was going to happen. This is our chance, Alex. We could get rid of him.”
“Okay, I’ll make the necessary arrangements. If he calls again try to get him to tell you what he has plans for Eva. I don’t like the thought of her being vulnerable, and Tiny will be pissed if anything happened to her. It makes no sense why he would target her but leave Lexie alone. Devil’s the one who pissed him off.”
“Maybe you should see this as more that he’s crazy and doesn’t give a fuck who he hurts,” Butch said. “I need a drink to get back to sleep. Are we good?”
“Yeah, I’m going to bed. Get some sleep before the shit hits the fan.” Alex hit his shoulder and turned away. Leaving the corridor, Butch walked down toward the bar. It was dark and quiet. For once none of the men were lying around sleeping.
Pulling out his phone, he pressed the private number for Danny.
“What do you have for me?” Danny asked.
“Not a lot. Gonzalez is going to hit out at The Skulls.”
“When’s he coming to town?”
Now was his chance. Closing his eyes, Butch tapped the bar wondering what the hell he should do.
“He’s coming to town for the wedding.”
“What wedding?”
“Two of our men are getting married. They’re doing it at the clubhouse, so it should be his opportunity to take us down.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but still, he couldn’t lie to them. Hearing Danny’s voice reminded him of Lacey, and then he thought about his sister. He wasn’t doing this to help Danny or the Savage Brothers; he was doing this for Lacey. The girl deserved some peace of mind.
“Good, we’ll attack then.”
Hanging up, Butch poured himself a large scotch and flung it back. You’re not a rat, and you haven’t done anything wrong.
Leaving the bar, he walked back to his room. Cheryl was still asleep. Climbing into bed, he wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her close.
“Where have you been?” she asked.
“I thought you were asleep.”
“I heard your phone. What was it, or do I not want to know?” she asked.
“Gonzalez called. I’m handling it.”
“Remember, Butch, The Skulls is where your loyalty lies, nowhere else.”
He wasn’t loyal to the Savage Brothers. Kissing her head, he hummed his agreement. Settling into bed, he thought about what Gonzalez had said on the phone. What would he do to Eva? No, Butch couldn’t think of anything happening to her.
It had to be a test.
How could he warn Tiny without alerting him to what he was doing? Nothing he thought of was a good enough reason.
Closing his eyes, he waited for sleep to claim him. Nothing happened for the longest time.
“Go to sleep, Butch. We’ll deal with this tomorrow. Sleep will make everything okay,” Cheryl said.
Her words were intended to soothe, yet they did nothing for him.
****
Gonzalez threw the phone against the wall, cursing. He’d slipped up. Fuck, he shouldn’t have let that bastard know what he had planned. Not that Butch would be affected. He liked the thought of having Butch by his side while he took over each illegal business. In years to come these days would seem like a walk in the park for what he had planned. Pushing the woman off his dick, he yelled for her to fuck off. She couldn’t suck his dick at all and was boring him more than entertaining him.
It was now he missed Ashley. No matter what he asked of her, she always gave into him. The women he controlled did what he asked, but they weren’t any good at it. Ashley had been a fucking pro, and she’d loved sex. Shouldn’t have killed her.
He couldn’t exactly give Ashley back a head in the hope of her giving him head. Chuckling at the joke, he grabbed a robe and entered the sitting room of the hotel.
“What’s going on?” Gonzalez asked. Ronald was still awake, watching the television. The man rarely slept, and when he did, it wasn’t for long.
“Everett is doing what you asked.”
Sitting in the spare chair, Gonzalez grabbed the carton of noodles on the table before him. “Get rid of the bitch in my room. Kill her if you can. She’ll never make any money.”
“Give her a chance, you’re pretty fucking scary, boss,” Ronald said.
“I was hard until she put her mouth on me and now I can’t get hard. Bitch is a waste of time. I’m not going to have complaints. Get rid of her, kill her, and be done with it.” Eating some noodles, Gonzalez tapped his fork against the carton. “So you found Kayla Howard, Lexie’s sister?”
“Yeah, she did a shit job in covering up her identity. Tracked her down, and Everett is sorting out the problem as we speak.”
“I like this Everett guy. He’s got balls of steel.”
“For the right price, those balls of steel are all yours,” Ronald said.
“Do we have anyone else willing to take over where Homer was?”
“No. The only person I could find was Everett.”
“So no one wants to come and work for me. I’m disappointed. I thought I was a damn good boss.” Gonzalez chuckled. He scratched his head thinking about the many favors he’d pulled in to get Devil and Tiny. Those favors were long gone, and people were disappearing away from him faster than flies. Several people hadn’t called him back when he’d made calls. He needed to get rid of the two MCs, as otherwise everything he planned for was going to turn on him.
Ned Walker had protected his fighters, and not only that, he’d come out stronger for it. No one could touch Walker or his men. There had also been a reward put out along with a warning. If anyone touched his daughter, Eva, and her family, then they were dead. If Ned couldn’t do it himself, he’d pay someone handsomely to do the job for him.
You’re losing control.
His vision was still true, and he could fuck with both clubs if he chose. Nothing was over until he said it was. He was going to swim in the blood created by Devil, Tiny, and the two clubs. Gonzalez would even watch Ned fall and bask in knowing he’d defeated them all.
****
Lacey watched the men having a drink and playing cards, all of them tense and waiting. She ran fingers through her new blue locks, wondering why she’d gone radical with her hair. Ever since the attack on the Savage Brothers twenty years ago she’d been fighting for revenge. She wanted to know everything Gonzalez did, where he went. Finding out his son killed the father, the one responsible for what happened to her, upset her. Now her revenge would come at the price of the son. Gonzalez was an animal, there was no doubt of that, but the revenge would be bittersweet. The true man who’d ruined their lives at such a young age was already dead.
She
hadn’t seen the son during her attack, but she’d heard enough to know that he was present. Her revenge would have to be complete knowing the Gonzalez line was dead. There was no other way for her to be at peace.
“You’re thinking again,” Dalton said, coming to stand behind her.
“We shouldn’t be putting Butch at risk like this. He was a Savage Brother once.”
“Yeah, he’s not anymore, babe. You can’t do anything to save him. He changed sides.”
“Yet we’ve not even talked with The Skulls or Chaos Bleeds. We don’t want their territory. All we want is the pleasure of killing Gonzalez. We have nothing, no one to depend on us. This is it, our family unit.” None of them had left each other to start up families to make a life away from it all. This was all they were about, revenge. It was sad when she actually sat and thought about the depth of the club.
Dalton touched her shoulder, and she tensed. He’d witnessed her in the worst part of her life. He had carried her to the hospital to get fixed, when she’d been bleeding out, raped, beaten. Dalton had seen it. Since then, he’d taken care of her, feeling responsible for her. In the months after the attack, he was there to cuddle her when the demons got too bad.
From what she saw of the clubs, Whizz from The Skulls had suffered just like her. They were not stupid or dumb. Each one of them had done their homework on the club. She gathered information on Whizz. He’d been attacked, raped, and left for dead. Since his attack, Whizz had changed. She recognized the change within him, and knew exactly what he was going through.
He knew what it was like to be split open, chewed up by the world, and then spit out as if they were nothing.
“You’ve got to stop feeling bad about what happened,” Dalton said.
“I will. I’m going out for a while.” She moved toward the door, grabbing a black jacket with a long hood. The only way she left the Savage Brothers was under many layers, no matter what the time of year was.
“It’s not safe for you to go out.”
She continued to put the jacket on. “I’ve got protection, Dalton. I don’t leave without a weapon.” She showed him the gun at the base of her back. At her ankle she also carried a small knife. There was no way she was ever going to be helpless again. She refused to be trapped by anyone, let alone the men who considered themselves her family.
Once she woke up from the hospital, she got Dalton and Danny to show her how to fight. It had taken years of training to get her confidence back up. There were times the confidence disappeared and she’d be frozen in a cold sweat, but those moments were dwindling.
Opening the door, she knew in her heart that Dalton didn’t want her to leave.
“Please, I need air. You’ve got all your buddies to keep you company.”
“They’re your buddies as well,” Dalton said, taking hold of her hand.
“I know, but I need some girl time.” She withdrew from his touch and left the makeshift home they had made in Fort Wills.
The sun was setting lighting up the night’s sky. Folding her arms, she walked toward the town. There were times she preferred to be alone rather than with a house full of men who knew the truth about her.
No one saw beyond the attack. Thirty years old and she was defined by something that had happened to her when she was ten. She wished she had the courage to leave the club to start a life for herself away from them. They were always close to her, watching her, waiting for her to go off the deep end. They knew too much about her.
Entering a coffee shop, she ordered a strong black coffee and took a seat in the corner by the window. She took a sip of the dark liquid before it had even cooled. In the middle of the coffee shop, she saw two girls giggling, and one girl was showing off her hand. What would it be like to be around other women? She’d never sat in a coffee shop laughing with the girls, talking about shit that wasn’t really important but felt like it. Did she even know how to have a good time? There was so much she didn’t know about herself. Glancing around the coffee shop, she envied all of the people for their easy lives, the carefree attitude they all displayed. Pausing, she saw Whizz was working away at a computer oblivious to the looks coming his way from women who wanted him. Some of the women were with men. He was huge, making the booth he sat at seeming incredibly small. The pictures she had on him were before the attack. He’d changed dramatically. The attack had affected him in more ways than she ever imagined. Unlike some people who dealt with their pain with other vices, Whizz seemed to work out all the time.
She wanted to talk to him. No, she needed to talk to him. For several seconds she fought the need to talk to him. She should stay away. Danny wanted to kill Gonzalez and leave Fort Wills. He doesn’t care what happens to the other MCs. She wasn’t stupid. Danny wouldn’t care who died so long as Gonzalez ended up dead. Getting up from her seat, she grabbed her cup and made her way toward his table.
“This seat taken?” Before she gave him a chance to answer, she placed her cup on the table and took a seat. She was so nervous, and it was hard to stop herself from shaking. In all of her life, she’d never been good at lying or hurting people. Staring at Whizz, she knew he’d been hurt badly by his attack. You’re going to cause him more pain. The very thought of her hurting him further made her sick to her stomach.
Whizz frowned, looking at her when she sat down. “I don’t know you.”
“So? I wanted to come and talk to you. You look lonely.” He hasn’t kicked you away yet.
“I’m working.”
He sat back, staring at her. His hands were flat on the table, and he assessed her. Did he see her as a threat? What did he see when he looked at her? Averting her gaze Lacey saw the scar down his face, the evidence of what that monster had done to him. There would be more scars. She knew all about living with the scars. The ones on the body would all fade with time. It was the scars on the inside that wouldn’t go away. No one could take the memories away or the fears of that time spent in pain. The way people looked at you like they were there and understood what you want through. No one knew what you went through.
“Are you taking a good long look?” Whizz asked, glaring toward her.
“You’ve got pretty eyes. I’ve always been a sucker for a man with pretty eyes.” He had a nice shade of green eyes. They were kind, if sad at the same time. Whizz, like her, had lost a great deal. He would understand her and know not to pity her. She didn’t pity Whizz. He was stronger than the monster who took him. Lacey wished she could prove to him how strong he actually was. He didn’t need to keep hiding behind the weight lifting or the computers. Whizz was much better than that.
“If you keep staring at me, I’m going to start feeling nervous,” he said.
“Sorry.” She dropped her gaze from his and stared at the dark liquid in the cup.
“Drop your hood,” he said.
Glancing up, she saw he was still staring at her.
Going against her better judgment, she dropped the hood, wanting to please him. Had he been with women since his attack? Did he even want to be intimate, or was it a hard fucking he craved?
“Nice hair.”
“I’m going through my radical phase.” She ran fingers through the blue locks. Changing her hair color was fun. Dalton did her hair without argument. Over the years, he’d gotten good at it, too. The first time he’d dyed her hair had been a disaster.
“How old are you?” Whizz asked.
“Thirty.”
“What are you doing in Fort Wills?”
“I’m just passing through.” He went to open his mouth. “Do you want to ask me when I last gave blood or sucked a man’s dick?”
Whizz stopped. “What?”
“The interrogation, does it work on all the women you’re with? Or is this special for me because you’ve never seen me before?”
“I’m sorry.” He went to touch his laptop again. She didn’t want him thinking about anything else but her.
“Don’t be. It’s kind of cute, in a very weird kind of way.
”
He jerked back to look at her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m having a cup of coffee with a hot guy in a café. Admittedly, it would go a lot sexier if we were in a bar than a café. I’m easy though.”
She lifted the cup to her lips.
“This is just a cup of coffee. No ulterior motive. You’re not working for Gonzalez, are you?” he asked.
It took every ounce of willpower not to show any emotion at that name.
“Never heard of him.”
Whizz frowned at her, looking deep.
“Look, I thought you looked lonely, and I know what it’s like to be lonely. I just wanted to have a cup of coffee with you.” She waited to see what he’d do. Lacey wanted him to like her, to see the same part in her that was damaged that she could see inside him.
“Okay, fine. I’ll drink a nice cup of coffee with you.”
She smiled as he ordered a coffee by shouting to the waitress. Maybe being in Fort Wills wasn’t so bad after all.
****
Whizz stared at her blue hair and wondered what she was trying to hide. He wasn’t an idiot. There was something not quite right about this woman in front of him. Sure, she was a beauty, but he’d long since given up on beauty. There was more to life than someone pretty to look at. With Gonzalez hanging around, he didn’t trust anyone. He’d done his research on Gonzalez, and he didn’t recognize this woman in front of him.
The moment she entered the café he’d noticed her. She’d been nibbling her lip as she looked at the list of different coffees she could pick from. The hood hid her hair but not her face. He hadn’t been able to look away from the indecision on her face. Her hands had been shaking as she grabbed money out of her pocket. Everything about her spoke of shyness, yet she came over to him as if she didn’t suffer at all.
While he’d been looking at her, he’d seen the fine curves of her body on display, her rounded ass and the full tits her clothing couldn’t disguise. He imagined her body was full, hour-glass even. Fuck, he was getting hard. He was actually getting hard for a woman, and he didn’t have a clue who she was.