Marked Skulls MC Series: Books 1-5

by Savannah Rylan

  “Dash and the others will never let that happen to you or Amanda again,” Jordan said and I nodded.

  “I know. I trust him, I trust all of you. I’m so glad to be here,” I said.

  Lila initiated a group hug and we all fell together. A wave of tears washed over me and I suppressed it.

  It felt so good to be back in the real world, surrounded by supportive and kind people. Trusting Dash was the best decision I made.

  “And I noticed the way he looks at you…at Amanda too. You guys would make a cute family,” Alexis remarked and I blushed even deeper.

  “These guys look like they’re tough as nails,” Kaya began.

  “And they are!” Lila corrected her.

  “But they can be warm and fuzzy on the inside when they meet the right woman,” Kaya continued and I blushed more.

  That was when Dash walked in. He saw us all sitting around and smiled.

  “There he is! The man of the hour!” Alexis remarked and he came over to stand behind me.

  “How are you guys doing?” he asked and I looked up at him and nodded.

  “I’m doing great. Amanda’s doing even better!” I replied and he looked over at her in the corner, sitting on a big leather chair which I presumed belonged to Lewis.

  “So, the guys and I have been talking. We need to hit the Hell’s Drifters now, while they’re still scrambling about trying to get a hold of me,” Dash began. I nodded. “Will you be able to lead us to the clubhouse?”

  A smile was spreading on my face now.

  “Any time you want,” I told him and the women exchanged victorious looks too.

  21

  Dash

  Dash

  Harley gave me detailed instructions on how to get to the clubhouse. I’d told her to be as thorough as possible and she did her best. This information was gold. The main reason why we hadn’t been able to take out the Hell’s Drifters all this time was because we didn’t have anybody on the inside. And now we did.

  Before I was about to leave, I gave Harley a small quick kiss on the top of her head which made the other girls giggle.

  I was about to walk back out to the bar when we heard the bikes outside. I was instantly suspicious because it sounded like a hoard of bikes. Most of our club was at T-Bone right now. Who else would be joining us?

  “Get down. Now!” I growled and jumped in Amanda’s direction, pulling her quickly out of her chair. She squealed in panic even before she’d heard anything.

  Kaya and Lila screamed too. They were all ducked down.

  “In the back room. Come on. Now!” I shouted at them, just as we heard the first gunshot being fired. We could hear the roar of the others’ voices outside.

  I saw the fear in Harley’s eyes.

  “Get down on your knees. Stay away from the windows. Let’s go!” I ordered. I covered Amanda’s head with my hands and ran to the store room at the back. It had only one door and one window. It would be the perfect place to keep them safe for now I figured.

  I was the first one in and I put Amanda down. She grabbed my hand, refusing to let go.

  “It’ll be all right, honey,” I said as the women came filing into the room. They had their ears covered with their hands. They were scared. But nobody was as afraid as Harley.

  She came into the room and ran straight for Amanda, lifting her up in her arms. Amanda started to cry now as more gunshots rang outside.

  “I’m going to have to go. Stay down. Don’t get out of this room till one of us comes to get you!” I barked orders at them.

  The others grouped around Harley and Amanda. The little kid was the one who needed most protection and all their motherly instincts were coming into play here.

  While Amanda cried, Harley had tears in her eyes too. I knew what she was thinking—that it was all over. That Caesar and the others were here and they were going to take her away again.

  I reached for my gun and pulled it out.

  “Take this. Use it if you have to. Don’t hesitate.”

  I pushed the gun into Harley’s hand and Amanda cried even harder.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I added and ran out of the room. Before I went I looked over my shoulder at Harley. She was staring at the gun in her hand, shaking all over. But I trusted her. I knew how strong she was. If there was any woman who could protect herself and her daughter against these motherfuckers, it was Harley.

  I ran out to the front of the club and the shooting was still going on.

  “Gun!” I shouted as loud as I could. Girth took his second one out and threw it at me. I caught it and headed to one of the back windows of the bar.

  “The girls?” Abe shouted from across the room.

  “In the store room. Harley has my gun. They’re not getting out of there,” I said and took aim through the window and shot.

  Just as I predicted. A group of at least a dozen guys from the Hell’s Drifters and Dark Legion were gathered around the front and they were shooting right at us.

  Luckily for us, this time, we were the ones outnumbering them. The entire Marked Skulls MC was present here and they weren’t going to achieve anything. The dumb idiots that they were.

  I continued firing and ducked every time I saw someone take aim.

  I searched everywhere for Caesar but he was nowhere in sight. Was he too pussy to show up here? Fight like a real man?

  The only thing he was capable of was to raise a hand on a woman.

  Thinking about that got me even more fired up and I shot again. This time my bullet caught one of them right in the shoulder, close to the heart and he fell to the ground crying out in pain. He was going to bleed to death if one of his ‘friends’ didn’t pull him away right now.

  The shooting continued and I caught another one in the leg. My brothers continued to fire along with me till the other side realized finally they were not going to win this one.

  Eventually they gave up.

  They were pulling back but we kept firing. They started dragging their wounded and loaded them up in the back of a van. The van they had taken me for a ride in.

  We shot at them until the last one had finally disappeared out of view. When they were gone I straightened myself up. I’d fought through the aches and pains in my body. I was still wounded but I’d forgotten about that.

  I looked around, the rest of the MC was in a panic but nobody seemed to be hurt.

  Oz came up to me and thumped my back.

  “You did good, Dash!”

  I nodded, running a hand through my hair. I wasn’t expecting this to happen so quickly, happen like this. The Hell’s Drifters were clearly very pissed off at us now. Maybe even more so because I’d taken one of their women with me.

  I smirked at Oz and nodded.

  “Better go check on the girls,” I said and handed Girth his gun back.

  I needed to put Amanda and Harley somewhere safe where they wouldn’t have to experience something like this again.

  22

  Harley

  Harley

  I shoved Amanda behind me, far away from the window in the room just as Dash had told us to. The other women and I were all huddled together, trying to protect Amanda as best we could. The truth was that we were all scared.

  The men were out there and the shooting was constant, but inside, we were trying to stay strong for Amanda. She was crying, whimpering as she held on to me tightly.

  Why had Dash given me the gun? Why would he even think I was capable of holding it correctly? I had spent the past seven years surrounded by guns, by men who carried guns—but that didn’t make me an expert at it. In fact, I was far from it.

  I shuddered and the gun shook in my hand as I tried hard to hold on to it tightly. All I knew was I was supposed to point it in one direction and pull the trigger. Nothing else. How hard was I supposed to pull, where was I supposed to aim? Dash instructed me not to hesitate. How was I going to do that?

  Behind me, Amanda whimpered some more. I held the gun with
both hands now, pointing it at the door and I looked over my shoulder at my daughter.

  Alexis was the one holding her hand now, while Lila was trying to comfort her by stroking her hair.

  “Baby, it’s going to be all right. We’re all here with you,” I said, trying to put on a smile for her.

  “Why is this happening? Why do you have a gun, mommy?” Amanda cried.

  “It’ll all be over soon, I promise,” I said but the tears didn’t stop rolling down Amanda’s cheeks.

  “Where is Dash? Why did he go out there?” she demanded to know.

  “He’s out there protecting us, baby.”

  “I didn’t want him to go,” she cried some more, blubbering.

  “I know. Baby, please don’t cry. Just try and stay calm,” I tried.

  I wished I could hold her and comfort her now, but my hands were occupied by the gun. I couldn’t touch Amanda because I still had it pointed at the door.

  “It’s okay, hun,” Alexis said and picked her up in her arms.

  “It’ll all be over in no time and then we can finish that candy out there,” she said jovially.

  But none of this working. I couldn’t find a single way to pacify Amanda. I thought we were going to be safe here, away from the Hell’s Drifters and Caesar. But I shouldn’t have expected it to happen so quickly. I should have known that the path to safety was going to be stormy.

  For now, all I could do was hold the gun and try and stop myself from shivering while I kept it pointed at the door.

  I trusted Dash. He was going to be back here very soon.

  We must have been standing there, waiting for the firing to stop, for no more than ten minutes, but it felt like we’d been there forever. Every time a shot was fired and there was a break in the shooting—we hoped it was over but another one was fired soon after.

  I was beginning to fear that some of the men fighting to protect us were hurt. What if Dash was hurt? I could feel tears welling up in my eyes again.

  Another shot was fired close to us. It felt like it was fired right there in the room beside us. All of us screamed in unison and Alexis ducked down with Amanda in her arms.

  We were all crying and shuddering together.

  The shooting died down for a few moments again, giving me a chance to breathe when there was a sudden crash behind us.

  Someone had smashed through the only small window in the room.

  I saw the flash of a man’s elbow and then an arm reaching in.

  “Kaya!” I screamed. She was the only one standing close to the window and now the man had caught her by the hair.

  She screamed. Amanda was screaming and crying in horror while Kaya struggled to slip from his grip.

  We couldn’t see the man’s face, but I knew he was from the Hell’s Drifters. He continued to tug at Kaya’s hair. He was going to try and pull her out.

  “No!” I screamed and ran to the window. Using the butt of my gun I rammed it into his arm.

  “Fuck!” we heard a groan and then he was reaching his hand in again.

  “Fuck you!” I screamed. Before I even knew what I was doing, I’d pointed the gun in his direction and pulled the trigger. It happened so fast for me to know if I’d actually caught him in the arm. He’d disappeared away from the window soon after.

  Kaya ran to the other side of the room, whimpering and crying and the rest of us moved away from the window as well.

  I kept the gun pointed at the window. It was higher than us, so they would have to come close to fire. I had never used a gun before but desperate times called for desperate measures.

  If any of them came close to the window again, I was going to shoot.

  Where was this determination coming from? I felt powerful when I held the gun in my hand. Just moments ago, I was crying as well. I felt weak and broken and now that I’d come face to face with danger like this—I wasn’t going to back away.

  Maybe this was the bravery the women and Dash were talking about.

  I’d just never noticed it in myself before.

  I stood there with the gun in my hand and my eyes fixed on the window. Nobody was getting close to Amanda or the others. Fuck the Hell’s Drifters. They were going down.

  I didn’t notice when the shooting finally stopped. I was so focused on the window and the gun in my hand. It was only when Dash ran into the room, kicking the door open, that I blinked and came back down to Earth again.

  I turned to see him. He was standing there, tall, with his shoulders heaving and his dark eyes intense.

  “What happened here?” he asked.

  “Some guy tried to pull Kaya out through the window,” Lila explained.

  “Mommy shot him. In his hand!” Amanda squealed and Dash looked at me again.

  The weight I was carrying on my shoulders suddenly weighed me down. I hadn’t even realized the kind of responsibility I was shouldering just moments ago. My lips quivered just as Dash lunged at me, pulling me into his arms.

  Our lips met and the other guys stormed into the room to check on their women. Dash had me in his arms and we were kissing deeply. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pinning myself close to him. It was fine now. He was here. The shooting had stopped and we were all going to be safe.

  I pulled away from him gently and saw Amanda standing there. She ran to us.

  “Dash!” she squealed and he lifted her up in his arms.

  “You okay, baby girl?” he asked her, looking her over for marks or bruises. She nodded her head and wrapped her tiny arms around him. It melted my heart to see them like this.

  “What an adventure we’re having!” he exclaimed and put her down again. Amanda reached for my hand and I squeezed tightly, running my fingers affectionately through her hair.

  “I’m sorry for this, Harley. This shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have brought Amanda and you here,” he said.

  I looked down at my daughter. Amanda was brave. For a seven-year-old who had never seen a gun before, she had taken the whole incident very well. However, this was not the kind of violence I wanted to expose her to. This was exactly the kind of life I wanted to take her away from.

  “I can’t let this happen to her again,” I said and Dash nodded.

  “I know. I won’t let it.”

  He reached for me, holding my cheek tightly in his hand as he stroked it.

  “Dash…” I said his name in a whisper and he looked intently into my eyes.

  “I want you to end this tonight. I want us to start our new life in the morning,” I said.

  Dash looked at me blankly for a few moments and then he nodded his head.

  I knew he was going to do his best. He was going to do whatever it took to end this tonight. I looked down at Amanda again and smiled at her.

  “I promised it was going to be all right, didn’t I?”

  She hugged my legs and I met Dash’s eyes again. He winked at me and smiled, but I just didn’t have the heart to smile back at him. Not yet. Not when I was feeling so afraid again.

  23

  Dash

  Dash

  First things first, we needed to get all the women to safety. With Kaya pregnant and Amanda only seven years old; we had a lot to lose and none of us were willing to take chances with their lives.

  Girth, Oz, Rodeo and I rode to the safe house together. I’d never seen it before but Oz assured me they were going to be safe there. Nobody else outside the Marked Skulls knew the location. A few others of our brothers were assigned to guard the house at all times.

  It was out by the Everglades and deserted and we parked our bikes outside and took all of them in.

  Amanda and Harley were stuck together like glue. It was understandable why Harley didn’t want to let her daughter out of sight.

  Alexis and Lila had filled me in on the way about how Harley had taken charge when the man tried to abduct Kaya through the window. They said she’d acted bravely with little regard to her own life. They were confident that with Harley in their mid
st, nothing was going to happen to them.

  I watched Harley and Amanda together now. I wished I had some way of communicating to her how brave she was when she needed to be. She had no idea how courageous she was. Just like she didn’t know how beautiful she was either.

  I watched her talking to the other women, keeping her head down and voice down too because she was back to being scared now. But with the gun in her hand earlier, she was a whole different person. I needed her to be strong. Just today and tonight and I was going to do everything I could to keep her safe.

  “Hey,” I said, walking up behind her while she was speaking to Amanda. She looked up at me with her wide green eyes. Her face was reddish with worry now and she was constantly wringing her hands together.

  “We’re going to take care of this,” I said. Harley nodded but she looked away from me. I was worried that she had stopped trusting me. Stopped believing that I could take care of this.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked and Harley shook her head.

  “I’m all right, really. I just want to settle Amanda in,” she said and took her daughter’s hand. Lila was showing the others their rooms and Harley joined the group.

  I watched her walk away. She was trying to be polite with everyone, smile forcibly as often as she could but I could sense that something was wrong. Something wasn’t quite right anymore and I didn’t know what else I could do to fix it with her.

  I was determined to keep them safe, but I needed Harley to believe in me as well. But she was a mother, and nothing was more important to her than her daughter’s safety. I understood that.

  I found Oz smoking outside in the balcony and I joined him. We hadn’t had a chance to really catch up since my return. He was my mentor and I respected him, but we were friends too.

  “Kaya told me how brave Harley was in there. I think she feels like she owes both of you her life now,” Oz said with a smile, thumping my back.