Butch

Whizz rounded the corner, looking confused. “Follow me.”

Butch left the rest of the room. He was hurting. Getting the ink removed was going to be the last part of his connection to these guys. The Skulls had been in his blood for such a long time. They were his family, or the closest he had to a family.

The room he entered was dark with six computers, three laptops, and multiple tablet devices around the room.

“Fuck me, Whizz, you’re a geek,” Butch took a seat as Whizz started clicking away at all the keyboards.

“Someone needs to keep an eye on our assets. Tiny makes sure I work the markets as well. It gives me shit to do.” Whizz didn’t take his eyes off the screen as he typed.

“How have you been?” Butch asked. A year ago Whizz had been taken by a maniac who’d tortured and raped him. Whizz had never been the same again since it happened. There was a time when Whizz was the carefree, gentle one of the group. Faced with an enemy he was vicious, but to everyone close, he was gentle.

“You don’t get the right to ask me that,” Whizz said.

“Hey, man, we’re still friends.” He made to touch Whizz, but the other man jerked away.

“No, we’re not friends. Friends stay part of the club. They don’t abandon their family for a woman.” Whizz finally turned to look at him.

“I love Cheryl.”

Whizz laughed. “You don’t think Lash thinks the same or Zero? What about Nash with his woman or Tiny? They’ve all lost something at some time. You think you’ll be any different?”

“She’s got a kid.” His argument was lame.

“And so have the others. Fuck, her kid is a Skull. For all of your arguing, you don’t know shit.”

Butch didn’t want to argue. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“Don’t be. You’ve made your case perfectly plain. You’re a cowardly f**k, and this club doesn’t have space for you. We’ve got shit moving, and we need men, not people like you.”

The blow was meant to hurt, and it did the job. Within moments, Butch felt like the worst kind of friend in the world, which he was. He couldn’t escape what he’d done. Join back up, stop being an ass and do it. Instead of listening to his thoughts, he gritted his teeth and kept his mouth shut. There wasn’t a place for him in the club, not with his behavior at the moment. Part of him wanted to get stuck in and come back to the club. He knew deep in his heart he could do so much more with his life with The Skulls. Then another part was afraid. No woman made him feel like Cheryl. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin any chance of being with her. He loved her, and he didn’t need the sex to prove his feelings.

They were good together. Choosing between the two was the hardest decision he’d ever had to make.

She didn’t force you to make a choice.

No, none of the choices he made were because of Cheryl. She didn’t force him to do anything other than be himself.

Chapter Eight

Frederick took a bite out of the strawberry, loving the lush taste of the fruit. His man Ronald was waiting for further instructions. Butch had hurt him but not injured him. He was pissed off, horny, and in need of getting back. Before approaching Butch he’d ordered his men not to shoot no matter what happened. They’d drawn their weapons, threatening, but didn’t kill Butch.

“We’ve got friends all over the world who’ll help us out.”

“Yeah, boss. Do you want us to put a call through and get Gash put back inside? He’s due out in a number of days.”

He shook his head. “Nah, Gash has been in prison so long he doesn’t care if he comes out or not. If he’s out, he’ll go after the bitch who put him inside.” Picking up another berry, Frederick stared over at Ashley. She was tied to a chair waiting punishment. There was blood pooling from her wrists. Turning his head to the side, he nodded toward Homer to tighten the restraints.

She cried out. Tears filled her eyes, but not once did she shout for mercy. It was going to be hard for her to do that with her mouth shut. Watching the woman get tortured was turning him on. His men were happy to hurt women, providing he paid them enough.

“What are you thinking, boss?” Ronald asked, pulling him away from the satisfaction of Ashley’s pain.

“I think it’s time to make life hard for The Skulls. They’ve been living the good life. The cops stay off their backs, and they’re free to do whatever the f**k they like.”

Ronald smiled. “You want me to call in a few favors?”

“Yeah, let’s see how their loyalty fares when they’ve got so much more to lose.” Sipping down his brandy, Frederick found great pleasure as Homer pulled Ashley’s hair, tearing it out of her scalp. “Then we’re going to start hurting Devil and his crew. It’s time they learned not to f**k with the boss.”

****

Cheryl finished the display of roses as Eva walked in. She knew who the other woman was the moment she entered the shop. It was hard to miss the voluptuous beauty. Eva always had a smile on her face, or at least when Cheryl saw her, she did.

“Hey, honey, I thought I’d stop by and introduce myself,” Eva said.

The shop was completely bare of other customers. Matthew was spending the day with her mother while she worked. “Erm, hi.”

Eva chuckled. “There’s no need to be scared. We know all about what Butch is doing, and I’m here to show my support.”

“Butch left the club,” Cheryl said.

“Yeah, well, we all make mistakes. I’ve got Tate, Sophia, Prue, and Sandy waiting for us at the spa. I was thinking we could go and have some fun. You know, girl talk and shit.”

Licking her lips, Cheryl didn’t know what to say. She’d never been the kind of person to make friends easily. Her mother once told her she didn’t need others to fit in.

Pushing the thoughts away, she tucked some hair behind her ear.

“I can’t. I’ve got to work.” She gestured around at the empty shop.

“I can get that covered. I know the owner, and I’ve already had a word. We can be gone in ten minutes.” Eva pulled out the keys to the shop. “I wouldn’t pull you away. You’re also getting paid for being away. Come on, I think it’ll be fun. Just us girls, no men, pampering each other with nothing to worry about.”

Eva waved the keys in front of her like a lifeline. A day of simply being a woman was too hard to resist.

“Can I go and talk to Butch? I mean, yeah, I’d love to go with you, but I’d like to see Butch first.”