Murphy

The next time he saw Tate she was going over his knee. He didn’t care if she didn’t talk to him for a week. There was no way he was going to accept his woman running out on him.

Pulling on his jeans and shirt, Murphy grabbed his jacket and headed out of the hotel room. He found Tiny and the rest of the guys at the bar eating breakfast. Alex was with them as well.

Lash and Angel were sat together giggling.

“Will you two shut the f**k up?” Nash asked, groaning. Murphy saw one side of Nash’s face was a nice shade of purple.

“Have you heard the good news?” Lash asked, ignoring his brother.

Taking a seat Murphy waited to be updated.

“We got married last night,” Angel said, showing the men her ring. They all gave her encouraging comments and smiled, admiring the ring. Nash even smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, I know Tate’s gone,” Tiny said, drawing Murphy back to him.

“They left early this morning,” Alex said.

“Did they say anything to you?” Murphy grabbed himself a plate of food and started eating. Tate’s scent still surrounded him. He’d not gotten in the shower or washed their time away.

“Not worth repeating.” Alex was clicking away on the computer, clearly bored with talking.

“What happened with Eva last night?” he asked.

“A fat lot of nothing.” Tiny slammed his cup down. “We’re leaving after breakfast. They have a lead on us, and I’m pissed off. Don’t talk to me. Pack their shit up and meet me down in the lobby in thirty minutes.”

Tiny stormed away.

“He f**ked Eva last night and f**ked things up,” Nash said. “I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t leave his ass.”

“She’s been threatening to leave him for some time, Nash. It’s not going to happen,” Lash said.

“Tate’s no longer living with him. There’s no reason for Eva to stay. Why would she stay around for someone who didn’t want her?”

Murphy finished his breakfast refusing to be drawn into another debate about the Tiny and Eva drama. He remembered it coming from Tate when she was younger. She’d always wanted the two to get together. Over the years, the club had just grown bored with the same old shit. He figured Tiny would be inside a sweet-butt within a matter of minutes from the moment they got home.

“I’m going to clear their shit away,” Murphy said, leaving them to their argument.

“I’ll come as well.” Killer followed him upstairs to the main hotel room where the women should be staying. Going through to the bedroom, Murphy noted Killer’s glance at the rumpled bed.

“Keep your f**king opinions to yourself,” Murphy said.

“I’m not saying anything. I spent the whole night watching  p**n  while Cherry stared at me. We didn’t speak one word.” Killer moved to the wardrobe and started pulling clothes out.

“You don’t live up to your name, do you?” Murphy asked.

“I kill people with my bare hands. I live up to my name. I’ve had no reason to kill recently. The Skulls have never killed for sport whereas The Lions loved it.” Killer’s voice held no emotion. The other man was hard and dead to the world.

Murphy knew the tales and hated the fact anyone had to go through what The Lions had put Killer through. He was a good guy inside, but the deceased leader of the other club had killed everything else.

“The first time they told me to kill someone I did it without hesitation. There was this guy in the middle of the warehouse. He’d been badly beaten and had done some wrong to the club. My loyalty was to my club, to my brothers. The man was a threat, and I ended him.” Killer’s gaze appeared off into the distance, to a past time that was not right now. Murphy waited, knowing patience was best. “Do you know what the guy had done?”

Shaking his head, Murphy folded his arms waiting to be given the crap news.

“The guy had denied the club access to his wife. The wife was a small, beautiful woman and had caught the club’s eye.” Killer shook his head. “I killed a man because my leader wanted to f**k someone else’s wife.”

Going to him, Murphy put a hand on his shoulder. “We all do shit for our clubs that feels right.”

“You betrayed your club to infiltrate mine. I’m thankful you did. The Lions were a f**king curse, but still, betraying your brothers had to be hard.”

He looked away. “My brothers knew what I was doing. I didn’t betray the club. They acted like I did. The real betrayal is with Tate. I f**ked up. I promised her shit, and I didn’t deliver. She doesn’t give a shit about what happened at the club. Tate cares about what I did to her.”

“Tiny’s daughter?” Killer asked.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Murphy let out a sigh. He pulled out his packet of cigarettes and lit one. “My first job as a prospect was babysitting duty. Fucking hated it. I was better than that. I was too good for baby-sitting my leader’s daughter.” Murphy took a long drag of his cigarette.

“Was she a bitch?”

“No, not at all. Tate was nothing like she is now. She was sweet, charming, and the most amazing person I’d ever known.” Licking his lips, Murphy offered Killer a cigarette. “It didn’t take long until the best part of my life was being with her. I pretended to the guys how much I hated it, but I loved it. She was sunshine in our dark world. Tate didn’t judge, and she never accused me of anything. It was nice to sit with her, listen to her talk and talk about everything.”

“You fell in love with her?” Killer asked, taking a seat and lighting up his cigarette.

“I fell in love with her. On prom night, I was her date. I kissed her, and I had every intention of telling her my feelings. I told her how I felt even though I’d decided in the same night, not to. She was in my arms, and I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else but with her. We were going to f**k or at least, she wanted to. She was ready. I was an idiot and not ready for that. I wanted to talk with her father and take my time. Not every girl should lose their virginity prom night.” Murphy shook his head at the stupidity of his actions. “I promised her commitment. I promised her that she’d always come first, and then the job of infiltrating The Lions came up. I’d earned my patch by then and was ready to help the club. They needed someone who could go inside, gather information without any problems. There was a plan, and I volunteered for the job.”