“You couldn’t warn me?”
“No, I didn’t have any other choice but to do this. I’ve been with the Savage Brothers all my life. This is what they wanted, and my loyalty was with them, not with you. I’m truly sorry. I never wanted it to be like this.”
He loaded his gun ready to shoot her. There was no way he could let her live, and yet, the very thought of never seeing her again cut him to the core. For once, he didn’t know if he could kill an enemy of The Skulls.
She looked sad. “You can kill me if you want.”
“Fucking bitch,” Gonzalez said, growling.
They both turned to look at the other f**ker. He was on death’s door, and he was still trying to fight. The bastard was interrupting Whizz’s moment, and he needed to die
“Give me a second and we can finish talking,” she said. Lacey got to her feet and straddled Gonzalez’s waist. “This is for the Savage Brothers.” She held the tip of the blade to Gonzalez’s neck. Glancing around the room, Whizz saw the rest of his brothers were too busy fighting the Savage Brothers or some of Gonzalez’s men to get to Gonzalez himself. From the quick glance, he saw the majority of The Skulls were still standing.
Whizz watched in disgust and awe as she slid the blade in once, twice, three times and kept on going. She wasn’t with him in that moment. She was killing the man from the past. Gonzalez wasn’t responsible for the Savage Brothers’ demise years ago, but his son was a good second. He dropped the gun to his side admiring Lacey’s kill. She was brutal in her work. There was no holding back as she plunged the knife inside Gonzalez, over and over again.
There was no way he could kill her. He wanted to kill her. Whizz wanted to hurt her, but this wasn’t the way.
“Lacey, stop, we’ve got to go.” A large man Whizz had never seen before grabbed a blood covered Lacey.
“Get off me, Dalton.”
“No, we’re going now. I don’t give a f**k what you’ve got to say. This is f**king over. We’ve got to round shit up and get the f**k out of here.”
He watched her being carried out of the town hall. Fuck, what was he going to do? The one woman he really wanted had just turned into the enemy of The Skulls.
Fuck!
When was his life ever going to make f**king sense?
****
“Butch, wake up, baby, please, you’ve got to wake up. You can’t die,” Cheryl said, screaming his name. There was blood everywhere, and none of The Skulls agreed to help him. Everything had gone wrong, and she didn’t know how to make it all right. “Please, somebody, help me.”
Tiny, Devil, Alex stared down at the body refusing to help. Why wouldn’t they help? Butch had done everything they asked.
He didn’t tell them about the Savage Brothers MC.
“He’s dead. Leave him be,” Tiny said, spitting on the ground. He was covered in blood, his arm holding a giant gash revealing too much of his flesh. Gonzalez and the Savage Brothers had taken them all by surprise, and now both crews were having to pay the price.
“No, he’s not dead. I can feel a pulse. Please, you’ve got to help him.” Cheryl tried to cover the bullet wound to keep his blood from leaving his body.
No one was helping. Sandy was passing out across the room. The guys had brought her along in case they needed fixing up. What remained of the Fort Wills town hall left a lot to be desired. Civilians were running around trying to get away from the attack that had hit the town within days of Tiny going to war with Devil. Well, they didn’t go to war, but they’re no longer friends. Butch had told her that it could end in war if Devil and Tiny really wanted to fight over territory. She’d always doubted they’d go to war seeing as Devil didn’t want Fort Wills. For the first time in years Devil and Tiny didn’t get along. They’d all been mistaken. Gonzalez never intended to choose between the two men. He was going to take on Fort Wills and Piston County, killing all of them without leaving anyone behind. Cheryl saw the glares they were shooting at her man. It was all a big mistake. They were all staring at Butch as if he was a rat, vermin, something they couldn’t bring themselves to touch. Didn’t they know he was helping them all?
“He’s not getting my f**king help,” Zero said, standing up. “He’s f**king dead to me. I saw him talk to one of those bastards. He was with the Savage Brothers. No brother helps another club behind our backs.”
“This is what Gonzalez wanted, to tear us all apart,” she said. Butch told her everything about what he’d done and why. Gonzalez had to be put down. There was no way to stop what he had to do. He was betraying his brothers, and yet he was protecting them at the same time. The Savage Brothers was in his blood. He was helping all three clubs without even picking one. The Skulls were his home, and the Savage Brothers had left him for dead.
Butch did what Alex told him to. He’d told her everything, not leaving anything out. The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds were refusing to see the truth, and now the love of her life was dying in her arms. Glancing around the room, members of both crews were dying all around them.
She tried to think fast.
Staring at one man to the other, she tried to figure out the fastest way to help her man.
All of them, apart from Alex, were married. Those women were in a safe house, or at least they thought it was safe. Butch had arranged for the women and children to be at the warehouse in the hope of luring Gonzalez away from them. The Savage Brothers knew where they were, and perhaps Gonzalez did as well. Deep in her heart, she knew Butch would never allow harm to come to the women, but she hoped they doubted him enough to believe that he would.
“If you let Butch die, every single person you hold dear will die,” she said, letting her words sink in.
“They’re safe.”
“Are they? Have you heard from Lexie? Eva? Tate? They’re all where Butch put them, and I know I can end their lives if his heart stops beating.” She gritted her teeth as the blood seeped through her fingers and the lies poured from her mouth. She hoped none of them tried to call their women as they’d see through her lies immediately.
Cheryl was willing to do everything to save her man, even put the lives of the clubs’ women at stake.
She would say anything to get Butch the help he needs.
“Please, he didn’t do this. He told me it was all going to be okay.” She held onto Butch’s hand, while covering up his neck.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Gonzalez was indeed dead. The Savage Brothers had come in, killed Gonzalez and several civilians. She even heard some gunfire as they left the town hall. This wasn’t supposed to happen.