“Do you think it’s going to be that bad?” she asked.
“I’m preparing for the worst. If I get something
better, then I’ll be happy.” He took her hand.
For the next twenty minutes the crew helped to pack up
the car. Every now and then Lexie watched the way Pussy was with Sasha. The
couple was totally in love, and not once did he show signs of being impatient
with her.
Sasha was one lucky woman.
Once inside the car, Lexie climbed into the passenger
seat as Devil took the driver’s side. He drove to the hospital with several of
his men following behind them. Outside of the hospital, Death sat in the car
while she followed Devil inside to see Judi and Ripper.
The machines were still beeping every few seconds.
Ripper had removed his jacket and was no longer sitting beside her but lying on
the bed, touching her head.
Tears were falling from his eyes as he talked with
her.
“Devil?
Lexie?”
“We’re going to Fort Wills to end this. When it’s
done, the whole crew will be here giving you support,” Devil said.
Ripper nodded. “Good. Take that fucker out.” He left
her side to round the bed.
Lexie couldn’t get over the change inside the other
man. When she first found out about Ripper and Judi, she’d been unsure. Judi
had an awful past, one Lexie had hoped wouldn’t define her future. Not only had
Judi moved on but she found a man completely devoted to her regardless of what
she went through.
“Is there any update?” Devil asked.
Ripper wiped his face. “The doctor came by to say she
was doing well. She wasn’t declining, and that in
itself
showed a good sign or something. Far as I’m concerned, she’s still not awake so
it’s not any better.”
Devil reached out. “She’s going to make it.”
“I know. When she comes out of her coma, I’ll tell her
everything is going to be okay, and I’ll know it’s true.” She watched as Ripper
offered Devil his hand. “Good luck.”
Devil stared at that hand seconds before pulling
Ripper in for a hug. “Take care of our girl.” He slapped Ripper on the back
then pulled away.
Lexie gave him a hug along with a smile. “We’ll be
seeing you soon.”
She followed Devil out of the room. He took her hand,
and together they walked to the car, to the future, to the uncertainty.
Chapter Nineteen
The Beginning
Devil watched as Lexie waved at him. Butch had taken
most of the women to the warehouse like they all agreed, and now he was
watching his woman disappear.
“It’s safer that she’s out of the way,” Tiny said,
coming to stand beside him. “Eva’s been seen.”
“Gonzalez is in town?”
“Yeah, he stopped by an hour ago. You missed him with
just arriving. Don’t worry, I got you covered. I told him that one of the
little ones got sick and you didn’t have a choice but to stop at a hotel for
the night. He expects to see you a little later than normal.”
Nodding, Devil turned away from the sight of his woman
leaving him. Seeing Lexie leave always filled him with regret. Entering The
Skulls’ clubhouse, he moved toward the back where there were weapons strewn all
over the place. The men were suited up and ready to go. Pussy was packing, and
he’d given Sasha some guns so that he could use them when the time came to
protect her.
“I can’t believe it all boils down to today.”
“Mason Terry is in town. You
know,
the guy from Paradise Rocks?”
“Yeah,” Devil said.
“Gonzalez’s men on the police force, he’s rounded them
up, and they’re in a secured location for us to deal with when the time is
right.”
Devil hadn’t met Mason before, but he knew the man ran
a tight ship. He lived, worked, and breathed all things Paradise, but he was
also a Skull, part of the Nomad team that travelled from place to place. Mason,
however, wasn’t so much a nomad as a Skull in his own town. It was strange, but
it worked for him.
“So Mason has the men we were initially worried about.
Who’s next?”
For the next hour Tiny spoke of the men that were in
town. Several of the men were pimps or fighters sent to provide entertainment
for the coming night.
“Gonzalez thought it would be fun to have a contest to
see who won against pimps and illegal fighters. He’s been poaching from Ned,”
Tiny said, getting him up to speed.
“This is what it comes down to.”
Tiny sighed.
“Yeah.
In a few
hours we’ll all know if we live or if we die.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Devil walked out of the office toward his men. Sasha
was standing by Pussy’s side, dressed and ready for the town hall.
“Right, I think this is how it’s going to be. Cheryl’s
going to take Sasha, and they’re going with Butch to the town hall. We’re going
to follow, little by little, so as not to raise suspicion. I’m going to turn up
last in the van. I don’t want him to cotton on at the last minute what we’re
about to do. In between then, The Skulls are going to arrive. We’re going to
take our places, and then we’re going to make sure this goes down, cleanly and
without any other fights. I want you to be ready to hit the deck.”
He looked at Sasha. She held Pussy’s hand hard as he
spoke. When he’d first seen and heard about Pussy liking this girl, he’d had
his doubts. She couldn’t take care of herself or even be what Pussy needed her
to be. At least, to Devil she came up lacking. Seeing the determination on her
face, gave Devil doubts about his first thoughts about her.
“You, Sasha, when it starts to get loud, you hit the
deck. Do you hear me?” Devil knew Pussy wouldn’t be the same if they lost her.
“Don’t worry, Pussy’s been training me to duck and cover.
It’s quite funny, actually. He started doing it at night,” Sasha said.
Pussy gave him a thumbs-up. “You don’t need to worry
about my girl, Devil. I’ve trained her to be ready for the worst amongst other
things.”
Sasha hit him on the shoulder.
Chuckling, Devil stepped away to see Hardy at the bar.
The other man was looking at the booze as if it was a lifeline.
“I wouldn’t drink today until after all this shit has
hit the fan,” Devil said.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hit the drink at all.”
Hardy tapped his fingers along the counter.
“Why do you look cut up?” Devil asked. His curiosity
was always going to get him in trouble. He had to know the littlest detail
about everyone he came across. It was a flaw he hadn’t repaired.
“Besides the fact we’re walking in to a potential
death trap, my woman’s going to leave me.” Hardy turned away from the booze.
“Rose won’t leave you.”
“Yeah, she will. It’s been ten years in the making. Neither
she nor I realized it.” Hardy shrugged.
“Can’t say that I
blame her.
I fucked another woman who wasn’t her, got her pregnant, and
then we lost the kid that we were supposed to get out of it.”
Shit, Devil’s curiosity really did need to stop.
“Do you love her?” Devil asked.
“More than
anything.
I was a young, foolish fucker who didn’t know what he
had.”
“Then instead of treating her with kid gloves, show
her that she’s the only woman you want. Don’t give her a chance to get away.
Fuck her, love her, and show her who she belongs to.” Devil tapped him on the
shoulder. “Life is far too fucking hard to give it all up because fighting
seems even harder. I love Lexie with all that I am. I wouldn’t give her up over
something I did ten years ago.” He wouldn’t admit that there was no chance of
him ever cheating on Lexie either. Only an idiot cheated on his woman.
“Thanks, Devil. I actually think that was a good
talk.” Hardy tapped him on the shoulder.
Yeah, that was him. He was the guy filled with all the
wisdom today.
The rest of the morning passed by with tension as all
the men waited for the coming fight. Devil didn’t know how it was going to go,
but it was starting to look up in his favor. Every now and then he saw Butch
looked a little freaked out as he checked his phone. He didn’t like the change
inside Butch, and if he could know what was going on inside his head, he’d feel
a hell of a lot better.
“Butch, it’s time,” Tiny said.
Devil stepped away from the bar as he watched the
first couple move out of the clubhouse. Cheryl looked petrified, and he watched
as Pussy helped Sasha into the waiting car.
This is it.
After everything they’d been through they were now
going to get their chance to take out their revenge.
Anticipation filled him.
He checked to make sure that he had his weapon at the
back of his jeans. Devil made his way out to the car and climbed behind the
wheel.
Watching men with their brides leave the compound
filled him with anticipation. Gonzalez wouldn’t know until the last minute what
was going on. Only a couple of women, Angel, Sandy, and Mia, were present, and by
the time Gonzalez saw most of the women were absent, it would be too late. Within
thirty minutes he was on the road and heading toward the town hall. They passed
several of the locals at work. Some of them stopped to see them driving and
riding past. He glanced in the back of the car to see his kids’ car seats. This
was why he fought as hard as he did. He couldn’t fail them, nor could he fail
Lexie. She needed him.
Thinking about Ronald with the gun pressed to her
temple, filled him with anger. Getting into the zone, he parked the car ready
to enter the town hall. Tiny was outside waiting for him.
Climbing out of the car, Devil walked toward Tiny.
“I want to apologize,” Tiny said.
“I don’t give a shit what you want to do. I told you,
after today, we’re done.” Devil entered the town hall and saw several locals
were inside, surprising Devil with the attendance.
Sasha and Cheryl stood at the front near the stage,
looking a little out of place with their dresses. In the front of the seating
arrangements, Devil spotted Gonzalez. In his mind he saw Lexie with a gun
pointed to her head once again followed by Ashley, the club whore. She’d never
had an easy life, and this bastard had taken it away from her. There were so
many people Gonzalez had ruined to get to this moment. So many men, women, and
children, who deserved their chance for
revenge
. They
were going to do this, take this fucker out and ride the world of several bad
guys along the way. Above all, they were going to finally put Ashley to rest. Pussy
would never have loved her, but Devil knew one man would have. She was the kind
of woman everyone loved.
Going to his gun, Devil grabbed the weapon. This was
his chance to end all the pain. Judi was in a coma because of this man.
All of those girls who were now a little broken, it was because of
this man.
Taking out his gun, Devil didn’t care about the
civilians who were present. Aiming the gun, Devil was ready. He’d lost his
chance the other day, but he could win this time.
Before he got a chance to fire, gunfire exploded from
behind him. He had no choice but to duck as he saw men enter the town hall,
firing their guns. A bullet missed him by mere inches. He didn’t recognize any
of the men. They were untrained, erratic, and simply firing away.
“Danny, no,” Butch said, yelling as the guns started
to explode. Turning around, Devil saw several men with the jackets of the
Savage Brothers entering the clubhouse. Behind them all, he noticed a blue-haired
woman enter the town hall with her head lowered. She didn’t hold a weapon, but
there was no mistaking the intent of her face.
****
Their carefully ordered plan was going up in smoke. Whizz
watched as Ronald went for his knife. Striking out, Whizz pounced on the other
man. He fought, getting slashed in the process as Ronald lashed out. There was
nothing for him to do. Wrapping his hands around Ronald’s neck, Whizz squeezed
the very air out of him. Unlike Killer and Lash, he didn’t have the skill to
snap a man’s neck. Chaos ensued, and the mess went on around him as the Savage
Brothers made a mess, killing civilians in the process. He should have known it
was impossible to wipe out an entire club. Whizz felt the mistake as he watched
the survivors kill before his eyes. There were over fifteen people in the room,
all with weapons. Gonzalez was down, grasping at his neck from being shot. He
was kicking out begging for help. No one went to him. The pleasure Whizz got
was seeing the pain in the man’s face. For once it was a monster who was feeling
what pain meant.
Holding tighter to the man’s neck beneath his grip,
Whizz watched as the life choked out of the man. Slowly, even though the man
fought, Ronald died in his arms. There were no emotions inside Whizz as he
watched the man in his arms fight a useless battle. He had the control in this
situation, not this man. He jerked in Whizz’s hands, and his eyes bulged out.