Tiny (17 page)

“Shit, with Snitch back it
affects all of us. I’ll gather some guys together and come help you out.”

“Not right away. Wait for my
phone call. This needs to be handled properly.” Tiny spat on the ground and saw
one of his teeth mixed in. Fuck, he was getting too fucking old for this shit.

“What do you think Snitch
will do?” Devil asked.

“He wants Fort Wills. I’m
sure now he was the one responsible for trying to put Nash and Sophia in the
ground. It’s now our job to make sure he goes to fucking ground.”

“Whatever you need, it’s
yours.”

“Good. Stand by for my
call.”

“With pleasure,” Devil said,
hanging up. He needed to get to Vegas, and only then could he find out who of
his men were alive, if any at all.

****

One day later

Killer held onto his side as
he kept to the shadows. His side hurt like hell, and his cell remained eerily
silent. Fort Wills didn’t look too terrifying as he walked past closed shops
and empty streets. It was night time, and no one was wandering around. Whatever
was going on hadn’t reached the town yet.

Since the attack where he’d
taken three men on he’d been hitching rides off passing people. Some people
stopped just to be nosey. He paid them money for the ride back to Fort Wills.
No one would enter the dangerous biker town, and he had to walk the rest of the
way otherwise he’d have gotten home far sooner.

Leaning against a dumpster
he took several breaths to gain composure. He’d not slept in over twenty-four
hours, and he was feeling it.

Rounding a corner he went
straight for the intercom on Kelsey’s building.

“Hello?” Her sweet voice
came over the line.

“
Kels
,
I need you to buzz me in.”

He heard her sigh, but the
sound of the buzzer filled him with relief. She was waiting by her door as he
walked down to her. Killer still held onto his side. As he walked into the
light he saw the change within her. He knew he didn’t look all that appealing.

“Killer?
What happened?” Kelsey asked, going to him.

Stumbling into her
apartment, he shut and locked the door. Pulling the gun from his pants, he
placed it on the counter near the door.

“You should see the other
guy,” he said, joking.

When he was satisfied no one
had followed him, he started to remove his jacket. His side was patched up the
best he could, but he wasn’t doing good.

“You’re bleeding. Crap, what
is going on?” Kelsey asked, helping him into a seat. He found her caring
endearing.

Pulling his shirt over his head,
he sat down as she bustled around the kitchen. “I came to you. I thought you
would be more qualified to stitch me up.”
Partly the truth.
After what he’d just been through he didn’t want any other woman’s hands on him
other than Kelsey’s.

“I’m a dental nurse,
Killer.”

“Don’t care. You’ll do a
better job than I ever will. I’ll probably give myself an infection and die.”

She walked over carrying her
first aid lit. Kelsey grabbed his face. “Don’t ever say anything like that.”
Releasing him she set about working on his side. “What caused this?”

“Dodged a
bullet only the fucker grazed me.”

“Do I need to call Tate and
the others?” she asked.

He reached for her, holding
her hand. “No, you don’t call anyone. I need you to keep my presence a secret
until I know more.”

“You’re scaring me. What the
hell is going on?”

Letting out a sigh, Killer
stared at her exposed shoulder. She was in her nightwear. He loved the look of
her pale flesh. Reaching out he pressed a hand to her shoulder seeing the muck
and grime all over him. Before he could touch her, he pulled his hand away.

“We were attacked. It was a
run, a standard drop off. We’ve done them loads of times, but this was
different. The route was planned, and all of us had the product strapped to the
bikes.” He winced as she started to clean his wound. “Fuck, it stings.”

“I’m sorry. I’m being as
careful as I can.”

“I don’t know who they
fucking were. I’ve never seen them before in my life. They were another fucking
crew.”

“Where are the others?”
Kelsey asked, putting the soiled bandages into a pot of water.

“We spread out. We’ve got a
deal that if we’re ambushed or outnumbered we move … scatter.”

“Do you know who survived?
You’ve got a bullet wound. There have to have been casualties, Killer.” She
applied some antiseptic to the area. He held onto the edge of the counter to
stop himself from screaming at the excruciating pain.

“I don’t know. I saw
Tiny
come off his bike. He’s going to be fucking messed up
even though he was wearing the proper shit. I saw him head off to the tree
line. I saw Lash and Nash go down. I couldn’t stop it. The brothers went down
together. I didn’t see anyone else. They could all be out on that road and
dead. I got away and was able to escape.” He still couldn’t believe how lucky
he was. After he’d injured or dazed the men attacking him, he’d run like hell.

“Angel and Sophia are
expecting.”

“I know. I was there,
Kels
. I couldn’t do anything. We were surrounded. Blaine is
gone as well, and he’s got the start of a family and he’s been dealing with his
shit.” He cursed and slammed his fist against the counter. Killer wanted to
hurt everyone who’d taken his club away from him.

“What about Murphy? Tate’s
my best friend.”

Killer swallowed. “Last I
saw his bike exploded. I don’t know if he was on it or not.”

Kelsey pressed a hand to her
lips.

“Zero was hit as well. I
don’t know,
Kels
. Fuck, I didn’t see anyone who made
it out.”

“What do we do?” she asked.

“I’ve got to wait for a
signal of what we do next. If
Tiny’s
alive, he’ll be
in touch.”

She sobbed. “Tate could have
lost the father of her child and her own father.” Tugging her in close, Killer
wrapped his arms around her shoulders, trying his best to console her.

“I’ll do what I need to do
to keep you safe.” Kissing her head, he promised himself every single bastard
who hurt his club would die.

Chapter Nine

The following day Killer was
staring out of the apartment window when he saw Kelsey running toward the
building. Grabbing his gun from beside him, he tucked it away and met her downstairs.
She was out of breath, and tears were falling from her eyes.

“What is it?” he asked,
holding her close.

“The compound … it’s on
fire. The fire and rescue service are trying to put it out, but it’s useless.”

This was it. Only a Skull
could organize the burning of The Skull compound. He was escorting her back
into the building when Tate pulled up with Sophia and Angel. All three women
looked frantic.

Tate ran up to him, shoving
him hard.

“What the fuck is going on?
I can’t get hold of Murphy anywhere, and you were supposed to be on the run
with him.” He stared at all four women. Shit, he really had to get them all to
calm down.

“Come inside. I’ll explain
everything.”

Kelsey started to make
drinks as Killer told the expectant women everything he knew. Angel broke down.

“No, I can’t do this without
Lash. He’s supposed to be here.”

Tate was frozen to the spot.
Kelsey’s hands were shaking as she brought over the drinks.

“His bike blew up?” Tate
asked.

“Yes. He could still be
alive, Tate. You need to keep your shit together right now. Tiny had a plan for
everything—”

“He didn’t have a fucking
plan for being attacked by fucking bikers. My father and husband are missing,
Killer. They’re
missing.
”

“You can yell at me all you
want to, Tate, but I can’t change anything that has happened.”

Killer took a sip of his
drink.

“Someone was ordered to burn
the compound to the ground?” Angel asked.

“Yes. We’ve got rules in
place. All of us have a job to do.”

Tate’s phone went. Killer
paused as she answered. He heard her give directions to Kelsey’s house.

“It’s Sandy. She’s on her
way.”

Tears tracked down Tate’s
cheeks. He hoped to God that Murphy survived.

“He’s got to be alive. I
know my man, and he wouldn’t put himself in danger,” Angel said.

“He’s got Nash,” Sophia
said. “They’re brothers. They’ll get through it together.”

He listened to the woman
console themselves as the intercom buzzed. Kelsey let Sandy up to her
apartment. Moments of silence passed as they all waited for the other woman to
get to them.

Her knock sounded, and Kelsey
let her inside. Killer was surprised to see how dirty she was, and she held a
black bag.

“What happened to you?”
Kels
asked.

Sandy closed the door, much
like he had the night before. “I, erm, I’ve been given orders to come here and
give you this.”

Killer stared at the bag.
“What happened?”

“Stink called me and gave me
instructions that have come from Alex. I was asked to empty out the safes and
torch the place after getting everyone out of the compound.” Sandy was shaking
as she handed over the bag. “He told me to take a couple of grand and go and to
give the rest to you.”

Tate took the bag and looked
inside. “What is all this?”

“It’s a failsafe for us.
Stink is alive. He doesn’t know who else is. Alex got in contact with him and
then told him to destroy his phone.”

Killer looked down at his
phone and destroyed it quickly. Fuck, it was one of the first things he was
supposed to do. No one glanced his way as Sandy held their attention.

“Where are you going?” Kelsey
asked.

“I’m heading out. Stink told
me to get out of Fort Wills. I’m taking his advice and getting out. I’ve been
given a number to call, and I’ll keep in contact with him.”

The compound was gone. The
club had dispersed, and Killer knew he could either stick to Fort Wills or run.
He’d never been a coward, and he wasn’t running.

“What else did Stink say?”
Tate asked.

“Nothing.
No one knows anything.”

He watched Tate curse and
start dialing a number.

“Do you want a shower?
Something to eat, to sit down?”
Kelsey asked.

“No, I’m going to head out.
I need to get on the road. Stink was pretty adamant about it. Fort Wills is
going to get dangerous, and I’m not sticking around. I’ve already had enough
excitement to last me a lifetime.” Sandy smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

Killer saw it was tearing
her up inside. She was scared.

“I’m going to go now,” she
said.

Kelsey saw her to the door,
and Killer turned his attention back to Tate.

“Alex is not fucking
answering me.” Tate growled.

“What about Eva?” Kelsey asked.
“She’s close to all of them, and she’s in Vegas.”

“Good idea. I’ll talk to
her.”

Killer stared out of the
window wondering what the hell was going on.

****

Eva listened to the number
ring off once again. Tiny wasn’t answering the phone, and she wasn’t getting
any answer from the compound. Ned and Gavin had left her in the office. For the
last couple of days they’d been avoiding her. Whenever she tried to talk to
them they found something else to do. The diamond ring on her finger glinted at
her.

Ringing
Tiny’s
number she growled as it once again disconnected.
“For fuck’s
sake, Tiny, answer your fucking phone.”

She slammed her cell phone
down on the desk, running fingers through her hair. Eva wanted to talk to the
man who proposed. The run had been yesterday, and he hadn’t been in touch.

Her cell phone went off, and
she answered it without looking at the screen.

“Tiny, where the fuck have
you been? I’ve been worried sick,” Eva said.

Silence was on the other
end. “It’s not
Tiny
. It’s me, Tate.”

The despair in the other
woman’s voice had Eva on alert. “Tate, what’s wrong?”

“I, erm, have you heard from
my dad?”

“I’ve not spoken to him
since yesterday morning when he about to go on his latest run.”

“Something bad has
happened,” Tate said.

Eva tensed. “What?”

The next ten minutes were
the longest of her life. Her heart was breaking as Tate described every single
word of what went down. Tiny could be dead. The man she loved with her heart
and soul could be lying in a ditch somewhere dead.