Butch

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2014 Sam Crescent

 
ISBN: 978-1-77130-943-1

Cover
Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor:
Karyn
White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.
 
No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a
work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

I want to
thank all of my wonderful readers for their constant support with The Skulls. I
love writing them and I'm so pleased to see others enjoying them as well.

The
Evernight
team, and
Karyn
(my
editor), you're all amazing and I'm so proud to be one of your authors. Thank
you so much for making this a wonderful experience. X

BUTCH

The Skulls, 7

Sam Crescent

Copyright © 2014

Prologue

“You’re a stupid fucking cunt. Why did you do this?”

Neal Coal stayed in the background looking at his
parents as they fought. His mother was high again, but this time there were
tears in her eyes. Whatever had happened, it was bad. His father was clearly
pissed.

“What? Had some fun? You have your fun all the time
with your fucking whores. What do I get?” His mother sounded bitter, angry,
terrified. “I get their sloppy fucking seconds. You’re no good.”

“You’ve no idea what you’ve done.”
 
His father looked scared. In all the years
he’d known his father not once had Neal seen
him
scared.

“I don’t give a fuck. You got your pussy, and I got
what makes me happy.”

He gasped as his father slapped her around the face.

“You’re a fucking whore. Heroin, crack, weed, you name
it, you’re on it. You’ve got so many fucking infections you’re a talking petri
dish.” His father sneered at her. “You’re not fit to be anything, let alone a
fucking old lady and a mother to my kids.”

The front doors slammed open, and Neal was thrown
against the wall as large men he’d never seen entered the room.

A kick landed to his ribs, and Neal grabbed his chest,
panicking. His sister was dragged into the sitting room. He heard the screams
along with the shouting. Neal curled in a ball trying to dodge the blows that
came his way. His father was part of the club called Savage Brothers MC. It was
an exclusive biker club, and Neal knew no one hurt the Savage Brothers and got away
with it.
 
 
 

“You see, son, there is only one way to deal with
scum.” Neal heard the booming voice over all the pain and male grunts. Toward
his left he saw a large man using his younger sister. Other men were taking
turns on his mother, and others were holding his father down. His father was
fighting with all of his might, but nothing he did
released
him from being held down. Neal tried to fight harder than ever before. His
family needed him. For many years his father had told him the place Neal would
be expected to take at the Savages’ table. He couldn’t embarrass his father
now.

“You little shit.”

Pain, excruciating pain unlike anything he’d ever felt
exploded inside him. Putting a hand to his stomach he felt the wetness of his
blood.

“Dad, he shot the boy.” The small boy looked toward
him. Neal saw the confusion on the other boy’s face. Fear pulled at him with
tears falling down his face at the pain and his failure. No club would ever
rely on him. He was weak, pathetic, and he couldn’t protect his own family.

“He’ll die like his family. This is what you’re going
to have to do, Frederick. You’re going to have to make choices you hate. Men
need to learn to respect you, which
means
hurting
people you shouldn’t. Women and children are the best source of getting to a
man. Find a man’s weakness and use it again him. You must always be willing to
pull the trigger.”

“I understand, Dad.”

Neal watched the older man smile down at his boy. “You
listen to me, Fred, and you’ll never have a care in the world. You’ll know that
you can take what you want without a care in the world. I’m building you up an
empire, son,
one
that is going to give you the world
on a plate.”

Minutes passed, and Neal started to shake. This
morning he’d woken up excited about his holidays. Now he was on the verge of
death.

“Now, with these decisions you need to know when to
end them.” In quick shots the older man fired his gun killing everyone in the
room. There was no emotion on his face, only determination to see an end to
what he was doing.

The boy known as Fred stared around. “There’s blood everywhere.”

“But no signs of
us around.
Earn respect by being willing to kill. You will learn
with time it’s the only way to go. What I’m doing for you will cement your life
in years to come. Only allow men you trust to do your dirty work. Everything
else, you do on your own. Always, Fred, be willing to do whatever it takes.
Everyone will be eating out of the palm of your hand.”

Opening his eyes, Neal stared into a pair of brown
eyes.

“Dad, this boy is alive.”

The older man looked over at him. “He’ll die before
the ambulance comes. We need to go now, Fred. Your mother will bitch if we’re
late for lunch. I’m not interested in listening to her moan.”

He watched the two people who’d taken everything from
him, leaving the house. The pain was getting worse, and he closed his eyes,
wishing for the pain to end. He started to see lights and along a line he
watched each of his family heading toward the light. They were all beckoning
for him to join them. It would be so easy to cross that line. The moment he
did, the pain would be gone. He didn’t know how he knew this, only that he did.

****

“We’re losing him. Come on, kid, don’t die on me.”
Someone was touching his neck. His family was disappearing from sight. The pain
increased as if he was being ripped open. They didn’t look sad for him to be
going. “We’ve got a pulse. Come on, son. Get your ass back here.”

The female doctor was stern, demanding his return.

Coughing, Neal opened his eyes seeing the white of the
room. “Come on, we need to get these stitches in.” Warm eyes smiled down at
him. “Hey, kid, you’re back, and I can promise you, you’re not going anywhere.”

He was no longer in pain, and the female doctor was
putting some stitches into his body. “Name?” he asked.

“Do you know your name?” She grabbed his chart.
“You’re Neal Coal.”

Shaking his head, he pointed at her. His body felt
heavy, but he pointed at her and said her name.

“My name?
I’m
Becca
Stanford. It’s a pleasure to meet
you.” She leaned in close, whispering against his ears. “I was a friend of your
father’s. I’m going to protect you.”

The warmth in her eyes let him know she was more than
a friend. Either way, he was safe, which was more than he could say for his
family.

****

Neal was due to go to the foster home they had lined
up. He’d been in the hospital for the last three weeks, and he was on the mend.
Becca
was the only person in his world right now. She
kept him protected and made sure everyone else stayed away. His family was all
dead, but no one would tell him what happened, not even
Becca
.
The only
person
who visited him, beside the police,
was
Becca
, the doctor who saved him and his father’s
lover.

“Hey, kid, are you ready to go?” she asked, taking a
seat on his bed.

“Yeah.
I got the pain pills.” He held up the backpack she’d given him. Neal
didn’t own anything else to his name. Everything he wore came from
Becca
. The backpack was filled with all the medication he’d
need for the coming weeks.
 

“Let me have a look at your wound. I know you like to
break the rules, so I’m going to make sure you stay in line.”

He lay down on the bed, and she looked over the wound.
She pressed her hands around his stomach looking concerned.

“I almost died, didn’t I?” Neal asked. There was pain
in her eyes as he spoke.

“Neal, you died for two minutes on my table.” She sat
beside him, ticking some points on his chart. “I don’t want to see you in this
hospital again, and I’m sure your father would hate it, too.”

“Did you love him?” Neal asked.

Becca
smiled. “I did. He was going to leave his wife after he dealt with her
latest problems.” She shrugged. “I guess shit like that was never going to be
easy.” She shook her head. “Don’t get admitted to the hospital again.”