Butch (16 page)

Eva led the way toward the back. They passed several
women in different states of undress along with men. “This is a spa and a gym.
You can have your pick of it all.”

“It’s a large place.”

“Don’t worry. The girls wanted to meet you.”

The other woman opened the door at a long corridor.

“Step the fuck back, Tate. I mean it. You start
bitching and I’m going to shut you up.” One of the women in the room was
yelling at another one. They stood in the center, one red head and another dyed
black.

“Zero’s not here to help you out, bitch.”

“I’ve never needed a man to fight my battles. I can
take your ass down, and I don’t need a fucking excuse to do it.”

Cheryl tensed at the fight about to happen.

“Tate, back down.”

“Kelsey, stay out of it.”

“Ladies, we’ve got company,” Eva said, raising her
voice to be heard over the noise.

All the women turned to look at her.

“Okay, the two arguing are Prue and Tate. Prue is
married to Zero. Tate is with Murphy. Then we’ve got Rose. She’s with Hardy.
There is Sophia, and her man is Nash.”

She met all of the women and knew the men’s names as well.
They all smiled toward her.

“This is the bitch who took Butch away?” Tate asked,
growling.

“Back the fuck off. Butch made his own choice,” Prue
said. “It’s not her fault he’s being a dick.”

The two women glared at each other before turning
their gazes to her. Cheryl didn’t have a clue what to do or to say.

“She’s not responsible for Butch making his choice. I
think it will be good for all of us to be nice,” Eva said.

“It’s great to meet you. I can already sense that
you’re going to be best friends with Angel when she gets back,” Kelsey said.

Smiling, Cheryl followed Eva’s lead. Today suddenly
didn’t seem half as much fun as she anticipated.

****

Butch sat in the waiting room of the spa. He’d been
finished work for over an hour, and Cheryl still wasn’t finished. Killer, Nash,
Murphy, Zero, Hardy, and Stink had arrived. They were waiting as well. All of
them had tried to pull him into a conversation, but he didn’t want to talk.
After Whizz’s insightful chat, the last thing he wanted to do was start talking
about the club. Whizz had a point in his argument, and Butch saw no reason to
fight it.

He’d abandoned the club. Butch was sure a lot of the
guys thought that way, and he didn’t need to hear any more about it.

“Devil and the crew have gone back home. They’ve got a
shipment of girls to transport back to Piston County,” Nash said.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Butch said, picking up a
women’s magazine. There were multiple pictures of celebrities in different
states of undress. He didn’t have the first clue as to why women were always
happy to compare their body shapes.

No one saw men pulling out their cocks and measuring them
against another man’s size. If a guy ever did that to him, he’d cut the guy’s
junk clean off.

“You’re really going to cut us out like this?” Murphy
asked. “After everything we’ve been through, you’re just going to stop caring.”

“I’m never going to stop caring. I love you guys like
fucking brothers. I just can’t do it. I can’t take my woman and allow danger to
come her way. I can’t do it. I won’t.”

“Do you think we’re happy putting our women in danger?
It kills us knowing they’re going to be hurting. We don’t get off on it. This
is what we all agreed to when we entered the club. You’re changing the rules,”
Killer said.

“I’m not changing anything. I backed out.”

“Then get your ink removed, or we’ll remove it for
you. I’m done asking you back,” Hardy said. “A brother who can walk away
because he’s scared is no fucking brother of mine. I’ve got a woman and a club
to protect.”

The far door opened. As Butch turned in the direction
of the laughing females, his heart tightened. Cheryl was laughing along with
all of them. Her arms were linked through Eva’s and Rose’s. The three women
were giggling about something.

“Baby,” Rose said, running toward Hardy.

He watched the couple embrace. Rose wrapped her legs
around her man as she kissed him. All of the women moved toward their men with
love in their eyes. Cheryl walked up to him, smiling.

“I don’t know if I’m allowed to kiss you in front of
them,” she said.

Her sweetness hit him in the gut. Wrapping his arms
around her, he pulled her in close. “You can do whatever the hell you want with
me. I’m yours just like you’re mine.”

She circled her arms around his neck. “I had fun
today.”

“I can tell.”

He’d never seen her smile be so bright.

“You’ve got really nice friends. I think they’re
awesome.”

Butch chuckled. The rest of the world fell away as he
held her in his arms. “I missed you today.” Running his hands down her back, he
cupped her ass. The full flesh filled his arms. He loved her softness and the
way she melted against him. Inhaling her scent, Butch calmed down. He’d been
growing angrier the more he talked to his friends. With Cheryl in his arms,
leaving The Skulls was worth it.

Was it, really?

Doubts assailed him at his decision to leave the club.
Shit was happening, shit he didn’t know about. Devil and Tiny were about to fight
another force against both clubs, and he was scared about Cheryl.

“I missed you, too.” She looked up at him. “Are you
okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get out of here. I want to
enjoy our evening together. I don’t want to waste a moment of it.” He took her
hand leading her out.

“Cheryl, call me if you ever need to,” Eva said.

“Me, too,
Cheryl.
It’s lovely to meet you. I look forward to hearing
more about Matthew.”

Each of the women called after her, smiling and
laughing.

Gritting his teeth, he kept walking outside not caring
what they thought of him taking her away from it all.

“Butch, are you angry with me?” she asked.

By his bike, he handed her a helmet. “They’re trying
to lure me back to the club,” he said. “They’re using you to do it.”

“No, we’re not,” Eva said, exiting the spa. Tiny
pulled up in a car. He saw their two children strapped into the back.

“Hey, baby, did you have fun?” Tiny asked, climbing
out.

“I had a lot of fun until this fucking jerk just
pissed me off.” Eva crossed her arms, looking ready to do murder.

The whole of the club was glaring at him. The women
were looking at him with murderous rage.

“What the fuck is going on now?” Tiny asked.

“I invited Cheryl for a girls’ day at the spa. She
loved it, and now he’s acting like we were trying to lure him back to the club
through his woman.” Eva shot a glare at him.

Tiny wrapped his arms around Eva. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay. Look at her. She’s so sad by what
he said.” She pushed Tiny away from him. “You know what, Butch? You’re an
asshole. Cheryl, honey, I came to see you because I wanted to get to know you.
We’re not a bad lot of people, no matter what people think.” She glared at
Butch. “Today had nothing to do with you. You’re the one who left the club.
She’s got a son with another member, so stay the fuck away from it all. In
fact, she’s got more right than you, so stay the hell away.”

He watched Eva storm to the car. Her face turned into
a smile when she saw her children. Butch felt like an ass, the shame clawing at
him as the other members left. The humiliation was deep.

“Are you going to take me home?” Cheryl asked.

Crap, what the fuck was he doing? She didn’t deserve
his anger or anything else he had to say to her.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Why did you leave the club?” she asked.

Looking down at the ground he shook his head. “This
conversation needs to take place in private.”

He straddled the bike then waited for her to climb on
behind him.

You’re a fucking bastard for what you just did.

Feeling selfish and stupid, he turned the ignition on.
Once her arms were tight around his waist, he made his way toward her home. The
sun was setting. She headed inside her home as he put the bike away. There was
a time when he’d spend hours cleaning his machine after riding on it. Since
meeting Cheryl, he didn’t find the time to simply clean a machine that got him
from one place to another. He preferred to spend time with her.

Locking the door behind him, he heard her in the
kitchen. She was banging pans and cups as she worked around the small room. He
really needed to find them a bigger place to live.

“What was that outside the spa? If you had a problem
with me getting to know them you should have told me,” she said, turning on him
with hands on her hips. She looked so fucking sexy when she was angry.

“I don’t have a problem with you hanging out with
them. I overreacted, and I shouldn’t. I’m an asshole.”

“Yeah, you’re an asshole. We’re all getting the fact
you’re an asshole.” She started to laugh. “What do you want from me?”

“Nothing.
I just want you, Cheryl.” He reached out, taking her hands.

“You’re confusing me.”

“I left the club because I didn’t want you hurt,” he
said. It was time for her to know the truth. “Angel, the woman everyone keeps
mentioning, she’s on vacation in Italy. A much needed vacation. She’s been
through so much in the last couple of years.” He stopped, gritting his teeth.
The truth needed to come out. “Angel has lost a baby, and it almost drove her
mad. She’s been hurt, beaten up, and shot because we’ve all got enemies. This
is what she’s been through. Tate, Kelsey, all of them have been through their
fair share of fucking pain. I did not want to bring that to you.”

Her eyes were wide. “What?”

“The Skulls is dangerous. We’re a club that takes care
of the town, but it all comes with risks. We’ve had members die because of it.
Women get hurt. I don’t want you to get hurt or Matthew.”

“You quit the club before we were even a couple,” she
said.

“I knew what I wanted. The only way I could take a
chance with you and Matthew was to be free of the danger.” He cupped her face.

“You shouldn’t have left the club.”

“I’m not going back.”

She pulled away from him, folding her arms, shutting
him out.

“They’re your family, Butch.”

“Not anymore. We’ve got our own family here. We can
make this work for us.”

Cheryl chuckled. “We can make this work with you
washing dishes and me working at a florist?
The Skulls always
being there with no chance of ever leaving the town.”

“It wouldn’t be like that.” The doubts reared their
ugly heads.

“How can you know that? You’re a Skull, Butch. A lot
of people know who you are. How do you know you’re not a liability to Matthew
and me?” She looked past his shoulder. “You can’t do this. You can’t quit the
club because of me. This is not who you are.”

“We can do this.”

“No, we can’t! You’re not supposed to spend your
fucking life in front of a kitchen sink, Butch. You look out of place in the
café. In fact, you looked miserable. Staying inside a building, confined there
for hours at a time is not suitable for you.”

Butch tightened his fists. Staying in the café for
hours at a time was driving him crazy. He’d been ready to hurt anyone who told
him he couldn’t wash dishes when Cheryl turned up today. The moment he saw her
it felt worth it.

“I can do this.”

“Stop it. The club has been your life for a long time.
You told me that you grew up in a club.”

Her mention of his past reminded him of the
conversation he’d had with
Becca
, the doctor who
saved him. He’d warned her that Frederick was out looking for her. The doctor
knew what to do to go to ground. She was leaving her life behind and heading
for the hills away from any apparent danger. He had to believe she’d be okay.
There was nothing else he could do to protect the older woman. She’d told him
to watch his back.

Butch took a step back. Her words were finally getting
to him, holding him in place. Staring at Cheryl, he smiled. “You’re telling me
to go back to the club?”

“I’m telling you to think long and hard about what you
want. You’ve always been in the club, and I don’t want you to hate me when you
can no longer find a reason to not be with them.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“How do I know that? In fact, how do
you
know that?” she asked, firing the
questions at him.

Butch hadn’t seen past the immediate future. What
would he do in years to come when there was no threat? Would he blame her?
Start to hate her?