Butch (28 page)

This was not like them. Butch knew they would all
fight, but Gonzalez was playing a different game.

“What about Devil and the Chaos Bleeds crew?” Butch
asked.

“They’re doing exactly the same. We’re all waiting it
out.” Tiny rested his head in his hands.

There was nothing they could do. He took a seat and
waited. Butch didn’t have a clue what he was waiting for. In all of his years
as a Skull they’d never waited around for anything to happen to them. They’d
always been the ones in charge. No one told them what to do.

You’ve got to wait to become a Skull.

Running fingers through his hair, Butch became aware
of how much life had changed for the club in the last few months. They couldn’t
do anything but wait. He hated this kind of control that Gonzalez had.

Recalling the memory of his father, Butch recalled the
way he’d been afraid, but this wasn’t the same.

The whole of The Skulls were waiting. He stood and
started to pace.

Time passed slowly. Running his hand over his face, he
tried to ignore the pity on all of their faces. The club was a mess, life was a
mess, and he knew he shouldn’t have left. The biggest mistake he’d made was
leaving, and now he needed to find a way to prove himself. He should have rejoined
of his own free will long before he did. The first time he went to work hating
his life should have been the time he came back to the club. The more he
thought about his mistakes, the more he regretted his decisions.

When the phone went off, everyone tensed. Tiny took
his time to answer it.

Butch was surprised when Tiny put the call for the
loudspeaker for all of them to hear it.

“Where the fuck is Cheryl?” Tiny asked. The man before
him was the person Butch remembered. Tiny, leader of The
Skulls,
wouldn’t allow any man to fuck with his club.

“Well, I guess that answers at least one of my
questions. I take it Butch is there with you,” Frederick said.

“Listen, fucker, if you even think—”

The sound of Cheryl screaming, begging cut through the
air. Butch froze. His woman was in danger and in pain.

He shut the fuck up.

“Now, I see we have your attention,” Frederick said.
“In case you haven’t noticed it’s a simple yes or no answer.”

Butch stared at Tiny.

“Do you want Cheryl back?”

“Yes,” Tiny said.

“Good. Will you do anything to get her back?”

Tiny returned his stare. The anger in his eyes was
pure to see. “Yes.” Butch would owe Tiny and the club big. He wasn’t worried
about that.

“Good. You see, we can do this. This is what I like
about communicating. We can get what we want and work through the problems.”

Hearing Frederick’s voice made Butch want to hurt the
man. He had Cheryl and was using her to get to The Skulls. Butch had forced
their hand, and now they were at Frederick’s mercy. The club either took Cheryl
back or they listened to them die. Butch wasn’t under any illusions that Frederick
would let them live.

“What do you want?” Tiny asked.

“I just want you all to know that if the answer is no
I will kill Cheryl’s son. He’s playing nicely at the moment with some colors.
You’ve got a nice son here, Alex.”

Looking toward Alex, the pain was so evident on his
face. “Leave my son alone.”

Frederick sighed. “Well it all depends on one thing
really.”

Silence filled the room. Butch rubbed at his eyes,
waiting for the revelation.

“What do you want?” Tiny asked.

“Simple. I’ll give you back Cheryl and the kid
unharmed, and in return you work for me. I’ve got drugs, weapons, money, and
girls that need looking after. You work for me, no one else.”

It was what Devil had had to do. Frederick controlled
the MCs.

“The deal expires within the next two minutes. You
don’t give me the answer I want, I start breaking fingers. I’ll make Cheryl and
Matthew hurt well before I terminate them. Once I start you will not get the
chance to make me stop.”

“Deal,” Tiny said, without hesitation. No one wanted
to listen to the torture Frederick was sure to dish out, or at least get one of
his men to do the job.

“Good. I’m pleased. Now, I’ve got a shipment of girls
coming in three weeks’ time. Devil and his gang are housing half of them. Tiny,
you’ll take the other half. I want them in a safe house and earning their
keep.”

Butch tuned out as Frederick started to make the
rules.

“Also, to protect our investment I may as well tell
you that I’ve got men everywhere. If I think you’re reneging on the deal, I
pull the plug on your women and your kids. Lash and Angel look beautiful on
their Italian vacation. A bullet can kill all three of them just as easily.”

Nash held Sophia a little tighter.

“No one runs away or tries to fight. If you even look
like you’re planning shit, I will end you.”

“What about the fucking social worker and the cops
with the charges?”

“Consider them gone as a gift of friendship. Don’t
think you can manipulate me, Tiny. I will hurt everyone you ever care about.
Cheryl and Matthew will be back at the fair within thirty minutes. I want you
there in forty. Good day, gentlemen.”

The call ended. Staring at the phone, Butch looked
around at his brothers.

Like Devil and the Chaos Bleeds crew, Tiny and The
Skulls were now owned by Frederick Gonzalez. It was
all his
fault.

****

Later that night

Tiny downed another shot of scotch. It was his fifth
in the last few hours, but it still wasn’t doing what he wanted it to do. The
only way for him to look at Eva was for him to be blind drunk. He’d fallen into
Frederick’s trap, and now he was owned just like Devil. Listening to a woman
and kid get tortured was not his idea of fun. Frederick would have killed them
just to prove a point.

“Why did you do that?” Alex asked, stepping into the
office. After the call and forty minutes passed up they all headed back to the
picnic to find Matthew and Cheryl alone and unharmed. Butch stood beside them
as if he was part of the club even though he wasn’t yet. Tiny was allowing him
to come back to the clubhouse, and Lash was on his way home. They’d be taking a
vote very soon on allowing Butch to come back. Cheryl and Matthew needed
protection.

With the new threat Tiny had no choice but to call
Lash and Angel home. He couldn’t protect them in Italy whereas in the club, he
could. They were going on lockdown until he’d talked with Devil. Shit was about
to hit the fan in a big way.

“Bastard had your kid and Butch’s woman. Gonzalez had
two winning cards.” He stared at his friend.

“You didn’t give Butch his patch back. Why are you
waiting for the club to make a decision? You wanted this.”

“If I recall correctly, you wanted me to blackmail
Butch. I couldn’t do it, but I can’t have a man who’s prepared to leave when
the going gets tough. I need to know Butch wants to come back before I allow
him back,” Tiny said. “I’m not into giving free rides to men.”

Alex took a seat opposite. “Butch made a mistake, but
he’ll be loyal to the club.”

Tiny shrugged. “I don’t care what he’ll be, Alex. He
left the club, and like Nash, he’ll prove himself as one of the brothers before
I give him back his patch.” He poured another large shot into his glass. In his
lap was Butch’s leather jacket. Tiny wanted to give the man his jacket back,
but he stopped himself. He wasn’t wrong in making Butch earn his spot back.

“Eva doesn’t blame you for what happened,” Alex said,
changing the subject.

“For once in my life I want her life to not be hard.
Every time I think we’re getting there a newfound fucking enemy emerges. I
mean, shit, we’ve not even got Gash out of fucking prison. He’s going to be
coming to a club that’s owned by a crazy asshole.” Tiny threw his glass against
the opposite wall. His club was no longer his own. They were all owned by
Gonzalez, to do his bidding like good little minions.

“We’ll deal like we always do.”

“He holds all the cards.”

“And we’ve got a lot of favors. We’re not a small
club, Tiny. Devil is pissed. Together The Skulls and the Chaos Bleeds can fight
it all. Gonzalez is going down. Ned Walker is pissed as well. I just got off
the phone with him. He’s been threatened, too. There are men out there wanting
to end this fucker,” Alex said. “He threatened the kid I’ve only known for a
couple of weeks. I’m not going to stand down while he takes everything I hold
dear. I’m not wired that way.”

Tiny got to his feet and looked at his friend. “You’re
asking me to create a war?”

“No. Gonzalez created the war. I’m saying we fucking
win this one, and we win it for the good, but we do it by playing dirty.”

Tiny staggered a little. The strong alcohol was finally
making its way through and numbing all of his senses.

“What did Butch have to say?”

“They’re coming to the clubhouse in the next day or
so. We can fight this, Tiny. I’ve got a plan. It’s insane, but it’ll work.
Gonzalez doesn’t know the truth about Butch begging to come back. We can make
this work for us,” Alex said.

“I’m listening,” Tiny said
,
curious about what Alex had to say.

His friend always had the plans that were risky, but
because of Alex, they’d owned Fort Wills for the last twenty years, making it a
great place to live. Most of the time, Fort Wills was a safe town.

When Alex was finished, Tiny shook his head. “Do you
really think he’ll go for it?”

“To protect his woman and the club, yes, Butch will go
for it.”

“Then do it. Don’t let him know I know. When you see
him next, try and get him on board with your plan.” Holding onto the wall for
support, Tiny looked at Alex. “How can you stand to see him with your woman and
kid?” The drink wasn’t keeping his thoughts locked in tight.

“I love my son. Cheryl was never my woman and never
will be. I claim Matthew, not her.”

Tiny nodded. “I heard he’s going to marry her?”

“Yeah, he is.”

“Then it’s time for a celebration. Call Devil and get
the crew down here to celebrate the coming together of a happy couple. Get the sweet-butts
out of town, hidden. The club only has members and old ladies inside it. Our
kids stay closer. When Gash gets out and Lash is back, we’ll take this fucker
to the ground.” Tiny reached out gripping Alex’s hand. They were best friends
and had once been related by marriage, but to Tiny, Alex was a brother without
blood.

Both of them would fight for Fort Wills and for each
other.

Gonzalez thought he’d won and they were going to take
the beating lying down. Tiny didn’t lie down for anyone unless he was getting
ridden by his wife. Eva wasn’t fucking his cock, and Gonzalez was going down.

Chapter Sixteen

“Butch, I’m fine. Stop worrying about nothing. I swear
I’m fine,” Cheryl said, smiling as her man started to fuss around her.

“I’m not letting you or Matthew out of my sight. Alex
and I agree that you both need to be protected.” Butch was going around her
home locking every single window. He checked behind some of the books, looking
for hidden cameras. No real harm had come to her or her son.

Her mother had found her at the picnic before Butch
and The Skulls got back, taking her mind off everything that just happened. The
business with Gonzalez was for The Skulls. Cheryl didn’t share anything of what
happened, keeping it to herself. By the time Butch got to her side, her mother
was gone, mingling with other people.

Since he’d pulled her into his arms, he’d not let her
go. He wouldn’t allow her to walk off on her own or even go to the bathroom.
Having to take a pee with him in the room was embarrassing.

“Any other woman would be stressing out or screaming
right about now,” he said.

“Butch, I’m not like other women. He told me no harm
would come to me as long as you and the club did as he asked.” She pressed a
palm to his chest. “Please, don’t stress out about this.”

“We’re going to be owned by this maniac, Cheryl. We’re
not going to get away from him.” Butch wrapped his arms around her.

“Tell me you’re not going to let him get away with
this?” she asked. Gonzalez was a killer. He hurt people to get what he wanted,
manipulated those around him. She hated him for using her and Matthew. When she
looked at Tiny she knew he’d done it for her and Butch. Tiny was a good man,
and yet he’d been forced to work for Gonzalez because of her.

“We’ll do everything we can.”

She placed a finger over his lips. “No, you’ve got to
be in this, Butch. The club is going to vote you back in.” He pulled away from
her, shaking his head.

“I fucked up, Cheryl. The club I left is not what they
are today. I should never have left. They don’t trust me.”