Butch (5 page)

“One of our men fucked up. I’m not going to let him
carry this around.”

Tiny let out a sigh. He knew all about what Curse did.
Anyone of them would have killed the bastard for hurting their woman.

“I’m not backing down from this fight. I promise you,
The Skulls will be with you.” He shouted for Whizz to enter. The other brother
walked in. The change in Whizz was scary. Instead of having a drink and losing
himself in women, Whizz trained daily. The muscles were thick and corded. The
other day Tiny had to order a different size jacket just for it to fit around
Whizz’s arms he’d gotten so large. He wasn’t overweight, but he could compete
with the best of the weightlifters.

“Fucking hell, you bring him around to Piston County,
pussy will be jumping all over him,” Pussy said.

The Skulls knew that Whizz was not over what happened
to him. The scars remained on his body, including the scars no one could see.
The fucker from Zero’s past had raped the brother, and since then, Whizz hadn’t
touched another soul. From what Tiny heard, no woman could get close enough.
The women he whose beds he shared were taken and no risk to the man. He doubted
Whizz would ever be the same again.

Last Tiny heard he shared Kelsey and Killer’s bed as
he woke up in the middle of night with nightmares. Tiny wouldn’t admit to
anyone that the other man had also shared his and Eva’s bed, after Kelsey gave
birth. Whizz was never alone. The brothers wouldn’t allow it, and the women
were always taking care of him.

He moved from bed to bed. Tiny and Eva had taken him
in, Murphy and Tate also. The only people Whizz hadn’t been with were Angel and
Lash, but they were away on a much needed vacation.

“What do you want?” Whizz asked.

“Find me everything you can on Frederick Gonzalez,
including every little detail of the people around him.”

Whizz nodded, turning toward the door.

“Keep Sandy and Stink with you.”

The other man didn’t stop. He closed the door behind
him, leaving silence in his wake.

“Fucking hell, he’s dead inside,” Devil said.

Looking at his friend, Tiny nodded. “Yeah, he’s dead
and has been for a fucking long time.”

“He’s been through enough. Whizz will not be helping
anyone out for a long time,” Alex said.

Usually when a brother became useless he was voted
out. Whizz’s case was not the same. He wasn’t on drugs or drinking too much.
Whizz had been tortured in the club’s name. No one was ever going to kick him
to the curb.

“I don’t give a fuck what people think about him.
Whizz stays.” Running a hand down his face, he jerked at the knock at the door.
“Who is it?”

“It’s Butch.”

He frowned, turning toward Alex. “What the fuck is he
doing here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he listened to us.” Alex took a
seat to the left of the office desk.

The door was opened, and there stood Butch. Tiny
didn’t know whether he wanted to beat the shit out of the bastard or give him a
hug. Ever since Butch had left a month ago, this place hadn’t been the same.
Every time the door opened, he expected Butch to be standing there wearing his
jacket.

The leather cut was still in
Tiny’s
bottom drawer. He didn’t want to burn the jacket. Tiny wanted his man to wear
it.

“I thought you left,” Pussy said, standing up to shake
hands with Butch.

During one of their visits to Piston County, Butch and
Pussy had hit it off.

“I’ve left, and I’m not coming back.” Butch looked at
Tiny. “I’ve got shit to tell you. I don’t know if you’re going to like it or
not.”

“Private or
not?”
Tiny asked.

“Private for
now.”

Turning to Devil, he opened his mouth to speak. “No
need, Tiny. We’ll wait outside for you.”

The Chaos Bleeds men walked out of the room, closing
the door behind him.

“You still got a nut on for a woman?” Alex asked.

Butch glared at the other man.

“Do you want Alex out of the way?” Tiny asked, glaring
at his friend.

“No, he can stay. I don’t give a shit what he says
about Cheryl. She’s a sweet woman, and I’m not going to let him get to me.”
Butch took a seat. “Frederick Gonzalez, I’ve heard of him.”

Leaning forward, Tiny was listening.

“I don’t have any family. My dad was part of an MC a
long time ago. You might have heard of it, Savage Brothers?” When Tiny and Alex
shook their heads, Butch shrugged. The two clubs may never have interacted as
there was quite a distance between them. “I don’t know everything that happened
or why exactly.
All of the
club is dead.”

Tiny frowned. There was no way an entire club could be
dead.

The Darkness is dead.

But The Darkness was taken out by them. Surely, an
entire club, a functioning club couldn’t be taken out so easily. There were
men, even part of The Skulls, who didn’t reside in Fort Wills, like Mason
Perry.

“My mom got caught up in the drugs. Her supplier
wanted to make a deal with the MC. They didn’t want to do a deal, and war broke
out. At least, that’s what the news reports were saying. A drug bust gone bad
or something like that. It was a long time ago, and I learned not to look back.”
Butch rubbed his temples. “I was fucking thirteen years old when all this shit
went down. I can’t remember what happened or why. I only recall the bloodbath
that happened. My dad’s club fought tooth and nail to stay alive, but
everything went to shit one morning. I think they tried to get rid of my mom,
put her in rehab, I can’t remember. I only remember one day waking up and being
dragged downstairs by my
hair,
and it was my mother
screaming. My dad walked in, and then they started arguing. It was the fight
that ended in their deaths.”

Tears were in Butch’s eyes as he told his story.

Tiny’s
gut tightened.

“I had never seen the men before, but I figured they
must have been connected to the drug dealers. I do know that my family was killed
by one man, and his name I overheard and remembered. I watched them rape my
sister. She was only ten, and they took turns on my mother. They made my father
watch. They shot me in the gut.” Butch gritted his teeth. “My family was killed
by a Frederick Gonzalez. The name stuck, I don’t know why.”

Tiny shook his head. “It couldn’t have been him,
Butch. He’s too young to have been around. He’s only in his thirties like you.”

“I was shot by Frederick’s father, but his son was standing
right there beside him. I remember the two of them together. They watched those
fuckers who came with them kill my family and the entire MC club, and then
Frederick killed the men. It was a bloodbath, and he got away.” Butch rubbed at
his temple. “I completely forgot about it until now.”

“What made you remember?” Alex asked.

“I was talking with Cheryl. It was easier to forget
about it than bring it all up. I don’t know what information this is going to
help you with, but it’s there for you to know.”

“How did you survive?” Tiny asked. “He killed everyone
but you.”

“I was shot in the gut, dying slowly. I don’t think he
expected me to survive the ambulance ride.” Butch shrugged. “I’m not going to
pretend to know why anyone kept me alive. I only know that I’m still living and
breathing now.”

“Go and tell Whizz about your story. I want to see
what was in the papers. If it goes this far back I want to know about it.” He
watched Butch leave the room before turning to Alex. “Did you know that shit?”

Alex shook his head. “I know Frederick Gonzalez is not
a man to fuck with. I wonder why no one remembers him taking out a club.”

Tiny rubbed at his temples. Tiny couldn’t help but
feel they were all going to know the answers to that question before too long.
Getting up from his chair, he went to the door and opened it. Eva was sitting with
their children. She was playing and smiling. Whatever was about to happen was
going to affect all of them, and Tiny couldn’t stop thinking that now was the
time to run.

Chapter Three

“You know how I feel about those Skulls, Cheryl. You
shouldn’t be hanging out with them,” Anna said.

The following day, Cheryl stood with her mom in the
kitchen. Matthew was watching his morning cartoons while she baked a cake for
after dinner. Whenever she got a day off she liked to stay at home spending
time with her son and baking up a storm. She may not get to have a lot of time
with him, but those moments alone, she relished.

“Butch is a good guy. He’s not going to allow anything
to happen to us.”

“He’s a Skull.”

Blowing out a breath, she glared at her mother. “He
quit The Skulls to be with me, Mom. Stop making this hard.” Beating the butter
and sugar together, she tried to ignore her parent while she ranted and raved. During
her time of getting to know Butch, Cheryl had already considered everything her
mother was telling her. She would never willingly put her son at risk. Matthew
would always come first. Walking to the door, she saw Matthew playing with some
of his toys, looking up at the television every once in a while. He was a good
boy, a patient boy. She couldn’t have asked for a better behaving son.

“Matthew is another man’s son.”

Closing her eyes, she turned toward her. “You don’t
think I know that?”

“How can he want another man’s son?”

“I don’t know. Butch is not like most men.”

“He’s like every man, Cheryl. He’ll stay with you as
long as he can, and then that will be it.” Her mother’s words cut through her
heart. The pain was sharp and hard. “Baby, I’m sorry.”

Turning to her mother, Cheryl glared at her. “Are you
done making me
feel
like crap?”

“Cheryl—”

Shaking her head, she took a step back. “I know I
upset you turning up pregnant without a man, but you have no right to start
putting every other man in the same box as
him
.
I messed up, and I slept with a man I don’t even know his last name.” Cheryl
didn’t even think about his first name. There was a time while she was working
at the florist shop where she thought she’d seen him walking through town. In
the next moment he’d been gone. Biting her lip, she put the bowl down on the
counter. “I messed up. Please, stop making the last time about this one. Butch
is not like that. He’s fun, and he makes me smile. He’s good for Matthew.
You’ve not even seen him with my son.”

“You’ve known him a few months.”

It was close to a year. Butch had been visiting the
church then her house for months before he quit The Skulls.

The doorbell rang, interrupting their argument.

“I don’t care. I’m happy, and you’re not going to
spoil this for me.” Cheryl left the kitchen and answered the door. Butch stood
in the doorway carrying some daisies and a brown paper bag.

“I come with flowers and food. I heard you can’t kick
a man to the curb if he supplies everything for food. Oh, and bringing flowers
is supposed to be an acceptable apology for running out on you last night.”

Laughing, she took the flowers inhaling their fragrant
scent. “These are beautiful. I love them.”

Stepping back, she let him inside. He dropped a kiss
to her lips. “I missed you last night,” he said.

“It wasn’t me who kicked you out. You went outside
running before I did anything.” She reminded him.

“I know. I had business to take care of. Consider
everything done, and now I can concentrate on you and Matthew. I’ve also
brought you the flowers as a sorry.”

Her mother cleared her voice interrupting their
moment. Glaring at her, Cheryl wished she’d not let her inside.

“Hey, Miss Barnes, how are you?” Butch asked.

“I’m fine. I’m leaving now.” Her mother looked at her.
“We’ll talk another time.”

Nodding, she saw her out then turned to Butch.

“I take it she’s not a fan of me?” he asked.

“No, not even close. Don’t worry. Mom is not a fan of
any man.” They passed Matthew, who jumped up when he saw Butch.

“Neal.”

“Hey, little guy. You’ve grown since last night.
You’re going to be a super hero in no time.”

Matthew chuckled. Cheryl placed the daisies into a large
glass then placed them on the table.

“Don’t you have a vase?” Butch asked, entering the kitchen.

“Erm, I’ve never been given flowers, and so I’ve never
seen the need to buy one.” She shrugged. “It’s no problem. These are
beautiful.”

“Are you spending the whole day baking?” he asked.

“No. I’ve got this cake to make, why?”

“We’re going out. I want to take you and Matthew out.
Treat you both.”

“We can’t fit on the bike. Matthew needs a car seat.”

He touched her cheek pressing his lips to hers.