by Sam Crescent
“Do you know the way?”
“I know it. Alex’s isn’t going to do this alone.”
All of his life Alex had done everything on his own. It was time for him to see that he’d married a woman who wasn’t going to let him.
****
Alex stared at the locked church door. There was a note on the front saying the church was closed until further notice. Tugging the paper off, he screwed it up and threw the paper away.
Diaz and his team had come through for him. Preston was posing as a priest, and it just so happened the Fort Wills minister had been reported missing while he and Sunshine were in the hospital. It seemed after the wedding service the priest gave to Whizz and Lacey, then Blaine and Emily, he’d not made it back to church.
Preston must have jumped on the priest after he left the clubhouse.
Entering the church, Alex took casual steps as he entered the main church. The holy place was quiet, eerily quiet. The last time he’d been here was when he first met Cheryl. His son had come from being in this place.
“So, you found me,” Preston said, stepping out of a door near the altar. Diaz had let him know that Preston had two men with him. They would be lurking somewhere.
“You didn’t really think I’d let you get away with the shit you pulled.” Alex placed his hands on his hips, staring back at Preston.
“Oh dear, the little girl? She dead yet?”
Alex didn’t react. He stood and waited.
“You know, she surprised me. For a little girl she got a lot of bite.” Preston lifted his hand. “She nearly bit a chunk clean right out of me. Fucking bitch is lucky the only thing I did was whack her. She should be dead, savage bitch that she is.”
“She’s alive,” Alex said.
“Ah, is she? Damn, when I’m done with you I better go and finish what I started. I’ve got no problem killing future sluts. The world needs to be cleansed of sluts like her. Don’t even get me started on your black bitch.”
Alex drew his gun. “You keep your filthy hands away from my woman. Don’t even fucking talk about her, you piece of shit.”
“What’s the matter, Alex? Our pussy not good enough for you? You had to go and dip where it didn’t belong?”
Alex stepped closer into the room, keeping his weapon drawn. In his mind he saw Sunshine on the floor with blood oozing out of her body. Alex pointed at Preston’s leg and fired.
“You fucker. You stay the fuck away from her.”
Preston screamed as the bullet went straight through his leg. He collapsed to the floor but was still talking.
“What’s the matter, Alex?” Preston asked, smiling. With him bleeding it made him look sadistic. “Fallen in love with black cunt? I always knew there was something wrong with that head of yours.”
Out of the corner of his eye Alex saw one of Preston’s crew approaching. He didn’t waste any time as he fired left, then right. Both bullets hit both men between the eyes.
“Wow, we’re alone, Alex.”
Alex cried out as Preston brought down a wooden bat onto his arm. He dropped his gun, falling to the floor. Preston raised the bat about to bring it down again. Kicking out, Alex landed a blow to the stomach. He moved out, trying to get up, but his arm wouldn’t support his weight. The bastard had broken his arm. The bullet to the leg had only slowed Preston down but not weakened him.
Preston wrapped his fingers around Alex’s neck, dragging him to his feet. “You think you’re the big man, Alex. You’re nothing. You’re fucking nothing.”
He was shoved over the chairs, several of the single chairs falling.
Spinning around, Alex got to his feet, dodging out of Preston’s way as he dived at him.
“I’m going to kill you, and then I’m going to pick off each of the club you love so much. When I’m done wiping everything you’ve ever loved from the face of the earth, I’m going to take Sunshine. I’m going to fuck her. Show her what a real man is like.”
“You’re not a man. You’re a racist bastard.” Pain was everywhere.
Preston reached down to grab the bat. Alex watched as he swung it around, smiling. “I have to say I rather like it here. It’s a nice little town. A good place to set up shop and take everything you’ve ever loved.”
Alex didn’t move fast enough as Preston swung out the bat, hitting it against Alex’s hip. Pain upon pain exploded inside him as Preston swung the bat around.
“It’s funny you should go out like this. I seem to recall another man back in the day. Sean, do you remember him?”
Alex collapsed onto the floor. This was not what he anticipated. The two men had caught him off guard and like a fucking idiot he’d fallen for it. Preston had known he’d be distracted.
Fuck.
He was going to die.
Sunshine, I love you, baby.
I’ll always love you.
“I’m going to have her screaming as I shove my dick inside her. I’m going to tear her open, fill her cunt with me—”
A gunshot rang out. Blood dripped down Alex’s face, and when he looked toward the door he saw Sunshine, holding a gun.
“You dirty rotten pig.”
“Sunshine?” he asked.
Ned charged into the room. “What the fuck, Sunshine? You were supposed to wait for me.”
Sunshine ran toward him, going to his knees. “I’m so angry at you right now.”
Tears were spilling out of her eyes.
“Baby?”
“No, don’t baby me. You could have been killed. He would have killed you. What were you going to do then, huh? What were you going to do when he killed everyone?” She hit his shoulder. Alex winced.
“I need the hospital.”
“Come on, Sunshine, sweetheart. We can kick his ass when he’s no longer in danger of bleeding out.”
“I’m so angry at you,” Sunshine said. She didn’t look angry but relieved. “I’m not going to forgive you. You could have died on me. What was I going to do then?”
“Sunshine, go and open the door. I’ll help him.”
Ned, with Sunshine’s help, got him to his feet.
She cupped his cheeks, refusing to leave. “I’m your wife. I love you with all my heart. If you try to sneak out on me again like that, I will kill you next time.”
He touched her cheek. “I only wanted to protect you.”
“I don’t care. I saved you this time. Remember that from your hospital bed.” She raised a brow, walking out of the church.
Alex rested heavily onto Ned. “You all right, son?”
“No, I’m really not. Bastard got the fucking better of me. You trained me better than that, Ned.”
“You were one of my best fighters, Alex. You know that.”
That was their secret. Alex had been one of the fighters on the circuit when Ned found him. Before Ned changed his life and the illegal fighting, Alex had been in battles to the death, killing people for money. That was what he’d built the casino on, death and destruction. He’d no longer wanted to be part of that world, bringing death and pain.
“I’m sorry,” Alex said.
“No, I’m sorry. We’ve done a lot of shit together over the years. You’ve sacrificed yourself, but you need to realize you’re no longer alone. You’ve got a wife and a child in Vegas. You can’t go running off because you think it’s the answer to everything.” Ned started walking him toward the door.
“Ned?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t tell anyone about the fighting. I don’t want anyone else to know what I used to do.”
“I’m not going to tell anyone, Alex. We’ve all got a murky past, myself included. I don’t want Eva to know shit about me.”
Nodding, Alex slowly made his way out toward the car. As he left the door, several of The Skulls’ bikes along with the mechanic truck arrived. Baker, Fighter, Ink, Sully, and Lash climbed out.
“The bodies are in there,” Ned said.
“Take him to the hospital,” Lash said, taki
ng the lead.
“Any news on Tabitha?” Alex asked.
“No, nothing. Simon’s still with her. This is for us to worry about. Not you.”
Sunshine stood next to the passenger side door. The worry on her face upset him. “Don’t speak, Alex. I want to get you to the hospital. I don’t want to have to think about anything else.”
Climbing into the back of the car, Alex winced at the onslaught of pain. A baseball bat could do some damned damage, and he wasn’t best impressed with how everything had turned out.
Chapter Sixteen
One week later
“You’ve got to come to Piston County,” Simon said. “You owe me.”
Tabitha smiled, nodding. “I’d like that. Daddy, can I go?”
Tiny looked at his daughter. She’d woken up two days ago and already was looking stronger than ever. Her eyes were bright as she looked at him. He couldn’t upset her.
“Yes, we’ll go. It’ll be up to Devil though.”
Simon and Tabitha clapped hands, giggling.
“I need to get knocked out more often.”
“No, you don’t,” Simon said, looking angry. “Dad, she can visit, right?”
“Yes, son, she can visit.”
Tiny walked out of the room, giving Devil a nod for him to follow him.
“I want to thank you,” Tiny said.
“Don’t thank me. Thank Alex. He’s the one who asked me to bring Simon. We didn’t even know Tabitha was in the hospital.” Devil looked through the window. “They’ve got a connection, Tiny. They’re not going to be easily torn apart.”
“Two different clubs, Devil. They can’t be together, you know that. We’re nothing alike.”
“We’re friends though,” Devil held his hand out. “I’ll accept your daughter with open arms. We’re not going to be the same as before, but we can be friends for our kids.”
Tiny regretted every word that had come out of his mouth in the last year. Gonzalez had really screwed with him.
“I can’t apologize enough for the crap I said. I respect you and your club. I hope I didn’t upset your men.”
“It’ll take time for them to forgive. Maybe with Simon and Tabitha, they can forgive.”
They shook hands, both firm, neither backing down.
“Do you really think our two kids are going to want to be together?” Tiny asked.
“Are you stupid? Haven’t you seen them?” They both stood at the window watching as Simon started reading a book, pointing at pictures. “How can you think they’re not?”
There was no denying it. Tiny wasn’t a fool. Simon and Tabitha being together would be a huge mistake. There was no way The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds would ever be joined.
****
“She’s awake and going strong. I talked with Eva, and the doctors reckon she’ll be leaving the hospital soon.” Sunshine placed the latest vase of flowers beside Alex’s bed. His arm was bandaged up, and several bandages covered his body. He looked a mess.
Taking a seat on the hospital bed, she smiled at him. Preston was gone. The bodies were taken care of so they wouldn’t be seen or heard from again.
“What is it, baby?” Alex asked.
He was eating Jell-O, and she sat watching him.
“Do you want a divorce?”
“What? No, why?”
“I need to know if you want to get rid of me.”
“No, I don’t. Fuck, Sunshine, I spent a great deal to try to keep you. I don’t want to lose you,” he said. The food was forgotten as he reached out toward her. “Why would you even think that?”
“I want you to think long and hard about keeping me,” Sunshine said. “I’m not going to go anywhere. I can be a terrible nag, I like to cook, and take long walks.”
Alex pressed a finger to her lips. “Will you shut up? I’m not going to leave.”
“But I need you to be sure. I love you with all my heart, and I don’t want you to regret marrying me in a couple of years’ time. I’ve heard a lot of men do regret marrying quickly. Marry in haste and repent in leisure?”
“Sunshine, I gave up being a husband because the life I lead is a dangerous one. I don’t want to lose you. I want to be a husband, a father, and give you everything I’ve dreamed for myself.” He smiled at her. “I don’t regret marrying you. What’s brought all of this on?”
“I’m pregnant.”
The word spilled out of her lips as if they had a mind of their own. He didn’t say anything, and she started to panic.
“I was supposed to start my period, and I’ve not really been great with my patience level, so I took a test this morning. It came back positive, so I decided to try a second, then a third. After about ten tests, and over a hundred dollars, all of them say the same thing. I’m pregnant, yay.” She pressed her lips together in an attempt to silence herself. She really needed to learn to stop talking. “Say something.”
“I’ve just learned something new about you.”
“What was that?” she asked.
“You ramble when you’re nervous.” He tugged her down to the bed by his side. “We’re going to have a baby?”
“Yes, are you happy about it? I know it’s a bit soon, but I didn’t mean to catch or anything. I’m not trying to trap you, honest.”
“Sunshine, you’ve just given me the best news in the world. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how happy I am right now.” He tilted her head back, kissing her lips. She melted against him, closing her eyes. “We’re pregnant. We’re going to have to tell your parents and Michael.”
“Do you think Michael will be happy about that?”
“What? Our having a baby?”
“He’s an only child and—”
“And he’s a good kid. He’ll love being an older brother, I promise you. He’ll be more than happy about it.” Alex kissed her head. “We’re already starting a family.”
Sunshine closed her eyes, resting against Alex’s chest. She really did love him and was pleased nothing bad was going to happen to them. He’d been in the hospital for the last week to make sure there was no internal bleeding or lasting damage to his organs from the bat. It was a precaution, and they wanted to take care of one of their investors. Sunshine hadn’t been aware that Alex invested in the hospital. She’d stumbled onto some of the nurses talking about it.
“I should be discharged soon.”
“Good. I want to take you home and wait on you.”
“I was hoping you’d pity me and fuck me,” Alex said.
“You’ll have to be a good boy and maybe I’ll be nice to you.” She snuggled in against him, slapping his only spare hand away as he tried to feel her up in the bed.
“You’re being unnecessarily cruel. A happy man is a healthy man,” he said, trying to grope her again.
“And you can grope all you want.”
“There’s no risk of anyone coming here. I’ve had no visitors.”
She detected the hurt in his voice. Sunshine closed her eyes, arching up into his touch. “Touch all you want.”
“Damn, I’ll be using pity a lot more.”
****
The following day, Alex started to fold the clothes Sunshine had brought him. She’d be back in the hour to collect him. Ned was driving her back to their house.
“Can I come in?” Tiny said.
Glancing behind him toward the door, Alex nodded.
“Lash told me everything that happened.”
“He did, did he? He’ll be excellent to take over when the time is right.”
“He’s proving to be a great leader, a good leader.”
“Like I said, the gavel will be in good hands.” Alex kept his back to Tiny as he finished folding his clothes.
“Tabitha was discharged yesterday. There’s nothing wrong with her. Devil has already left town. We’re going to visit them in the summer. Tabitha demands it.”
“She holds the card that he helped her from death,” Alex said, smiling. His smile stopped when he thou
ght about Sunshine. She was pregnant with either his son or daughter. Fuck, what was he going to do when men came sniffing around her? He really didn’t like the sudden panic that struck him hard.
“Yes, she does. I don’t know how long she’s going to play that card. I imagine I’m going to be told that I owe Simon for the next year.”
“She’s going to get everything her heart desires.”
“And her heart desires Simon.”
“Why are you here, Tiny?” Not once had he been visited by anyone but Ned and Sunshine. Alex didn’t care. Actually, that was fucking wrong. He cared a hell of a lot, and knowing Tiny hadn’t even visited, hurt.
“We’re going to be voting today. I shouldn’t be telling you this.”
“Tabitha’s not even out of the hospital a fucking day and you’re already trying to get rid of me.” He fisted his good hand, wanting to hurt someone, that someone being Tiny.
“I’m sorry.”
“Save it, Tiny. I don’t give a shit about anything right now. I dealt with Preston. Any threat that I could bring to the club is gone. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Look, man, the club and you, it wasn’t ever meant to be.”
Alex closed his eyes, turning back to the case in front of him.
“Patricia’s dead, and I shouldn’t have kept that line open.”
“Tiny, get the fuck out of my room.”
“Alex?”
Turning back to face the man he once saw as a brother, Alex said, “Get the fuck out of my room. You want my fucking advice, consider handing over the gavel now. The club is getting too fucking tense for you. Make a decision, Tiny, the gavel or a family. You can’t do both. It’s turning you into a bad leader.”
Alex closed the suitcase. Sunshine chose that moment to walk into the room. “Ned’s waiting for us. He’s going to take us home before he heads over to the clubhouse.” She smiled at Tiny then back at him. “Crap, did I interrupt something?”
“No, Tiny was just leaving.”
“It’s good to see you doing well,” Tiny said.
He watched his friend leave the room, and Alex let out a sigh.