Hardy landed a punch to Whizz’s face, clocking his ribs before he pushed Hardy back.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Sandy asked, pushing her way through the crowd. Eva was herding up the children to get them out of sight. The other brothers were crowding around them including the three prospects they’d taken on, Baker, Fighter, and Ink.
“Teaching this little bastard a lesson.” Hardy went to land another blow, but Whizz stopped him by blocking the hit, then slamming one of his own underneath Hardy’s chin.
They fought for a good ten minutes before they both ended up on the floor, rolling around, hitting each other, firing out curses. No one tried to stop them.
Whizz heard a car pull up in the distance. Both of them looked up to see Rose and Tiny climbing out of the car. They jerked apart as if their father had caught them. His body ached from the punches, and he might even have a cracked rib or two from Hardy’s fists.
“What the fuck is going on?” Tiny asked. Their president looked past the group to glare at Lash.
“Don’t look at me. I wasn’t doing anything.”
“You weren’t fucking stopping it either,” Tiny said, glaring.
Yep, Lash was trying to do a bad job so Tiny would have to pick another brother to take over the club.
“I’ll deal with you later,” Tiny said, pointing at Lash. “What are you two doing?”
Whizz looked to Hardy to see him looking back. “Nothing.”
“No, you don’t get to nothing me. For the first time in over five fucking years we’re enemy free. We’re getting our shit back together. Gonzalez took a shitload from us, we were forced to wipe out another club, and one of our brothers is laid up in hospital scared shitless that we’re going to off him. I come home to find two more brothers beating the shit out of each other. You better have a good fucking reason as to why you’re doing it as ‘nothing’ is not going to fucking cut it with me.”
Neither of them spoke.
“They were arguing about Rose,” Tate said, standing in front of Murphy. Whizz glared toward the other woman. She shrugged. “You were fighting about her. Hardy’s been whining about her being gone. Shit got said, and it escalated.”
He should have known Tate couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
“You can’t do it, can you?” Rose asked, glaring at Hardy. “Why can’t you give me some peace, just for once?”
Tears were in her eyes as she stared back at her man.
“Baby, I love you. I was worried.” Hardy’s entire demeanor changed. Whizz saw the love Hardy had for his woman, yet Rose held herself back. It hurt to see the two fighting so damn hard when they both loved one another.
“No, you were worried that I wasn’t coming back. You don’t love me. You’re used to having me around.” She shook her head. “I went to the spa to relax, clear my head, and I come home to find you beating the shit out of Whizz.”
Rose started walking away. No one stopped her or Hardy as he made to follow after her.
“I don’t want you to come with me. I’m tired of this. I’m done.” She looked behind her toward Tiny. “Will you drive me back home?” She started to walk toward Tiny again.
The devastation on Hardy’s face was clear for the whole club to see, but no one stepped in. This was not their fight.
“Rose, baby, don’t go.”
She ignored him. “I want to go back home. Can you please keep him away from me?” Rose spoke to Tiny with her back to Hardy.
“Are you sure about that?”
“I’ve tried to get some time to myself. He won’t give it me, and this is the next best thing.” She tucked some hair behind her ear. “This is the only way.”
Tiny looked over her shoulder toward Hardy.
“No, Tiny, please, man, don’t do this. Rose, baby, we can fix this. I promised you we could fix this. It was ten years ago.”
She whirled around and shoved him away hard. Hardy was invading her space. “It was ten years ago, but what have you given me, Hardy? What do I have to show for this? You’ve gotten everything you ever wanted. I was so scared of losing you that I changed. I never did anything wrong. In all the time we’ve been together I never once looked at another man, yet all you did was look at other women. I know you do. I don’t care how long it has been or what you need, Hardy. This is what I need, and for once I’m going to handle what I need.”
She was wrong about Hardy looking at other women. Whizz may have been mistaken about who she was with regards to the club, but Hardy didn’t look at any other woman but Rose.
No one stopped her as she climbed back into Tiny’s car. Whizz followed Tiny’s gaze to see him looking toward Eva, who was nodding her head. She agreed with Rose. It was time to take her home until Rose made a decision that was entirely her own.
Whizz’s heart broke for Hardy as he watched Tiny pull his woman out of the clubhouse. No one could stop this. Tiny had made his decision.
“I don’t get it. What does this mean?” Ink said.
“It means Hardy can’t leave the compound without one of us,” Lash said. “Rose doesn’t want him near her. It’s our job to keep him contained and away from her. Tiny makes sure women have a choice to leave the club without their man. This is a safety net for all women. It also stops any brother who is beating on his wife from getting away with it.”
He watched Hardy’s chest rise and fall with each indrawn breath. “It means she’s done with me. She’s going to divorce me now.” He turned away walking toward the clubhouse.
“Hardy,” Whizz said.
“Don’t, Whizz. I shouldn’t have hit out at you. This is my problem and has been for ten years, but I was too fucking stupid to see it.”
No one stopped Hardy as he made his way back into the clubhouse. The defeat could be seen in the way he carried his shoulders. The fight had left Hardy.
Slowly, the rest of The Skulls made their way to finish their business. Baker stayed behind. “How do you become a member?” he asked.
Frowning, Whizz turned to the prospect that he knew was favored to be voted in first. “You mean to tell me you joined a club where you don’t know how to become a member? Do you know how messed up that is?”
Baker shrugged. “The Skulls’ reputation is something I want to be part of. You’re a family. I see that every day I’m with you. I don’t have a family. I don’t have anyone. I’d rather do some crazy shit that makes me part of it than not.”