Devil moved forward. The scent of alcohol made Tiny’s stomach roll. “Tell you what, Tiny, go and see what they’re doing, and you tell me what you’re going to do.”
Looking back at Mikey, he saw the pain on the older man’s face. Mikey was only a few years old than he was, but he’d clearly seen too much crap.
Stumbling across the uneven ground, Tiny went toward the group. Snitch, the town leader and thug, was pumping away between a woman’s thighs. What he saw would stay with him forever. Tiny grabbed his gun and stared at what was going on. The girl on the ground was someone’s daughter or wife or even girlfriend. She meant something to someone, and they were using her like a rag doll. He saw the tears mixed with the snot.
Aiming the gun he was prepared to fight. He had to save the girl from what they were doing to her. Tiny knew what was going to happen, and it sickened him. They were going to take turns. How long had this been going on? Where the f**k had he been when this started happening?
“If you pull that trigger we’re all dead,” Devil said, catching him unaware. The other man and Mikey had snuck up on him.
The gun was taken off him. Tiny didn’t know who by, only that it was taken from him. The two men led him out from the scene into the clearing.
He bent over and vomited everything he’d ever eaten. Fuck, what the hell was the world coming to? His world was awful. There was no one to protect and everything to destroy. The girl’s pain had been written all over her face. No one was going to stop them.
“We have to go back and help her,” Tiny said, pleading with the others.
“There are more than ten men back there. You start shooting, you’re going to end up dead, the girl, too.”
“She’s dying anyway,” Mikey said. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“It’s time I was going. I never liked this place much, and if I ever touch a woman who doesn’t want it, I want f**king shooting.” Devil stood up. “If you ever need me contact me.”
Tiny watched the other man leave.
“You can stop this,” Mikey said.
“How?”
“By fighting back.”
Tiny had fought back. He sent Snitch and The Darkness out of Fort Wills. A lot of men lost their lives when he did. He’d buried them and hadn’t shed a tear when he’d done it. The following morning he’d gone back to the place they’d used the girl. Someone had shot her, leaving her to bleed out. He’d never known her name, but he’d taken the time to bury her and give her a headstone. She was laid in the Fort Wills cemetery as a constant reminder of what he couldn’t do and what he was determined to change in the town.
****
Eva placed the final dress into the suitcase. She had a handful of clothes ready for the couple of days to go. The purple dress for the baby shower was hung in her wardrobe along with some jeans and shirts. Everything else was packed, ready for her father to pick her up on Friday.
She heard the door opening and closing.
Staring at the cases, she waited for Tiny to make an appearance in her doorway. She still wore the blue dress from that morning.
When the door opened she turned to look at him. Frowning, she saw he looked in pain.
“You’re still leaving?” he asked.
“Nothing is going to stop me leaving.”
He was leaning against the doorframe staring at her. Tiny looked ill as if he was going to vomit at any moment.
“The Skulls didn’t always run this town,” he said, stepping into the room. She tensed, waiting for him to continue. “This place was a f**king shit place to live. The town was shit with no order. There were no cops. Well, there were cops, but they were f**king useless, and no one gave a shit.”
“What’s this all about?” she asked, stepping in front of him.
“There were a lot of problems with this place. It was run by a small group known as The Darkness, a group of thugs and f**king criminals. I don’t know why no one ever cared about this f**king place. We must have slipped out of caring or something.”
Eva knew this place had been a nightmare. Her father and many of the fighters who worked for him had heard about this place. The reason she’d chosen to come here trying to get away from her father was because it would be the last place he’d look to find her.
“What was The Darkness?” she asked.
He started laughing. “It sounds like a f**king rock group. It wasn’t. Far from it. The concept was when you met one of us, all you’d see is darkness. You’d be dead.”
She understood the term. “You were young then?”
“Yeah, I was young, foolish and a f**king idiot.” He was silent for many minutes. “There is shit you don’t know about me, and I never want you to learn the truth. I can’t tell you everything. I will not relive it for you.”
Eva wanted to ask so many questions. Instead, she sat beside him. Taking his hand, she locked their fingers together.
“What happened to them?”
“To who?” he asked.
“The Darkness. A group like that doesn’t just disappear.” She knew he would have killed some of them to get Fort Wills the way it was. Eva also knew that some of the men wouldn’t have left easily.
“Who we didn’t kill left.”
“It’s strange,” she said.
“What’s strange?” he asked.
“A group as powerful as that, why did they leave and not come back, trying to get what they lost?” She was thinking out loud.
“A lot of them were killed. The ones that left would know not to come back. Anyone with sense wouldn’t try to fight for what they couldn’t win back. They’re gone, and for Fort Wills’s sake, they better never come back.”
Getting up from the bed, she left him alone, heading downstairs. She’d put a small chicken in the oven so they could pick over the meat for some sandwiches.
“Why did you leave?” he asked, standing in the kitchen.
“I always leave. You never say much before it’s time for me to go.” She shrugged. They had a really difficult relationship. There were times she was sure they were making progress, and at other times she felt like they were taking a step back. She wasn’t prepared to give into his demands. They had sex but that didn’t mean a commitment to her. Tiny had a long way to go before she’d ever consider forever with him. She didn’t trust him around other women, and he never made a commitment to her.
“Tonight, can we have tonight where we don’t talk about the club or what we’ve got to do?” he asked.