Folding up the letter, Lucas stared at Alan. The man was drooling from the mouth. “Trevor, he worked for you.”
“I have a lot of Trevors working for me.”
“Did you put a lot of bullets in men’s guts in the last week?” Lucas asked.
“Ah, Trevor Lawson. He’s got a sister and a best friend. I’ve been looking for them.”
Slamming his fist into Alan’s face, Lucas watched the other man crash to the floor. The chair held him in place. Ramming his foot into the man’s stomach, Lucas lashed out, letting all the anger and rage out.
“You’re meeting the friend now.”
Lucas didn’t stop until Alan was gasping for breath and trying to get him to stop. The man couldn’t move. When he was done, he took the last of the petrol and doused Alan’s body, the chair, and the fabric around him.
Lighting a match, he stared down at Alan.
“No one f**ks with my family.” Dropping the match, he didn’t look back and left the building. He left the truck outside, climbed on his bike and headed back to Fort Wills to live his life.
Three weeks later he and Prue stood at an empty graveside with Trevor’s name on it. She didn’t live near Fort Wills, and it had taken him time to get to her.
“I can’t believe he’s dead,” she said.
To him she would always be Prue Lawson. To the outside world, she was Lilly Masters, a student preparing for a life of teaching youngsters.
“Neither can I,” he said. He took hold of her hand, and together they would mourn for the loss of their friend. There was no one else to take care of them.
Prue was his responsibility, and he wasn’t going to let her get hurt again.
Chapter One
Present day
“Fuck, what are you doing? We need to get you to the hospital,” Zero said, pressing his hands to the blood-soaked wound. Prue’s eyes were wide as she looked at him, panicking. How the f**k was Alan back? He couldn’t think about the other man. The only person he needed to care about was dying in his lap. No, he wouldn’t accept it. Prue was not going to die. He’d already lost Trevor, and he wasn’t going to lose Prue in the same way.
No more dying on his watch. He’d promised Trevor he’d care for her.
“What the f**k happened?” he asked, turning to Butch. The other man was covered in her blood.
“She was walking inside the compound. I was watching her. I recognized her but didn’t know where from.”
Tiny was barking out orders. Steven was on the phone. The sirens of an ambulance could be heard in the background. Sandy had stayed with Stink away from the clubhouse, and she wasn’t on hand to help them. Fuck, why did they always need Sandy when she wasn’t around?
“Come on, Prue. Don’t f**king die on me.”
“Someone fired a gun. No one else is hurt. None of us were close enough to the gate. Whoever was firing was aiming for her,” Steven said, kneeling beside him.
“He … knows…” Prue gasped, and tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.
“No, you’re not going to die on me, do you hear? You don’t get to f**king die on me.” He couldn’t think about Alan being back. The other man was supposed to be gone and dead.
“What the f**k is going on, Zero?” Tiny asked, glaring down at them.
He opened his mouth ready to spill everything, but the ambulance arrived. There was no time to tell him about the past. Later there would be more than enough time to bring Tiny and the others up to date. The only person who needed his attention right now was Prue. They loaded her onto a bed and carried her into the back.
“I’ll tell you everything, but I need to be with her.” He climbed in the back of the ambulance, not waiting for his brothers to say anything. Grabbing her hand, he watched the paramedic do what he needed to do.
Alan Lynch was alive. The only man who would leave a message like that was Alan. One night on the anniversary of Alan’s death, Zero had gone to Prue, and in drink, he had told her everything about the past. She hated being kept in the dark, but she knew everything. He told her the truth from then on, never keeping anything from her. Prue was the first woman he was ever open and honest with, and not even Sophia made him feel that secure. Zero had told Prue what he did to Alan, the torture he’d inflicted on another person. She’d not judged him. Sophia was nothing like Prue.
Fuck, he’d almost kissed Sophia and gone over that line. Resting his head back against the truck, he kept hold of Prue’s hand. The sudden commotion at the clubhouse had taken him away from Sophia. Part of him was pleased at the interruption. He didn’t want to f**k up his place in the club.
They arrived at the hospital in ten minutes, breaking every speed limit. He followed them inside. A nurse pressed a hand to his chest, holding him back.
“Sir, you cannot go into the operating theater. You’ve got to stay in the waiting room.”
“She needs me.”
“You’re not a doctor or a surgeon. You will kill her if you don’t do as I ask.”
Nodding, he watched the blonde disappear through the clear doors, keeping him away. Heading back to the main reception, he signed in getting the necessary paperwork for Prue. He knew all of her details off by heart, both as Prue and as Lilly.
Staring down at his hands he saw they were covered in blood, Prue’s blood. Memories of Trevor lying in his arms and his cutting off Trevor’s air filled his mind. Shit, he was going to be sick.
Running to the bathroom, he spilled all the contents out of his stomach into the bottom of the toilet. Once he was done, he went to the sink, washing the blood, scrubbing his hands.
Butch walked in seconds later. Glancing at the door, Zero saw his friend was angry. His arms were folded over his chest. “You’ve got a lot of f**king explaining to do. I’m so f**king pissed right now.”
“None of the club was killed. We’re good.” Zero scrubbed his hands, eyes going blurry at whose blood he was washing off. Torturing Alan, he’d gotten a lot of blood on his hands and hadn’t cared.
Prue was not a criminal who deserved to die. She was a woman, a precious woman who should be left alone. He shouldn’t be removing her blood from his hands. It was too much for him to take in.
“The boys are all outside. Tiny is outside waiting for an explanation. You’re not going to get out of it, Zero. This shit is not how this works,” Butch said. “The girl means something to you, doesn’t she?”