The Beginning
Devil watched as Lexie waved at him. Butch had taken most of the women to the warehouse like they all agreed, and now he was watching his woman disappear.
“It’s safer that she’s out of the way,” Tiny said, coming to stand beside him. “Eva’s been seen.”
“Gonzalez is in town?”
“Yeah, he stopped by an hour ago. You missed him with just arriving. Don’t worry, I got you covered. I told him that one of the little ones got sick and you didn’t have a choice but to stop at a hotel for the night. He expects to see you a little later than normal.”
Nodding, Devil turned away from the sight of his woman leaving him. Seeing Lexie leave always filled him with regret. Entering The Skulls’ clubhouse, he moved toward the back where there were weapons strewn all over the place. The men were suited up and ready to go. Pussy was packing, and he’d given Sasha some guns so that he could use them when the time came to protect her.
“I can’t believe it all boils down to today.”
“Mason Terry is in town. You know, the guy from Paradise Rocks?”
“Yeah,” Devil said.
“Gonzalez’s men on the police force, he’s rounded them up, and they’re in a secured location for us to deal with when the time is right.”
Devil hadn’t met Mason before, but he knew the man ran a tight ship. He lived, worked, and breathed all things Paradise, but he was also a Skull, part of the Nomad team that travelled from place to place. Mason, however, wasn’t so much a nomad as a Skull in his own town. It was strange, but it worked for him.
“So Mason has the men we were initially worried about. Who’s next?”
For the next hour Tiny spoke of the men that were in town. Several of the men were pimps or fighters sent to provide entertainment for the coming night.
“Gonzalez thought it would be fun to have a contest to see who won against pimps and illegal fighters. He’s been poaching from Ned,” Tiny said, getting him up to speed.
“This is what it comes down to.”
Tiny sighed. “Yeah. In a few hours we’ll all know if we live or if we die.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Devil walked out of the office toward his men. Sasha was standing by Pussy’s side, dressed and ready for the town hall.
“Right, I think this is how it’s going to be. Cheryl’s going to take Sasha, and they’re going with Butch to the town hall. We’re going to follow, little by little, so as not to raise suspicion. I’m going to turn up last in the van. I don’t want him to cotton on at the last minute what we’re about to do. In between then, The Skulls are going to arrive. We’re going to take our places, and then we’re going to make sure this goes down, cleanly and without any other fights. I want you to be ready to hit the deck.”
He looked at Sasha. She held Pussy’s hand hard as he spoke. When he’d first seen and heard about Pussy liking this girl, he’d had his doubts. She couldn’t take care of herself or even be what Pussy needed her to be. At least, to Devil she came up lacking. Seeing the determination on her face, gave Devil doubts about his first thoughts about her.
“You, Sasha, when it starts to get loud, you hit the deck. Do you hear me?” Devil knew Pussy wouldn’t be the same if they lost her.
“Don’t worry, Pussy’s been training me to duck and cover. It’s quite funny, actually. He started doing it at night,” Sasha said.
Pussy gave him a thumbs-up. “You don’t need to worry about my girl, Devil. I’ve trained her to be ready for the worst amongst other things.”
Sasha hit him on the shoulder.
Chuckling, Devil stepped away to see Hardy at the bar. The other man was looking at the booze as if it was a lifeline.
“I wouldn’t drink today until after all this shit has hit the fan,” Devil said.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hit the drink at all.” Hardy tapped his fingers along the counter.
“Why do you look cut up?” Devil asked. His curiosity was always going to get him in trouble. He had to know the littlest detail about everyone he came across. It was a flaw he hadn’t repaired.
“Besides the fact we’re walking in to a potential death trap, my woman’s going to leave me.” Hardy turned away from the booze.
“Rose won’t leave you.”
“Yeah, she will. It’s been ten years in the making. Neither she nor I realized it.” Hardy shrugged. “Can’t say that I blame her. I f**ked another woman who wasn’t her, got her pregnant, and then we lost the kid that we were supposed to get out of it.”
Shit, Devil’s curiosity really did need to stop.
“Do you love her?” Devil asked.
“More than anything. I was a young, foolish f**ker who didn’t know what he had.”
“Then instead of treating her with kid gloves, show her that she’s the only woman you want. Don’t give her a chance to get away. Fuck her, love her, and show her who she belongs to.” Devil tapped him on the shoulder. “Life is far too f**king hard to give it all up because fighting seems even harder. I love Lexie with all that I am. I wouldn’t give her up over something I did ten years ago.” He wouldn’t admit that there was no chance of him ever cheating on Lexie either. Only an idiot cheated on his woman.
“Thanks, Devil. I actually think that was a good talk.” Hardy tapped him on the shoulder.
Yeah, that was him. He was the guy filled with all the wisdom today.
The rest of the morning passed by with tension as all the men waited for the coming fight. Devil didn’t know how it was going to go, but it was starting to look up in his favor. Every now and then he saw Butch looked a little freaked out as he checked his phone. He didn’t like the change inside Butch, and if he could know what was going on inside his head, he’d feel a hell of a lot better.
“Butch, it’s time,” Tiny said.
Devil stepped away from the bar as he watched the first couple move out of the clubhouse. Cheryl looked petrified, and he watched as Pussy helped Sasha into the waiting car.
This is it.
After everything they’d been through they were now going to get their chance to take out their revenge.
Anticipation filled him.
He checked to make sure that he had his weapon at the back of his jeans. Devil made his way out to the car and climbed behind the wheel.
Watching men with their brides leave the compound filled him with anticipation. Gonzalez wouldn’t know until the last minute what was going on. Only a couple of women, Angel, Sandy, and Mia, were present, and by the time Gonzalez saw most of the women were absent, it would be too late. Within thirty minutes he was on the road and heading toward the town hall. They passed several of the locals at work. Some of them stopped to see them driving and riding past. He glanced in the back of the car to see his kids’ car seats. This was why he fought as hard as he did. He couldn’t fail them, nor could he fail Lexie. She needed him.