Looking over his shoulder at the blue-haired woman, Tiny nodded his head. “Thank you for telling me. Get the f**k out of this hospital before I kill you my f**king self. I don’t give a f**k that you’re a woman. Get out of my f**king sight, now.”
She scurried away, giving Whizz one last look.
“You’d kill a woman?” Whizz asked.
“Right now, I’d kill anyone related to the Savage Brothers. They invaded our town and almost got us all killed. One of the brothers shot Butch. I don’t trust them.”
Tiny turned toward the room holding Butch. He didn’t want to kill Butch as he believed the brother’s heart was in the right place. Ten years of loyalty, he wasn’t going to throw it out of the window. Tiny was better than that. He was going to find out the truth before he did anything he might regret.
Entering Butch’s room after Cheryl agreed to let him inside providing he didn’t kill Butch, Tiny stared at the brother. He was awake but could barely speak.
“I’m sorry,” Butch said, licking his lips. The fear in his eyes was clear to see, but Tiny also saw acceptance. Did Butch expect to be killed?
“No, I don’t want you to speak yet,” Tiny said. “You were a f**king idiot to do what you did. By doing this alone you risked the lives of our club and our women. The moment you knew the Savage Brothers were in town you should have come to me.”
“I tried to get them to come to you. They wouldn’t listen.” Butch stopped talking. Tears leaked out of his eyes, sliding down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry. If you’re going to kill me, will you please send Cheryl away?”
“Butch, no, I’m not going to let them kill you,” Cheryl said. “You’re not getting rid of me. You didn’t do anything wrong, not really. This is wrong, and they should see that.” She sat on the chair beside him, taking his hand.
Tiny didn’t want to kill Butch. Butch had been used by the Savage Brothers to get what they wanted. “I’m not going to kill you, Butch. The Savage Brothers used your compassion against you. I’m not interested in taking out one of the men I consider a friend. If you want to remain a Skull then you know the Savage Brothers need to go, and I don’t mean to take a vacation. I want them dead. I will forget all about this, but you’ve got to make that final choice, Butch. The Skulls or the Savage Brothers.” The town was in chaos because of this. Tiny would need to spend a great deal of money repairing the town hall and also reassuring the locals that they were, in fact, safe.
Butch nodded. “I know.”
“Then you need to start now. You need to make a choice.”
“Butch, baby, you know what you’ve got to do,” Cheryl said. She squeezed Butch’s hand. “It’s them or us.”
“I don’t want to be part of the Savage Brothers. I’m a Skull, through and through. I f**ked up, but I know how to fix it.” Butch turned from Cheryl to look at Tiny.
“I want them gone, Butch, and I need you to write down where they were.”
Cheryl grabbed some paper and a pen. She didn’t say another word as Butch wrote the address down on paper. “They’re not going to come to you, Tiny. I can lure them out, help you resolve this,” Butch said.
Taking the piece of paper, Tiny looked down at the address. It was an old, crumbling house. It made sense for a group of people who were not part of The Skulls to locate at a part of town where they wouldn’t be noticed. No one would pay attention to men coming and going out of this old house. Tiny had been so preoccupied with Gonzalez that he hadn’t paid any attention to his own town.
After everything that happened, Tiny wasn’t prepared to take a chance.
“Will you let me live?” Butch asked.
Cheryl gasped, tears falling down her cheeks. “I’m not going to let them kill you.” She turned to look at Tiny. “Please, don’t kill him. He didn’t mean to do this. Please, you can’t turn your back on him.”
Staring at Butch, Tiny knew the man had meant well. “I’m not going to kill you, Butch. I understand what you did and why you did it, but until further notice you’ll no longer be part of meetings. You’ll be with the prospects. Until I can completely trust you, you’re back down there.”
“I understand.”
“Good.” Tiny stared at the address. Gonzalez was gone, and now it was time to take out the other MC that had put all of their lives in danger with their stupidity.
“Thank you for this. Now you concentrate on getting better.” He turned to walk out of the room then stopped to look at Cheryl. “You surprised me today.”
“Why?”
“I never had you pegged for the kind of woman to lie or to risk the lives of the other women.”
She shook her head. “The Skull women were never in danger. I’ll lie, cheat, and f**king steal to protect Butch and my son. I’m an old lady, Tiny, and I’m part of The Skulls in a way. I’ll do whatever needs to be done to protect the club.”
Respect for Cheryl grew as she turned her attention back to her man. Butch was a good man, but he was f**king lucky to have a woman willing to go that far to protect him. If Cheryl hadn’t been willing to lie, Tiny would have let him die back in the town hall without a second thought. He walked out of the hospital room, moving toward Devil. The leader of the Chaos Bleeds crew wouldn’t be part of the hospital meeting nor any other meeting for that matter. They were done as far as he was concerned. Eva had already kicked his ass over what he’d said to Devil. Calling the Chaos Bleeds women whores had been a low point, even for him. Tiny, thinking back to what he did, was ashamed of it. He was much better than that, but their relationship was dead, gone. Hearing Devil was going to leave when he needed him had filled Tiny with hate. Gonzalez had sent a man to kill Eva, and then Devil was leaving. It was all too much for Tiny, and he’d lashed out in the worst possible way. The verbal insults were not something he could take back. They wouldn’t be at war as far as Tiny was concerned, but they were no longer friends to call in a fight. He’d come to rely too heavily on Devil and the Chaos Bleeds crew. The Skulls would never change who they were. Tiny had his rules whereas Devil lived by as few rules as possible. Neither of them was ever going to change who they were. This was it. From this moment forward neither of them was going to be calling on the other in a fight.
“Tiny, I need a word,” Whizz said, invading his thoughts.