Tiny (18 page)

“What are you talking
about?” Eva
asked,
dread overcoming her and making it
impossible for her to speak straight. She couldn’t breathe.

She stood from behind her
desk as Tate’s words sank in.

“They were attacked on the
road. No one knows who is alive or dead. Sandy has destroyed the compound at
Stink’s orders. He and Killer are the only ones we know who are alive.” Tate
sobbed over the line. “It was only supposed to be a quick drop, Eva. I’ve not
heard from Murphy or my father, and I’m freaking out. Killer said it was an
entire fucking club, an ambush.”

Her words faded all
together.
An ambush?
What the fuck?
Tiny was careful. He
would never lead his men into a trap.

Staring out of the office
window she saw her father training with Lance. Gavin hadn’t even stopped by to
harass her.

Ned hadn’t wanted her to be
alone, and he’d brought her to the gym to work even though today was her day
off. Gavin was sparring with another of the men. They had both been giving her
space yet keeping her in their line of sight. What did they know? Something was
wrong, and she was going to find out. She knew they had information about Tiny.

“I’ll be in touch, Tate.”

“Please, Eva, I think
they’re dead.”

“No, you’re not to think
that,” Eva said. “Your father is an intelligent man. He will not let anything
happen to himself or his men, I promise you that. Everything Tiny does is to
protect what he holds dear.”

Hanging up the phone she
stormed out to her father.

“Dad, I need a word,” she
said, rounding the fighting ring where her father was stood.

“Not now, honey. Give me an
hour.”

Holding onto the rope she
climbed onto the mat and stood in front of her father. “No, we’re going to talk
now.”

Ned dropped his arms to look
at her. “What do you want to know?”

“The Skulls were organized
on a drop, your drop, the other day. No one has heard from them, why?” she
asked. Her anger was building. His men closed all the doors and pushed anyone
who was not close to Ned out of the door.

“Eva, we do not talk shop—”

“Killer survived,” she said,
interrupting him. “They were attacked. How the hell did you not know, and why
is it one of your drops?”

“Be careful how you speak to
me.”

“Tiny is missing.” Tears
she’d been holding back released from her. “Tiny, Murphy, Nash, Lash, Zero, and
all of his other men are missing. No one knows if they’re alive. You will tell
me what is going, on or so help me, I will walk out of that door and I will
never have anything to do with you again.” She loved her father dearly, but she
would turn her back on him.

Ned stared at her clearly
contemplating what to tell her.

“They were on a run like
every other one when they were attacked. We don’t know why or by
who
. Alex is back in Vegas. He’s rallying his men to find
out everything. Tiny was able to phone him before everything died down.” He
stepped forward, holding onto her arms. “You can’t go back to Fort Wills.”

“You don’t know anything?”
she asked, shoving him away.

“It’s not my business to
know anything. My business is to make sure nothing is traced back to us!” Ned
shouted.

Shaking her head, she turned
away.

“Where are you going?” he
asked.

“To
someone who gives a fuck to see if he’s alive.”
She stormed out of the gym with only one destination in mind.

Gavin followed her out. “You
need to stay away from this,” he said. “Whoever attacked The Skulls will not
stop until all of them are dead.”

“I love him, Gavin. He is my
heart, my soul, my very fucking life, and he could be dead.”

“He’s an old man.”

Fisting her hand, she
slammed it against his nose. He grunted, collapsing to the floor. She landed a
kick against his balls. “I don’t give a fuck how old he is. Tiny is mine.”
Turning away from him, she ran up the street, hailing the nearest taxi. She
gave the direction to Alex’s casino. Running fingers through her hair, she
became aware of how sticky she was. The heat made her feel sick to her stomach.

Her heart wouldn’t stop
racing. She needed to know what was going on with her man. The only person she
knew who would care was Alex. Settling back against the car, she tapped her leg
and tried to focus on everything that was happening.

Tiny could be dead.

No, she wouldn’t think about
losing the only man she’d ever loved.

Tiny is dead.

The driver pulled up outside
of the casino. She paid him and headed straight inside. Alex’s henchmen were
waiting for her at the door. “Mr. Allen is expecting you.”

She didn’t argue and
followed them toward the elevator. Leaning against the back she stared at all
of their reflections not really seeing anything.

The elevator ride didn’t
last long. She saw they were on the top floor to the penthouse suit. They
entered in the key code to the penthouse, and she was escorted inside. Alex was
sat on a plush sofa. He looked up from his laptop to see her stood there.
Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Eva burst into sobs again.

“Tell me what is going on,”
she said. “Please, tell me. Is Tiny dead?”

“Eva,” Alex said, walking
toward her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her in close.

For several seconds she
accepted his embrace, and then she remembered Tiny was still gone. “No,” she
said, tearing herself out of his arms. “I need to know what the fuck is
happening,
and I need to know now.” She stamped her foot,
trying to keep her emotions in check. “Tell me,
Alex,
tell me how a simple fucking drop has turned into The Skulls running for their lives.”

“We’ll talk about it—”

“No, we’re going to do this
now. You’re the one responsible for the drops. You’ll tell me if you sent the
man that I love off to his death.” If the answer was yes she was going to beat
the shit out of him with the lamp she saw out of the corner of her eye.

Alex stared at her.

“So you do love me?”

Eva never thought she would
hear that voice again. Spinning on her heel she saw the man she loved. Tiny,
the leader of The
Skulls,
was stood staring at her.

“You’re alive?” she asked.
It was a stupid question, but she needed to ask him.

“I’m alive. I’m kicking,
and, Alex, if you don’t get your hands off my woman I’m going to beat the shit
out of you.” Tiny wore a white bathrobe that she remembered were features with
every room.

She couldn’t hold back.
Running to him, Eva threw herself into his arms. “I love you. I love you. I
love you.” She chanted the words over and over not caring who was watching or
what they were thinking as she held onto him.

Tiny grunted as he wrapped
his arms around her. He tucked his face against her neck and inhaled. “You
smell so fucking good.”

“When Tate told me I thought
the fucking worst,” she said.

“What? Tate knows?” Tiny
asked, pulling away. He held her arms. She was falling apart, and yet she was
the happiest she’d ever been.

“She called me. Killer and
Stink are alive. Sandy has destroyed the compound.”

Tiny looked over her
shoulder to glare at Alex. “I told you not to answer.”

“I’ve not answered any of
her calls.”

Eva explained about Killer
going to Kelsey and then the others turning up.

“Fuck, I didn’t want her to
know.” Tiny cursed, and she held onto him.

“You’ve got to tell her.
She’s pregnant, and no one has heard from Murphy or Nash and Lash or the
others.” She kept hold of his hand as he walked over to Alex.

“Give me your phone, and
I’ll talk to her now and you can leave.”

“This is my casino,” Alex
said.

“You’ve got more than enough
rooms, and after what you just did to me and my men, you fucking owe me.”

Alex didn’t argue. Tiny
settled down on the sofa as they were left alone. She dropped her head to his
lap as he phoned Tate. Running her fingers up the inside of his thigh, she saw
the bandages wrapped around his leg.

Twenty minutes later, he
placed the phone on the sofa beside him. His hand rested on her back then moved
up to her hair.

“How long have you been
here?” she asked, tracing his leg.

“I got here this morning. Everything
happened yesterday afternoon. I was waiting for Alex to arrange a meet with
Ned. I wasn’t waiting around here without having my woman by my side. We’re
going to be meeting him tomorrow.”

“Good answer,” she said,
looking up at him. “When I got that call from Tate I was so fucking scared. I
thought you were dead.”

“It’s going to take a
fucking lot to get rid of me.”

She smiled even as her tears
spilled over.

“Hey, no more tears.” He
stroked her cheek, and he winced. “I love you, babe, but you fucking stink.”

He lifted her up in his arms
and carried her through to the bathroom. She screamed and held onto him as he
dumped her on her feet. Eva watched as he started to run her a bath. In quick
movements he got her undressed.

“I don’t smell.”

“You smell. I’m not touching
you until you wash that smell off you.” He ran his hands up and down her
thighs.

“What smell is that?” she
asked.

“The
smell of dirty fucking fighters.”

Laughing, Eva didn’t know
how she could be happy at a time like this.

****

Tiny stayed out of the bath
as he dumped Eva inside. She gasped and laughed. He was so happy to see her.
When he’d arrived that morning looking like shit he’d only wanted to go see
her. Alex refused to give him the directions. The bastard had made him get
settled, have a wash, and be seen by his personal doctor. His legs were a mess
from coming off his bike, but the doctor had taken care of him. Everything was
bandaged up, and he had a special vial of pain pills in case of emergencies.

He lifted her arm seeing the
engagement band he’d sent her. “Are you going to give me your answer?” he
asked.

“Yes, Tiny. I’ll marry you.”
She knelt beside the edge of the tub wrapping her arms around him. “Why can’t
you join me?” she asked.

“I’ve hurt myself, baby. I
hurt
bad
.” He removed the robe showing her what he’d
done. “I can’t get it wet, and I can only take sponge baths and showers where I
keep it out of the way for a couple of weeks until it has all healed.”

“Oh, you get a sponge bath?”

“Only
until it’s healed.
I feel like an
old fucking man.”

She reached down, gripping
his shaft. “You’re not an old man where it counts.”

Covering her hand with his,
he tightened her fist. “If you’re going to start playing with me then
do
it right.”

Eva smiled. “I’ve missed
you.”

“We’ve been screwing since
you left.”

She threw her head back,
laughing. “That’s phone sex. It’s not the same.”

He agreed. Taking her hand
away from his cock, he finished washing the sweat and dirt from her. Neither of
them spoke while he washed her hair and helped her out of the bath. He toweled
her dry then wrapped her in a bathrobe similar to his.

Together they settled on the
large bed with Eva between his thighs as he brushed her hair. The wet length
coated his front. He didn’t mind. Feeling her hair, Tiny felt peace come over
him.

“Do you know who ambushed
you?” she asked, filling the silence.

Tiny didn’t tense. He’d been
waiting for the question and was surprised it took her so long to ask. “Yes, I
know them, or at least I know the man leading them.”

“You don’t have to tell me
what you don’t know,” she said.

“No, I’m going to tell you.
There’s never going to be any secrets between us.” He moved the robe off her
legs and touched her skin to skin. “I need you to promise me not to hold my
past against me.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

He took a deep breath and
looked down into her face. “Fort Wills was once an awful place to live. No one
gave a fuck about the town. There was a select group known as The Darkness who
ruled the town.” He stopped to lick his lips. “I was part of the group with
Devil and Mikey. We worked within the group fucking people up and doing
whatever we wanted. I thought it was great. I could beat the shit out of anyone
I wanted, and no one stopped me. I felt invincible. I didn’t care about women
or anything.”

Tiny gripped her thighs
needing her strength to hold onto. She covered his hands, providing her
support. He’d never once told Patricia about his past.