Tiny (6 page)

“Theo, what are you doing
here?” she asked.

Wincing at the name, Killer
left his bike. His real name was Theodore Smith. No one was afraid by a man
with such a name, and The Lions had renamed him Killer.

“I wanted to come and see
you to make sure you were all right.” He hadn’t come to see if she was all
right.

She may think they were over,
but it was far from over for him. He wanted her too damn much to let it be
over.

“I’m fine. Everything is
fine. Work is the same.” She stood with her arms folded. Her bag was over her
shoulder, and he remembered her buying it in town. Why was he thinking about
her fucking bag? There was so much he wanted to say.

“Tate misses you. She
doesn’t invite you back to the club because she knows you’ll refuse,” he said.
Bringing Tate into the conversation was a low blow, but he had to play it as otherwise
Kelsey was gone.

“I miss her, too.” She
dropped her hands and stared at him. “What is this about?”

He closed the distance
between them. Wrapping his fingers around the back of her neck, he forced her
to look at him. “This is not over.”

“Theo—”

“No, my name is Killer. Use it.”

“This is not how this works.
We’re not the same.” Her palm was pressed to his shirt front.

“Is this about your
education and the fact I’ve got none?”

“What? No. How could you
even think that?” she asked. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at him.

“I’ve not taken another
woman since I met you,
Kels
. This is not over.” He
couldn’t hold back any longer and slammed his lips down on hers.

Love, lust, pure craving
filled him at the feel of her lips underneath his. With one hand wrapped around
the back of her neck, he used the other to cup her ass. He wasn’t letting her
go.

She gasped, opening her
lips. He took full advantage, plundering his tongue inside. Her gasp turned to
a moan. Killer felt her melt against him like she had so many times before. He
imagined her pussy must be flowing with arousal. They’d never gotten that close
to each other.

Kelsey was the first woman
he’d ever known to keep her clothes on at all times. She wouldn’t let him take
her to bed. Everything was not about sex and fucking. She was the first woman
to ever ask him how he was. Didn’t she realize how fucking important she was to
him?

“No,” she said, pushing
away. “I can’t do this.”

He refused to let her go.

“Why?” he asked, feeling
anger once again at being pushed aside. “Tell me why?”

The tears that had filled
her eyes finally fell onto her cheeks. “I’m not strong enough for this. Tate,
Angel, they’re strong for you being who you are. They stand by their men. I
can’t do this. I can’t be with you or give myself to you. It’s too much, and
I’m not who you think I am. I’m not strong.”

With her words hanging in
the air, she turned on her heel and ran.

Killer watched her go
feeling his whole world leave him. Kelsey was also the first woman he’d ever
loved.

Chapter Three

Tiny was livid. The pale
cream and pink did nothing to relieve his anger as he stared around the
compound. He wore no shirt, and he’d just watched Alex take his woman away in a
car. He knew where they were going, yet his anger refused to cease. His men
were laughing and drinking beer as the women fussed around the room. The sight
of pink made him feel sick.

Tate walked up to him,
smiling. Her smiling face was the only thing that could defuse him.

“Daddy, I love you, but you
need to do up your pants.”

He’d been in a rush to get
to Eva when he saw her leaving, and he’d not given any thought to his state of
undress. His shoes and the rest of his clothes were still in his office. The
scent of Eva’s release surrounded him.

Quickly zipping up his
pants, Tiny cursed. “When your Uncle gets back, he’s a dead man.”

“No, he’s not. You love
Uncle Alex like a brother. Besides,
him
taking Eva
away is probably the best.” Tate was flicking through a catalogue with babies
on the cover.

“And why is that?” he asked,
getting annoyed again.

“You’ve said something to
make her run from you. When it comes to Eva you’re always saying or doing
something to piss her off. I’m surprised she has stayed so long.” She looked up
from out of the catalogue. “You don’t think she’s going to be waiting around
forever, do you?”

“Do you have a problem with
her?”

“No. I love Eva. Always have
and always will. My love of her is not going to stop her from leaving,” Tate
said, folding her arms over her chest.

“She’s not leaving. Eva is
staying in Fort Wills.”

Tate scoffed. “You’re like
every other man. Murphy thought he could
tame
me, and
yet he’s still trying.” She tapped Tiny on the shoulder. “Dream on, Dad.”

She walked away before he
could refute her statement. Fucking women, even his daughter was plotting
against him, but she got her attitude from him, which he couldn’t complain
about. He watched her go to Angel and Sophia. All three women were pregnant
with his men’s babies. The next generation meant a lot to him. Without the
future of The Skulls there would be no one to keep Fort Wills safe. They all
had a responsibility to the town to protect them all. He took his job very
seriously as a protector.

“They all look happy, don’t
they?” Zero asked, stepping up beside him.

“If you’re going to make
some fucking snide comment about what went down in the office then we can take
this outside.”

“I’ve got nothing to say
about Eva or the noises she makes.”

Tiny tensed. He saw Zero
wasn’t looking at him but at the women giggling. Nash moved behind Sophia to
stroke her waist. The other Skull was the only guy in the room with a bottle of
water in his hand. He was proud Nash was taking his addictions seriously.
Sophia was good for the other man. She kept him grounded.

The way Eva grounds you.

Another one of his thoughts,
he cut off quickly. He couldn’t be thinking about himself and Eva together or
how she completed him and made him want to be a better man.

“You’re not poaching on
another woman, are you?”

They all worked by knowing
the women who were taken and the women who were fair game.

“No, I’m not taking Nash’s
woman. Sophia’s … I don’t know. She’s different, yet she’s the same. It’s like
a part of her refuses to see all the shit that goes on, and she’s been dealt
shit and knows it exists. I respect her, okay. It’s not often you’ll hear me
say that about a woman.”

“I take it you’ve been
bitten by the woman bug?”

“No, I just know women are
not always the best source of company,” Zero said.

“That’s wonderful to know,
Zero,” Sandy said. Sandy was the resident doctor.

Tiny saw the anger in the
woman’s eyes, and it was all directed at Zero.

In the last month Sandy had
started hanging around the compound more often. From what he heard no man was
getting between her thighs anymore. Tiny knew it had something to do with the
stabbing over Nash. She’d been in a coma for a few days, and it had been touch
and go over her life.

“You’re different, Sandy,”
Zero said, trying to make up for his words.

“I sleep with men who don’t
give a fuck about commitment, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be faithful to
the right man.” She glared daggers at Zero before turning her gaze to him. “I
need to talk with you.”

He motioned toward his
office. There was no exotic sway to her hips as he followed behind her. Tiny
stared at Sandy’s back and noticed she wore more clothes than he’d ever seen on
her. She wore jeans and a long sweater. Her hair was pulled back into a
ponytail. He saw she looked younger than her forty years. He’d fucked her once
many months ago. Afterwards he’d not been able to go home to Eva for the shame
that consumed him. They’d not even been dating, but he felt the betrayal.

You’re not even dating now.

Closing the door he walked
to his desk. The computer was fried and was no way to get repaired. He’d have
to get a new one. “What can I do for you?” he asked.

She bent down to help pick
up everything he and Eva had spilled to the floor.

“You don’t need to help with
that,” he said, taking the paperwork off her hands.

Sandy took a seat, and he
lowered himself down into his own. He couldn’t believe less than an hour ago
he’d been fucking Eva in the very same chair. The room smelled like sex to him.
It was a good smell, and he didn’t care if Sandy smelled it or not.

“I know I’m not one of your
men or part of the club—”

“You’re part of the club,
Sandy. What happened to you should never have happened. Don’t think that you’re
not appreciated because you are. You mean a lot to me and the club.”

She looked down at her lap.
He saw her hands were gripping her knees tightly.

“I, erm, I quit work at the
hospital.”

He
listened,
shocked by the fact she quit work.

“I handed in my notice, and
I’m finished with the place. I can’t go home. Being alone hurts, but I can’t be
with any of the men either.” She looked up at him. He saw the tears spilling
from her eyes. “I’ve never felt this way before. I’m alone. I’ve got no family.
I was a doctor, and I loved the life within the club but … I can’t do it.”

She wiped at her eyes. “I
thought about leaving, and I got in my car to leave. There’s nowhere for me to
go. I can’t support myself.”

“Do you need money?” he
asked.

“No, this is not about
money. What I’m asking is can I stay here? I can pay rent or something. Can I
stay here without being with one of the men? I don’t want to be an old lady or
anyone’s woman. I just want to be left alone to deal.”

The desperation in her voice
cut him deep. She’d been one of the only women who didn’t have a prospect on
her, and she’d suffered because of it. No one would have hurt her if he’d
thought ahead.

Getting up from his seat, he
walked to the door.

“Stink, come here.”

He waited by his door for
the other brother to walk into the room. Stink didn’t have any sense of smell.
The other man did all the shit jobs without a problem. He was sure it would only
be a matter of time before the boys renamed him when they grew tired of calling
him Stink.

“Yes, boss,” Stink said,
entering the room.

Tiny told him everything
with Sandy. He knew the other man wouldn’t even try it on with her and with the
right order, would protect Sandy with his life. Stink once confided in him that
he wasn’t interested in quick easy fucks with Sandy. Stink wanted forever and
had the biggest crush on her. No one within the club knew it apart from him.
Sandy and Stink would make a good team for now. Tiny knew that Stink wouldn’t
do anything to hurt Sandy or put moves on her.

“Are you okay with this
arrangement?” Tiny asked, looking at Sandy. The other woman stared at Stink.

“He knows I’m not interested
in anything else?”

“Babe, I’m not going to
touch you other than to be your bodyguard and safety net. I’ve no interest in
bedding you.”

If Tiny didn’t know better
he’d say Stink had his fingers crossed behind his back.

“Okay, then
I’m
good with this, Tiny.” Sandy got up from her seat.
“Thank you for being so considerate.”

She placed a cool hand on
his arm.

Closing the door Tiny
remembered a long time ago when he’d turned and walked away from a woman to be
hurt.

The memory swamped him,
threatening to drag him down.

****

Tiny, before The Skulls began

Tiny stared around the grounds. Mikey stood smoking a
cigarette. The look of disgust on the other man’s face scared him. Fort Wills
was a fucking shit hole, and no one cared about what went on in the little town
off the beaten track. No one visited unless they wanted to end up dead or as
part of The Darkness. He heard Snitch laughing his head off in the distance
followed by the sound of a feminine cry.

“He’s at it again,” Mikey said. Devil walked out of
the forest carrying a bottle of vodka. They were the only two men Tiny really
knew who hated what The Darkness did. The Darkness was a group of thugs who
controlled the town. When they told the residents to jump, the town simply
asked, how high?

“What?” Tiny asked. Fear filled every corner of his
soul at the desperate screams.

“He’s raping another girl. They’re all fucking
monsters,” Mikey said.

Devil threw his bottle against the tree. In the last
few months, The Darkness had gotten out of control. There was once a time when
Tiny loved being part of a strong group of men. They fucked whoever they wanted
and beat the shit out of anyone who stood in their way. If there was order,
they would make it their mission to fuck it over.