Black Skulls, page 12
“You both need to learn to stay the fuck out of my personal shit, do you understand? I’m so fucking tired of you and Luke butting in where you’re not fucking welcomed.”
“I’m looking out for you, Cole. You’re my fucking son!” Dad hollered at me.
“I don’t need you to fucking look out for me!” I roared, finally losing my temper. “First, you two don’t want me having shit to do with Amelia, and now, now you fucking want to give me relationship advice?!” I glared at Luke. “How about this for the both of you?! All Amelia and I do is fuck!”
Luke punched me in the face, busting my lip. I worked my jaw around, and then, I let my fists start swinging. Luke and I fell to the floor, and I continued slamming my fists into his face, not giving a fuck. I was livid, and I was fucking tired of everybody butting into my fucking life.
My dad finally yanked me off of him, and I glared at him. “It’s in your best interest to fucking let go of me,” I warned him.
“Get your head on straight, Cole!” Dad roared at me.
Amelia came into the bar room and helped her dad up off of the floor. “You!” my dad roared at her. Instead of flinching back, Amelia stood her ground, glaring at him. I swear, I was almost to the point of black out when he yelled at my fucking girl. “I fucking told you that you were messing him up!”
I wrapped my hand around his throat and slammed him down onto the bar. “You don’t fucking talk to her like that!” I hollered in his face.
Two club members pulled me back from him and shoved me down onto a chair a few feet away. “You need to fucking calm down,” Ryan told me.
I glared at him. “Fucking shut your mouth before I do you what I did to Luke,” I snapped at him.
“I told you to leave him the fuck alone, Amelia, but instead you got him wrapped around your fucking finger! Now, Cole’s all fucking twisted up, and it’s all your goddamn fault!”
Amelia walked up to him, glaring daggers. “Well, guess what, Travis? I never really gave a fuck about anything you had to say anyway. You don’t fucking scare me and neither do the rest of these fucking pussies around here. I’ve been through hell and back, and I’ve made it out alive. Don’t you dare try to fucking scare me.”
“Your lack of fear is the exact reason you were clinging to Cole then, huh?” he snapped at her.
She slapped him, sending his face swinging to the side. I saw a flip in Amelia’s eyes that made her look like a cold-blooded killer. This last time with the ATL had changed her, and it definitely wasn’t for the better.
“You want to accuse me of being weak, but where’s your fucking wife at? Sitting at home, moping and crying that her life is so horrible because she got knocked out a few times? Burn in hell, Travis. You’re crossing the wrong fucking person,” she growled.
He gripped her arm, and within a split second, the arm that his hand was attached to had a knife stabbed into it. He roared in pain, releasing her. My mouth dropped open in shock. The room went deadly silent. Amelia glared at my dad. “Touch me again, and the next place that knife will go is in your fucking heart.”
She stormed out of the clubhouse, slamming the doors shut behind her.
11
Cole
I stormed out of the clubhouse onto the lot, following Amelia outside. When my eyes landed on her, I sighed. She was trying to pull a piece of glass out of her foot. I shook my head. She stabbed a ruthless man in the arm, and then, her next worry is that she’s got a piece of glass in her foot? For fuck’s sake, this woman was hopeless sometimes.
Heaving a sigh, I quickly ate up the distance between us. “Here—use me to keep balance. I’ll pull the glass out of your foot.”
“Go fuck off somewhere, Cole,” she spat up at me. “I’m not in the mood to deal with anyone.”
I glared down at her. I knew she was pissed. Hell, she had a few reasons to be. My dad was yelling at her for no fucking reason, and I beat the hell out of Luke. She was kidnapped again when I promised her that I would never let it happen again. If those weren’t reasons to be pissed off, then I didn’t know what was.
But that didn’t mean that I was in the mood for her smart ass remarks, either.
“Shut the fuck up for once,” I snapped down at her. “I’m trying to fucking help you. You can’t get the damn piece of glass out without my fucking help.”
The glare she threw my way could have frozen Hell. “Fine. Get it out, and then fuck off like I said.”
I ignored her but got the piece of glass out of her foot. “What the fuck are you thinking coming out here barefoot anyway?” I snapped down at her. “This place hasn’t been completely cleaned up yet since the ATL destroyed it.”
“Don’t mention that fucking crew to me,” she snarled, her eyes lighting up with rage.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine how she was feeling at that moment. I didn’t push it. I let the whole thing drop. I wasn’t going to force her to talk about it, not when she was in such a fragile state of mind.
“Fine,” I muttered. “But I’d like to know what in the fucking hell you were thinking when you stabbed my fucking dad in the arm?!” I barked at her. I was pissed at him for treating her like a man and putting his hands on her. I was pissed at her for fucking injuring him. He was my fucking dad, for crying out loud. I had a right to be fucking pissed off about it, didn’t I?!
“I wanted him to get the fucking message to never fucking lay his hands on me again, Cole,” she snapped back at me, a thousand different emotions lacing her words. “Being raped does not make me weak, and I won’t let any fucking bastard try to treat me as if I feel otherwise, do you understand? I don’t regret stabbing him.” Tears filled her eyes as she spoke. My heart clenched in my chest as I pulled her into my arms, holding her as silent tears fell down her face. “Cole, I don’t want to be a victim,” she whispered.
I tilted her chin up so she could look into my eyes. “Then fight back, baby.” I kissed her forehead. “But taking it out on the people who want to help you won’t help anything. Now, when we ride out tomorrow to get these bastards that dared to fucking touch you, my dad’s shooting arm isn’t going to be useful, and we’re going to have to hope that his other arm works just as well.”
She sighed and rested her head back against my chest. I pressed my lips to the top of her head and just continued to hold her in the darkness of the lot.
Amelia
The guys had been gone three days, and it had been the longest three days of my life. Katie hadn’t ridden with them. She had been sticking around the clubhouse, keeping her eye on Clay who still wasn’t allowed to go on runs because he couldn’t be trusted to be sober.
Wasn’t it ridiculous how you could have an alcohol addiction, but you couldn’t have a drug addiction? Sometimes, this club had some seriously fucked up guidelines.
I looked down at my phone when I felt it vibrate in my hand. I answered it as soon as I saw Cole’s name flash across the screen. “Hey.”
“We’re riding in. Clean some tables up. We’ve got some members that need immediate help,” he told me, and then, he hung up.
“What a dick,” I muttered, putting my phone back in my pocket. “Katie, we need to clean up some tables, and we need medical supplies.”
She nodded at me, and we began cleaning the tables up quickly. I heard the bikes the instant they rode through the gates. I flung open the clubhouse doors and watched as Cole jogged over to the van and began helping carry people in. My stomach twisted with a bad, uncomfortable feeling when I didn’t see my dad anywhere.
I quickly made my way over to Travis, not caring that I knew he was probably still pissed at me for stabbing him. “Travis, where’s my dad?” I asked, trying not to panic.
His eyes filled with tears, and my chest tightened with an indescribable pain. “Amelia—” He didn’t have to say anything more. I could already see what he was trying to tell me.
Ryan and Lorenzo were carrying my dad’s lifeless body into the clubhouse. I ran over and reached them as they placed him on a table. Grabbing his hand, I dropped heavily into a chair, my sobs wracking my chest. “Daddy, no,” I sobbed. “You can’t leave me. You can’t fucking leave me!” I screamed.
Mom stood beside me, tears flowing down her face. I laid my head down on his bloody stomach, sobbing, not caring that I was getting blood all over my face and hair. “Daddy, please come back,” I cried. “I need you.”
This shit couldn’t fucking real. My dad was strong. He had gone on numerous runs, and he never got injured. This couldn’t fucking be possible.
Katie came over and pulled my mom into her arms. I saw Cole wrestling the ATL president out of the van.
Rage.
All-fucking-consuming rage boiled in my blood.
I got up and stormed outside. I was fucking livid, and I was ready to spill blood.
The president smirked at me as I reached him. “You fucking killed him, didn’t you? Raping me and beating me just wasn’t enough, was it?!” I screamed at him, my hands shaking.
I jumped on him, knocking both him and Cole to the ground. I began slamming my fists into the president’s face. I wanted to hurt him, to make him feel at least a little bit of the pain that I had been forced to feel.
Cole yanked me up and held me in his arms. I struggled against him, kicking and screaming. At one point, I even bit him. Lorenzo came over, and Cole shoved me against him. “Get her the fuck out of here!” Cole roared, shaking his hand that was bleeding pretty badly from where I bit him. “Lock her in a fucking bedroom for all the fuck I give right now. Get her out of my fucking sight.”
I kicked Cole in his nuts before either of them saw it coming. Cole groaned, falling to his knees and clutching himself, his face painted into a look of pure pain. I swung back and did the same to Lorenzo. Then, I snatched Cole’s gun from his cut before he could stop me and shot the president and his brothers as they were pulled out of the van. Once the gun was empty, I threw it on the ground and stormed inside of the clubhouse, my chest heaving.
“Honey—” my mom began as soon as I stepped inside.
I held my hand up to my mom’s face, effectively shutting her up. “I don’t want to fucking hear about how it’s okay to be sad,” I snapped at her. “I don’t want to hear that what I just did will fill me with guilt.” I glared at her. “Dad wouldn’t be fucking dead if I had just ridden off and never came back like I should have. He would still be alive and making everyone here fucking happy if I had never started this goddamn shit storm in the first place.”
I stormed away from her to my room, slamming my door shut and locking it. I changed my clothes into my ripped jeans, black tank top, boots, and my leather jacket with my cut. I threw my hair up into a bun and grabbed my gun and knife, making sure I had extra bullets.
I wouldn’t be a victim anymore. I wouldn’t let anyone else I cared about get harmed. If that meant I had to ride out, I would. If that meant that I had to kill every fucking bastard that crossed my path wrong, I would.
I was beyond the point of caring anymore. The one man that had stood next to me, supported me through everything, protected me to the best of his ability was now fucking dead, and it was all my goddamn fault.
I stormed out of my room and into the bar room. My mom was standing beside my dad’s body, crying. Cole looked up at my entrance from where he was bandaging his dad’s wound. He eyed my cut. “Been a while since you’ve worn that, isn’t it?” he asked quietly, his eyes wary as he looked at me.
I ignored him, shutting off most of my emotions. I didn’t want to feel sad or helpless anymore. I just wanted to feel fucking angry. I looked over at my mom. “I’m riding out. I have my phone on me. Call me and let me know when dad’s viewing is.”
I walked out of the clubhouse. Cole grabbed my arm when I got halfway across the lot to my bike. He spun me around. “Where in the hell do you think you’re going?” he demanded, his jaw clenched, fury lighting up his eyes.
I glared at him. “That’s none of your fucking business.” I eyed his hand with distaste. “Unless you want your fucking arm to be useless like your dad’s, I’d advise you to let me the fuck go.”
“I’m not letting you ride out of here like this,” he ground out. “You’re fucking emotionally unstable, Amelia. Feeling like this will only get you fucking killed.”
Fury lit up my features. “Hard to let my feelings get me killed when I don’t fucking feel anything.”
I quickly yanked his hand off of my arm, bending his wrist backwards. He quickly yanked his hand from my grasp. I spun on my heel and stormed over to my bike.
The last thing I saw as I rode out was Cole standing with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, watching me ride out with cold, hard eyes.
The bar I had stopped in was a pretty shitty place, but I didn’t plan on going any farther than this when my dad’s viewing would be in a few days. There wasn’t any point in going somewhere far.
I sipped at my beer. A tall, nasty looking guy sat down next to me. He had a long beard and long hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. He looked oddly familiar.
He looked over at me, and he clenched his jaw. “I fucking know you. You’re that bitch that slammed my head onto the fucking bar,” he growled.
“Small world,” I retorted, not giving a damn. He could put his hands on me if he wanted, but if he did, I would gladly cut off every single one of his fingers in front of everyone here.
“Where’s your boyfriend you were with, girly?” he asked me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Cole isn’t my boyfriend.” To answer his question, I said, “As far as I know, Cole is still at the clubhouse. What’s it to you?” I snapped.
“You’re with the DM?” he asked.
I snorted. Was this mother fucker really that stupid? “Can you not read?” I asked. “My cut clearly says Black Skulls.”
His mouth dropped open, shock lighting up his features. “You’re Amelia fucking Johnson, aren’t you? Heard you stabbed Travis Louis. I bet he fucking hates you right now.”
I set my beer down slowly. I eyed him out of the corner of my eye carefully. And when he moved, the light glinted off a gun on his hip. I quickly stood up, pulling my gun out and pointing it against his head. “Let’s go outside, shall we?” I asked him.
Somehow, he knew too much, and I was going to shut him the fuck up.
He walked outside carefully with my gun pressed against the back of his head. Nobody said anything. And I knew they wouldn’t. The Black Skulls and Bloody Royals ran this fucking town. Most people turned a blind eye to the shit we did—unless they were the cops.
We walked outside. “Alright, Amelia, where are you taking me?” the man asked.
“Take me to your vehicle.”
He sighed and walked over to a big black SUV. I slammed him against the SUV and unarmed him completely. “Get in,” I ordered.
He got in slowly. I looked at his dashboard and cursed.
Fuck, I knew he was too fucking calm for this fucking situation.
I yanked his badge off of the dashboard and glared at him. “What do you bastards want with us now?” I spat at him, anger roaring through my veins. The FBI were the last fucking thing these clubs needed.
He shot out of the SUV and slammed me against the vehicle, yanking my hands behind my back. “Amelia Johnson, you are under arrest.”
I cursed.
Cole
My phone went off, and an unknown number popped up on the screen. “Hello?” I answered cautiously.
“Cole, don’t hang up,” I heard Amelia’s voice say. I instantly sat up straighter. “I’m in jail. The fucking FBI are here. Hopefully, I can get out on bail come Monday.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “For fuck’s sake, Amelia, what did you do?” I asked her. Because she had to fucking do something.
“Hurry up, Johnson!” I heard a cop holler in the background.
“Yell at me one more time, and I’ll gladly add another fucking charge to the ones I already have,” she growled at him. I clenched my jaw. “Cole, just try your best to get me out of here before they get me for murder, too.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” I knew something like this was going to fucking happen. She was fucking unstable, and she was causing even more shit for me to have to deal with.
I heard Amelia yell at someone, and the line hung up. “What’s going on?” Dad asked as he sat beside me, drinking a beer.
“Amelia was arrested by the FBI, I think. Her bail hearing isn’t until Monday, so I can’t do anything until then.”
“She’s gone for four hours and already sitting in jail.” He sighed, shaking his head.
“Dad, this means the FBI are on our asses,” I told him. “Amelia’s also not in the right state of mind at the moment, and God help us if she says something that she shouldn’t.”
He sighed again and ran a hand down his face. “We can’t even grieve without something else popping up. The same fucking thing happened with Heather.” He looked at me. “When is this shit going to end, Cole? How in the hell did we even end up here?”
I shrugged. “This is all I know, Dad, so I don’t know,” I answered him honestly. “The only thing that I know is that the clubs are falling apart, and our women are getting hurt when they shouldn’t be victims. Amelia was raped and beaten, and then, Heather was killed. Mom ended up getting kidnapped. What woman is next, Dad? This shit has never happened to the clubs before.”
“I’ve got to get your mom to give up her position to you, Cole.” I arched a brow at him. “Amelia is going to have to take your spot. Between you, me, and Amelia, we should be able to pull ourselves out of this mess.”
I didn’t want to think badly of Amelia; I really didn’t. But she was mentally unstable at the moment, and she definitely wasn’t making the greatest decisions. “Do you really think Amelia is a good idea, Dad?”
