Black Skulls, page 17
I hugged him, tears dripping down my cheeks for the second time that day. “Thank you,” I whispered.
I felt him nod. I moved away again, and he sighed. “Make Luke proud, will you? You’re just like him. You’re already making a great VP, Amelia. Be the legend that he was.”
I nodded. He turned around and walked over to Katie. She leaned up and kissed him softly. I walked down the hall to my room. When I walked in, Cole followed behind, placing the box on my bed. I sighed and opened the box. The first think I pulled out was his cut, and I started crying all over again. Cole wrapped his arms around me tightly, whispering soothing words into my ear.
When I had calmed down, I set the cut down on the back of my desk chair and pulled out everything else from the box. There were pictures of him holding me when I was a baby and more pictures of us together as I grew up. I smiled at the pictures. I didn’t even know he had kept all of these and framed them at that. I tossed the box to the side and set the pictures up in my room.
I really fucking missed my dad. I didn’t realize how much until I saw his smiling face in the first picture that had been taken of all the club members that I had actually joined in on. I was Daddy’s little girl, and I always would be.
I was almost asleep when I heard someone scream from the barroom. My eyes flew open at the same time Cole shot up into a sitting position. “Get off of me!” a woman screamed, terror coating her voice.
Cole cursed and got out of bed, running down the hall only in his sweats. I slid out of bed and pulled on shorts. I walked out into the bar room just as Joseph took a swing at Cole. Cole ducked it and quickly wrapped his hand around Joseph’s throat, slamming him against the wall. “How many fucking times do I have to tell you mother fucking idiots that you don’t fucking force a woman to have sex?!” Cole roared, the veins in his neck and arms standing out.
A girl was sitting on the couch. She didn’t look any older than me. She was definitely a woman I had never seen before, not even around town. I was about to walk over when I felt vomit rising in my throat. Groaning, I sat down quickly, telling the closest person to me to find a trash can ASAP. I snatched it from him, and a few seconds later, I vomited into it. I heard a body hit the floor, but I didn’t look over, too busy throwing up a second time.
“You stupid fucker!” I heard Cole roar.
Brian gave me a small smile when I looked up and handed me a bottle of water. I took a few swallows. “Thanks,” I murmured.
He jerked his head in the direction of the girl. “You might want to deal with her. He beat the hell out of her trying to get her to fuck him.”
I sighed and stood up with Brian’s help. I gagged, and he held the trashcan up. I breathed in and out of my mouth slowly, but the feeling still didn’t go away. The sound of grunts and skin hitting skin finally reached my ears, and I looked over to see Cole and Joseph doing some really bloody fighting. I sighed and looked at Brian. “Break it up, please?”
He nodded. I took another sip of water and then walked over to the girl. She was still crying. I sat beside her. “Hey.” I said softly. “I’m Amelia—the VP of the club. What’s your name?”
“Holly,” she sobbed.
“Where did you come from?” I asked her gently.
“I work at the strip club across town. Sometimes, I do work outside of the club to provide for my daughter, but nothing like this has ever happened,” she sobbed.
I grabbed her arms, examining them. She had red handprints around her wrists that were already beginning to bruise. Her nose was bloody, and she had a bruise on her jaw, and her eye was swollen. Bruises in the shape of handprints were already popping up on her neck. I sighed. Joseph had really done a fucking number on her.
“Holly, I know how you’re feeling, and trust me when I sat that it will be okay,” I told her softly. At least she’d had help.
She hiccupped and nodded. I looked over at Cole and Joseph to see that Travis and Brian had managed to pull them apart. Cole’s jaw and cheekbone were already bruising, and his lip was split, but other than that, he seemed fine. He was fucking livid though. Joseph looked like he was going to black out at any given moment.
Cole’s eyes met mine. His gaze was torn away when Joseph began hollering, “She’s the fucking bitch that I fucking paid—”
“It doesn’t give you a fucking right to try to fuck her in a—” Cole roared.
“Cole!” Brian hollered, shutting both of the men up. “Pull yourself together, man! Your girl over there is barely holding herself together!”
Cole looked back over at me and sighed, running a hand through his hair. He stormed away from them and came over to me and Holly. Holly shrunk into my side as he came over, beginning to cry again. I pulled her into a comforting hug. Fuck, I knew she was terrified. Cole didn’t exactly look friendly at that moment.
“Cole,” I said as a warning.
He looked over at Holly, and a look of understanding passed over his features. He took a few calming breaths and then sat next to me. “Hey,” Cole said gently, “I’m not going to hurt you. Are you okay?”
Holly looked at me with wide, tear filled eyes. I gave her an encouraging smile. “Cole isn’t going to hurt you,” I told her gently. “I’m a rape victim, too.” The word victim left a bitter taste in my mouth. Cole grabbed my hand in his. “Cole helped me.”
She sniffled and nodded. “Your daughter—where is she?” I asked her.
“She’s with my mom, but I should have picked her up already. I can’t let her see me like this. My job isn’t supposed to affect her,” she mumbled.
“Make-up works wonders for bruises,” I told her. I showed her my fading chain shaped bruise on my neck. I felt Cole’s hand tighten around mine. I knew my injuries were still a sore subject for him. “I was able to hide this for a while with make-up. Come on. You can use my stuff. I think we have about the same skin tone.”
She nodded. Cole followed us wordlessly as we went back to my room. I led her to my bathroom and handed her my makeup bag. “Do you have a phone to get in contact with your mom?” I asked her.
“The guy smashed it,” she told me, her voice becoming a little stronger now that she was away from the barroom.
I handed her mine. “Call your mom and tell her what happened. I’m sure she’s worried.”
She gave me a small, thankful smile. I walked toward my bed where Cole was already sprawled on his back with his eyes closed. “Cole?”
“Hm?” he murmured, turning his face to me but not opening his eyes.
“You okay?” I asked gently.
He chuckled, opening his eyes this time. “Babe, that’s a crazy question. How many times have I been shot or hit by a vehicle? I’m fine.” He paused for a minute. “I think Dad said he’s going to take Joseph to the hospital, though.”
I laughed. That bastard deserved the beating he got for what he did to Holly. Holly ran out of the bathroom with frantic eyes. I tensed up instantly at the same time Cole sat up. “Holly?” I asked her cautiously.
“Lilly answered the phone. She was crying, and I could barely understand her, but she said there were EMTs at my mom’s house—”
I cut her off. “Do you have a car?” I asked her.
She shook her head. Cole was already off of the bed, grabbing clothes and going into the bathroom. “Cole, grab my makeup bag when you come out!” I called after him.
When he came out, he tossed me my makeup bag. He slid his boots on, and I slipped on my flip-flops. Cole shrugged his cut on and grabbed my hand. “Come on,” he told Holly in his gruff, deep voice. “Amelia and I will take you to wherever you need to go.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Don’t protest,” Cole told her, his patience obviously wearing thin. “Your daughter—who is Lilly, I’m guessing—is probably freaking the fuck out right now. Going with us will get you there a lot faster than walking will.”
We followed Cole over to his truck. I slid into the passenger seat, and Holly got into the back. She told us the directions to her mom’s where her neighbor had Lilly. Holly was running to the front door before the truck even came to a complete stop. The door flew open, and a little blonde girl with pigtails ran into Holly’s arms, crying loudly. “Mommy, Granny is in the hospital!” she sobbed.
“I know, baby; I know,” she whispered, holding Lilly tight, trying to comfort her.
“Get in the truck,” I told her. “We’ll take you to the hospital so you can see your mom.”
Cole and I swung around when we heard motorcycle riding down the street. Their cuts read London’s Tears. Cole cursed and let his head drop to the steering wheel. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Because Joseph can’t keep his dick in his pants, we’ve dragged an innocent woman and her child into our shit. Just fucking lovely,” he ground out.
I didn’t know why London’s Tears were in town, especially since Drake helped me a lot when I was in jail. It didn’t make sense.
I got out and ran over to Lilly and Holly. I couldn’t let an innocent mother and her child get hurt because of our problems.
I shoved them into the bushes just as shots went off. When it quieted down, Cole yanked me off of the ground, glaring at me harshly. I yanked away from him and helped Holly and Lilly up. If Lilly and Holly weren’t in bad shape before, they were absolutely possibly ready to piss their pants right then.
“Amelia!” Cole roared, panic in his voice.
I felt the pain in my leg as soon as my adrenaline began wearing off, and I almost crumpled to the ground. Cole caught me before I fell and held me against him. “For fuck’s sake, woman, you’re going to get yourself killed one day,” he ground out. “Get in the truck,” he ordered Holly and Lilly. He looked down at me, anger and worry in his eyes. “You better fucking stay awake, Amelia. Damn it, I won’t fucking lose you.”
16
“When the fuck are you actually going to start listening to me?!” Cole roared when the doctor finally finished stitching my leg up. “For fuck’s sake, that bullet almost hit a fucking artery in your thigh!”
“I couldn’t exactly let Holly or her daughter get hurt, now could I?” I spat at him. “You weren’t smart enough to think that those bikers would do something. I wasn’t taking a fucking chance. I’d rather die than some innocent woman and her child.”
“Well, how about this?!” he hollered at me. “You’re my woman carrying my fucking child!”
I sat up, glaring at him. “Go fuck yourself, Cole. This kid may be half yours, but it’s still mine, too.” I slid off of the bed, wincing as I put some pressure on my leg. “Also, I’ll never fucking be yours until you start changing your fucking ways, do you fucking understand?” I knew it was a sack of shit, but I was angry.
He grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. Pure rage masked his face, but I didn’t give a fuck. Cole didn’t scare me, nor did he intimidate me.
“Amelia, I’m not playing any fucking games. You want to get hurt? Fine. I know how you are. You don’t give a shit about yourself. All I’ve ever done is try to fucking protect you. But you’re carrying a baby that is mine, and I won’t allow anything to happen to it. If that means that I have to drag you home right now and chain you to my bed until you’re about to deliver this baby, by all fucking means, I will,” he snarled down at me, fed up with arguing with me.
I snatched my arm out of his grip and took a step forward, wincing as I did so. “Why don’t you ask someone for help?” Cole ground out through clenched teeth.
“Because I need to use my fucking leg, Cole,” I snapped at him.
I managed to make it to the waiting room where Holly and Lilly were waiting on us. She had spent the time I was getting the bullet out and getting stitched up to go check on her mom. She eyed Cole and I warily. “Is everything okay between you two?” she asked a bit timidly.
“Just fucking dandy,” I ground out.
When we got to the clubhouse, Cole immediately called church. “What’s church for?” Holly asked me.
“It’s club business,” I told her. Hell, we hardly told prospects anything. Besides, one of our members had almost raped her; I didn’t need to make a mistake by letting her know something, and she end up using it against us.
She gaped at me as if I had slapped her across the face. “I can be trusted, Amelia.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “Holly, I know what it’s like to be a rape victim. You will get tired of being a victim and feeling weak. When you do, you will do whatever it takes to take that person down,” I told her in a low voice so Lilly wouldn’t hear. Holly physically winced at my words. “So, no, right now, I don’t think that you can be trusted.”
“Amelia, get your ass in here!” Cole roared.
I swung around to face him, fury flaring up in my eyes. “Fucking holler at me like a fucking dog one more time, and I’ll knock all of your fucking teeth down your throat,” I snarled.
“Someone needs to be fucked,” Katie said, walking towards the chapel.
“Shut up!” Cole and I shouted at her at the same time.
Gunshots started to fill the air around us, silencing all of our words. I knocked Holly and Lilly to the ground, covering their bodies with mine as much as I could. The clubhouse doors were kicked open, and London’s Tears stormed in, guns pointed at all of us. I cursed. I didn’t know what the fuck had happened to put us on their radar, especially considering my dad had turned to them for help while I was in jail.
Cole yanked me off of the ground and shoved me behind him, pressing me against his back. “What the fuck are you bastards doing in town?” Cole asked them, his voice deadly quiet.
“You’ve got some precious cargo of ours. Recently obtained, I heard,” one of the men spoke up.
“Listen, we don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” I told him, coming around to stand by Cole’s side.
He smirked when he saw me, and I recognized him when I got a good look at him. “Drake?” I asked incredulously. “Why the fuck would you accuse us of having something? You know I would never let anyone here take anything away from you.”
“You know him?” Cole asked me, his muscles tense.
“Yes, I know him!” I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air in exasperation. “My dad made an alliance with him while I was in jail to try to get me help.”
“About jail,” Drake spoke up. “I assume you got out early as planned?”
“Yes,” I told him. “Drake, what do you think we have?” I asked him. Fuck, the last person I needed this club crossing was Drake. He was a really good friend to my dad; we didn’t need him as an enemy.
“There’s a woman that owes me something. She’s blonde and has blue eyes. You might have seen her at a strip club or around town with a little girl.”
My heart thudded hard in my chest. “Holly?” I asked him.
He nodded. “I don’t need the little girl. I just need her. She needs to pay me back and the fucking bitch hasn’t done it yet,” he snapped harshly. Man, he really fucking hated Holly. Drake wasn’t the kind of man to run you down all over the country if you took something petty from him; Holly had taken something valuable to Drake, that much was for sure.
I walked up to Drake despite Cole’s glare on my back. I knew he felt having Drake there was a threat, but I trusted Drake with my life. I knew he would never hurt me.
“This little girl can’t see her mother leave her. We have her here, but I’m sure you already knew that.”
“Tell the little girl she needs to go play or something. I need the mother,” Drake snapped down at me, the muscle in his jaw ticking furiously.
I grabbed his arm and pulled him outside. Sighing, I turned to face him. “Drake, you know this is against everything that I believe in. How the fuck are you even thinking about separating a mother and her child?” I demanded.
“Amelia, that woman is not as sweet and innocent as she looks,” he retorted. “Lilly is not just her daughter. Lilly is my kid, too.” Bells went off in my head. I knew Holly had taken something valuable from him. His daughter couldn’t be more valuable.
“I’ve been tracking Holly down since the day she took off with my six-month-old daughter, and I’ll be damned if I allow her to slip through my fingers now. I need you to look out for Lilly while I’m dealing with this problem, but I will be back to get her. But her mother will permanently be in Lilly’s past. I won’t allow her to take Lilly from me again,” he sneered.
“Drake, I can’t just allow you to do this!” I exclaimed, glaring up at him. It was so fucking wrong on so many fucking levels. I understood that better than anyone else. I couldn’t imagine my child being ripped away from me or put into any immediate danger. Somehow, I knew how Holly felt; I knew why she left and took Lilly with her.
“Amelia, I’ve spent over six goddamn years trying to find Lilly!” Drake roared. “That little girl was one of the best fucking things that happened to me, and because her mother didn’t want to fucking be with me anymore, she took the fuck off, taking Lilly with her! Do you know what it’s like to never fucking truly know your child?!” he roared down at me.
“No, I don’t!” I yelled back at him. “It sucks what she did to you, but dammit, Drake, Lilly needs her mother more than she needs anyone!”
Cole stepped out of the clubhouse. “That’s fucking enough,” he growled, stepping up and placing his hand on my lower back. He looked at Drake. “She’s under enough fucking stress as it is. I won’t allow you to fucking stress her out to the point that she miscarries, understood?”
