Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
They all looked at him in shock.
“You can’t be serious,” Tiny said. “Butch’s situation is different from everyone else’s. He got innocent people killed.”
“I know that, but he’s also a Skull. None of us know what he went through to get to this point. I don’t want to take my cut from a club who couldn’t forgive a brother. We all make mistakes, you included, Tiny. You were part of The Darkness in the beginning.” Whizz put the stick back on the table. He needed to calm down. It was important to him that they not push Butch aside. He was family, and family was what got Whizz through. “When I was taken and Alan was torturing me…” He stopped as the memory gripped him hard. Not once since his attack had he spoken aloud the truth of what happened to him. “When he was raping me, my only thought was of this club. I wouldn’t tell its secrets, and I wouldn’t doubt you in coming to get me. You’re a family at the heart of the club. Turn your back on Butch and I don’t see a reason to be part of what The Skulls have become. Butch came back to us. He lost his way, but he still came back. I understand he fucked up, but can’t we give him a chance? He made a mistake, and, yes, I agree that he should pay for what he did, but don’t you think giving away the location of your old club helped? We wiped out the club, Tiny. They’re not a threat anymore. We wiped them out. They were an entire generation of kids that survived an attack over twenty years ago.”
None of the brothers said a word, and he looked at each of them in turn. “I know it’s hard to deal with what happened. Butch’s situation is unique. None of us know how we’d act. Gonzalez fucked us up with Chaos Bleeds. Don’t let him tear apart this club.”
He turned away from the room and left. Making his way up to his bedroom, he closed the door, shutting out the world. What he spoke was the truth. The Skulls were his family. They took care of everyone and didn’t cast anyone aside. If they didn’t give Butch a chance to come back in, he was done. If they couldn’t give Butch a third chance then what hope did he have of them accepting Lacey as his woman? She’d been part of the club they destroyed. They’d never accept her into the fold, and he couldn’t live with that. Family meant everything to Whizz. The Skulls was the only family he had left.
Whizz removed his clothes, taking a long shower, loving the feel of the hot water cascading down his body. With the mention of Alan, he needed the hot water to feel clean. He picked up the soap and started to scrub at his skin. Every time he mentioned Alan or allowed the truth to enter his mind, he felt dirty. He needed to be clean. Once he was done with the shower, he climbed out, wrapping a towel around his waist. When he entered the bedroom he came to a stop when he saw Lacey standing in the center of the room. The door was wide open, and several bags were on the bed.
“Hey,” she said smiling at him.
He closed the door, leaning against the wood. Staring at her, he took in the sight of her dressed in Angel’s old maternity clothes. The sight of the clothes did nothing to quell his raging hard-on.
“Did you have fun?” he asked.
“I did.”
He’d missed her. It had been hard not to go and find her. This had been an experiment to him to give her trust. Not only had she gone shopping, she’d come back and no one was harmed, apart from his wallet. He hoped Prue had made sure she bought plenty of stuff for herself.
“What happened to your face?” she asked, dropping the bags to move toward him. She reached out to touch his face. He didn’t jerk back even though he wanted to. When her cool fingers touched his skin, he wasn’t scared or repulsed. Her touch felt right to him.
“I ran into Hardy’s fist.” He touched her arms, loving the feel of her close to him.
“Why would you do that?”
“He said some shit. I said some shit. We both said some shit, and this is what happened.” He shrugged. “Rose came, and now she’s gone.”
“Gash said Rose had left Hardy.”
“I didn’t realize how much Gash liked to talk.”
She shrugged. “He didn’t exactly talk. Prue and Angel asked why there wasn’t a prospect tailing us or something. Gash then explained there were no prospects left and he’d lost the game of cards.”
Her fingers moved down to his chest where more bruises lay.