The Skulls (18 page)

Looking over her shoulder she saw Lash helping Tiny
out. His brother was on the phone calling an ambulance. A couple of The Skulls
were also checking to see if Blaine and Steven were alive. Out of the corner of
her eye she saw her father stand to his feet. He held a gun in his hands, which
he raised.

Acting on instinct, Angel went to her feet and ran
toward Lash. The shot rang out, and pain exploded inside her chest. She
collapsed to the floor, and all she heard was the dull beating of her heart.

****

Lash reacted. His woman had just been shot. He
charged at her father, and the older man was no match for him. Lash was
stronger, bigger, and he needed to hurt the man who’d hurt his woman. There was
no stopping him. The room was washed in red, and it was all because of this man
that there was so much blood.

Grabbing the man, he slammed his head against
David’s. He pummelled David’s body with his fists, and then when he couldn’t
stand it anymore, Lash wrapped his hands around his neck and snapped.

He despised the violence, but he couldn’t stop his
actions. Lash watched David fall at his feet. Without waiting for the body to
hit the ground he went to his knees beside Angel. Pulling her into his lap, he
held her tight.

“Lash,” she said. “It hurts.”

“The ambulance is on its way. You stupid woman, you
never step in front of a bullet.” Tears filled his eyes, and for the first time
since his parents died, Lash let the tears fall.

“I h-had t-to. He was going t-to s-shoot you.”

He shook his head. The rest of the room faded
against the pain of her bleeding out.

“You shouldn’t have done it. I can take a bullet, but
I can’t lose you.”

She smiled when she looked at him. “I love you.”

His heart stopped beating. “What?”

“I love you, Lash. You’re the only man for me.”

Lash shook his head. “I love you, too, baby.”

The paramedics crashed through the door, and they
started working without even hesitating.

Angel was taken from him, and Lash forced his way
into the back of the ambulance. He knew the others would join him at the
hospital. For the trip he needed to make sure she made it. Holding her hand, he
refused to back down even when the paramedic glared at him.

“
Don’t
fucking think of
ordering me about,” Lash said, holding onto his woman.

She passed out, but Lash wouldn’t let go. The trip
to the hospital was fast, and only when he had to did he watch her be wheeled
away. One of the nurses escorted him to a waiting room. He was covered in
blood. Instead of cleaning the blood off, he sat in the seat waiting. The
others in the room left him alone.

Within the hour Tiny along with Tate and the others
turned up. Tiny and Tate looked pale as they took a seat next to him.

“They’re operating on Eva. She passed out before
they moved her to the ambulance, and the guy said they couldn’t find a pulse,”
Tate said, sitting next to him. “Eva’s strong, right? I mean, she can’t die.”

Lash sat forward, locking his bloodied fingers
together. “Everyone can die, Tate.” He thought about David. Shit, what was he
going to do?

“Some of our men are taking care of the mess,” Tiny
said.

Glancing toward his leader Lash frowned. “You can’t
get rid of that mess, Tiny. I snapped Marston’s neck.”

Tiny glared at him. “As far as anyone’s concerned
nothing happened, and if it did, the Lions attacked us. I’m not losing one of
my men to that scum, and that’s the last of it.”

Lash went to argue, but Tate pressed a hand to his
leg silencing him. “Don’t.” She mouthed the words at him.

Hardy and Zero were sat next to the door. Lash
imagined the others, including his brother, were taking care of business.

“So, Murphy never left The Skulls?” Tate asked.

Murphy had taken the role of being their spy. They’d
made it look like a betrayal, but all the time Murphy was reporting back.

“He did what we asked, honey,” Tiny said.

Tate nodded. Lash looked at the woman he regarded as
a sister and saw she was only just holding it together.

“I need some coffee,” Tiny said, standing to leave.

Within the hour the rest of the crew turned up. When
Tate saw Murphy she stormed out.

Nash took the seat next to him. “Murphy hurt Tate.”

“He left without any warning. She’s hurting, but
she’ll get over it,” Lash said.

“I hope you’re right.” Nash was silent for several
minutes. “I took care of David. You’re not going down for this.”

“I may not have a choice,” Lash said. “I killed a
man.”

“No, I lost two parents. I’m not losing you, Nigel.
You’re all I’ve got left, and I’m not letting you go down for him.”

He looked at his brother. For Nash to call him by
his real name, Lash knew he was fighting with his emotions.

“Okay, I’ll try,” Lash said.

“Good.”
 

There was silence once again.

“So Angel’s the one?” Nash asked.

“You must think
it’s
crazy
loving her and only wanting to be with her. She’s my future, Nash. I love her,
and I’d do everything to make her happy.” Lash smiled, remembering her say that
she loved him. He was going to hold her to it as well.

“No, crazy is fucking a woman you can’t stand just
so you could get the chance to see the woman you really wanted,” Nash said.

Glancing at his brother, Lash saw the mask come off
Nash. He saw his brother, and the pain was clearly written on his face.

“What do you mean?”

Nash shook his head. “I’m a fucking sucker. Kate has
a sister. She’s younger and sweet, and she doesn’t look at the jacket or
anything. I could never be with her, but when she talks to me, she talks to me.
She refuses to call me Nash. I’m Edward to her.” His brother laughed. “Can you
believe I’m fucking a woman I can’t stand just so I can see her?”

Lash stared at his brother shocked by the depth of
emotion displayed.

“No, Lash, I don’t think you’re crazy. I think
you’re in love, and that I can understand.”

“
Mr.
Myers?” A nurse came
forward calling his name.

Standing up Lash faced the nurse. “That’s me.”

“Miss Marston is out of surgery and is awake. She’s
asking for you.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“The bullet didn’t touch her heart, but it was still
in there. The surgeons have removed the bullet with minimal damage. She won’t
have the use of her arm for a few months.”

Lash nodded and turned to his brother.

“Go on, go and see your woman.”

Taking a deep breath he followed the nurse to his
woman’s room.

Angel lay in a large bed. Her face was pale, and her
eyes closed. The nurse waved him on inside. Walking inside, her eyes opened,
and she smiled at him.

“Hey,” she said, reaching out with her good hand.

“Hey, yourself.”
He
took her hand and sat beside her on the bed. Lash needed to be as close to her
as possible.

“They told me I was going to make a good recovery.”

“You ran in front of a bullet,” Lash said. “Never,
ever do that again.”

“I couldn’t have you shot, Lash.” She looked down at
their joined hands. “I’m in love with you, and I can’t imagine life without
you.”

Cupping her face, he brought his lips down to hers.

“No, you do
not,
under any
circumstances put yourself at risk for me, Angel.” He kissed her again needing
to taste her sweet skin.

 
“I
understand,” Angel said.

“I love you too much to lose you.”

Her smile lit up her whole face. “You love me?”

“You have no idea how much I love you.” He glanced
down at the floor and cursed.

“What’s the matter? What is it?” she asked. The
concern was clear in her voice.

“I killed your father,” he said, whispering to her.

“Good.” There was no hesitation in her voice.

“Angel, I took his life. He’s not coming back.”

“I know, Lash. He was going to kill you. You don’t
understand. He didn’t stop them when they were shooting people. He didn’t help
at all, and he caused all the problems. I don’t care.” She tightened her grip
on his hand.

“I killed him.”

“And your crew cleaned it up, right?” Angel asked.

“How do you know about that?”

“
Rumours,
and Tate likes to
talk. I listen. You’re not going down for killing him, Lash. He doesn’t deserve
your time. So it gets cleaned away, and we don’t talk about it anymore, deal?”

“Deal.”

He stared at her and wondered how she’d changed so
fast. Lying down, Lash wrapped his arms around her.

“I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too.”

No one hurt his woman and got away with it. Angel
was his woman, and he was happy for the whole world to know it. He was a Skull,
and no one messed with a Skull and got away with it.

Chapter
Thirteen

Angel stood behind Tate as she pinned up another
balloon. It had been a couple of months since the shooting at
Tiny’s
house, and they were finally welcoming home Steven
and Blaine. Both men had been badly hurt with Blaine being in a coma for a
couple of weeks. It had been touch and go for a few weeks, but fortunately they
were both coming home for a party. She glanced across the bar to see Emily and
Darcy playing in the corner. Everyone was pitching in for their welcome home
party.

Twirling the ring on her finger she looked up to see
Tate glancing down at her.

“You keep playing with your ring it’s going to rub
out,” Tate said, climbing off the table.

A week after her coming out of the hospital, Lash
had proposed. There was no way she’d turn him down. She’d screamed yes and then
phoned Tate to tell her the good news. They were planning for a March wedding,
which gave them enough time to organise everything. Lash wanted her to have a
church wedding. She didn’t care as long as she was with him.

“No, I’m not.”

Arms wrapped around her waist pulling her close.
“Leave her alone, Tate. She can play with her ring if she wants. It’s hers.”
Lash kissed her neck. Letting out a moan, Angel leaned against him. He caressed
her stomach as he kissed her neck and shoulder.

She watched Tate tense as Murphy stood next to her.

“I’m going to see if
Mikey
needs help with the booze.” She smiled at Angel and moved away.

“She won’t talk to me,” Murphy said, watching her
walk away.

“Tate’s hurt, and it’s going to take some time for
her to get over that.”

Murphy shook his head. “I don’t know. She’s closed
off even from Eva and Tiny.”

Angel wasn’t about to ruin the party by telling them
Tate was moving out of
Tiny’s
home and into an
apartment. She’d asked Tate to tell her father, but the other woman continued
to refuse.

“She’ll come around,” Lash said, pulling Angel away.

“He looks sad,” Angel said. They moved to the far
wall, and Angel started to put more balloons and banners up.

“They’ll get over it. I’m sure they’ll figure it
out.”

Lash helped her finish the decorations, and when
they got the sound of the horn they all crowded around waiting for the men to
enter. Tiny had been the one to collect the men with Eva.

Angel leaned against Lash as they waited. His arms
surrounded her with their warmth. The Skulls were her family now. She didn’t
miss her father at all. Any love she’d had for him died in the moments leading
up to his death. She wished she could forgive him, but it wasn’t possible. He’d
grown greedy and put so many lives at stake because of it.

“I love you, baby,” Lash said, whispering the words
against her ear.

She smiled. Every time they made love Lash told her
his true feelings. He opened up to her in ways she never thought possible.

“I love you, too.”

The door opened, and they all erupted with cheers,
laughter, and greetings.

Angel had asked for Emily and Darcy to wait in the
kitchen. Moving forward she wrapped her arms around Blaine. “Are you okay?” she
asked.

“I’m good. I,
erm
, I
called Emily, but she didn’t answer her phone.”

In the last few months Angel had grown close to Blaine,
and he was like a brother to her.

Taking hold of his hand she led him through the
crowd and waited for Emily to exit. When she did Blaine looked shocked.

“She didn’t answer her phone because she’s been here
waiting for you.”