Tiny (13 page)

“Gavin told me. You’re not
the kind of woman to just leave without a reason. I know you left me a note,
but it’s still out of character for you.” Ned maneuvered around a large milk
truck. “He was embarrassed by what happened.”

“What did you do?” she
asked.

“Your relationship is your
own business. I didn’t hurt him over what went down between you. However, the
slut he was with is gone, and he got six months rotation without pay.”

“Is that all?”

“I may have taken him into
the ring and kicked his ass for sending my daughter away.” Ned didn’t take his
eyes off the road.

“I’m surprised he’s still
living.” She flipped open her phone to see a sad face on the screen from Tate.
Smiling, she deleted the message and put her phone back away.

“He makes a lot of money,
and men fuck up. Gavin was young, and he made a mistake.”

“Gavin fucked up, and I’m
not going to hold anything against him. I won’t be having anything to do with
him.” She sat back against the chair letting her thoughts drift to the man she
left behind. The women he’d been with had hurt her, but she never actually
caught him in the act. They’d never meant anything to each other either, so it
wasn’t like he was cheating on her.

“Tiny is a good man, but
he’s got the same problems that Gavin has. He can’t keep it in his pants.”

She slammed her hand on the
dash board. “No, you do not get to do that. Tiny is none of your business. He
never will be, and I won’t be discussing him with you now or in the future.
Yes, I loved him, and I loved his daughter.” Her hand hurt from slapping down
on the hard surface. “I will not be dating or spending any time with Gavin. Do
not think to throw us together. I’ll work for you again, but I won’t have
anything to do with the men.”

“If you love him, why are
you leaving him?” Ned asked.

“Sometimes to help others
you need to know when to back away. Tiny doesn’t need me around, and we’re not
good for each other. Kind of like you and Mom.”

She saw him tense out of the
corner of her eye.

“Yeah, Gavin is such a good
man. He told me what happened with my mother. I know you killed her.” Eva
couldn’t believe she was speaking as if death was a natural topic of
conversation.

“He shouldn’t have said
anything.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.
Nothing is going to change what happened. She’s gone.” Eva had never gotten the
chance to know her mother.

“I never told you anything
about it or her.”

Staying silent, Eva drummed
her fingers on her leg. Her father was a dangerous man, yet she’d never been
afraid of him, not even when she’d been naughty growing up. Even knowing how
dangerous she was she didn’t hate him. This was the world she’d grown up in.
Ned wouldn’t kill her, and he wouldn’t kill Tiny. Both men were too important
in their little world.

“She was a stripper I
knocked up,” Ned said.

Eva had seen pictures of her
mother growing up. She’d been a beautiful, slender woman with blonde hair, but
she hadn’t been a loyal woman.

“Your mother wasn’t known
for being faithful. Many men had known the pleasure she could have.”

Closing her eyes, she didn’t
know if she needed to hear any more.

“Why did you kill her?” Eva
asked. She couldn’t mourn a woman she never knew. What people remembered about
her was not nice either.

“She put you in danger. You mother
was an addict, and she was selling her body to whoever would give her what she
wanted.” Ned pulled up in the airport. He must have paid for a space as one was
reserved near the door. “She took you to one of the men who serviced her habit
and sold her out to men. I found you on the floor that was covered in needles,
Eva. She’d taken you because no one would babysit. Your mother didn’t give a
fuck about you. She didn’t even care that you could have been hurt. One of my
men got you out while I ended the shit she would have put you through.”

Tears filled her eyes at the
horror he described. She couldn’t even remember it, but how could she? She’d been
young, a baby.

“I never told you about her
because you were better than her.” Ned turned the engine off. “Eva, I’m proud
of you, and I hope you can forgive me for the hurt I’ve caused you.”

She smiled even as the tears
started to fall. “I’m not hurt by you, Dad. It’s not your fault she didn’t
care. I love you.” She wrapped her arms around him, tightly. He was the only
person she’d ever been able to turn to.

“Good. We better get going
before we miss our flight.”

For the next hour Eva was
too busy dealing with her suitcases and getting ready for her flight. Ned took
care of everything else, and she noticed he was on the phone a lot.

After purchasing a book she
took a seat in the waiting area where everyone was sat or walking around. Her
cell phone went off as her father joined her.

Answering the call she saw
it was Tate.

“Hello,” she said.

“You’re really going?”

Rubbing her temple, Eva
ignored her father and listened to Tate.

“We’ve talked about this.
It’s time for me to go.”

“Something is going on. You know
that. Dad is acting even more quiet than usual. Since you’ve gone he’s locked
himself in his office.” Tate sounded worried, and Eva hated hearing the other
woman worried.

“Tate, everything is going
to be fine.” She didn’t know what else to say to the younger woman.

“You don’t know that.
Please, come back.”

Gritting her teeth, she
glanced at her father. Ned raised his brow at her, waiting for her to argue
back.

“No. Tate, I’ll come and
visit you, but my life is in Vegas. I’ve been away too long.”

“We went to Vegas together.
Your life is not there.”

“We’ve got to go, Eva,” Ned
said, pointing to the waiting queue.

“I’m sorry, Tate, I’ve got
to go. Please, keep in touch.” Before Tate could say anything else, she closed
her phone, turned it off and followed her father toward their seat. She wasn’t surprised
to see them in first class. Eva never had a problem flying economy, but Ned
always liked the best.

She strapped into her seat
and took several deep breaths. Eva hated leaving Tate and Fort Wills. Tapping
her fingers on her leg she listened to all the instructions for the start of
flights.

“You’re nervous,” Ned said.

“No, I’m fine.” She’d never
had a problem with flying. Looking out of the window she tried to ignore the
pain in her chest. Tiny and all the good memories she had of her time in the
small town ran through her mind. When she’d left Gavin and her father she
hadn’t been looking for anything. Stumbling into Fort Wills and getting the job
as Tate’s nanny had been pure luck.
 

The plane took off, and she
closed her eyes needing to relax. Her father lay back, holding her hand. She
didn’t say anything as the rest of her life was made up for her.

You’re making the right decision. Keep moving forward.

She and Tiny hadn’t been
together, but his actions still hurt her. While he’d been fucking everything in
sight, men had been told to stay away from her. She hadn’t been asked on one
date in all of her time at Fort Wills. The only time she spent in male company
was with members of The Skulls. Vegas
was
her home,
and she was going to move on no matter how bad it hurt.

****

Killer watched Kelsey hug a
crying Tate. His boss was trapped in the office, and since Eva left the party
had been kind of stilted. He slapped the bar ordering another beer. The prospect
who served looked at him nervously.

“What?” Killer asked.

He didn’t know the man’s
name and didn’t care to find out.

“Nothing.”

The prospect moved away as
Zero took the seat beside him.

“I’m not in the mood for
conversation,” Killer said.

“I don’t care. You threw me
around the other day. The least you can do is
have
a
beer with me.” Zero reached forward grabbing a bottle of whiskey.

Sipping at his bottle,
Killer did his best to keep his anger in check. He’d not spoken to Kelsey since
the day she’d caught him hitting his brothers.

“You’re not going to talk to
me either?” Zero asked.

“No.”

“Man, I’m sorry. We didn’t
even hear anyone listening to us.”

“I don’t give a fuck,”
Killer said, putting his empty bottle on the counter. “My past is my business.
I don’t give a fuck about anything else.”

He got up ready to leave the
compound. Walking past Kelsey and out of the pink fucking fairy castle, Killer
took a deep breath of the fresh air. Heading toward his bike, he climbed on and
turned the key in the ignition.

“Killer?”
Kelsey’s voice made him tense. Her voice was so sweet,
and he loved hearing her talk. She was the first woman he loved to hear talk.

“What?” he asked, hating
himself for the way he spoke to
her.

“You’re not even going to
look at me?”

Letting out a sigh, he
turned his gaze onto her. She looked so fucking beautiful with her cherry
blonde hair curled and hanging around her shoulders and down her back. He recalled
stroking the length as they’d been making out. Killer had taken his time
caressing her lips and waiting for her to open up to him.

“What do you want,
Kels
?” he asked, facing her.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have
judged you for what I heard. I was wrong, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She
reached out, touching his hand.

He stared down at her pale
fingers spread over his own fingers. Killer was older than Kelsey by five
years. She had so much goodness within her even if she was a dental nurse. He
hated dentists.

Taking hold of her fingers
he brought her hand against his lips. She smelled like vanilla.

“
Kels
,
everything they were talking about is true. I killed people with my bare hands.
I did it for my club, and it’s no excuse. If you can live with that then we can
have a future, but I’ve got a feeling you don’t want to live a life with me
like that.” He dropped her hand and straddled his bike. Killer wanted more than
anything to pull her into his arms. She needed to know his past. He wasn’t
going to live in fear of her finding out.

“Killer, wait.”

He didn’t wait to hear what
she had to say.

Chapter Seven

“I’ve got a driver waiting
for us,” Ned said.

Eva reached out grabbing her
bag from the carousel going around. The rest of her luggage would be sent to
her father’s house on the outskirts of Vegas. “Good.” She followed him outside
to see Gavin stood against her father’s car. Stopping, she stared at the man
she left behind over eight years ago. The last time she saw him his ass had
been thrusting away inside another woman. She’d stumbled on the scene and had
left as quickly. Leaving her note for her father was one of her last
correspondence with him.

“Is this why you were
talking about him?” Eva asked, stopping to stare.

Gavin didn’t have a patch on
Tiny, at least not to her. Yes, he was tall and muscular like Tiny. Being a
fighter, Gavin had no choice but to stay in top form. What Tiny had that Gavin
lacked was maturity. Both men were covered in tattoos, but staring at Gavin she
saw the teasing in his eyes.

Tiny didn’t waste his time
with teasing. There was
an intensity
with Tiny. He
captured her attention and kept her caught within his web.

She started walking.

“Hello, Eva.”

Staring at the man who’d
sent her running, Eva nodded.
“Gavin.”

He opened the car door for
her, and she climbed inside. Her father took the passenger seat as Gavin took
behind the wheel.

“Did you have a good
flight?”

Eva stayed silent. Ned
looked back at her, and she raised a brow at him. There was no way she was
going to be talking to Gavin if she didn’t have to.

“Uneventful. Eva spent most
of the journey reading a book.”

Silence fell around them
once again. Eva didn’t try to talk. There was no need. Her father was trying to
match-make.

After several minutes of no
conversation Gavin and Ned started talking about work.

“Is the fight still on for
tomorrow?” Ned asked.

“Yes. Lance is ready to prove
himself. I’m thinking we can double our profit on this one fight,” Gavin said.

She drowned them out,
resting her head against the seat. The heat was intense, and she instantly
missed the cooler air of Fort Wills. Thinking about Tiny made heat pulse between
her thighs. She wanted him, and there was nothing she could do to stop her
feelings for him.