Page 3 of Gash (The Skulls #13)

Charlotte chopped the

ingredients for the salad, trying her hardest not to listen to

him , or to

pay any attention to him. They were going back to The Skulls

clubhouse. She never had anything to do with the club seven years

ago, and Gash wasn’t the same man he used to be. Then again, she

wasn’t the same woman. A lot had happened over the years to change

her, and there was no way she’d ever be that same carefree woman

again.

He ended the call, and she heard him

move away from the table. She kept on chopping even as he moved up

behind her.

“ Did you have any other

friends when we were younger?” he asked.

He moved her hair off her shoulder,

exposing her neck. His breath fanned across her ear, and she

couldn’t help but close her eyes. Gash was stirring feelings and

memories inside her that he couldn’t even remember. She recalled

another night where he’d been like this, touching her, caressing

her.

“ Back away,” she said, whispering

the words. It

was hard as the two different times seem to merge in the one. She

fought it. Charlotte wasn’t about to let herself be brought down by

memories. They were her memories.

“ You don’t sound like you want me

to move away.” His hand gripped her hip while the other forced her

to pause on chopping the salad. “Did you have a friend back then besides

Rebecca?”

“ I’ve told you before, Rebecca

and I were roommates, that’s all. There was no one else.” Charlotte

knew why he was asking , but she wouldn’t tell him what happened between

them. He’d only laugh in her face. She didn’t know whether to laugh

or cry. Gash wanted to believe there was someone else there rather

than see that it was her all along. He didn’t even suspect it could

be her, and that fucking hurt.

“ You feel so familiar, and

you smell so damn good.” He pressed his face against her neck,

taking a deep breath.

She gasped out at the flood of arousal

that he caused, taking her off guard. She was transported to

another time. The only difference between then and now was the fact

he didn’t have the scent of alcohol on his breath. Last time, he’d

been drinking, and at first, she had brushed him off. The biggest

problem for her was the fact she had always had a crush on him,

always. From the moment she first met him, she’d loved him. She had

watched him with Rebecca, and even though there had been moments of

jealousy, she never did anything about it. That night though, he’d

been different. Yes, he’d been drunk, but she truly believed he had

been himself. Gash had been sweet, nice, and tender, and he’d made

her fall for him even more. He’d told her how beautiful she was,

and how he couldn’t stop looking at her.

Even though he’d been drunk, she’d

been pulled into his words, and that had been her mistake, and she

shouldn’t have fallen for him.

“ What do you want?” she

asked.

“ Why does this feel

good?”

She closed her eyes, allowing herself a

few seconds of enjoying his closeness when reality came back. He

had attacked her. Gash had been more than ready to kill her, and

she wasn’t ready to give in to him. She pushed him back with her

ass. “Give me some space. It’s not very nice to invade my personal

area.”

Charlotte finished chopping the

salad, tossing the ingredients together and giving it a quick

dressing before serving. Gash hadn’t moved away, but she ignored

him. The last thing she wanted to do was cave. She had only known

him for a short time when he was screwing Rebecca.

She’d never wanted

to be one of those women that dropped her panties the moment a guy

looked her way, but Gash, he’d been different. At least, she

thought he’d been different.

Putting his plate on the table, she took a

seat, opening the food magazine that she had been reading that

morning when her life had seemed so normal. She tried her hardest

to ignore him. When he sat down, and his knees grazed hers, she

struggled not to tense up from the simplest contact.

“ You’ve changed,” he

said.

Glancing up at him, she took a bite of

her chicken, staring. “So have you. The last time I knew you, you

wouldn’t have snuck into my apartment with the intention of killing

me.”

“ I can’t argue with

that.”

Charlotte twirled her fork on the plate as

she thought about her next question. “Why have you waited so

long?”

“ Long for what?”

“ Looking for them? Looking for

Rebecca and that … man.” She couldn’t bring herself to say his

name. Charlotte never in all of her life considered herself a

violent person When it came to him she wanted to witness his suffering, to be

laughing in his face as he took his final breath. “It has been

seven years.”

“ I was in prison for five

of those.”

I was in a mental

hospital, trying to kill myself.

“ What about the other

two?”

Gash sat back, chewing his food. “The

Skulls is my family. It’s the only family that I

recognize.”

“ You have more

family?”

“ A brother. I’ve not seen him in

years. To be honest, he’s probably dead. He’s the one I was looking

for when I was looking for Rebecca.”

“ You don’t

care?”

“ Like I said, my family is

The Skulls.”

“ I never knew you had a

brother.” Charlotte found it hard that he didn’t seem to care, but

then she didn’t know his brother. “Sorry.”

“ Don’t be. Blood doesn’t make

family, Charlotte. Actions, loyalty, and love, that’s what makes a

family. The Skulls were going through some serious shit by the time

I was released. Tiny, my club Prez, he asked me to not go looking.

I didn’t see a reason to bring more shit to the club. We’re all in

a good place right now, and so I’m looking. I want to end

this.”

“ That’s a long time to

wait.”

“ I’m a patient

guy.”

Biting her lip, she rolled the chicken

and bread around her plate. “What happens when we find

them?”

“ We kill them.”

“ Yes, we will.” She couldn’t look

at him right now. Charlotte couldn’t tell him that when he was on

trial she had been in a psych ward, trying to kill herself at every

opportunity. How could she have helped him when she’d been doped up

on drugs to stop her from trying to slit her wrist? Her hunger

disappeared, and she got to her feet, dumping the contents of her

plate into the trash. She needed to do something with her hands,

and to stop nearly telling Gash about what happened. He blamed her

for not coming forward, and she blamed herself as well. If she’d

not taken that damn promotion, she’d have been here when he was

first arrested. She had been thinking of herself, and her

future.

“ You’re coming with me. I believe

you, but I need to get shit resolved. I need both of them to be

dead, and gone.”

She gripped the counter,

recalling the way he laughed at her screams. The way he looked so damn smug when

she had woken in the hospital to find out what they’d done. Jeff

Wright, the one man she wanted to kill more than anything else in

her life. She truly believed she could kill him without care or

thought.

“ What happens to me after?”

she asked.

“ I don’t know. That’s up to

you, and if you get cold feet, we’ll handle it.”

“ You’ll kill me?” She was finding

it hard to not be scared. This Gash scared her and he was nothing

like the man she once knew. This man could easily kill her without

a second thought.

“ We’ll have to wait and

see.”

Charlotte stared at him for several

seconds. It may have even been minutes as she looked at the man who

had haunted her dreams for years. She’d once been in love with

Gash, wanting him from afar. For one night, she’d gotten her dream,

only to have it shattered the next morning. It was part of the

reason she’d taken the damn promotion, to get away from him and

from Rebecca. Her heart had been fragile, and witnessing Gash with

Rebecca had broken a part of her over the days they had been

together. Whenever she thought of her feelings about Gash, she was

always all over the place. There was no set feeling. She loved and

hated him. He made her sad, angry, and aroused. He was bad for

her.

“ I’m tired.” She had enough drama

for one night. The best solution was for her to just sleep, and end this

uneasiness inside her. Everything looked better in the

morning.

Without waiting for him to give

her instruction, she left the kitchen, and walked the few steps

toward her room. Her apartment was modest, and her only bathroom

was through her bedroom. She closed her bedroom door, which had no lock.

Charlotte had learned long ago to not even bother putting a lock on

her bedroom door. If people wanted to get into her apartment, they

could get inside without any struggle, and she would be sent to her

fate.

Taking a quick shower, she

didn’t take her time, enjoying the peace and quiet. Gash had

invaded her apartment, and ruined any kind of peace she

thought to have. Her

night shirt was hanging on the back of the door, and once she

finished with her shower, she dried quickly, placing the towel over

the radiator, and then getting dressed.

She walked back into her bedroom, and

came to a stop when she saw Gash already in her bed.

“ What the hell are you doing

here?” she asked. He could have taken the floor in the sitting

room, or the small couch. She didn’t want him in her room, not now,

not ever. It

brought back too many memories, and tonight she was really

struggling to keep all of those memories locked up

tight.

“ Getting comfy.” He

snuggled into her bed, which pissed her off.

“ Get out.”

“ No.”

“ This is my bed, and you’re

not going to take my bed from me.”

“ I’m not taking it from

you, babe. Far from it.” He patted the bed. “Join me.”

“ No, get out.” She moved toward

her dresser and started to brush her hair. “This is my room. You’re

the one attacking me, coming into my apartment, and you weren’t

even invited. Get out.” She placed her brush back down on the

dresser, and stared at him. “Well?”

“ I’ m not moving,” he said. “You may as well

get in.”

Gritting her teeth, she folded her