Page 33 of Gash (The Skulls #13)

A woman with red and blue hair answered the door, and Charlotte loved the colors. It looked amazing on her as it wasn’t glaringly bad, or anything. She fingered her ponytail as she’d pulled her hair back, and her brown locks were dull and boring.

“Gash, what are you doing here?”

she asked.

“Hey, Lacey, I’m here to see Whizz.”

Lacey turned and yelled Whizz’s name. “Come on in.”

“What are you doing now?”

Gash asked.

“I’m actually in college right now. I’m taking beauty courses, and putting my love of dying my hair to good use.”

“Beauty?”

“Yep. I’m loyal to The Skulls, and the old ladies are more than happy to let me work on their hair.”

Lacey smiled, looking at Charlotte. “I could do wonders for your hair. It’s so long.”

“You’re not touching her hair,”

Gash said.

Tugging out her ponytail, Charlotte stuck her tongue out at Gash. “What do you recommend?”

Lacey chuckled. “I like you.”

“I’ll probably be dead before you can do anything.”

She noticed that made Lacey pause.

“Excuse me?”

Lacey asked.

“Gash is threatening my life. I don’t know how much time I’ve got left.”

Gash slumped. “I’m not going to kill you.”

Charlotte looked at Gash and shrugged. “You’re the one that has been threatening to kill me. I accept my fate, and if I don’t make it out alive, then I don’t.”

“This is weird,”

Whizz said. “Talking about your death should have you at least a little freaked. Normal women would be freaked out, even Lacey, and she’s not that close to normal.”

“Hey!”

Lacey said, chuckling at the same time. They were a strange couple, but seeing them both together, it worked.

Charlotte smiled. “I’ve had a lot of time to deal with it.”

“You’re Charlotte,”

Whizz said, moving toward her.

Lacey didn’t stop running fingers through her hair. “Purple, it would totally rock purple, and a trim. I bet we could put some curls in the length, and it would totally look fuckable.”

Gash groaned.

“I tell you what,”

Charlotte said. “When we finish what we’re doing, you can do whatever the hell you want with my hair.”

“Deal.”

Lacey glared at Gash. “She better be back in one piece, or I’m going to start making some serious use of the knives that Whizz gave me for Christmas.”

“Lacey, keep Gash company. I want to talk to Charlotte.”

Before she could protest, Whizz was dragging her down a long corridor into a large room that looked like a command center.

“Wow,”

she said. “That’s a lot of computers.”

“Yes, it is. This is my office. Welcome.”

Whizz closed the door, and Charlotte leaned against the wall that had nothing against it, no technology, and nothing worth breaking.

“I don’t want to touch anything in case I, erm, I break it.”

“Have you told him?” he asked.

“Told him?”

“About what you lost?”

Charlotte tensed up. “No one knows about that.”

“There’s always a trail, Charlotte. No one is clear from shit like a forced abortion. There had to be paperwork.”

She pressed a hand against her stomach as tears filled her eyes.

“The suicide attempts, along with every other shitty thing that you’ve been through.”

Whizz kept his distance, and she was more than happy about that.

“I … I didn’t think anyone would know what happened.”

“Gash asked me to find information on Rebecca and Jeff. You came up, and I gave him the way to locate you.”

“Wait? You told him?”

Why hadn’t Gash asked? Why did he assume she helped put him in prison?

“No. I didn’t give him everything.”

He moved away from his position opposite her toward his wall of screens. “To be honest, the information for me, it only gave me more questions. You see, abortions, documents, all of that stuff I can follow, but I cannot follow emotion. I don’t know what happened between you and Gash, or between Jeff and Rebecca. Only the paper trails, and possible security footage. It’s a lot in this day and age, but it’s not everything.”

She listened and watched as he clicked on the keyboard, and her life came up on the multitude of different screens.

Whizz moved away, and she forced herself to face the life that she had been trying to forget.

Pictures of herself before and after her life was turned upside down. Hospital images of her injuries and files of her diagnosis were displayed for her to see.

“I didn’t give him this. Gash doesn’t know that when you tried to testify on his behalf, you were drugged and shipped to a hospital to have the baby that you had created together, torn out of you.”

Her heart was racing. This was her secret. This was what Jeff did to her, and what Rebecca did to her. They held her down, forced her to sleep, and removed something so precious to her that she had already been making plans for her future. The promotion had come first, and then when she landed, she’d gotten the positive test, and for those few precious minutes her life had been perfect. A few minutes, that was all she got.

“Gash didn’t know, and he still doesn’t know,” she said.

“He still doesn’t know. You’re the woman from his dream. The woman he had sex with, and can’t remember it.”

She nodded.

“I was away when Gash was arrested. I got a promotion, and that was why I was out of the country. When I got back, I discovered he was on trial and I was going to testify on his behalf. I’d been feeling sick, and the only explanation I had was being pregnant. I took a kit, but Jeff was there, and Rebecca.”

Her cheeks heated. “Before him, I was a virgin, and I’ve never been with anyone else. Sad really, I know.”

“That’s not sad. Everything that comes with you returning, that’s sad, that’s unbearable,”

Whizz said.

“Everything had gone to shit in the time that I was away. Gash was being done for murder and rape. I knew he was capable of murder, but not out of jealousy. Gash didn’t give a shit about Rebecca, or who she screwed.”

“How did you know?”

Whizz asked.

“He came around one night when she was entertaining another man.”

Charlotte laughed. “I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t even talk. Anyway, Rebecca was always really loud. He came and laughed. Said Rebecca was an easy girl, and he’d wait his turn. No jealousy. He even picked up a cooking magazine, and read it while Rebecca was screwing another guy. Then, when the two came out, Gash shook the man’s hand, and grabbed Rebecca.”

“Wow, I didn’t know that.”

“Not everything is written on a computer, just like you said,”

Charlotte said. “He’s not a rapist. Gash would never hurt a woman.”

“Yet he hurt you.”

She cupped her neck and shook her head. “I guess I’m not considered a woman in his eyes.”

“And yet for a short time, you were the mother of his kid.”

Charlotte flinched. “That’s a long time ago.”

“He or she would have been seven years old, entering his eighth birthday.”

Tears filled her eyes, and before she could hold them back, they fell down her face. “Please, stop.”

She started to shake as the pain took over her entire body. For a little over two years she hadn’t experienced this. Two years, at least she’d known a struggled peace.

“Gash doesn’t know what he lost.”

“He wouldn’t believe me.”

She wiped the tears away.

“You need to tell him.”

“You knew all of this, so why didn’t you tell him?”

“Some things are best said by the person who suffered through it.”

Charlotte snorted. “He tried to kill me.”

“Did he really try to kill you?”

“He had his hand wrapped around my neck, about to choke me.”

Whizz sighed. “I didn’t know him before prison, but something tells me if Gash intended to kill you, you’d be dead. He doesn’t leave people alive if he can help it. He’s a hard ass.”

“So, I should be grateful he didn’t want to kill me?”

“No, you should think about the fact he hasn’t.”

Charlotte licked her lips, staring back at the screen. “Why didn’t you tell him this?”

“I believe people deserve second chances. My wife, Lacey, she was going to kill me—well, she couldn’t kill me. It’s complicated. Anyway, I don’t believe you and Gash got your chance. Now it’s time for you to get your shot together.”

“He doesn’t want me.”

She stared down at her large figure and sighed. When she was trapped in a mental ward, she’d actually slimmed down to a size eight. She couldn’t eat, and the doctors ended up forcing her to eat. The moment she got out of the hospital and started making her way in the world, she promised herself she’d stayed slim. Then her pain would only be eased by baking and cooking in the kitchen. Her size eight didn’t last long. She had remained a size sixteen for the past two years, and she no longer believed in diets. Her life had already sucked enough without taking out her love for food.

“You’d be surprised what a man wants.”

“We’re looking for Rebecca and Jeff.”

“I get it. Okay, let’s go and invite Gash back into the room before my wife tries to kill him.”

“Lacey? She’d kill him.”

“Lacey’s an interesting character. I love her, but Gash, he doesn’t like her smart mouth.”

She smiled.

Following him out of the nerd room, she saw Gash was glaring across the counter in the kitchen as Lacey sang out of tune at the top of her voice.

“Getting her out of the clubhouse hasn’t been good for her,”

Gash said.

“What? I love her singing.”

Whizz walked toward Lacey, kissed her on the mouth, and smiled at his wife.

Charlotte’s chest hurt. She had never experienced that kind of love.

Her own life was all about work and sleep.

Life truly sucked.

****

“We want to find Rebecca and Jeff,”

Gash said. He’d had enough of hanging around Lacey. Just being around the weird woman irritated him. After everything that had happened to her, she was too damn happy. Charlotte wiped her cheeks again, and he noticed her eyes were red. What the fuck had Whizz said to her?

“How do you expect me to do that?”

Whizz asked. “If I could find her, I would.”

“Tell him, Charlotte.”

She rolled her eyes. “Have you seen that room he has set up? I’m surprised he hasn’t found her already. You said so yourself, there’s always a paper trail.”

“Yeah, there is, but some people can make shit disappear, and it takes a little longer to find it. Tell me what you’ve got, and I can go ahead and find it.”

Whizz took a muffin that was on the counter, and bit into it.

Charlotte frowned as she watched him turn green then spit out the chewed up muffin. “Babe, you used salt in place of sugar.”

“What?”

Lacey took the muffin from him and bit into it, doing exactly the same thing that he had done. “Shit, I sent Sally to school with two of them.”

“Yeah, she’s going to throw them in the trash.”

Whizz filled a glass with water and then nodded toward his room. “Let’s go.”

Gash waited for Charlotte to follow, and she did so with her arms folded. He loved her attitude, the fight inside her. She wasn’t broken.

Entering the room, Gash was amazed. “Shit, I thought your room at the clubhouse was damn creepy.”

“Now I can control my own world.”

Whizz did a maniacal laugh, then sat down. “So, what did I miss?”

“I don’t know if you missed it or if it didn’t go anywhere. In the city there was this apartment she went to that was supposed to be in her name.”

“Give me a second. When I did a search under her name, no apartment appeared. It would have if she bought it or even rented it.”

Whizz started clicking, and the speed with which his fingers were moving were giving Gash a headache. The bastard wasn’t even staring at the keyboard but at the screen.

“Nope, nothing is registered under her name. Only her residence, which is your old address, Charlie.”

“Charlie?”

Gash asked.

“What about it?”

Whizz said. “I figure she and I are going to be good friends.”

“I don’t mind,”

Charlotte said.

“Lacey’s a bad influence.”

“I say that every time she rides my dick.”

Gash glared, and Charlotte laughed. “Is this the whole MC image thing?”

“You bet. Now, back to crime fighting. There’s nothing here. Rebecca was a poor girl, with a shitty job, and no hope out of her shitty life. Do you have an address?”

“She wouldn’t remember,”

Gash said, pissed that it was another fucking dead end.

“Actually, I do.”

“How did you remember that?”

Gash asked. “It has been over seven years.”

“She put the address on the refrigerator, and it’s what I saw for months, and I recited the shit out of it while waiting for the kettle to boil,”

Charlotte said. “She was always bragging about how she bagged this rich guy.”

She shrugged, holding her hand out. “There’s not a lot to say. Rebecca was easy.”

“She sounds like a fucking whore,”

Whizz said.

Charlotte gave Whizz the address, to which his club brother whistled.

“What?”

Gash asked.

“It’s a fucking good part of the city. I’m talking seriously elite, exclusive kind of shit.”

Whizz shook his head. “Rebecca may have found herself a sugar daddy, or she was in deep shit.”

“Deep shit?”

Charlotte asked.

“You get into that kind of apartment three ways. You’re either rich—Rebecca wasn’t. You’re fucking someone who is rich, or you’re a criminal with money, and I’m talking high shit in the criminal world, mafia kind of money.”

Gash shook his head. “That shit’s not good.”

“No, it’s not.”

Whizz kept on typing, and something red came up.

Gash saw access was being denied, and Whizz simply kept on whistling while typing away.

“What’s he doing?”

Charlotte asked in a whisper.

“Nerd shit.”

She smelled so good, and Gash fisted his hands to stop himself from reaching out to her. What was it about Charlotte that made him want to touch? To caress? To fuck?

Shit, she was driving him crazy with the need to fuck her.

He wasn’t some damn stupid adolescent boy who’d never known a fucking cunt.

Running a hand down his face, he held in a groan as his cock thickened when Whizz whistled.

“Well, fuck me,”

Whizz said.

Looking up at the screen, Gash frowned. “What is that?”

“It’s the owner of the apartment. It wasn’t in Rebecca’s name, but whoever that man is, he wanted it kept secret.”

Gash stared at the photograph of the man, and something seemed oddly familiar about him, but again, he couldn’t figure out what.

“Who is it?”

he asked, then looked toward Charlotte. “Do you recognize him?”

“Not a clue.”

Whizz did some clicking. “This used to be Rebecca’s apartment. It’s registered to Rebecca and Jeff, and there is the signature of the deed. The date here is just before the supposed murder and rape, so they didn’t own this for long before you were arrested, Gash.”

Charlotte moved in closer to the screen. “Enhance his face.”

Whizz zoomed in and clarified the picture. “That’s Jeff.”

“That’s not Jeff.”

“I’m telling you that is Jeff.”

She pointed at his eyes. “I won’t ever forget those eyes. Do you have an old image of Jeff?”

Whizz nodded, clicking away once again. He did some kind of scan, and there it was, a perfect match. “There are some things people can’t handle, and having your eyes changed, clearly was one of his.”

“Do a complete background check on him,”

Gash said.

“Well this man is not Jeff anymore.”

Whizz started pulling up bits of data. “Look, this is going to take me some time to get everything—”

“Just give me a name, and an address. I can do everything else,”

Gash said.

“And go in with half the information, and get shot the shit out of?”

Whizz asked.

“Four years I’ve waited.”

Whizz slammed his keyboard down and stormed up to Gash. “You spent five years in fucking prison. Boo fucking hoo, you had three square meals a day, and out of the five fucking years, I bet you didn’t have to fight every single one of those days. I was trapped, caged up, and fucking tortured for hours. I was taken, Gash. I know that pain. If you think I’m making you wait on purpose, then find someone else. I don’t know you from way back then. I know you now, as my club brother, and a man I’d die for. Give me the night to get every fucking thing you need so you don’t get yourself and Charlie killed.”

“I’m going to leave you two alone.”

Charlotte left the room, closing the door behind her.

The moment the door closed, Whizz wrapped his fingers around Gash’s neck, and threw him up against the wall. “I was repeatedly raped. My ass ripped open, and I was helpless to fight. Don’t let me make a mistake, and let you walk into the same kind of hell. This is what I do, but it takes fucking time.”

There was a darkness, a pain, and a helplessness inside his eyes that made Gash relent.

“Fine.”

“You and Charlotte can stay the night. I’ll work through the night to make sure you’re ready to leave.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to do that.”

Gash gripped the back of Whizz’s neck and pressed his forehead to his. “I’m sorry.”

“She’s in love with you, Gash.”

Releasing his friend, Gash shook his head. “She can’t stand me.”

“There’s more to Charlotte than she lets you see. Give her a chance, and she’ll surprise you.”

Whizz turned away and started working on his computer.

Leaving the room, Gash was kicked in the balls. He cupped his dick and stared at Lacey.

“Don’t ever put him in that place again. Whizz cares about the whole of the club. His loyalty will get him killed one day. He puts his life at risk every time he digs deep into places he’s not supposed to go.”

“You didn’t have to kick me in the balls.”

“I did. You only know one language, and that language is violence. I will protect my man. Charlotte is in the kitchen. I’ve hired her to cook for me. You’ve got a better chance of leaving without food poisoning.”

Lacey stepped over him and entered the nerd room.

Fucking bitch packed a punch. Getting to his feet, he made his way back into the kitchen. Charlotte was chopping up some vegetables and gave him a small smile.

“She got you on kitchen duty.”

“Told me unless I want takeout, I’ve got to cook.”

“Angel’s tried teaching her how to cook, but it seems the only thing she knows how to do is her hair.”

Gash shook his head. Charlotte didn’t say anything, and kept on chopping. This was what he remembered about her from the past. She didn’t speak unless she really needed to. He’d always tried to make her talk, to bring her out of her shell. “You didn’t scream in there?”

“Did you get out what you needed to?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’m fine with that. You’re the kind of guy who needs to shoot first and ask questions later. That’s up to you.”

“You think that’s different?” he asked.

“It’s different to how you used to be.”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t the one that went to prison—”

“Where did you go?”

“What?”

she asked.

“When I was sentenced, where were you?”

Tears filled her eyes, and she stopped chopping. “I’m not ready to tell you.”

“You’ve got something to tell me then?”

“Yes. I’ve got something to tell you.”

“Will it make me angry?” he asked.

She took in a deep breath. “I don’t know if you’ll be angry or if you’ll even care. I’m not ready.”

Gash nodded. “I’ll stop asking until you’re ready.”

****

Stink watched Sandy cleaning the dishes, and sighed as he leaned against the doorframe. She was always running away from him, and he really wished he knew what to say to her to make her understand he didn’t give a shit what she once was.

“You’re staring.”

“I like staring,” he said.

“It’s creepy.”

He chuckled. She placed the final plate on the draining board, and dried her hands on a towel.

“You’re getting the whole stalker image down.”

Stink shrugged. “I’ve been told to keep your ass safe.”

“It was over a year ago, Stink. I’m fine, and you don’t have to keep me safe.”

“The club rules, Sandy.”

She sighed again. “I’m thinking of going back to my own place.”

He tensed up. Sandy was a doctor, and she had been part of the club who’d had it rough several times. She had stopped screwing the single brothers years ago, but there was a time she’d screwed everyone. He’d never taken a taste of what she had to offer even though he always wanted to. Instead, he kept his distance, watching from afar to make sure no one claimed what he’d known from day one was going to be his.

“You’re leaving the club?”

Stink asked.

She moved toward him, standing right in front of him, and he got the scent of cinnamon that always seemed to cling to her. Sandy was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She was in her late thirties, and a doctor. He knew without a doubt that she could do so much better than him.

“I think it’s time that I moved on.”

She touched his cheek. “I’m not an old lady, and I’m no longer a club whore. I’m nothing.”

Cupping her cheek, he pressed his head against hers. “You’re everything, baby.”

She chuckled. “You could have fucked me years ago without any kind of commitment, yet you didn’t even give me a chance.”

“I knew from the moment I first saw you, you’d be different.”

“Stink, you deserve better.”

He took hold of her hands, staring down at their hands, touching, together. “I don’t give a fuck who you’ve been with before. I know what I want, and I know I can make you happy. The past couple of years, you’ve been happy. I’ve made you happy.”

“There hasn’t been any sex between us.”

Stink pressed her up against the nearest wall, trapping her hands in his. “Do you really think it wouldn’t be epic between us?”

He held both of her hands within one of his, and started to caress the tips of his fingers down her arm, across her breast, and down to cup her pussy. “I can show you how fucking epic it can be between us. If you think for a second that you know anything about me and what I’m capable of, think again.”

“The club is not my home.”

“We’re your family, and I’m your guy. I’m not going to let you go without a fight. You belong to me.”

Slamming his lips down, he claimed hers, letting her know without a shadow of a doubt that he was the master of her.