Page 8 of Gash (The Skulls #13)

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.