Whizz(The Skulls 9)(36)
She dropped the gun and walked outside. The mother of The Skulls had spoken, and now they all had to be on their best behavior.
“You better hope that Angel can live up to that. Otherwise, everyone is going to walk all over her,” Nash said.
Whizz was thinking the exact same thing. Angel really needed to pick up her game if she was going to support the club and Lash. He wondered if she could handle it.
“I’m going to go and talk with Eva,” Lacey said, climbing out from the chair. He gripped her hand and pulled her close.
“Don’t go too far. I’ll take you to see Butch when you’re ready.” He dropped a kiss to her lips, wanting to do a hell of a lot more to her than that.
Her cheeks were a lovely shade of red by the time he was finished.
Whizz watched her disappear outside and turned back to look at Lash and Nash.
“What?” he asked. The two brothers were staring at him as if he’d grown a third head or something.
“You look happy.”
“Lacey makes me happy. She completes me.” He smiled thinking about the last day they’d just spent together at the beach away from the club and the mess it entailed. “I asked her to marry me,” Whizz said, smiling.
“I’d say she agreed to marry you?” Lash asked.
Tiny moved up toward the bar with Ned in tow.
“Yeah, she agreed to marry me.”
“You’re going to marry the Savage Brothers’ woman?” Tiny asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You kept her locked in your room for a long enough time.” Tiny grabbed a cloth, pouring ice into the center and wrapping it around. He handed the cloth to Ned.
“You kept a woman locked in your room and she still agreed to marry you? Girl’s got guts.”
“She’s not a girl,” Whizz said, annoyed with them invading his good news.
“Your girl’s younger than me. Believe me, son, you get to an age where all women are girls,” Ned said.
“I like Lacey,” Sophia said, coming to wrap her arms around Nash’s neck. Rachel was sat on her dad’s lap, getting a cuddle. They looked like one happy family.
“You’ve barely spent any time with her,” Nash said.
“I don’t have to. She’s a lovely woman. I can see it. She’s just never had the chance to flourish before. I thought you’d understand what she’s going through,” Sophia said, glaring at Nash. “You almost lost your space within the club. It can’t be easy going through life losing people around you. She’s lost a lot.”
The men were silent as they took in what Sophia had to say. She wasn’t talking shit, and Whizz liked that about her.
“I’ve been on this earth a long time—”
“Don’t I fucking know it,” Tiny said.
Ned glared at him. “I’ve been on this earth a long fucking time, and there are women you fuck and forget. They’re a dime a dozen. They come and go. There’s nothing wrong with them. They’re just not the kind of women you keep. Then there are women you don’t just fuck, you take care of them. They come into our lives sparingly. You’ll be surprised by the impact they have. They’re the Evas, the Angels, the Sophias of this world. Your Lacey, she’s a keeper. You took out her club, but she’s still by your side. I saw the way she looked at you before she walked out of the room. She’s in love with you, and if she’s agreed to marry you, then you take her and you keep her because a girl like that doesn’t come around often. You’ve got demons in your eyes, boy. Lacey, she’ll take those demons away for you. She’ll give you purpose where you don’t think any is.” Ned lifted his glass. “Take my advice and marry her.”
They were silent as Ned swallowed down his drink.
“Why can’t you ever talk like that?” Sophia asked.
Nash glared at Ned while the older man just laughed. “I tell you, these lips have made many a woman moist.”
Whizz started laughing. He couldn’t help it. This was what the club meant to him, what he needed in his life. He could give Lacey this without a problem.
****
Lacey walked out of the clubhouse moving past the three fighters who were talking to each other. She moved across the compound toward Eva who was talking with Tate.
“You fired the gun?” Tate asked.
“I had no choice. They were behaving like assholes. I couldn’t believe they were fighting. I swear they don’t realize they’re men not children.” Eva shook her head.
“Hey,” Lacey said, speaking up.
“Hey, Lacey, you’re finally venturing out without your twin?” Tate asked.
“Huh?”
“Your twin. Whizz has been attached to your side like a fucking twin. I was starting to wonder what you looked like standing on your own.”
“Don’t mind Tate. She’s pregnant and has a problem with everything.”
“I don’t have a problem. People piss me off, especially stupid men. Dad was being an ass,” Tate said.
“Dad’s an ass,” Tabitha said, crawling onto the swing beside Tate.
“What have I told you about calling him that?” Eva asked, folding her arms.
“Tate said.”
Eva shook her head. “You’re a bad influence.”
“You allow her to stay at the club. You’re the bad influence.”
Simon and Miles were playing in the sand pit. It was still warm, but Lacey felt the chill in the air. It wouldn’t be long until fall was upon them, then winter.
“Take a seat,” Tate said, offering the swing on the other side of her. “I don’t know if I want to take the seat. Does it come with a condition of death?”
“Of course it doesn’t. I just want to know everything you and Whizz have been up to. Everyone keeps a wide berth of me just lately.”
“Because you’re a bitch,” Eva said, glaring at Tate.
Tate blew a raspberry.
“Whizz asked me to marry him.”
Both women turned to look at her.
“He did?”
“Yeah, he wants to get married.” The more she thought about it the more she liked the idea of being his woman.
“Congratulations. Are you sure it’s what you want?” Eva asked. “This doesn’t have anything to do with you or your past. You take on a Skull, you take on the club and its women. You become part of the family. No one will accept you trying to pull Whizz away or to give him ultimatums.”
“You’re warning me?”
“No, we’re advising you,” Tate said. “Eva’s right. This is not a case of the club being for the men. In recent years we’ve had no choice but to become involved. Their enemies will not keep us out of the mess. It means you’ll be at risk of being hurt, shot, stabbed, beaten, killed. You name it, you’ll experience it.”
“Angel was shot a year ago, three times. She stood in front of the gun so that Zero wasn’t killed,” Eva said.
“I’ve been beaten, put in a coma, and almost died for the club. I love Murphy, but I would trade in the occasional pain I seem to suffer because of the club.”
“It seems strange you’re warning me against the club.”
“It’s not about the club, Lacey. This is the life. You’ve got to accept the life or not.” The final words came from Eva.
Sitting on the seat of the swing, Lacey didn’t have to think about her answer. “I love Whizz. The club is part of him, and he’s part of the club. I won’t take him away. I won’t even make him choose. I love him and if being part of the club and being put at risk is what I have to do, then I’ll do it. I’ll do it for him.” She smiled as she said the words.
“There we go,” Eva said, hugging her close. “We’re going to need to get everything ready for a wedding. There’s so much to do and so much to look forward to.”
Before Lacey could stop them, Eva and Tate rounded up the kids and started toward the clubhouse. Lacey followed them, wondering what she’d just set in motion.
Eva entered the clubhouse and started herding the kids toward the back.
“Where are you going?” Tiny asked.
“I’ve got a wedding to organize. Whizz and Lacey want a wedding, we’re going to give them one.”
Whizz moved away from the bar toward her. “You’ve been talking?”
“No, I’ve been asking their advice.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close.
“I love you,” he said.
Each time he said those amazing three words, she felt like she was going to melt to the spot. Whizz held the power to do that to her.
“Can we go and see Butch?” she asked, wanting to apologize to the man she’d almost ruined.
“Sure.”
She didn’t listen as Whizz turned to talk to the other men.
“Hold on, I’ll come with you,” Lash and Nash both said.
“I’ll come.” That came from Sophia.
Angel walked through the door with Gash behind her.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We’re going to see Butch in the hospital. You want to come?” Lash asked, holding her close.
“What about Anthony?”
“Eva’s got him. She’s arranging a wedding. Whizz’s wedding to Lacey,” Lash said.
The kind woman turned to smile at Lacey. “I’m so pleased for you. I’ll come and see Butch.”