“Maybe I cut a nerve. Don’t worry, it’ll be years of physical therapy if you make it out of here alive,” he said. Lucas shrugged, no longer giving a shit.
“What did I do to you?”
Ignoring the man, he went back to the letter.
Lucas, you were my brother. I have no choice but to beg you to take care of Prue. She needs you now more than ever. I’ve let you down as a friend, and now I’ve let you down as a brother. I’m so sorry. She needs to be looked after. I’ve kept her away from all this shit. If Alan ever finds out about her, it will be you and her he’s after.
There’s a rumor about him. When he goes after the people someone cares about he works out the number, and each time he marks one off, he reevaluates the number. There are three of us, so one down, two to go.
Please, be safe. I love you both, and I wish it could be different.
Love to you both,
Trevor
Folding up the letter, Lucas stared at Alan. The man was drooling from the mouth. “Trevor, he worked for you.”
“I have a lot of Trevors working for me.”
“Did you put a lot of bullets in men’s guts in the last week?” Lucas asked.
“Ah, Trevor Lawson. He’s got a sister and a best friend. I’ve been looking for them.”
Slamming his fist into Alan’s face, Lucas watched the other man crash to the floor. The chair held him in place. Ramming his foot into the man’s stomach, Lucas lashed out, letting all the anger and rage out.
“You’re meeting the friend now.”
Lucas didn’t stop until Alan was gasping for breath and trying to get him to stop. The man couldn’t move. When he was done, he took the last of the petrol and doused Alan’s body, the chair, and the fabric around him.
Lighting a match, he stared down at Alan.
“No one fucks with my family.” Dropping the match, he didn’t look back and left the building. He left the truck outside, climbed on his bike and headed back to Fort Wills to live his life.
Three weeks later he and Prue stood at an empty graveside with Trevor’s name on it. She didn’t live near Fort Wills, and it had taken him time to get to her.
“I can’t believe he’s dead,” she said.
To him she would always be Prue Lawson. To the outside world, she was Lilly Masters, a student preparing for a life of teaching youngsters.
“Neither can I,” he said. He took hold of her hand, and together they would mourn for the loss of their friend. There was no one else to take care of them.
Prue was his responsibility, and he wasn’t going to let her get hurt again.
Chapter One
Present day
“Fuck, what are you doing? We need to get you to the hospital,” Zero said, pressing his hands to the blood-soaked wound. Prue’s eyes were wide as she looked at him, panicking. How the fuck was Alan back? He couldn’t think about the other man. The only person he needed to care about was dying in his lap. No, he wouldn’t accept it. Prue was not going to die. He’d already lost Trevor, and he wasn’t going to lose Prue in the same way.
No more dying on his watch. He’d promised Trevor he’d care for her.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked, turning to Butch. The other man was covered in her blood.
“She was walking inside the compound. I was watching her. I recognized her but didn’t know where from.”
Tiny was barking out orders. Steven was on the phone. The sirens of an ambulance could be heard in the background. Sandy had stayed with Stink away from the clubhouse, and she wasn’t on hand to help them. Fuck, why did they always need Sandy when she wasn’t around?
“Come on, Prue. Don’t fucking die on me.”
“Someone fired a gun. No one else is hurt. None of us were close enough to the gate. Whoever was firing was aiming for her,” Steven said, kneeling beside him.
“He … knows…” Prue gasped, and tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.
“No, you’re not going to die on me, do you hear? You don’t get to fucking die on me.” He couldn’t think about Alan being back. The other man was supposed to be gone and dead.
“What the fuck is going on, Zero?” Tiny asked, glaring down at them.
He opened his mouth ready to spill everything, but the ambulance arrived. There was no time to tell him about the past. Later there would be more than enough time to bring Tiny and the others up to date. The only person who needed his attention right now was Prue. They loaded her onto a bed and carried her into the back.
“I’ll tell you everything, but I need to be with her.” He climbed in the back of the ambulance, not waiting for his brothers to say anything. Grabbing her hand, he watched the paramedic do what he needed to do.