Chapter Three #2
The scar. The wheelchair.
The way he’d gotten tired from sitting up and tried to hide it.
I had driven here believing Ashland could help me.
I hadn’t prepared myself for the possibility that Ashland might need help too.
“What’s going on?”
I turned.
Skull stood in the clubhouse doorway. Fantastic.
Prime pointed at me. “She wants to go to her RV.”
I threw my hands up. “I’m being held captive.”
Shay made a choking sound.
Prime stared at me.
Skull didn’t react. That somehow made it worse. “Held captive?” he repeated.
“Yes.”
“You walked into the clubhouse on your own,” Skull drawled.
“After Prime wouldn’t tell me where Bob was,” I pointed out.
“I told you where he was,” Prime scoffed.
“Eventually.”
Prime looked at Skull. “See what I’m dealing with?”
“I’m standing right here.”
“Well, you’re the VP, do something about it,” Prime demanded.
Skull walked down the steps and stopped in front of me. “What do you want?”
“To go to my RV.” Obviously.
“For what?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” I rubbed both hands over my face. “I want my stuff. I want to sit there. I want to think. I just want to be somewhere familiar for a little while.”
Skull studied me.
I waited for another no.
Instead, he nodded. “Okay.”
I blinked.
Prime frowned. “Skull.”
“I said okay.”
I stared at him. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
Relief rushed through me. “Thank you.”
“Wannabe and Pull will go with you.”
And there it went. “I don’t need—”
Skull lifted one hand.
I stopped.
“You want to go to the RV, Wannabe and Pull go with you. They don’t go, you don’t go,” he reasoned.
“I don’t want two strange guys sitting in there with me.”
“They won’t.”
I folded my arms.
“They’ll stay outside,” Skull continued. “You go inside. Shut the door. Do whatever you need to do. They’ll keep an eye on things.”
“For how long?”
“As long as you want to be out there.”
I narrowed my eyes.
He seemed serious.
“No time limit?”
Skull shook his head. “No.”
“No one knocking on the door every ten minutes?”
“No.”
“No one asking what I’m doing?” That would annoy me beyond belief.
“No.”
Prime opened his mouth.
Skull looked at him.
Prime closed it.
I almost smiled. Apparently, somebody could control Prime.
“Fine,” I said.
Skull nodded.
That was it.
No argument. No lecture. No telling me I was being stupid.
Just fine.
I hadn’t expected that from him.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected much of anything from the VP of a motorcycle club besides bossiness, and I’d gotten plenty of that already from the president, Anchor.
Skull turned toward the clubhouse.
“Pull! Wannabe!” The door opened a few seconds later.
A man stepped outside. Another younger guy came behind him.
“What’s up?” Pull asked.
Skull pointed at me. “Ramona wants some time at her RV.”
Pull looked at me and nodded.
No questions. No weird look.
Skull glanced toward the younger guy. “Wannabe, you’re with him.”
Wannabe looked between Skull and me. “Yeah.”
“You two take her out there. Check the RV before she goes inside. Then you stay outside,” he ordered.
“For how long?” Wannabe asked.
“As long as she wants to be there.”
Wannabe nodded. “Got it.”
Skull looked at Pull. “Don’t leave her alone.”
“Won’t,” Pull replied. There was something about that exchange that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Don’t leave her alone.
Not keep an eye on the RV. Not make sure nobody bothered her.
Don’t leave her alone.
I looked at Prime.
He was already watching me.
I quickly looked away.
Maybe I didn’t want to know.
“Ready?” Pull asked.
“Yeah.”
I turned toward Shay.
She smiled. “I’ll see you later.”
“You’re not coming?”
Prime answered before she could. “No.”
Shay rolled her eyes. “I could.”
“No,” Prime repeated.
I laughed.
She pointed at me. “See? It’s not just you.”
I followed Pull and Wannabe away from the clubhouse.
For the first minute, nobody said anything.
Pull walked on my left while Wannabe was a few steps ahead. Both of them seemed relaxed, but I noticed their eyes moving constantly.
I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
“So, Wannabe?”
He looked back. “Yeah?”
“That’s actually what everyone calls you?”
“Unfortunately.”
Pull laughed.
Wannabe flipped him off.
“There’s a story there?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“You going to tell me?”
“No,” Wannabe grunted.
“Apparently, that’s another club thing.”
Pull glanced at me. “What’s that?”
“Not answering questions.”
He glanced to the left. “You get used to it.”
I groaned.
Wannabe laughed. “Somebody already tell you that?”
“More than once.”
We came around the side of the haunted house, and it looked pretty normal. I looked toward the building. Even in daylight, the thing was creepy. “I take it this place is pretty busy at night?”
“During season?” Pull asked. “Pretty much.”
I looked toward the haunted house again. “And the club runs all of this?”
“Haunted house. Ghost boat tours. Some other shit,” Wannabe said.
“Very descriptive.”
“Thanks.”
I smiled.
“Didn’t Bob tell you about the place?” Wannabe asked.
My smile slipped.
Pull looked over.
I kept walking. “No.”
Wannabe frowned. “Thought you knew him.”
“I do.”
“But he never told you about Skull Island?” Pull asked.
“We don’t talk much.” That was putting it mildly.
Wannabe opened his mouth and Pull smacked the back of his head. “Ow. What the fuck?”
“Quit asking questions.”
“I asked one,” he grunted.
“You were about to ask another.”
Wannabe rubbed the back of his head. “You don’t know that.”
“I know you.”
I laughed. “Thanks,” I told Pull.
He shrugged. “Wannabe’s still learning when to shut up.”
“Fuck you,” Wannabe muttered.
“See?” Pull pointed at him.
I was grateful Wannabe or Pull didn’t ask anything else.
I didn’t want to explain Ash. I wasn’t even sure I could.
He wasn’t an ex. He wasn’t an old boyfriend. He wasn’t some great love I’d left behind.
He’d been my brother’s friend. Then he’d been something else for one terrible night.
The person who had stepped in. The person I’d never forgotten. That didn’t exactly fit into a neat little explanation.
The parking lot came into view and my RV was right where I’d left it.
Crooked. Dead. Beautiful.
I almost laughed at the amount of relief I felt just seeing the damn thing. “There she is.”
Wannabe looked at it. “That’s yours?”
“Yes.”
“Cool.”
I glanced at him. That sounded sincere. “Thanks.”
Pull walked toward the RV. He held up a hand before I reached the door. “Give me a second.”
I stopped. “What?”
“Need to check it,” he explained.
“Check it for what?”
Pull looked at me. “This is part of the deal of you being out here, doll.”
I sighed. “Right. Don’t answer questions.”
His mouth twitched. “Just let me look.”
I held both hands up. “Have at it.”
At this point, I knew I was lucky they were letting me out here at all. I dug my keys from my pocket and handed them to him.
Pull unlocked the door and stepped inside.
I stayed beside Wannabe. He wasn’t looking at the RV. He was looking everywhere else.
Toward the road. Then the trees. Then the edge of the parking lot.
I watched him for a few seconds. “What are you looking for?”
“Nothing.”
“That is a lie.”
He glanced at me.
“Prime did the same thing last night,” I said. “You guys are always looking around.”
Wannabe shoved his hands into his pockets. “Habit.”
“From what?”
He looked toward the trees again.
I waited.
Finally, he shrugged. “Ghosts.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Ghosts.”
I looked toward the haunted house. Then back at him. “You’re fucking with me.”
“Maybe.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Or not.”
The RV door opened and Pull stepped out. “All good.”
I looked at him. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
He handed me my keys and I took them. “Thanks.”
“We’ll be right here,” he said, moving to stand by Wannabe.
“Outside,” I clarified.
“Outside,” he confirmed.
“No knocking.”
Pull held up his hands. “Unless we need to.”
I narrowed my eyes.
Pull smiled. “Go.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I climbed into the RV and pulled the door shut behind me. Then I locked it.
For a few seconds, I just stood there.
Silence. My silence.
My tiny kitchen was exactly how I’d left it. The blanket I’d tossed over the back of the couch was crooked. A coffee mug sat upside down beside the sink. My shoes were kicked underneath the little table.
Nothing special, but it was mine. I dropped my keys onto the counter and my shoulders relaxed. “Thank God.”
I moved to the couch and sat down. The cushion sank beneath me in the familiar spot.
Better. So much fucking better.
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.
Ash’s face immediately appeared.
I opened my eyes. “Nope.” I wasn’t doing that yet.
I stood and moved toward the small window beside the table. I pulled the curtain back just enough to look outside.
Pull and Wannabe stood twenty feet away. They weren’t looking at the RV. They were talking to each other, but even then, their attention kept shifting around the parking lot.
Watching.
I let the curtain fall back into place. Something was going on. Something bigger than whatever I’d brought with me.
I had assumed Prime was being overprotective because he thought Shay was going to come out with me.
And now Skull wouldn’t let me sit alone in my own RV without two men stationed outside.
Ash had his throat slit.
Bernice had died.
McKayla’s sister was in the hospital.
And every member of the Kings of Anarchy seemed to be watching the shadows.
I had come to Skull Island because I thought my problems were getting too dangerous to handle alone. I was starting to wonder if I’d driven straight into something a hell of a lot more dangerous.
Whatever was happening with the Kings, I hoped like hell it stayed away from me.