Page 90 of Roses and Skulls

Without thought or feeling, my hand snags her hair and pulls her away from Elijah. I drag her across the lawn as she screams, reaching up, clawing at my hand, attempting to get me to release her.

“You bitch, let me go. Brody is going to kill you for this,” she seethes.

This makes me pause, letting her go. She jumps to her feet, and we stare at each other. Brody brought her here?

Brody comes running over just then. “I’m sorry, Rosie.” He grabs the woman’s hand and tries to pull her away. “Lanie asked me to give her friend a place to stay for a few days. I didn’t know she would go and cause trouble.” He glares at her.

The blonde laughs. “You think you are woman enough to handle that,” she taunts, tossing a look back over her shoulder at Elijah. She snorts when she faces me.

Everyone is quiet.

I pull my hair over my shoulder. “I hope you and Lanie have good insurance at Bell’s.”

Bimbo says nothing. She just stares at me, rubbing the back of her head where I pulled her hair.

“You’re going to need it for a new nose,” I tell her calmly.

She laughs when she finally realizes what I’m saying. She looks me up and down, rolling her eyes.

I know I’m tiny, but she must have short term memory loss because I just drug her ass across the lawn by her hair. Did she forget that already?

My eyes roam behind her. Elijah sticks a sucker in his mouth and winks, a relaxed, somewhat bored expression over his face.

The woman thinks I’m distracted, and I am, but I’m not stupid. She charges me and without taking my eyes off my man, I rear back and my fist clashes with her nose as she approaches. The crunch of bone sends a shiver up my spine. Blood spurts over the both of us.

She bends over, holding her nose and crying. I take a few steps towards her and muster up the best loogie of my life and spit it right in her eye. “I hope she’s a better friend to you than she was me.”

Brody helps her to her feet, apologizing the entire time. “I’m so sorry, Rosie. You won’t see her again.” He drags her away.

It’s then I notice the entire club gawking at me, their jaws dropped open in surprise.

“Just for the record,” I say loud enough for all the women to hear, “he’s mine.” I point to Elijah. “I’ll knife anyone who so much as looks at him wrong.”

And with those parting words, I make my way into the warehouse to clean up.

My mom follows me inside. When we get to my room, she pulls me into her arms. I’m shaking. From anger, adrenaline, I’m not sure. “I take it you don’t consider Lanie a friend anymore. Why would she send someone here to hurt you?”

I pull away, a new worry entering my thoughts. Lanie knows about Elijah. How? Is she in town? Draven told me he would handle her. I didn’t ask what that meant but maybe I should have.

“She’s jealous. She doesn’t like that I’m working for Draven.”

Mom nods sadly. “Okay, I’ll leave you to clean up.” She stops at the door. “That was one hell of a punch.”

“You aren’t mad?” I ask, hesitantly.

“No, baby. I’m not mad. I would have done exactly the same.” She gives me a wide smile. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. You’re a Skull.” She nods her head towards my hand. “Put some ice on that.”

I glance down, noticing my knuckles swelling slightly.

The pain feels good. Punching that bitch felt good. I wonder how it would feel to kill someone. Can I do it? I heard my dad before Ms. Bimbo put her hands on what was mine. He said he would handle it. I just need to tell him when to pull the plug.

As the days go on, I wonder if it’s Draven I should really be angry at. I mean, he was there that night, but he didn’t drive the truck and he didn’t know I would be there. He’s been so nice to Elijah and me the past few weeks. Like he really is trying to make amends. Does today prove who really has it out for me?

After a quick shower, I sit on the edge of my bed and send Draven a text.

Me: She’s at it again.

Draven: What now?

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