Page 37 of Broken Skulls

I stretch out my legs and lean back in my chair to stare up at the ceiling. I love my brothers, I do, but they aren’t going to make this easy on me. Maybe it shouldn’t be.

The door opens and Brody rushes in. “Hey, sorry I’m late, Prez.” His eyes meet mine briefly before he sits down. “I was on the road when you called the meeting. What did I miss?”

The group breaks out in laughter. Elijah pats Brody on the back. “Well, one of our brothers has been hiding a woman in his basement. We’ll let you take a guess as to which one it is.”

Brody’s head snaps in my direction. “Please tell me you didn’t?”

Jackson bangs his gavel as the room erupts in confusion. When it quiets, he looks at Brody. “You knew about this?”

He immediately shakes his head. “No. Fuck no. He asked me to go with him to look for Tank’s ex. To make sure she was okay. And she was, so we went our separate ways.”

“So, that clears up the whole scene with Tank back at the junkyard. She’s your ex?” Jackson asks.

Tank just grunts, narrowing his eyes at me. “I don’t know why the fuck you brought her here. I don’t like it.”

I sit up abruptly in my chair, banging my fist on the table. “I don’t give two fucks what you like.”

Tank ignores me. “She’s going to be trouble.”

“Everyone in this club is fucking trouble.” I point my finger at him. “Even you, you cock suck.”

We glare at each other.

“Calm the fuck down. Both of you,” Jackson orders. He focuses his attention on me. “This is making everyone, including our old ladies, nervous. You’ve been hiding a lot of shit from us, brother. You’re going to have to lay it all out on the table.”

I run my fingers through my hair. He’s right. I know he is. “You all heard the story about her.” I glance at Tank. Even though the man pisses me off, he’s my brother and I don’t want to hurt him. “Well, I just wanted to make sure she was okay, like Brody said.”

“Why?” Dan asks on the group’s behalf.

“Because that’s what we fucking do in this club, and for those of you who don’t think she deserves it, you’re wrong.”

Tank huffs.

“She tried to jump off a cliff. I stopped her.”

He shakes his head. “That wasn’t her first attempt at taking her life, JD. I hate to break it to you, man. The woman is messed up beyond repair. I spent years trying to figure it out. She’s just –”

“Broken?” I interrupt him.

Tank nods sadly. I see he has no ill will toward her, he just doesn’t know. No one does.

My gaze roams over my brothers. “I know who broke her.”

This gets everyone’s attention.

“Do you know a Mr. Baxter?”

Tanks brows pull together. “Yeah, he was a teacher in our hometown. I didn’t have him, but …” His hand covers his mouth, and he swallows hard. His mind is racing through memories. “My friend Danielle.” He pauses again. “No,” he whispers.

“I spoke to Danielle over the phone a few days ago. She told me about the naughty story they wrote about Mr. Baxter when they were goofing around as teens. She also told me how her stepfather, Dr. Williams, used it against her.”

“You think Dr. Williams used it against Lizzie too?” he asks, still puzzled as to what he may have missed.

“I think Williams and Baxter used it against her.”

“But how would he have known ..?” his voice trails off as it hits him. Anger flares in his eyes as he realizes Dr. Williams sold her out to her teacher.

He gets up and walks out.

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