Claiming Crusher (Savage Brothers MC #4)(18)

When we get inside Tiny’s quiet and I’m good with that. I do nothing to invite conversation. He goes into the kitchen and talks on his cell phone. He’s whispering and I can’t make out what he’s saying, but I don’t really care. I’m here for one reason and as soon as that’s done, Tiny will be a bad memory. He will pale in comparison to the nightmares I pack around. I just have to get Nicole to listen to me. Then we can work out the rest together. My eyes stayed glued to the clock, and eventually we hear a car pull up. Tiny cusses when he looks out the window.

“Your girl brought a friend,” he says and my heart kicks up in speed.

If Dragon is with her, there is no way I will be able to talk to her and she needs to know. Tiny goes and stands behind the door and pulls out a gun. A sick feeling of heat from the inside covers me, and I seriously might hurl. I don’t want this. I need to get control here. Badass Dani needs to take over.

“What the f*ck are you doing?”

Oh, but that doesn’t sound badass at all. That sounds full of fear, which is what I am now. I need to warn Nic, but I don’t want a showdown with Dragon and Tiny. I know Dragon will win, and then he’ll turn his anger on me and Nic. Fuck, why didn’t I demand we find Beast and take him with us?

“Cool your jets, I’m not going to shoot him, at least not yet. I just need to put her guy out of commission if you’re going to talk to her,” he says calmly and the smile on his face unnerves me.

It’s not like I trust him to begin with, but I’m starting to think there is more behind Tiny’s offer to help than I realized. Shit. It doesn’t matter, I’ll show Nic the pictures, and together we’ll ditch Tiny and get the f*ck out of this town. Screw getting Beast and Skull’s help, I can use Michael’s money to get us to Mexico and set us up somewhere safe. Safe. God, I need safe.

Seconds later the door opens and Tiny immediately uses the butt of his gun to hit the guy with Nic on the head. Nailer, I think he’s called. I’ve seen him when I dance. I wince, wishing he hadn’t gotten hurt, but glad it’s him there instead of Dragon. I don’t think Dragon would have gone down so easily. Nailer does however, with a horrible thud. Nic screams and Tiny pulls her into the house, trying to muffle the sound with his arm. She looks over at me and my stomach lurches. I do my best to remain even-keeled. I need to calm Nic down and get her to listen and then we both need to get the f*ck away from Tiny and out of here.

“Calm down, Nic. It’s not what you think. Tiny and I are trying to save you. Girl, you just don’t know what that man you are with has done.”

Nic is elbowing Tiny and I look at him in frustration. He finally let’s her go.

“Are you crazy?” She asks, getting down on her hands and knees to check on Nailer.

She probably has a valid point. I’ve been crazy for so long, I don’t know any other way. I need to make her understand. If Dragon, turns his anger on her like Michael did me…if she has to endure the things I did….I can’t let that happen to Nic. I just can’t let that happen to anyone else.

“Nic, I had to get you away from that club. You don’t know what they’re doing!” I say walking to her and trying to pull her away from Nailer. We need to get out of here.

“Have you lost your freaking mind?” She asks again. My panic is increasing, this is not working out like I had it planned in my head.

“Nic!”

“Dani! How the f*ck do you know anything is going on? You spent what? A couple nights with this * and decide everything he’s telling you is the f*cking truth?”

“He has pictures, Nic. You need to see what Dragon did to his own man! Here look at them! You can’t stay with him Nic, he’ll hurt you!”

I can’t keep the panic out of my voice. I’m saving Nic, right? I’m giving her a lifeline I never got. Why is it not working? She takes the camera out of my hands and starts looking at it. I step back. It’ll get better now. She’ll see him killing Ms. Martens…no that’s not right. She’ll see him killing one of his own and she’ll see that we have to get away. We need to make ourselves safe.

“Why do you have these pictures?” Nic asks, so calm. She gives me this look of disgust and my soul feels…wounded. Nic is my best friend. Her and Ray are my only friends in the world. How can she see those pictures, be calm and look at me like I’m the piece of shit? What am I missing? Is the whole world okay with men killing and hurting others? Why does it feel like Nicole is betraying…me?

“Tiny is in charge of following Dragon and his crew when they’re in Skull’s city to make sure they don’t do shit like this! Nic, you can’t be so far gone over Dragon that you don’t see how wrong this is!”

“Get the f*ck out of my house!” She yells, throwing the phone across the room.

“Not going to happen, bitch,” Tiny says smugly. When I see the look on his face, I feel my panic nearly drown me. No! This is not how it is supposed to go down.

“What do you want from me?” Nic growls at Tiny.

“To play with you, sweet cheeks. Maybe I’ll do you and your girl at the same time. Dani here likes to party. The more the merrier, right baby?”

I try to concentrate on what they are saying. I know it’s not good, but a panic attack has me in its sites. The room is starting to tilt and swirl and the noise around me is distorted. I can’t hear what they are saying, but the anger in Nic’s face is clear. I try to concentrate on it and use that to ground me and keep the fear at bay.