Size Matters (Chaos and Carnage MC 1)

“Fuck, Maddie, I am so sorry.”

“Yeah, you’re always so sorry, aren’t you, Bull?” Julio crouched down before her, smiling. “But why don’t you tell Maddie how you really feel? She seems to be under the impression you don’t want her.”

Silence.

“How about this? For every second you don’t talk, I imbed the knife into a part of her body,” Julio said.

He pressed the tip of the blade toward her knee, and she couldn’t stop the scream from filling the air.

Panic rose.

He tutted. “So easy to hurt.”

“Please, stop!” She yelled the words, hoping he’d listen.

“There’s only one way for this to stop.”

He pressed even deeper. The bastard was enjoying it as he went slowly, hurting her on purpose. He was actually getting a kick out of it.

She couldn’t contain her pain.

“I’m in love with her,” Bull said.

Maddie jerked her head up as Julio immediately stopped hurting her.

“That’s right, you do love her, don’t you?”

She couldn’t believe it.

“Yes.”

No. There was no way this was real. Bull didn’t love her. He had said he didn’t. He never loved her.

“Tell me more, Bull,” Julio said, laughing.

“I … spending any time away from her is the worst feeling in the world. I’ve been in love with Maddie for a very long time, but she has always avoided me. When I saw my chance, I took it.”

“I don’t think she quite believes you, Bull,” Julio said.

“I never stopped loving you. I always loved you, Maddie. I only said the shit I said so you wouldn’t argue with me. So you’d accept the lie. I knew your weight upset you, but I don’t believe it. I hate seeing you lose those curves. I want them back.”

“How am I supposed to believe you?” Maddie asked.

Julio tutted. “This is a loving reunion.”

“You’re right,” Bull said.

The door to the warehouse slammed open, and there, in the flesh, was Bull, with a man she assumed was William Ranford, and most of the Chaos and Carnage MC at their back. “It’s an annihilation of the Vito Crew.

Out of nowhere, Grant was there with a crowbar, taking down the guy who had a gun pointed at her.

Maddie didn’t know what happened next as all hell broke loose.

Gunshots were fired, and Grant pushed her to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut, terrified. She knew she should be focusing on not getting shot, but all she could think about was Bull. About the words he’d said.

Was it possible?

She wasn’t sure.

He’d been telling her the truth.

Amongst the chaos, silence finally reigned, and with all the commotion, Grant had helped to remove the ropes that bound her to the chair.

In the distance, she heard the sound of police sirens, and Bull released a curse.

His arms around her didn’t offer immediate comfort. She wasn’t sure how she felt being this close to him.

Bull helped her to her feet and stared into her eyes. His gaze went to her cheek, and it was a little struggle to stand with the pain in her knee from where Julio had started to stab her.

“I’ve got you, Maddie,” he said.

They were heading outside the warehouse, and she noticed Bull covered her face as they passed dead bodies.

She didn’t know what the hell had happened, but something had. There were men lying on the ground. She saw a couple of them as Bull didn’t cover her eyes in time.

As they made it outside, she saw a large van waiting for them.

They were stopped by Dylan, who put his hand on Bull’s chest.

“You’re going to have to do with that cleanup,” Bull said. “But believe me, you’ve just been the one responsible for finding the Vito Crew in a drug dispute.”

“For fuck’s sake, Bull. You think that is going to work?”

“It has to. I’ve got to get her to the hospital.”

Dylan looked at her and she saw he was fighting with wanting to order Bull to stay behind. “Fine. We’re still going to talk.”

Bull kissed the top of her head as Grant moved into the back of the van with them. Pat and Rusty climbed into the front of the car, and then, they were moving.

“I don’t know what happened,” Maddie said.

“Bull had a tracker in my cell phone,” Grant said. “The moment they took us, he could track our cells. It was something our paranoid dad did to the club, but Bull took the idea to take care of me, his baby brother.”

“I sent Grant to keep an eye on you. I knew something bad was going to go down, and the only person I had was Grant.”

“I don’t have the best reputation for making good decisions, but this one, oh, yeah, I did good.” Grant winced. “Maybe not so great. I gave them a good target for my head.”

“Are you okay?” Bull asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Give me a hot nurse and I’ll be right as rain.”