OWNED & UNTAMED (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (12 page)

I poured the beat up eggs into a pan and grinned.

Was it so wrong to say I got what I wanted?

The coffeepot made its growling noise and I was there a second later with a mug. I poured a big cup, tended to the eggs, and completely skipped any attempt at cooking bacon. I learned my lesson from the last time when I almost caught the house on fire.

When Duke came into the kitchen, our eyes instantly locked. We both played the entire night over in our minds. He stood at the table, hands on a chair, looking bad ass and sexy mixed together. It didn’t seem right that a man like Duke could wake up, toss on his shirt from yesterday, and look as good as he did.

“There’s coffee,” I said.

“That I could use,” Duke said.

He walked through the kitchen - mind you, it was a big kitchen - but he purposely walked my way. I felt his hand gently touch my back. His presence was massive yet it felt great. So protective.

He kissed the top of my head.

Then he whispered, “It’s going to be okay, sweetie.”

I nodded.

I had no idea what he was talking about but it was good to hear those words being spoken. From the corner of my eye I watched as Duke poured himself coffee. He took it black. He put it to his lips and sipped as though the liquid wasn’t ten thousand degrees. Something so little like that shouldn’t have turned me on the way it did.

Duke nestled himself into the corner of the counter. “Eggs smell good.”

“You should see me with bacon,” I said.

“Oh?”

“Don’t even ask,” another voice said.

I looked and saw Jim walking into the kitchen. See, he wore the same clothes from yesterday too but he looked completely homeless and beat up. Like a burned out junkie.

“There he is,” Duke said. “The rockstar. Partying with pills all night.”

My heart skipped a beat. The last time these two tried to talk they ended up in a fist fight. I wasn’t in the mood to get between them again.

“That’s why you’re here again?” Jim asked.

“You going to stop trying to hurt yourself?” Duke shot right back.

“I’ll start with a coffee.”

“Here,” Duke said. He offered Jim his mug. “It’s already cooled off. So your little girl lips don’t get burned.”

Jim took the mug and half smiled. “I’ll throw this in your face.”

“Go ahead,” Duke said. “It’s cooled off.”

“Just for the record, I wasn’t trying to hurt myself,” Jim said. “Or anyone. I felt like shit yesterday. I was thinking about messing with that damn tree outside.” He looked right at me. “Since you don’t stop bitching about it.”

“Hey,” Duke said. “That’s your sister, brother. A little respect.”

Jim grinned again, eyeing me and Duke. “Right. Sure.”

That grin…
could he sense it?

He was a guy. Of course he sensed it.

Jim always gave me crap for falling as hard as I did for Duke. Duke had been my first real crush when I was too young for him and he quickly became my first true love when I was old enough to be with him.

“I was cutting at the tree,” Jim said, “and I just felt off. My body started to hurt. So I did what the doc said to do. I took a couple pills.”

“A couple,” Duke said. “How many is your version of a couple?”

“You build a tolerance, man,” Jim said.

“That’s something a junkie would say.”

“Fuck yourself,” Jim said. He turned and walked to the table. He sat down.

I then looked at Duke and sucked in a deep breath. Duke puckered his lips with a
shhh
and then inched toward me.

He got close and whispered, “I’ve got this, sweetie.”

He kissed the side of my head and then sat across from Jim at the table.

“How many did you take?” Duke asked.

“A few. More than I should have. But I wasn’t going to die.”

“Belle didn’t know that. She called me. You’re lucky. If an ambulance was here…”

“I know,” Jim said. He stared into his coffee as I served him and Duke a plate of eggs.

“The least you could do is apologize to her,” Duke said.

“You’re not complaining about getting the call,” Jim said.

“Smart mouth, huh?”

Jim grabbed his fork and shoveled a huge heap of eggs toward his mouth. That’s when Duke made a move. Duke grabbed Jim’s wrist and twisted. Jim dropped the fork. Duke stood, kicking the chair back, and leaned over.

“I’m only going to say this once, Jim. If I ever get another fucking phone call about you drinking too much, puking, taking too many pills… I’m going to take you out back and make you never get a chance to try it again. You have problems, Jim? Call me.”

Jim backed away from the table and shook Duke’s grip away. He then stood up and slid his plate of food out of the way.

“Is this your version of an intervention?” he asked. Then he looked at me.

“Duke is right,” I said.

“Duke is right?” Jim asked. Jim looked at Duke again. “Since we’re clearing the air,
brother
, let’s get things straight. You bailed on me. You pulled my ass out of that truck over there before I could get to Bill. Then you were gone. Like you died or something. You left her” - Jim pointed right at me - “to sit and suffer. She waited. Days when I wasn’t strong enough you weren’t there for anyone. So fuck you, Duke. I’ll say this once to you… if you come around here just to take shots at me and fuck my sister I’m going to take you out back and make sure you never get to fuck anything again.”

I couldn’t remember a time seeing Jim so raw and angry. Especially when he was sober.

The pain he and Duke traded in their stare terrified me.

Jim then turned and started to walk away.

“Jim,” I yelled. “Breakfast.”

“I’ll make my own,” he called out.

When he was gone, Duke just stood there, nodding. He looked at me. He swallowed hard.

He reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Shit, sweetie. Maybe you need to get some help around here. Or find someone to understand this.”

I wasn’t sure what the hell Duke meant by that but then he stormed out of the kitchen. Worse than that, he went out the front door. I heard the heavy thud of the door and my mouth fell open.

What the hell had just happened?

**

Duke stood at the top step of the porch with his arms crossed and stared out beyond the driveway. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what those eyes had seen in their lifetime so far. Even beyond the military stuff and being at war, just all the things I had heard about the motorcycle club.

I didn’t expect to see Duke standing on the porch. I thought he was going to be on his ride, ready to take off.

“Duke.”

“I didn’t fucking take off on anyone,” he said. “I made a decision. It might have seemed bad at the time, I get that, but in the long run…” He looked at me. “You don’t want this life, sweetie.”

“See, that’s the problem,” I said. “Everyone telling me what I want and don’t want. I’m tired of it.”

“Belle…”

“I waited a year,” I said. “More than that, waiting for you, Duke. Before that I had a comfortable distraction. It was all going to work out. I had a reason to forget you. But he left me. He didn’t want to deal with the crippled brother and the dead father.”

“Christ,” Duke said. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t deal with sorry,” I said. “What Jim said…”

“Was exactly what he needed to say,” Duke said. “He needed to get that off his chest. He holds a lot of guilt that one of the guys died. I saved my best friend, sweetie. Maybe I was being selfish. I try not to go too far back there because if you get stuck, you’re screwed. Jim wanted to save people. He had a greater sense of pride than I ever did. When that shit got detonated, it was a split second reaction he had to save lives. All I could think about was saving his. That’s what makes him the greater man in all of this. I hope he sees that sooner than later.”

Duke took the first step and I jumped at him.

I grabbed his leather cut as he hit the second step. He turned around and was almost eye level to me. My hands held his leather cut tight. Then I let go and slowly lifted my hands to touch his face.

I wasn’t going to do the dumb cliche thing and tell Duke he was a great man or anything like that.

In fact, I had no idea what to say. Half of me wanted to hate him. The other half wanted to love him.

“Thank you for coming here again,” I said. “I need to stop doing that though. Bothering you.”

“No, sweetie, that’s where you’re really wrong here. You can bother me anytime you fucking want. I owe you years. But you know who I am now and what I do. At least you think you know what I do.”

“Maybe you can tell me someday,” I said.

“Maybe you can tell me about the person you were fucking while waiting for me,” he said.

“Maybe I will.”

Duke put his hands to my waist. It was the same way he held me last night.
When we were both naked. When he was thrusting at me. Fucking me. When he was…

“In my mind you were better off,” he said. “That’s all I can say. But I would never leave you hanging to suffer. What you have here is bullshit, sweetie. I’m not leaving you again. But I have to go right now.”

“Club stuff?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

“Duke, do you ever worry about getting caught? Getting into trouble? Going to jail?”

“Every day,” he said. “But this is my life, Belle. This is my brotherhood. It’s all I know.”

He leaned forward and kissed me.

I pulled at his steel jaw, demanding more of him. I actually wanted him to lift me up and take me back inside. We could walk right up the steps and let the day waste by.

We kept kissing and I could sense I was just seconds away from my wish coming true.

Then I heard the sound of a car and tires hitting the rocks in the driveway.

That broke the kiss as Duke turned, blocking me.

It was sort of romantic, but truthfully, scary. His hand reaching back, grabbing at his gun.

Was this how he lived? A target on his back? Would someone try to hurt him here, with me? Did that make me a target?

Those were questions that would remain unanswered.

It was Maggie.

Shit.

I forgot about Maggie coming.

She got out of her car and stood there, her face in shock.

As she walked forward, she pointed at Duke. “Tell me I’m dreaming right now.”

“Jim is inside,” I said.

Maggie couldn’t stop smiling. “I never thought I’d see you again, Duke.”

“Maggie,” he said.

“I like the look,” she said.

“Thanks. I see you’re still fighting to win prom queen.”

I grinned, taking note that Maggie had gotten herself all dressed up to come here. Little did Duke know that Maggie was there to clean and help out with Jim’s house.

“I’m going inside,” Maggie said.

“I’ll be right behind you,” I said.

“I won’t,” Duke said.

“Don’t stare at my ass when I walk by,” Maggie said. She touched Duke’s arm. “Don’t hurt Belle again.”

That was a total cheap shot.

I saw Duke’s lip curl.

Maggie shut the door behind her.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “She’s…”

“Bitter,” Duke said.

“No. Just a bitch.”

Duke touched my face. He gently kissed me again. “Sweetie, she’s bitter and jealous. That time we all went camping in the woods? Right after you turned eighteen. She was in my tent. She was not wearing any clothes. She confessed her love to me, willing to do anything to get with me. I zipped up my sleeping bag and picked her up, carrying her out of the tent. I made her hop away just like that.”

“What?”

Duke winked. “True story.”

“That’s why you only had one sleeping bag that night,” I said. “I thought that was your cheap attempt at getting me to sleep in the same sleeping bag with you.”

Duke backed away. “Sweetie, I don’t do cheap attempts. I go all in. Never forget that.”

Duke left those words lingering in the air as he walked to his motorcycle.

Just like that I had found out a piece of our history I never knew.

I watched Duke ride away…
and within seconds I felt lonely and missed him.

**

“What the fuck is this?” Jim asked as I pressed the lid on all the eggs nobody freaking ate.

I turned and jammed the container against Jim’s gut. “Eggs. You have breakfast for the week. You’re welcome.”

Jim chased me down as I exited the kitchen. “Belle, stop this. What is Maggie doing here?”

I paused. “She owns a cleaning business. She offered to help here.”