OWNED & UNTAMED (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (16 page)

“I guess it does,” I said. “Duke said he saw something and got information out of someone.”

“That’s scary.”

I sat at the kitchen table and looked at Maggie. “When he came here that first time I called, he had been shot. Right when I called him, he had been shot. I changed the bandages for him.”

“That’s crazy,” Maggie said. “Really crazy.”

“I know.”

“Yet you love him.”

“What? No. I never said that.”

Maggie reached for my hand. “Belle, you’ve been in love with Duke since you were too young to know what it felt like to be in love.”

“So is it true you tried to sleep with him?”

Maggie’s cheeks reddened. “Yeah. He kicked me out for you.”

“Interesting.”

There was a knock at the doorway.

It was Jim standing there.

“What?” I asked.

He took a step forward and then hobbled a little because of his leg. He stood tall and looked really pissed off.

“I’m sorry for what I said,” he said. “You’re right, Maggie. I am a fucking asshole. That’s why this whole set up thing with us can’t happen. Nobody needs this in their life. And if whatever is happening with Duke and his club is going to hurt you, sis, I’ll take care of it. I’ll figure this out myself.”

“Jim, let Duke help and just tell the damn truth.”

“It’s not worth whatever is waiting,” Maggie said.

“You both say that,” Jim said. “You weren’t there. Sitting next to him as he was driving. We joked about me driving that day. If I had been… I’d be long gone, sis. And Bill would be with his wife and kids.”

I shook my head. “Don’t do this…”

“No,” Jim said. He pointed to Maggie. “You want to see it through my eyes for a second? You think I’m some kind of hero? That’s what I think about all the time. When the first explosion went off, I grabbed for him. He shouldered me away. I turned and threw the other two guys out. I turned to get Bill and the second explosion happened. If I was faster, stronger, if I just grabbed the keys from Bill…”

I saw Maggie cover her mouth.

Jim still stood there, almost stoic. I had never seen him do that before. Just stand there and blurt out parts of his story. Hell, it took a year for him just to talk to me about what happened over there.

“Duke dragged me out,” he said. “Left Bill. Bill was already gone, but I always wonder what would have happened if I got him out. Shit happens. But not that day. My best friend saved me so I could live in pain and guilt. That’s all I have to say about Duke. It’s my land out there, too, sis. I’ll do whatever I want. I’m not living in the memory of our parents. I’m not living in the thought of
what could have been
. It’s time to move on. Completely.”

Jim exited the room and left both myself and Maggie sitting there, speechless.

“I think I need to go talk to him,” Maggie whispered.

“Go.”

When I was alone, I tried to collect my thoughts. I had a few minutes to myself before my phone beeped with a text message from Duke.

Coming up tonight. Make sure Jim doesn’t leave the house. If you have a gun, load it and keep it close. See you later.

nineteen.

(duke)

I wiped blood off the corner of my mouth and Jasper pushed me back to a stool at the bar. A prospect quickly poured me a shot and I threw it back. I then stood up and nodded to Trev, ready for another punch to the mouth.

“Do it again,” I said.

“No,” Trev said. “Table. Everyone.”

I couldn’t blame them for all wanting to beat the shit out of me. I deserved it. If the roles were reversed… shit, they had been with Trent not all that long ago. He defended the hell out of Harlee when she was sent to kill me.

Sadly, I now knew how Trent felt.

I would do anything to protect Belle. And as far as Jim went… fuck. We grew up tighter than brothers. We trained together. We served together. We went to war together.

I got myself a beer and was the last person to enter the conference room. Max shut the door, locked it, and took his seat. I hung back, leaving my chair empty. Maybe it was a symbol to the club. Maybe it was just a symbol to myself. Without the MC I’d run outlaw. Trev had run outlaw many times in his life and look where it got him. Not that I wanted to sit at the head of a charter as President.

“Fire away,” I said.

“Right now the Russians think we’re working with the Hell Five,” Jasper said. “They think we purposely lost their money only to buy up some land. There’s more to this story, but they want to blame you, Duke.”

“You were the one who called,” Trev said. “The one up there. The one who grabbed a prospect and not a member of the Hell Five.”

“A member would have caused a bigger war,” I said. “And you’ve talked to Carlo. I’m not involved in shit.”

“But you know more than the rest of us,” Kye said.

“That I do.”

“Holding back on info?” Trev said. “That’s vote worthy to strip you of your goddamn leather cut.”

“Then fucking vote!” I yelled. “The truth? I’m trying to find out myself. A guy I served in Iraq with is the one who sold that land. I was up there trying to help him personally. His sister called me. He had a couple rough nights. That’s why I was up there.”

“Pussy,” Cash said. “Always goddamn pussy.”

“It’s not that,” I said. “It’s more.”

“Jesus Christ, Duke,” Jasper said. “If he sold that land, what are we supposed to do?”

“My plan was to go back up there and talk to him. I was up there already and found out it was him that sold the land and not his sister. That was my first priority.”

“Pussy,” Cash said.

“If you say the word
pussy
again I’m going to make it so you never enjoy pussy again.”

“Cash, shut up,” Trev said. “Duke, keep talking. My patience is counting to zero.”

“Jim lost a leg over there. He was blown up. I saved him. It was a bad situation for a long time for him. Trying to recover. His sister has been helping for years. I kept my distance because I had nothing to say to Jim. I couldn’t save him from himself. That’s the fucking truth. I was on my way back here when I stopped to take a piss. I heard voices and that’s when I saw what looked like a deal going down. I trapped one of the prospects, figuring he’d talk fastest and wouldn’t be all that missed right away. That’s the fucking truth.”

I looked around the table to my brothers. Like I had to get their approval.

“Keep going,” Trent said.

“That’s it,” I said. “I found out about the land and here I am now. Belle owns a few sections. Jim owns a few sections. The one that the Hell Five bought was owned by Jim.”

“Then we stop the deal,” Austin said.

“Can we do that, Cade?” Trev asked.

“We can do anything we want. But if things are in motion… being transferred… it’s going to be tricky.”

“Then we better move,” Xavier said.

“I’m trying to get all the information I can from Jim,” I said. “He’s a stubborn miserable prick to talk to.”

“I can see why you two are friends,” Trev said.

“Thanks, Prez,” I said. “Look, I am not fucking with you guys here. I’m not going behind anyone’s back. I’m trying to figure out what the hell is going on before anyone makes a rash decision.”

“Because of your involvement in the situation,” Trent said.

“Fuck off, brother. You don’t know my fucking involvement in anything. If I wasn’t there to see the Hell Five we would be really screwed right now. Nobody can deny that. So I’m trying to get names, places, everything here. There’s no way in hell Jim just handed over paperwork to someone in the Hell Five. So if we find out who he dealt with and how this is done…”

“A dummy corp,” Cade said. “We all do it. You run certain business through dummy corps. Fuck. That’s how they did it. Probably some bullshit company that’s looking to acquire land. Probably hired some broker or agent to scope things out and approach your friend. That’s how it was done.”

“Even still,” Jasper said, “this is a big deal. The Russians are pissed at us.”

“So we get our information in line,” I said. “What choice do we have? You want to ride up there and put a bullet in Jim’s head? Belle’s head?”

“If this wasn’t your current pussy, what would you do?” Cash asked me.

I looked at him and refused to answer.

“Cash has a point,” Tristan said.

“Agreed,” Hudson added. “We put the pressure on. Right now. Hard.”

“That’s how you all feel then?” I asked.

The table all started to argue. It was an instant explosion. Everyone had a voice and an opinion. I stood there, catching some of the words, but my eyes were locked to Trev. I knew how he felt about Eden. And their unborn baby. Nobody knew how far back I went with Belle and Jim. In a way, they were my first family.

Trev finally stuck his fingers into his mouth and whistled loud. “My turn to talk.” The table was all his. “Everyone is right. The bottom line is that the Hell Five are looking to expand. They were looking at this piece of land long before we knew. They arranged to attack us as a way to get money to show faith on the purchase. Do I have proof of that? Fuck no. But I think we all can agree it lines up nicely. So that’s what I’m going to assume. That means someone ratted out our deal with the Russians. Is that worth exploring? Probably, but not now. Right now, I need you, Cade, to get on the phone with anyone you can to figure out the backdoor of this land deal and how we can stop it. I need to know if money is in escrow and how far along this is. Duke, you’ve got twenty-four hours. I expect you back here at this exact time tomorrow with something. I’m going to take Jasper and we’re going to call our brothers down in Frelen to fill them in. Just in case anything pushes down at them. We cannot let the Russians push us around and we cannot let them assume us to be part of anything we’re not.”

“What about the rest of us?” Cash asked.

“I want everyone out there. I want every fucking street corner, back alley, and dive bar checked and made well known that Back Down Devil is in fucking control. And if you find anyone in that shit crew, you send them a message.”

Normally we’d all cheer for some action. But I could sense the tension in the room. Trev was throwing me a favor that didn’t need to be thrown. In a way, he was making himself look a little soft and that was a huge risk. If the table turned on him… fuck, it would be as bad as when Ripper was at the helm.

“Brothers, I’m going to say this once,” I said. I slowly walked to my chair. I put my hand to it and looked up and down the table. “I was given this cut, this chair, all for a purpose. I’ve fulfilled that purpose. I’ll forever fill that purpose. If I found out that this was done on purpose to hurt this club, whoever did it will be hurt. Severely hurt. This isn’t about some old war buddy or some chick I used to fuck.”

“I knew you fucked her!” Kye said. “Saw it on your face. You fucked her the night before you saw the Hell Five.”

“So… in some fucked up way, we can all agree that pussy helped the club,” Cash said. “This could set precedent.”

“I didn’t know you could speak words that big,” Cade said.

“I’m asking for your trust,” I said. “There has to be more happening behind all of this. If we crack whatever the fuck the Hell Five is doing here, we can be on the lookout elsewhere. What everyone should do now is think why they want that land. What are they planning on building there? Guns? Drugs? Pussy? Are they the ones in bed with the Russians? Or maybe our Irish friends are pushing for them to do this. Whatever it is, we need to stop it.

“That goddamn chair is yours,” Jasper said. “Until the day we strip you of your cut and your ink, you’re part of this club. It’s just not easy dealing with Ivan and Peter showing up with his thugs, demanding answers.”

“Which means they’re watching us,” I said. “They want that cash.”

“We better figure that out soon,” Trent said. “They’re going to get worse with their visits and orders.”

“So we have a plateful here,” Trev said. He nudged the gavel. “I guess we should get out of these fucking chairs and make something happen. Right now.”

The table roared to life for a few seconds.

Trent stared me down from across the table. He was the last to stand up and leave, making it just me, him, and Trev in the conference room.

“Something you need to say?” I asked Trent.

“I know how it feels,” he said. “Willing to fight for someone while trying to fight for your club. You have my support all the way, brother.”

“You have my support too,” Trev said. “But I can only go so far. I can’t lose the table. I can’t have a war inside my clubhouse or enemies in my lot, killing prospects.”

I simply nodded. There were no more words worth willing to speak.

It was time for action… no matter the consequence.

**

I pulled into the driveway just before sunset.

The front door opened to the house and Belle stood there. Her arms were crossed as I approached the old porch. I notice something different about her. She was holding a pack of smokes.