OWNED & UNTAMED (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (24 page)

I kissed Duke’s broad chest and whispered, “We need to get dressed.”

“Afraid we’ll get…”

Before he could say the word
caught
someone let out a little whistle.

I looked to my left and saw Cash’s head poking out of the opening to the roof.

Duke turned us so his bare ass faced Cash and I was completely covered.

“What the hell do you want?” Duke asked.

“Just seeing who was up here,” he said. “You two starting or finishing?”

“Finishing,” Duke said. “Now go away.”

“Damn. So I missed the show.”

I looked up at Duke and couldn’t help but smile. He made me feel so free. So alive. Even if we were in the middle of the danger. It felt good to be with him. I knew he was the only man for me. All those years I tried to force happiness with someone else. And all it took was a glance from Duke to change all of that.

“Hey, uh, Duke,” Cash called out. “Can you turn around real quick. There’s something I want to see.”

“Fuck yourself, brother,” Duke said back.

“No, Duke. Do it. Turn around.”

“What?”

I started to laugh. “Let him see what he can’t have.”

Duke grinned and kissed my forehead. I loved the way he towered over me.

Slowly, Duke turned and then I was the one standing with my bare ass showing to Cash.

“Holy fuck,” Cash said. “Well done. Well fucking done.”

Then I looked back. “Now you can go fuck off. Right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Cash said.

He disappeared and I laughed again. “That seemed to work.”

“He’s just going to go jerk off now.”

“What? Ew.”

“Ew? He looked at you, sweetie, and you made him hard. That’s pretty cool if you ask me.”

“Does it make you jealous?” I teased.

“Insanely jealous. I just might break both of Cash’s hands.” He winked. “But if I did that, he would probably jerk himself off with his feet.”

“With his… feet? How…”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know or see it.”

“You saw it?”

“When you drink too much and start daring shit…”

“Confessions from the man I love. So, did you ever jerk off with your feet?”

“You love me?” Duke said, forgetting my question.

I swallowed hard. I nodded. “I’ve always loved you.”

“Shit,” Duke said. “I’ve been waiting to hear that for a long time.”

“There you go. You’ve heard it.”

I broke away from Duke and stepped back, showing him my naked body. “Have anything you want to say?”

“Three words,” Duke said. “You. Are. Beautiful.”

“Thanks,” I said.

Duke closed back in, his hands at my hips. Something about that spot on my body and the size of his hands gripping me was instant wetness.

“Belle, I love you,” Duke said. “I’ve always loved you. Even when I was gone. You’re everything to me.”

“You’re everything to me, Duke. I just want all of this to be over. The pain. The suffering.”

“Ah, sweetie, I can’t promise that,” he whispered to me. “But I can promise you I’ll do everything to keep you from it. And when it happens I’ll be by your side.”

“Promise me that we can come up here and fool around whenever I want.”

“I could do that,” he said. Then he smiled. “But now that Cash has your scent, he’s like a predator. He’ll keep poking up here until he catches us.”

“Then what?”

“He’ll take pictures and jerk off.”

“Again, ew.”

Duke laughed. “Let’s get dressed.”

We got dressed and faced each other again. I wished there was something I could tell him that went beyond love without sounding like a creep or stalker.

I opened my mouth but never got the chance to speak.

Down below us, we heard a scream.

**

I was the fool who ran to the edge of the roof, completely forgetting we were high in the air. Duke grabbed me and tossed me back. He reached for his gun and peered over the edge. I then saw him tuck his gun away and look back, grinning.

“What?” I asked.

“You want to see something?”

I crept toward the edge and looked down.

Maggie and Jim were in the lot. Maggie was on the railing and Jim was in front of her.
She probably screamed because Jim lifted her up
. Jim always had insane strength. Even when he was a lazy drunk, he never lost his strength or definition. That always pissed me off too because if I had a jelly donut for breakfast my pants wouldn’t fit for three days.

Maggie had her hands on Jim’s shoulders. His hands were on the railing.

“They like each other,” Duke said.

“Yeah, they do,” I said. “I set that up. Had Maggie help at the house just to distract them both.”

“Them both?”

“Jim for the obvious reasons,” I said. “For Maggie… she was tied up in a bad breakup for a long time. Guy used her for sex.”

“Like there’s any other use for someone like Maggie?”

I punched Duke in the arm. “Hey. Don’t be like that.”

“What? She was…”

“Was,” I said. “Give her some credit.”

Duke laughed.

We watched as Jim and Maggie flirted back and forth. Jim had a bottle of whiskey and gave it to Maggie. When she went to take a drink, Jim slipped his hand to her lower back to keep her from falling back.

“There you go, man,” Duke said. “Make those little moves.”

“Oh, you’re giving commentary to this? Is that what you do?”

Duke looked at me. “No, sweetie. If I see something I want, I fucking take it. Always take it.

Dammit, he made me blush again with that comment.

Jim took the bottle from Maggie and put it down. I had never seen my brother give up booze for someone else before. His other hand touched her waist. Maggie pulled at his shoulders and Jim moved closer to her. They were just about eye level when I witnessed my brother kiss Maggie.

I could stand the first kiss but then the second kiss started and it was all tongue. Even from my vantage point I could see it clearly.

I was grossed out but happy for Jim. And Maggie.

Their make out session took a turn for the hotter when Maggie put a leg around Jim.

“Oh, shit,” Duke said. “She’s serious.”

“Appears so.”

“Your big bro is going to get laid tonight.”

“Ew. Stop.”

Jim pulled Maggie off the railing. I grabbed at Duke’s leather cut. All I could think about was Jim’s prosthetic leg. If he fell…

Jim turned and walked just fine.

He put Maggie on the back of a motorcycle and pulled her closer. Her hands went up into his hair. She leaned back and Jim kept going at her. I could stand there right up until I saw Jim’s hand go up and over Maggie’s left breast.

That’s when I checked out.

I pulled at Duke. “Leave them alone. They both need it.”

“Shit, sweetie, after watching that, I need it again,” Duke said.

“Oh yeah?” I flirted.

Duke made a move at me and that was interrupted by the noise of someone coming up to the roof. I thought it was Cash again but this time it was Trent.

Now that guy was big and scary looking.

“Trent,” Duke said.

“Duke,” Trent said. “It’s time to ride, brother. Night’s here.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

Trent climbed back down into the clubhouse and I looked at Duke, my heart already racing.

“Ride?” I asked.

“Business,” he said. “Like I just got done telling you. I have to do things, sweetie. I can’t talk about this right now. I need you to go into the clubhouse and get a couple drinks and find Eden and Harlee. Hang out with them. Stay the hell away from Cash.”

“Am I in danger here?” I asked.

“No. I was kidding about Cash. These guys are my brothers. Nobody is going to hurt you. But you’re better off in my room. I’ll be back before you know it.”

I clutched at Duke’s leather cut. “I don’t…”

In the lot a motorcycle engine started. Then another. Their rumble carried up to the roof and out to the night. The sounds stole my words, not that my words mattered all that much. Duke had to do what he had to do, right?

The rumbles were like thunder as I stared into Duke’s eyes.

Slowly, I nodded.

Go. I love you, Duke. Go.

The goodbye then had an eerie familiar feeling to it. So much so that I broke down in tears after he left.

The last time he left to go fight a war he never came back to me…

chapter twenty-seven.

(duke)

I dropped the blade of the shovel into the ground one last time. We needed the scene to look like a sloppy one. Enough to give authorities a chance to investigate and enough to send a clear message to the Hell Five.

Trent and Kye dragged the Hell Five prospect to the shallow grave and plopped him inside. I threw some dirt on him and then looked away. Sometimes the job and the life were hard to deal with. But it was the way of war and the way of survival.

“Now what?” Kye asked.

“We fucking leave,” Trent said. “Make sure our tracks are covered and that this falls somewhere else.”

“They’ll come right at us,” I said.

“Then we fight,” Trent said.

I looked across the land and saw the faint outline of Belle’s house. It was all so fucked up. I couldn’t even dare myself to think about how many times me and Jim had been on this very spot of land. Blowing shit up. Riding dirt bikes. Bringing cute girls through here to get to the creek with the hopes of making out and touching a tit.

“Let’s ride,” Kye said. “I don’t want to stay too long here.”

One thing about Trev was that he knew how to be thorough. We were well equipped with gloves, boots, the shovel, all of which would be destroyed except the boots. Those we hand delivered to the Hell Five clubhouse, sneaking them into their lot.

That was a tricky move to make, considering what we were up against. Lucky for us, they didn’t have the security we did at our clubhouse. They must have been really thin on prospects because nobody was watching their rides. There was no one in the clubhouse and nobody came out. Kye was like a fucking ninja, crouched down, sliding his way to the front of the clubhouse. He planted the boots and then came back to us. The hope there was that once the investigation stalled the sale of the land, Carlo and Durango would push hard. That would then lead the authorities to the footprints and boots at their own clubhouse. Since it was their prospect buried on what was going to be their land, the connection all made sense.

Maybe it was a long shot but it was worth trying.

The key from there was to get to the fight, let Jim win, pay back Ivan with his fifteen-thousand-dollar interest charge, and then everyone move on. Jim would keep his land. Belle would have her house. And for me? I’d have Belle. That was all I could ever ask for in my life. And if by some chance Jim lost the fight… then I’d have to come up with my own side plan. The only choice there would be to give up my leather cut, take Belle’s hand, and run outlaw for the rest of my life.

Back on our rides, we took the midnight ride back to the clubhouse. There, a handful of prospects and members were outside, playing cards, drinking, laughing. That’s where I broke off with Trent and Kye. I went inside and found Trev and Jasper waiting at a pool table for me.

“All set, Prez,” I said.

Trev hugged me and said he’d drop a few hints to Chief Danielson to check out that land.

Jasper then sank the eight ball, beating Prez for what I was told the second time that night. Apparently his focus wasn’t in the game. After downing a few more beers and burning through most of the night with stories and conversation, Trev asked to see me in the conference room. It was rare to get a call for a one on one, especially in the middle of the night. The hours were cooking right by and before long it would be another sunrise in Daurian.

Trev leaned against the corner of the table and stuck out his beer bottle. I offered mine and we smacked glass together.

“You did good,” he said. “It’s hard to follow your heart and follow your club. What do you really think about Jim?”

“For this fight?”

“Yeah.”

“Why are you asking?”

“I’m wondering if I need a backup plan,” Trev said.

So I wasn’t the only one concerned that Jim would get his ass tagged in this fight then.

“I put us in this,” I said. “Offer me. Blame it on me, Prez. Kill Jim and then strip my cut. Make me suffer for hurting the MC.”

“Jesus, brother, that’s harsh. What about Belle?”

“She’s gotta have a chance to be free after all of this.”