Duke (37 page)

“
I’ll let him explain what he wants you to know about why he left the pack. Why don’t I go back to happier times, and tell you about a seven year old Keith who decided to get up before the rest of the family when we were camping. He told dad he just needed to use the bathroom, but I knew as soon as dad went back to sleep, my twin wasn’t coming back. I snuck out and followed him, watched him write his name in the snow when he peed, and then I climbed up on a boulder and watched him zero in on a bunny rabbit. We hadn’t shifted yet, but our wolves were starting to talk to us, were beginning to form. Keith followed the rabbit, and I knew when they headed towards the lake what was going to happen, but I was too far away to stop him.”

Randall stopped his story long enough to get his food from the waitress, and then went back to it. “So, he’s chasing the rabbit, not paying attention to where he is or where he’s going, just after the damned bunny. I have no idea what he planned to do with him if he caught it. It was like watching a train wreck… the bunny hopped out on the iced-over lake, and Keith made it ten steps and went in with a splash. His face, when he was halfway down and realized it was only going to get colder in another half second, was priceless.”

He smiled and took a bite. “Mmmm, you were right. The steak is good. Anyway, I knew you were supposed to lay down to rescue people, and I was so
cocky
when I slithered out to rescue him, laughing my ass off the whole time. Unfortunately, when I went to pull him in, the ice under me broke and we both ended up wet. We made it to the shore, soaked and freezing, about the time our parents came out of the tent to see what the noise was about. Dad built a fire so we could get warm, laughing at us the whole time. Mom stripped us down to nothing and turned us around the fire until she was sure we were warm, and threatened to finish warming us up with dad’s belt when we complained. We had oatmeal with eggs and bacon that morning, and lots of hot chocolate. Best hot food I’ve ever had. Damn, that water was cold.”

“
Did the two of you get into a lot of trouble, growing up?”

His smile let her know they had, and he said, “Yeah, that was when we were seven. When we hit thirteen and discovered girls? Even I’m too embarrassed by some of our exploits to tell them to you.”

“
Did you know the guy was a jerk? The one who had the, ummm, accident?”

“
It’s okay, Gen. I know it wasn’t really an accident, and now that I know the story, I’ll do what I can to keep it from becoming a problem. He’s my employee, and it’s widely known my employees are under my protection, but once I let the word get out of why he got into problems while on RTMC land, no one’ll expect me to retaliate, and if they do, they’re just gonna have to be disappointed.”

“
Are you interested in having a relationship with your brother again? I’d like to invite you to my house to have dinner with us, maybe this weekend, if you are?”

“
Yeah, I’d like that, if he’s good with it.”

Gen’s phone beeped with an incoming text, and she awakened and checked her phone, forcing her eyes to focus.

The run went good. I’m going to crash here. See you later today. Thanks for helping make this happen. Love you.

Gen closed her eyes and offered thanks to whoever was listening. Duke and Randall had gotten to know each other again over the past two months, and both had felt the need to go on a run together, as wolves. The Pack and MC were both against it, but the brothers decided to try it, anyway.

Gen texted back:

Love you, too. Sleep well.

Within moments, her phone rang and she answered it with a smile, but Duke asked, “Why are you still up at nearly four in the morning, Beautiful?”

“
I left my phone on so I’d know if you texted me.” He’d told her to turn it off, but he had to know she’d do what she wanted.

“
Of course you did. My wolf and I are both happy but exhausted, and Randall offered me a guest bedroom, which I’m accepting.”

“
So, the run went well?”

“
Yeah, running with him was incredible. Our wolves seemed to accept we’re both the leader of different groups, and neither wanted to challenge for dominance. It was like old times — running with him, hunting, chasing.”

“
I’m happy for you, Duke. Now, get some sleep and I’ll see you later today.”

* * * *

When Duke texted her again to let her know he was up, Gen was working with a seller. She knew he’d let himself into her house, and looked forward to going home, where she could fall into his arms and let him hold her.

The two had fallen into a comfortable pattern in the months they’d been seeing each other. Duke’s things were in one of her guest room closets, and two of his bikes were in her garage. Amy now shopped for the two of them, not just Gen, and her pantry was stocked with possibly more beer than wine.

Duke stayed over three or four nights a week, and spent the other nights at the compound. Gen opted to sleep in her own bed most of the time, but spent enough of her days and evenings at the clubhouse to keep up her role as Duchess.

Duke had won her mother over, though Gen wouldn’t have believed it. The first time her mom went to her bathroom to snoop, Duke followed her and told her, “Yeah, I stay over, and I’ve claimed your daughter in every way a man can take a woman. I love her, and I think I make her happy. I know you love her, too, and want what’s best for her. All I ask is that you look to see how happy she is before you make a decision about me. I’ll never do anything to hurt her. She’s the world to me.”

Gen’s mother now made his favorite food and brought it over, just
because
. And when there were family dinners, Duke received a personal text from her mom to make sure he knew when to show up.

And yet, Gen felt as if she and Duke were in a holding pattern, waiting for something to happen.

When she arrived home, Duke was there along with five of his top MC guys. They were seated in her kitchen, drinking beer, and after Duke’s hello kiss, he poured her a glass of wine as he explained, “The guys needed to put eyeballs on me to make sure I’m okay after running with the Pack Alpha last night.”

Gen took a sip of her wine, and grabbed cheese, crackers, chips, and dip from the pantry and fridge. “My guess is you’re also seriously considering his offer of letting all of you run with the Pack on a full moon?”

“
No,” Brain said as he reached for the chips, “because we think the weakest from both groups won’t be able to resist jockeying for dominance. However, it could work to let his top people and our top people go for a run together.”

She nodded and looked to Duke. “I know the two of you have responsibilities greater than yourselves, but for now maybe you and Randall should focus on nurturing your relationship one-on-one. Bringing in your top people can be good, as it’ll let you meet the people important to each other, but take it slow. No need to rush, yeah?”

Gen’s phone buzzed to let her know someone pulled into the driveway, and she looked to see a picture of a car she didn’t recognize. Duke had the same picture, but she stopped him before he could leave the kitchen.

“
It’s okay. Bethany’s gonna stop by with the guy she’s been seeing, it’s probably them. I’ll get them and bring them back.”

Gen knew this guy was a professional football player out of Atlanta, but hadn’t been prepared for how big he’d be. He wasn’t big like Ethan, because he wasn’t extremely tall. Not short, either, perhaps right around six feet tall. But his arms bulged, and even his thighs inside his jeans were obviously muscled. Gen’s eyes went to the man’s muscled hand and forearm as he helped Bethany out of the car, and when her gaze met her best friend’s, the two of them grinned like silly school girls.

“
Gen, this is Blake. I take it from all the bikes in your driveway, he’s going to get to meet a good portion of the club?”

“
A half-dozen of them, yeah.” Gen looked to the large man with a smile. “Fair warning, Blake — some of the guys are big football fans. I hope you don’t mind?”

His grin told her his ego was huge and he’d eat it up. “Don’t mind a bit. I’ve never had a chance to sit down and talk to a real life biker gang before.”

“
Club,” Gen corrected, “they’re a motorcycle club, not a gang. Everyone’s in the kitchen, come on back.”

* * * *

Gen wasn’t alone with Duke until nearly two in the morning. Once the MC guys left, Gen and Duke went on a double date, bar hopping with Bethany and Blake.

On the way home, a police officer pulled Duke over, and he got off the bike to talk to the officer, but told Gen to stay put.

Gen sat still, knowing Duke was right. She was pretty drunk, and if the officer wanted to be an ass he could arrest her for public drunkenness.

She turned to see the officer making Duke do the breathalyzer, and crossed her arms and looked down as they both stepped to her.

“
Can I see some ID, ma’am?”

Gen looked to Duke, who pulled her license from his pocket and handed it to the officer.

He walked back to his car, and when he returned, he told them, “It looks like you’re both a person of interest in the missing person investigation of Detective Mike McPherson.”

He was looking at Gen when he spoke, but she kept her mouth shut. She’d answered questions a half dozen times, to multiple investigators, and this was just a traffic cop.

“
Officer,” said Duke, “we haven’t been able to help the investigators with the case. Gen took out a restraining order on him after he stalked and threatened her, and frankly I’m not surprised he chose to run instead of sticking around to face charges. Are we free to go? It’s late and I’d like to get my girlfriend home.”

The officer looked to Gen and said, “Can you step away from the vehicle, ma’am?”

Gen leaned forward, braced, and swung her leg off, working hard to keep her balance and not look as drunk as she knew herself to be.

“
Did your boyfriend take care of your ex for you? Make sure he wouldn’t bother you again?”

She shook her head. “Duke wouldn’t have done that. I had an attorney, and was making sure I built a case against both him and the Chattanooga Police Department. With him gone, my case is substantially weaker. My privacy was violated, and I’ll never get a chance to see him pay for it.”

“
You been drinking?”

“
Heavily, officer, but I’m not driving, and Duke’s taking care of me.”

* * * *

By the time they drove away, Duke was holding his wolf on a tight leash to keep from knocking the damned cop out with an uppercut to the asshole’s probably glass jaw.

He didn’t mind the ticket so much — he’d been going eighty on the interstate, after all. But the officer had kept them on the side of the road, harassing them, for nearly an hour. It was clear he’d been trying to tick Duke off enough he’d have an excuse to arrest one or both of them, and he’d very nearly decided to arrest Gen for public drunkenness.

However, Gen had sobered up enough to name drop a few high priced attorneys she kept on retainer, and the cop had quickly realized she’d get any charges thrown out with no problems.

Gen was wearing black leather pants, motorcycle boots, a pale yellow silk blouse, and a black leather jacket, but his Beautiful Genesis still managed to pull off high-class, even when dressed as a biker bitch,
and
three sheets to the wind.

Duke lived in fear she’d one day wake up and decide the hassle of life with him was more than she was interested in dealing with, and tonight he’d seen her frustration and helplessness when confronted with a police officer dead set on being as big of a pain in the ass as he could get away with.

Sure, Duke could — and would — complain to the traffic cop’s superiors later, but at the time, anything he’d done would’ve only given the dickweed an excuse for an arrest. Duke also wondered, though, if perhaps someone had put the rookie cop up to questioning Gen about McPherson when she was drunk.

Officially, the top brass had decided McPherson must’ve left to avoid charges. Unofficially, many of his friends on the force were convinced Duke had something to do with his disappearance, and weren’t going to let it go.

Brain had hacked the cellphone company logs so McPherson didn’t show up at the house on Signal Mountain — the signal had appeared to drop out at McPherson’s house that morning, and had never shown up again. The traffic cams showed him driving through Red Bank on his way towards Signal Mountain that morning, but the last image they had of him was about a mile from the base of the mountain.

The house it’d happened in had sold, Jiminy had successfully made both McPherson and his car disappear, and there was nothing to tie Duke, Gen, or anyone else to his disappearance. Jiminy assured Duke that Mike McPherson had been trained and conditioned as a sex slave and then sold at auction, deep in South America where he’d never escape, and never have a chance to tell his story. His vocal chords had been surgically fixed so they’d no longer work, and the tendons responsible for thumb control had been severed. He’d been given size C breast implants, and he now wore removable dentures so he could give better blowjobs with no teeth.

Jiminy also assured Duke that McPherson wasn’t likely to survive more than a year or two, as most sex slaves purchased by this particular man were destined for a hard, short life. Duke’s conscience would’ve been happier just killing the man outright, but Gen needed to be told her ex-boyfriend was alive, somewhere, so Duke lived with it.

Duke also made it a point to never do something to piss Pebbles off, because it was clear her husband would do anything she asked of him.

“
It’s never going to stop, is it?”