OWNED & UNTAMED (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (20 page)

“Yes,” I purred as I gushed.

I slowed my hand and then Duke pushed it away. His mouth devoured me again, one last time, and then he retreated back up my body, using just the tip of his tongue to draw a long line.

That line flicked over my belly button and cut between my breasts. I put my head back and felt him climb up my throat and to my chin. I thought he would stop there but he didn’t. Next thing I knew Duke’s tongue was in my mouth. He kissed me hard, fast, letting me taste my own sweet flavor. My eyes went wide and his hands grabbed the back of my legs. He lifted me up and opened my legs.

His cocked touched me and that was it.

One thrust forward and I let out a groan as he entered me.

He held me up and fucked me right against the wall.

The water started to get a little cool but the heat between us stayed wildly hot.

And with every thrust into me, I fell more and more in love with him.

**

I was dressed and had a bag packed. Duke stood in the doorway to the bedroom. His arms were folded and he nodded to the bag.

“That enough?”

“How much do I need?”

“Enough,” he said with a grin.

“I’ll manage.”

I started to move toward the door but Duke put his foot up and blocked me. “The guy that ditched you when Jim and Big Jim weren’t having it… did you really love him?”

The question caught me off guard. I didn’t expect Duke to ever bring up Niles.

“What…”

“Jim told me he was good to you. You were good for each other. He would have bought you any house you wanted. You would have had that dream life of yours.”

I swallowed hard. “The best part about Niles was that he wasn’t you. Okay?”

“Meaning?”

“He wasn’t rough around the edges, Duke. He was clean cut and straight. I knew what I was getting and when. He had it all planned out as though life was nothing but a board game.”

“And that made you happy?”

“It made me happy to not think about you,” I said. “So, yeah, maybe I did love Niles. In a certain way, yes. In a comfortable way. Okay?”

“No. Not okay.”

Duke turned and his wide body filled the entire doorway.

“No?” I asked.

“He just left you?”

“Yes. It was too much. I couldn’t handle nursing school and taking care of my brother and father. Niles pushed me to get outside help.”

“Dick.”

“No.” I rolled my eyes even though it was sort of cute that Duke was showing jealousy. “He wasn’t a dick. He offered to pay for it. I just couldn’t do that. The doctors were very clear that Dad wasn’t going to make it long. That’s when Jim started taking an extra pill here and there. It started to get out of control. I stopped focusing on Niles. So he wanted to call it quits.”

“Just like that? Didn’t he put up a fight?”

“No. He found a new girlfriend.”

“Asshole.”

“Why does it matter to you?”

Duke touched my face, stroking my cheek. “I’ve never in my life loved anyone but you, sweetie. Nobody ever came close and nobody ever would. What I did was wrong, Belle. I’ll spend every day for the rest of my life apologizing to you if that’ll help. But I would never give my heart to someone else.”

“That’s sort of sweet.”

“I can’t give my heart to someone else. I’d have to take it back from you first.”

Okay, now that was really sweet.

I swallowed hard and felt my heart racing. “I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Nothing. You don’t have to say a thing to it. That’s the best part, sweetie. I’m not putting you in a position here. I’m just telling you like it is.”

“Thank you, Duke. For being here now. I can’t believe Jim thought about Maggie. He’s always loved you like a brother.”

“I know,” Duke said. “I love him too. Right now we just have to be safe. Figure this out. Settle everything and then go from there.”

As I stared at Duke, something suddenly switched in me. Something happened. It was like a light went off deep in my soul. Maybe Jim wasn’
t so wrong with wanting to part ways with the past. It was just a house. It was just land. We had the memories. If Jim could see something that resembled the future, why couldn
’t I?

I stood there and stared right at my future… right at Duke.

chapter twenty-three.

(duke)

Eden and Harlee took right to Belle. It was almost a load off my back when I saw Belle and Maggie hug each other, too. It was good that they could find a way to try and relax. The clubhouse had gone into lockdown before but it never involved someone I loved. Yeah, I fucking loved Belle. I’d always love her. I would protect her for the rest of my life.

I kept Jim outside with the prospects, making sure he was safe. Inside the clubhouse, it was anxious. Tense. Everyone sort of looking over their shoulders.

Inside the conference room, Trev, Jasper, and Cade were going over all the paperwork. Cade hovered over the table with papers spread across.

“What do we have?” I asked.

“A fucked up thing,” Cade said. “I need to get these to a lawyer we trust. The money hasn’t cleared escrow yet but there’s movement with the deal. We might be a day late and a dollar short on this.”

“So what’s the plan?” I asked. “Can’t we bust up the dummy corp?”

“Sure,” Jasper said. “Then what? We start that war with the Hell Five? Trev, tell him the rest.”

“The rest?” I asked.

“There’s bigger financial backing than we think,” Trev said. “The Russians think we’re involved? I think the Irish kicked up a little to the Hell Five to give them incentive to bulk up on their gun running. And someone down south is willing to supply a ton of drugs. Durango and Jop are trying to patch together a lot of deals at once.”

“The land is important to hide everything,” Jasper said.

“So what if we let this go?” I asked. “Let them buy the fucking land. Let them try anything on it. We’re there each and every time to bust it up.”

“Is that what you want in your girl’s backyard?” Trev asked.

“More so, if there is bigger backing,” Jasper said, “there’ll be bigger security. We have to stop this deal.”

“Jim will pull out. Take whatever hit he needs to.”

“That’s fine,” Cade said. “But it doesn’t fix everything.”

Trev stood up and pointed to the paperwork. “Cade, put all that shit away. I want a full table right now to figure this out.”

I left the room and went outside to check on Jim. I had two beers with me. I told the two prospects lingering around to go fuck themselves and leave us the hell alone.

Jim touched my ride and took the beer from me. “Think I could get on one of these?”

“You’ve never questioned yourself before in life,” I said. “Don’t start now because of a fucking leg.”

“It was my favorite leg though,” Jim said.

I laughed. “You’re a dick. Are you ready for this?”

“Whatever needs to happen, it’ll happen.”

“You won’t get those debts paid off, brother.”

“That’s okay. The bank could take whatever they want from me.”

I grabbed his shoulder. “Hey. I’ll help. I promise. Just stay put here and wait until I come get you.”

“I’ll be right here dreaming of a ride.”

I turned and saw Trev and Jasper at the clubhouse door. They both nodded to me.

“I’m on my way,” I called out.

“We’re not nodding to you,” Jasper said.

“Bring Jim to the table,” Trev said.

That was a shock to me.

A guy that wasn’t patched in being invited to the table? That was unheard of. Unless they were going to kill him.

I looked back at Jim. Ten seconds ago I promised I’d help him.

Now I was leading him to his death.

**

Jim was way out of place as he stood at the back of the room, explaining everything that went down. The entire table heard it straight from Jim’s mouth. That was a good thing. The guy was basically on fucking trial. His life hung in the balance.

“And that’s it,” Jim said.

“So we vote,” I said. “Get this shit out of the way right now.”

“No,” Jasper said. “We can’t vote this. We need outside influence.”

“Brothers from Frelen are coming up,” Trev said. “Three. They’ll be the deciding vote. We’re not going unanimous on this.”

“Jesus Christ,” I said. “Just kill the fucking deal and wipe the Hell Five the fuck out.”

I was heated. Livid. Ready to take on my brothers.

Trev pointed to the door. “Jim. Go get a beer. On the house.”

He left and looked around the table. “What the fuck did he say…”

“We had a meeting not too long ago,” Trev cut in. “We said our enemies were going to come hard. New leadership. New vision. Everyone wants to attack us. So here we are with a huge problem.”

“So let’s just start killing innocent people,” I said.

“Sends a violent message,” Cash said. “To everyone. Innocent and guilty. That’s a heavy foot to put down.”

“We do what we have to do,” Austin said.

“The guy out there defended our freedoms right here. And then he got left behind when he came home. I am not leaving him behind again.”

“So we’re bringing personal shit to the table?” Jasper asked.

“There’s something we can do,” Cade said.

“What?” Trev asked.

“Crime scene,” Cade said. “Turn the land into a crime scene.”

“How so?” Cash asked.

“Get an investigation up there. It’ll stall the deal. Jim can pull out. We can get in and bust the rest of it up. Make the Hell Five look weak. Make them look stupid.”

“Better yet,” Trev said. “We fuck with their heads.”

“How so?” Jasper asked.

Me and Trev met eyes. We both started to grin.

“The prospect,” I said. “He’s still up there.”

“The one I shot?” Kye asked.

“Yes,” Trev said. “Plant him on the land. Fucking locals will have a field day with that.”

“That’s perfect,” Cash said. “Hell Five won’t know how to react. Whoever is backing them will be pissed. The deal will go on hold. The only thing though is that it’ll put Chief Danielson on our ass.”

“He’s always on our ass,” Jasper said.

“I’ll take that if we need to,” Trev said. “This is about killing this deal. About pushing the Hell Five back where they belong.”

“But it doesn’t solve the Russian problem,” Cade said. “Sixty-five large.”

“That’s a lot of fucking money,” Kye said.

“I know it’s a shot in the dark here, but won’t proof of what we’re doing to the Hell Five be some kind of reassurance to Ivan?” I asked.

“Possibly,” Jasper said.

“But it’s not cash,” Trev said.

Trent then knocked his fist to the table. “Shit. I heard there’s a big round of fights going on soon. A lot of underground money come through. We could jump on that.”

“Ivan wants blood money,” Jasper said.

“Ivan wants money,” I said. “We take care of the Hell Five on our own and give him the money our way, he gets what he wants and we don’t look like his bitch.”

“That’s a lot to ask for from a fight,” Trev said. “Who do we put up?”

“I’ll go,” Trent said.

“I’ll fight,” I said.

One by one we all raised our hands.

“What do you think, Cade?” Trev asked.

“I’ll fight,” Cade said. “And if we keep rolling the bets into the next fight…”

“One fuck up and we’re screwed,” Jasper said.

“Then we’re at zero,” Tristan said.

“What about pussy?” Cash asked. “Can’t we put a little pressure on our friends at the club to help out?”

“Those girls can barely take care of themselves,” I said. “There’s no extra money being hidden.”

“Okay,” Trev said. “One thing at a time here. The Hell Five stole fifty-grand from this club. That money is owed to Ivan and Peter. Start with shutting down the deal. Then we can shake down the Hell Five for the fifty. The other fifteen we can worry about then.”

“Let’s all take a breather,” Jasper said. “We’ll arrange for the set up on the land and let that play out.”

“Agreed,” Kye said.

“Vote?” Trev asked.

Everyone nodded. Trev smacked the gavel.

The meeting was over. Even if nothing was actually resolved.

We all exited the conference room.

The clubhouse was getting full and coming to life. The rest of the day would be spent drinking, planning, and waiting for something to happen.

I couldn’t just hang around and wait.

Normally I’d just take a bottle of whiskey and a
reliever
to my room until we were both out of breath. I’d let her shower, clean up, and then kick her out.