“Then let him die,” I said.
Jasper put a hand to my wrist. “It’s not that easy, brother. They have specific terms.”
“Trent,” Trev said. “They want you to kill him… they want you to kill your own father.”
twenty.
(harlee)
I bent a little and tried to open the drawer. My plan was to get the gun and get Duke out of my way. Then I’d run for help, screaming for Trent as I hurried through the hallway.
But Duke made the first move and made it fast.
He came at me and I screamed. I covered my face and moved out of the way, losing any chance at getting a weapon. He kicked at the nightstand and then took out his gun.
“Please,” I whispered.
Without a word, he did something to the gun and the clip fell out. He tossed it to the bed and then placed the gun on the nightstand.
“I just want to talk,” he said.
“Then talk,” I said. “You come near me again and I’ll scream for Trent.”
Duke laughed. “You’re engaged now, huh?”
I showed him my hand. “Yeah. So?”
“Trust me, sweetie, I don’t buy that for a second. Whatever you have on Trent, it must be good.”
“Meaning?”
“He wouldn’t give a fuck about some bar hopping whore like you,” Duke said. “I’ve seen him run through so many women. Now all of a sudden he’s into you? A woman that was going to kill me? Unless your pussy tastes like chocolate ice cream.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I said.
Duke turned and stepped toward me. “Engaged ain’t married. If I wanted a taste, I’d damn well take it. Trent owes me one anyway. So keep fucking with me.”
I froze up and felt my blood ready to freeze up next. “So what do you want?”
“I want to hear it from you,” Duke said. “What happened that night.”
“What night?”
“The night you were going to murder me.”
Duke was big and very unstable. His eyes kept changing as he spoke. One second he was smiling, the next he looked ready to pounce.
“Rocco and Gunner wanted to get back at you,” I said. “I don’t know why. Gunner took me into their meeting room and showed me all your pictures. He stopped at your picture and said he wanted you dead. I was put on the spot to do it. They gave me a small bottle of poison and I poured it into your drink. That’s when Trent showed up.”
“And that’s right about when I lost my mind,” Duke said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Then those other guys showed up with machine guns.”
“So you were really going to serve that drink to me?” Duke asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I was stuck in that moment, okay? Grabbing the drink, wondering if I could actually do it. Hand it to you and walk away. Try to be casual as you began to die. I tried to play it in my mind over and over and convince myself it was okay to do.” The emotion caught up in my throat. I coughed and turned my head. “They were going to destroy me if I didn’t do it. Daxton had already been pushing me around. Swinging at me. It was a moment where I would lose no matter what.” I paused and collected myself so I could look at Duke again. “It wasn’t about killing you, Duke. It was about buying myself time.”
Duke stepped toward me again. I thought about screaming but I had no breath to do it. My energy was spent trying not to break down and cry. When he reached for me, I feared the worst. He was a tough and smart biker. A military guy. He could probably choke me out or break my neck in a second.
Duke squeezed my arm. “Look at me, Harlee. I want you to listen carefully. When I was across the ocean, chasing down what felt like an invisible enemy, I had that feeling too. It was all about chasing time. Not winning a war. Watching guys I had been in basic training with getting blown up like they were nothing. And then it was my job to track down and blow up those guys. This never ending cycle of death. The only thing I clung to was a sense of time. The brotherhood I had with so many was left over there. Fuck, it’s probably still blowing around in the dust. I came back in one piece, physically, and knew the only way I could survive was to ride that feeling until death. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m really sorry, Duke. For everything.”
“I respect your honesty. I respect whatever it is Trent sees in you. I hope you realize for all the years I’ve known him, nobody got this close.”
“What about the woman in the picture?” I blurted out. “Who was that?”
“That’s a story I can’t tell.” Duke reached up and touched my face. “Don’t ever try to kill me again, Harlee. Because if you do and you fuck it up, I will have to kill you.”
“Deal,” I said.
The bedroom door opened again and I turned my head to see Trent standing there.
“What the fuck is this?”
**
I put my hand out and knew there was no stopping Trent - or Duke.