You’re really doing this, Belle? After all the years? After what he did? So many unanswered questions…
Duke’s hands moved up, over my shirt. He was literally an inch from cupping my breasts when he slammed his hands against the wall and pushed himself back. Our lips came unattached with a wet smack sound. We were both breathing heavy. I had a lingering taste of Duke and whiskey in my mouth. The smell of his skin - leather, grease, the exhaust of his motorcycle - it all threatened me. My panties were wet, twisted, my knees shaking with fear and excitement.
Just like our first time together.
Although, I wasn’t Duke’s first. But he was mine. Forever mine.
“Christ, Belle,” he whispered. “The years…”
“It’s okay,” I quickly said.
I collected myself and slipped under his arm and out of the bathroom. I moved faster than I should have, wanting to literally run away and find a place to hide and cry. I wanted to scream until time would listen to me. To go back and make Duke not go overseas. I know, that was so greedy to think. So many men and women who gave their lives for our freedom and so many men and women would forever serve and be real heroes. But in my world, my little bubble, it all had been fucking destroyed.
I blasted through the front door, out to the porch, and finally got a deep breath of fresh air.
Duke was shortly behind me.
“Are you sure Jim’s okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. I stood at the pillar. “He’s fine. He’s a mess though, Duke.”
Duke walked by me and touched my lower back. “I know, sweetie. So am I. And so are you.” He walked to the steps and climbed down two before stopping. He looked back. “Of all the things I’ve done, not showing up to Big Jim’s funeral is one of the worst. There’s not a day I don’t think about it. I should have been there, Belle. For everything he did for me. For Jim. For you. And I should have been there for you that day.”
I couldn’t explain it but I didn’t want his fucking apology. Who was this asshole? He shows up, picks a fight with my handicapped brother, talks about my life, won’t tell me about his criminal life, kisses me, then suddenly stops like he’s some kind of gentleman… and then he wants to apologize?
Fuck you, Duke.
Only I didn’t say that.
I had a different way to take a shot.
“No worries,” I said. “My boyfriend was with me.”
A sly smile crept across Duke’s face. “Well, I hope your boyfriend doesn't mind what just happened. Last thing I need is another bullet coming at me.”
I opened my mouth to blurt out I was single, but I couldn’t find the words.
Then Duke said, “Have a good night, sweetie. If anything else happens, don’t be afraid to call me.”
My mouth was still open as I watched Duke walk to his motorcycle. He climbed on it, fired up the engine, and left. The roar of the motorcycle cried out into the night and cried out even longer in my memory and heart.
I wished right then to never see Duke again.
That wish… that wish would never come true.
eleven.
(duke)
We stood outside in the midday sun. Cash, Hudson, Kye, and Xavier all had their heads back, sunglasses on, soaking up the sun, trying to let the heat burn off their lingering hangovers from the night before. The clubhouse had been rowdy the last few days, mostly my fault. I couldn’t get Belle out of my mind and my destructive personality bled into the MC.
The party seemed to never end. We only took breaks to nap before we’d start up again. Booze, guns, fights, strippers, gambling, you name it, we did it. Trev put Jasper in charge two nights ago when Eden called with stomach pains. I started an early celebration for the birth of their baby only to find out later that it was just some kind of fake contraction stuff going on.
I found any reason to party. The harder the better.
Yet I hadn’t fucked a single woman.
That was the kicker.
I took plenty to bed, but didn’t fuck them. Hell, I had them in my bed while I stood at the door and watched them handle their business together. And even that didn’t do it for me. When they finished, I booted them out and jerked off into the bathroom sink. Did I think about two women on top of each other, their tongues slicing up and down each other’s pussy? Nope. I thought about Belle. About pinning her against the wall in the bathroom. About touching those full tits of hers. About showing her what a real man was. A man who had seen death, faced it and won; a man who could handle any of her pain, worry, fears, and doubts.
Trev came out of the clubhouse and all attention went to him.
Eden was next to him, the woman wobbling like a penguin as she walked.
“How’s Mama?” Cash asked.
“Big,” Eden said with a frown.
“Still beautiful,” Cash said.
“Thank you, Cash.”
“Does Prez tell you that enough? If not…”
“Easy,” Jasper said.
“Max, Austin, I’m relying on you two to stay here with the prospects and take care of Eden.”
“And Harlee,” Trent added.