“Shit, sweetie, I’m not here to dive into the past. There’s a piece of land that touches yours out back. Did your father buy that?”
“Yes,” I said. “My father bought everything touching around here.” I slowly rose up. “Why?”
“Fuck,” Duke yelled. “You can’t lie to me right now, sweetie. If you lie I can’t protect you.”
“Lie to you about what?”
Duke walked toward the porch. His hands touched my waist. I was eye level with him as he stood on the ground, me on the steps.
“The piece of land behind you was sold to someone that’s no good for the club.”
“Impossible. I never signed a thing.”
“Sweetie, I saw it go down and I got a confession.”
“A confession?”
“One of the guys told me everything I needed to know.”
The way Duke said that made shivers run through my body. I didn’t want to know how he got information out of people.
“I don’t know…” I shook my head.
“The company you work for,” Duke said. “Could someone have forged papers? Something that could help you?”
“Impossible,” I said. “When Dad died, everything was split up. It was fifty-fifty between me and Jim. All my deeds and paperwork are with me. Nobody could do anything without me. Same for Jim.”
Duke’s face dropped. He grabbed my hand and pulled at me. Next thing I knew he was damn near dragging me to the backyard. I had a hard time keeping up. He then stopped and pointed to his right.
“Who owns that?”
“I do,” I said.
I pointed to the left. “That?”
“Me again.”
Duke pointed straight back. “There?”
I looked at him and I didn’t need to say a thing. Duke realized it.
“Jim’s,” he said. “Fucking shit. Your brother sold a piece of land to a crew that is trying to take us out. The gunshot wound you patched up? Those guys are the cause of that gunshot wound. And your brother…”
“No,” I said. “That can’t be right. No way Jim would do that.”
“Let’s find out.”
Then I was running after Duke again. He busted into the house like he owned it. The thuds of his boots on the floors were like cracks of thunder. He swung around into Jim’s part of the house and I caught up to him with Jim sitting at the kitchen table and Maggie standing at the counter.
For a second I saw them both smiling.
“Maggie, get out,” Duke said.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“Maggie, come here,” I said. “It’s…”
Duke wasn’t waiting.
He went right to Jim and put Jim on the floor. Chair and all. Maggie let out a scream.
“Duke!” I yelled.
He was on one knee and put a hand to Jim’s chest. “What the fuck are you trying to prove? Trying to get back at me?”
“What?” Jim asked. “What is this?”
I grabbed for Duke but there was no pulling him off. He was like a rabid dog. I had seen him like this one time before. When I was seventeen and got mixed up with a college guy. In the backseat of his car things were forcefully moving forward too fast. Duke punched out the window, dragged the guy from the car, and beat him senseless. Then he took me home and waited outside my bedroom until I fell asleep.
This was far different though.
My nails dug into Duke’s leather cut as I tried to pull.
“Tell the truth,” Duke said. “Did you sell any land?”
“Land… my land?”
“Answer the question.”
“It’s my fucking land,” Jim said.
He swung a right hand and punched Duke in the face.
Maggie screamed again.
Duke took the punch and then grabbed Jim with both hands. He lifted Jim up. I kept pulling at Duke’s leather, my feet almost leaving the ground. The man was a tank.
With a growl, Duke tossed Jim back. Jim grabbed for a chair and stumbled and fell. He grabbed for his prosthetic leg and then grabbed for the counter to pull himself back up.
I managed to wrap my hands around Duke’s hand and pulled.
“Please, Duke,” I said. “Please…”
Duke looked back at me. He then twisted his hand and squeezed mine. He nodded.
“I need the truth, Jim,” Duke said.
“My land is my business,” Jim said.
“Please,” I said to Jim now. “You don’t understand what’s happening.” Then it hit me. The one morning I saw Jim messing with folders. The same folders I had organized all our personal stuff in. I purposely gave him all of his stuff, hoping that one day he’d organize it and take control of his life. “You…”
“It’s my land,” he said. “It’s my money. I’ll do what I want. Is that a crime?”
Duke shook his head. “It kind of is, man. You don’t know what you just did. Fuck.”
Duke left the kitchen and left me standing in shock.
I just stared at Jim. “You sold land?”
“So?”
“That was for us. From Mom and Dad.”
“Look, Belle, you think I want to live here for the rest of my life? Attached to this house? Living like this?”
“I think I should go,” Maggie said.
“No,” I said. “Stay, Maggie. Take a good look at him. A good look at my brother.”
“It’s my fucking land,” Jim growled.
“You didn’t even talk to me. You’re so selfish.”
Jim lowered his head and his eyes were like that of a demon.