OWNED & UNTAMED (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (25 page)

“You love her, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.”

“You want her to be your old lady? Wear your ink? Carry your babies?”

“I’d be liar if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.”

“Then we better make sure Jim doesn’t lose this fight,” Trev said. He pushed from the table.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Look, Duke, when the police get up there and start poking around, the land deal is dead. Jim already did what he had to do with Cade and the lawyers. So as far as I’m concerned, the Hell Five can go fuck themselves. We have to settle up with that money to Ivan. So we go out and hustle and earn like we’ve always done.”

“And just let the Hell Five slip on what they did?” I asked.

Trev grinned. “No, brother, we’ve got things in motion. Legal things. It’s a bitch to have to go the legal route of things. The biggest thing now is to make sure Jim has a chance to win that fucking fight.”

There was a few seconds of silence as Trev put all the stress on my shoulders. He then opened the door and gave a nod.

“Prez, do you have a set of keys I can borrow for one of the rides out there?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure,” he said. “Pick a prospect’s pocket.” He laughed. “What have you got planned?”

“Nothing more freeing than seeing death and watching a sunrise, right?”

Prez didn’t give me an answer to that question.

I left the conference room and walked down the hall to my room. There I found Belle sleeping. She was curled up in my blankets, head on my pillow, her body diagonal, taking up almost the entire goddamn bed.

She was fucking beautiful.

She had left the light turned on on the nightstand. I walked to the bed and crouched down. She smelled of sweet soap and sleep. She actually looked peaceful and I could only hope that she was sleeping good. I didn’t want her to bear any extra burdens than she already had to lug around every day of her life.

I slowly leaned forward and kissed her cheek. I didn’t want to wake her. Last thing I needed was to tell her where I was going and why and that I wouldn’t be back for another little while. If it was going to be a romantic sunrise thing I would have woke Belle’s ass up and dragged her outside. But that wasn’t the case here.

I left the bedroom and kept walking. We had a few extra rooms in the clubhouse, left for
relievers
or guys that came up from other charters to visit and crash.

The first door I opened was the room where Jim was. With Maggie wrapped up in bed with him. The sheets were down all the way to Maggie’s bare ass. They were both naked.

Good for you, Jim.

I tapped my hand against Jim’s face until his eyes popped open. His hands gripped at Maggie, protecting her.

“What the hell?” Jim asked.

“We have to go somewhere. Let’s go.”

“What time is it?”

“Doesn’t matter. We have to take a ride. Roll your girl off and let’s go.”

I stood there and watched Jim roll Maggie off him. She flopped to her back, showing off her tits.
Not bad. Not bad at all.

Jim grabbed the sheets and pulled them up to Maggie’s chin. He stepped out of the bed, naked as the day he was born. He grabbed for his clothes, hobbling around on his fake leg. I crossed my arms, refusing to help him. Maybe that was part of Jim’s shit issues. People always stepping in to take care of him. The Jim I grew up with took care of himself. I remember one time he broke his wrist over summer and he didn’t miss a beat. He had to have the cast changed three times and doctors hated him for not stopping for a few weeks.

It took Jim a little while to get dressed but he managed.

I motioned for the door and we split. By that time the clubhouse was all quiet. Two prospects and two members were still there, but they were on a night watch. There was another handful of prospects around the lot and on the roof of the clubhouse. All were equipped with weapons and would be ready and willing to defend the MC.

I walked Jim outside and took him to a motorcycle. I then took a set of keys out of my back pocket and tossed them to him.

“What is this?”

“We’re going for a ride,” I said. “Remember how to ride?”

“What? With one leg?”

“You’re standing on two legs,” I said. “Stop being a fucking pussy. Man up. We’re going somewhere.”

“You’re fucking crazy, Duke. I’m not…”

“Either follow me or don’t. Remember, Jim, your ass is on the line here. You fuck my club and you’re dead.”

I didn’t give him a chance to speak again.

I went to my ride and fired it up. I sat there and watched Jim as he finally succumbed and got on the motorcycle. It took him a few tries to figure out how to swing his leg over the seat but he managed. There was only one way to learn how to do something and that was to just do it.

Jim started the motorcycle and came forward.

I then took the lead.

Honestly, I was shocked he actually got on the motorcycle and was following me. I figured we’d end up in a fist fight before he would listen to me.

I took the road and thirty minutes later the first flicker of sunlight started to shine from the horizon. It was like light coming through bottom of a door. We still had a little ways to go. When I pulled up to the cemetery there was enough light to see, even if the objects were faint. Riding along the bumpy dirt path of the cemetery that early was a little strange. The headstones stuck out of the ground, each one a reminder of the fate that someone had with the reaper.

There was only one reason to be in the cemetery and that was to pay a visit to someone who met the reaper.

I stopped my ride and Jim pulled up next to me.

I climbed off and stood there listening to the morning birds chirping like crazy.

“What is this?” Jim asked. “This some kind of metaphor for me? I know I’m going to fucking die. I faced…”

“Shut up,” I said.

I motioned for Jim to follow me. We walked down one of the rows as I tried to figure out where the hell I was actually going. There was a tree that gave me a little indication. Luckily it was finally light enough to find that tree and go back another two rows. Jim was with me the entire time. Both of us didn’t speak a word.

Then we got to the spot.

There wasn’t a headstone but a metal plate in the ground. An American flag on each side. A set of flowers in the corner of the plate. The second Jim saw the name he turned and tried to leave.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him right back. “Fuck no, brother. You’re not bailing on me now. You’re facing this. You need to.”

Jim looked at me. His eyes were super wide. I saw the anger and hurt in his face.

I nodded. I was definitely egging him on. Trying to break open all that pent up emotion. I needed him to channel that shit for this fight. If he got into a ring with a bunch of people laughing at him and doubting him and he channeled at that anger, he was going to destroy whoever he fought.

Before that, he needed to see this. To face the grave of the man we lost over there. The man Jim couldn’t get out of the convoy. I knew the story and that Bill had lost his life the second the IED went off. There was no pulling him out of there. I know Jim was pissed that he wasn’t the one driving and he wasn’t able to get Bill out like he had the other guys he’d been riding with.

“You didn’t end up here,” I said. “Bill did. We can be sorry. We can feel pain. But we can’t change what happened.”

“My instincts were shit,” Jim said. “Bill should have been first. He was the one with a wife and kids. The other two didn’t have that. Neither did I. I could have pushed him out and grabbed the wheel…”

“Jim, listen to yourself. You don’t know what Bill’s state was when the first one went off. You scrambled and did what you felt you had to do. You saved two lives. Bill lost his. That wasn’t your fault. None of this is your fucking fault. But it’s your fate. So fucking own it, brother. Own your fucking fate and do something.”

Jim stepped back until he hit a headstone behind him. He leaned against it and folded his arms. He stared down at the plate in the ground. All that was left of one of the brothers that went to war with us. We came back, he didn’t. It was a damn cruel fate, but so was life.

“Sometimes I go back in my mind,” Jim said. “I change things around. I piece it all together differently.”

“Everyone does that. The guy that’s an addict wishes he could go back and never take that first hit. The woman in a shelter wishing she never went back to the guy that kept beating her. Everyone does it, Jim. We’re not built to be perfect. You lost your goddamn leg over there, brother. I’m sorry for that. But you’re walking. You’re riding. And now I need you to fight. For me. For your sister. For Maggie. For the MC. Most of all, Jim, fight for yourself.”

Jim stared at me and then his eyes moved to the right. “Ah, shit…”

“What now?” I asked.

“That whole fighting thing. Might be sooner than you think.”

I looked back and felt a fire shoot through my body.

Jim and me weren’t the only two living people in the cemetery right then.

The Hell Five had followed us…

**

It was Dice and Jop, two of the big guys that made up the Hell Five. I knew that they didn’t travel with just two guys either. Sooner than later we’d be swarmed by them. And what better spot to get us than in a cemetery? They could dig up any fresh grave they wanted, drop our bodies, dump our motorcycles, and we’d never be found again.

“Fuck,” I said.

“What’s the plan?” Jim asked.

“Stay here and let me handle this.”

“Fuck that,” Jim said. “We fight, right?”

Dice and Jop approached, guns in their hands.

I took out my gun and knew Jim didn’t have a weapon. We were going to be outmanned and without enough weapons.
Fuck.

“Fine,” I said to Jim. “Stick with me. Follow my lead and follow your gut. This is war, Jim. Remember that mindset.”

“Visiting an old friend?” Dice asked.

“Actually picking out a nice spot for you and your friends,” I said.

I lifted my gun.

Dice and Jop pointed their guns at me.

“Really?” Jop asked. “How do you think this works?”

“Simple,” I said. “We finish up here and go back to the clubhouse. Get the rest of our shit in line and watch you pricks bleed out.”

Both Dice and Jop laughed at the same time.

“Who is this fuck?” Jop asked. He went right to Jim, sticking his gun to Jim’s neck. “Put your hands up, bitch.”

Jim listened.

“And you drop your gun,” Dice said to me.

I lowered my gun but didn’t drop it. “Easy now, guys. I find it interesting that you were following me. Something on your mind?”

“No,” Dice said. “Just taking care of business. Keep your enemies close… right?”

“I’m not sure that’s how the phrase goes,” I said. “But you never got out of second grade, did you?”

Dice smacked his gun off my jaw. I took the hit and stepped back. I reached for Jim and pulled him away from Jop. We didn’t have time and I had to take a huge chance. My eyes met with Jim’s and I gave a wink.

Don’t fuck up, soldier.

I turned my body and placed my gun to Jim’s chest. He grabbed it. I threw a left punch to Jop’s wrist and he dropped his gun instantly. I then spun around threw a right, hitting Dice’s hand. He didn’t drop his gun but stumbled enough that when he pulled the trigger the bullet was a mile away from me. I went at him again with another right, cracking him in the jaw. He fell to the side, into a gravestone, and I didn’t let up.

“Move!” I bellowed.

Jim pulled the trigger on my gun, shooting Jop in the leg. Jop let out a scream and jumped back, stumbling and falling to the ground. Jim stepped forward with rage in his eyes. He put the gun right to Jop, ready to fucking kill the guy.

Shit, if Jim took out one of the Hell Five leaders that would not be good at all.

I threw one more punch to Dice’s face and then twisted his wrist like it was a wet rag, making something pop. But it was enough that he dropped the gun. I gave the gun a good kick and then set my sights on Jim. I got to him just in time, pulling him away as he fired the gun again. The bullet hit a headstone, sending splinters of stone into the air. Jim lost his balance and toppled to the ground.

“Give me the fucking gun, brother!” I yelled to him.

Jim looked at me in complete shock. He dropped the gun and then looked at his hand, realizing that he had shot someone and came damn close to killing that same person.

Once I had my gun back, I had complete control.

Dice groaned as he slid down the headstone, clutching his face. His hand spread across the ground looking for his weapon.

“You’re dead,” Dice said.

“No, you guys are,” I said. “Your ass is down in a grave already. Keep it warm, you’ll be there soon enough for good.”

I hurried to back up and grabbed for Jim. I got him to his feet and we had to hightail it the fuck out of there. I swore somewhere in the distance I heard the sound of motorcycles but I wasn’t going to stick around and find out if I was right or not.