CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Deuce watched Eva tear out of Kami's building looking like a brunette version of Kami. The hair, the clothes, the makeup and she'd dropped a good twenty pounds. What had happened in the three months since he'd seen her last?
He had come to Manhattan for two reasons. One, he'd had lead on Eva's hit, two he wanted to see Eva, three he wanted to see Eva and four, he had to fucking see Eva or he was going to go insane. So more than two reasons.
Three days ago, accompanied by Mick and Cox, he pulled out of midday Manhattan traffic into the Silver Demon's MC parking lot. He had just removed his helmet when he saw some pretty boy asshole step out of the front doors of the club accompanied by Eva and Preacher.
He'd signaled his boys to remain where they were as he watched the three of them interact. Preacher stuck his hand out and shook the pretty boy's hand then retreated back into the club.
The pretty boy focused on Eva and his chest went tight. He'd seen that look before; it’s the look a man gets when he's looking at something he wants inside of.
Gripping Eva’s chin, the pretty boy backed her up against the club doors.
Cox's hand came down on his shoulder. "Breathe Prez. She's not exactly fightin' him off."
No, she wasn't. She had her arms wrapped around his neck, gripping him, while the fucker gnawed on her face and groped her backside like he was digging for change. None of this made sense to him. She’d run away from him to help Frankie but how she was going to accomplish that by fucking some uptown douchebag was beyond him.
Something was up. Something he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like.
"Mick," He hissed. "Find out who the fuck that is.”
His VP's eyes met his. Mick thought his relationship with Eva was fucked up and he made no bones about telling him.
They stared at one another. Mick gave first. "On it Prez," He said quietly.
The pretty boy strolled arrogantly down the walk and slid inside a sleek silver Aston Martin db9. When he pulled out into traffic, Mick's Harley pulled out behind him and they both disappeared into the mess of New York City traffic.
Eva sat down on the front steps, slumped forward and buried her face in her hands.
Fuck him. Something was way off.
"Somethin' goin' down here Prez," Cox muttered. "Your girls not lookin' too good."
"I get that," He growled. "And she's not my girl. Not sure she ever fuckin' was."
"Load of fuckin' crap," Cox said. "Seen the way you two look at each other. Like no one else in the world exists."
He cut his eyes at his RC. "You a fuckin' poet?"
Cox shrugged. "If that's what it takes to get laid, then I'm a fuckin' poet. Other times I'm a fuckin' accountant. Or a plumber. Sometime's a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."
Cox pretending to be an accountant with all his piercings and tattoos was just about the funniest thing he had ever heard.
"Come on Prez. Let's go to Queens." Cox slapped him on the back. "We came here for a reason. And that fuckin' reason is to keep that woman of yours breathin’."
They'd gone to Queens. They had tortured and killed two independent grave diggers to get the information they'd needed. Then they'd crossed the Hudson and took out the hit. The asshole had a file on Eva as thick as a phonebook, full of photos, addresses and schedules. Despite not needing to bury her unless Frankie kicked it, the digger was thorough and ready at the drop of a hat to get his job done.
The digger had been paid to kill her, he didn't know Eva from a hole in the wall, but Deuce knew her and he loved her. Because of this love, instead of giving the asshole a merciful death, he prolonged the pain and let him bleed for a good long time before finally stopping his heart. It hadn't made him feel any better about the pretty boy with his tongue shoved down Eva's throat but it relieved some pent up aggression.
Until he found out who the pretty boy was. Then all that aggression came back tenfold.
So he’d followed her. He watched her run out of Kami's building and hail a cab. He followed her to the Waldorf Astoria, watched her wave to the doormen like she fucking knew them and disappear inside. Not even ten minutes later he watched Chase pull up in his db9, toss his keys to the valet and stride through the doors.
He wanted to kill something. No, he wanted to kill Chase.
Instead, he waited. He waited all day and all night and neither of them came out.
At dawn, when the sun was cresting, Eva came walking through the front doors looking half asleep, pale and disheveled. A doorman moved quickly, ready to hail her a cab but he didn't give her the option. His Harley roared to life, he gunned it straight across four lanes of traffic and came to a rubber burning, tire squealing stop directly in front of her.
Her mouth fell open.
"Get the fuck on," He growled. "I won't tell you twice."
Her mouth worked soundlessly for several moments and just as he was getting really fucking impatient and angry, she burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.
Fuck.
Flipping off the gaping doormen he held her for a long time just breathing her in, knowing she'd just fucked another guy, smelling him and the sex they'd had on her and feeling like crushing skulls with his bare hands because of it. But he kept it reeled in because she was in his arms, she was seeking comfort from him, she needed him, so whatever the fuck she'd been doing while they’d been apart didn't fucking matter unless she started doing it again. And since he was going to put Chase to ground the minute he got a chance he figured there was no chance of that happening anyway.
"Get on Eva," He said. "I’m taking you home and then I’m taking you home with me."
She surprised the fuck out of him. She got on without a word, without an ounce of fight and no attitude tossed his way. This scared him more than the tears, more than her selling her pussy to save Crazy Frankie. If his girl was broken, someone sure as fuck was going to die for that.
Preacher met them in the hallway of the club, Cox and Mick by his side. He took one look at his puffy, red eyed, blotchy faced daughter and lost it.
"What the fuck?" Preacher shouted. "What happened?"
When her old man tried to touch her she shrank into him and buried her face into his armpit, not his first choice of a hiding place seeing as he’d just spent twenty four hours in the same clothing but she didn't seem to care, so he didn't move her, just held her tight.
Preacher looked bewildered. The man really didn’t have a clue something was wrong with his daughter.
"What's goin' on," Preacher demanded.
"I don't know," He said. "Where's her fuckin' room?"
"You think I'm gonna let you take my daughter up to her fuckin' room? I haven't fuckin' forgotten what you did when she was just a kid."
"Daddy!" Eva whirled around, glaring. "I've been fucking Deuce since I was eighteen! I wanted to fuck him when I was sixteen! Maybe I even wanted him when I was twelve too! Who knows! What I do know is I have been in love with him since I was five! So get over it! And don’t you dare shoot him or I'll shoot you!"
Cox slapped his hand over his mouth and turned away.
Mick rolled his eyes.
Preacher's jaw dropped.
Oh…shit. At least he knew her fire was still burning bright, but still… oh, shit. He didn't have a good track record dealing with his bitch's fathers. For some reason they never liked him and the one in front of him had already shot him twice.
"Don't fuckin' shoot me again," He growled. "I didn't do shit to her when she was twelve. That shit when she was sixteen, that wasn't my fault. I was shitfaced and she was jerkin' herself off on my fuckin' belt buckle and her tits were bouncin' in my face, and what the fuck, I'm only fucking human. I blame her tits for the whole fuckin' thing. But every time I fucked her she was fuckin' legal. So no fuckin' shootin'. This time I'll shoot back."
"Tact Prez," Cox muttered. "You fuckin' need some."
Both Eva and her old man were gaping at him.
"Did you seriously just say all of that to my daddy?"
He looked down at her. "What? You're the fuckin' dumbass who brought it up. It's the fuckin' truth anyway."
"The fuckin' truth," Preacher muttered. "Is I already knew she was a willin' participant you fuckin' idiot. Doesn't change the fact that you took advantage of a sixteen year old girl."
"Daddy," Eva hissed. "How old was my mother when you knocked her up?"
Preacher's eyes shot to his daughter. "Deuce is forty eight Eva! I'm fifty five! Don’t that seem a little fucked up to you?"
"How old, daddy?" She demanded.
"Six fuckin' teen," He said darkly, glaring at her.
Damn. Looks like his old man and Preacher had some shit in common. At least he didn't belong to that fucking club. That was something. Sorta.
"Yeah," She shot back. "And how old were you?"
"Eva!"
"Daddy!"
"I was twenty four," He snarled.
She folded her arms across her chest and cocked her hip out. "Huh," She said. "Interesting."
"Yeah," He shot back. "Fuckin' interesting. Your old man was a fuckin' idiot who fell in love with a junkie runaway who took off runnin' scared after she gave birth to you! Real fuckin' interesting! Didn't get to spend nearly enough time lovin' her, treatin' her to all the shit her parents never gave her and all the women since her have been fuckin' bed warmers, nothin' more! Excuse the fuck outta me for not wantin' that kinda shit for my baby!"
Preacher's eyes had gone glossy halfway through his revelation and now tears were flowing freely down his cheeks. Everyone stared. Preacher didn't cry, Preacher killed in cold blood. But there it was.
"Didn’t matter cuz I fucked you up anyway, baby girl," Preacher rasped. "Didn't see how bad Frankie was ‘til it was too late. Trapped you in that shit without even knowin' it. Shoulda got him help a long time ago. Shoulda gotten you away from him. Shoulda done fuckin' somethin'."
"Doesn't matter," She whispered. "He's not getting out anytime soon and he’s getting the help he needs."
This made Mick stomp off down the hallway. His boys wanted Frankie dead. He wanted Frankie dead but Eva and Preacher loved Frankie. He got that. You can't turn feelings on and off like a fucking light. He knew. He had tried. He'd tried to love his wife and he'd tried to stop loving Eva. Neither had worked.
That said, Frankie still needed to go to ground.
"EVA!" Hurricane Kami came bursting through the front doors. Kami shoved him out of her way, grabbed Eva by her upper arms, and started screaming.
"You fucking idiot! Why didn't you tell me what he was doing? For gods sake Eva you didn't have to fuck him! Do you know how much dirt I have on that skanky asshole? Tons Eva, TONS! I would have broken him down in time!"
"Frankie didn't have time!" Eva screamed back. "Chase wouldn't meet with me until Frankie got put in solitary!"
Deuce saw red. The asshole hadn't just played on her love for Frankie he'd outright cornered her with her love for Frankie.
Preacher's eyes darted back and forth between Kami and his daughter. "Eva, what the fuck did Kami just say?"
They both ignored him.
"Oh Evie," Kami cried. "I'm going to kill him! You are too good and too sweet and a man like Chase didn't deserve a taste of that kind of beautiful!"
If she kept saying shit like that about his woman maybe he could learn to like Kami.
“How did you find out?” Eva whispered.
Kami let out a frustrated breath. “He came home like twenty minutes ago informing me that our marriage was over.” She snorted. “Can you believe him? I was like, “What marriage?” and started laughing at him. He got pissed, told me about you, told me you guys were together, told me you were having his baby, but left Frankie out of it. Only I knew, I JUST KNEW, you would never touch him without a good reason! And I knew that reason was FRANKIE! Avoiding me for months, the clothes Evie, the makeup, the Jimmy fucking Choo's…I am not stupid!”
"I'm gonna ask one more time, Eva," Preacher growled. "What the fuck is Kami talking about?"
He stared at Eva.
She was pregnant.
His woman was pregnant. And it wasn't his.
All eyes were on Eva but she only had eyes for him and damn her fucking eyes but he couldn't look away. He couldn't even blink.
“I’m sorry,” She whispered.
He blinked.
“Kami?” Cox said quietly, his voice unusually low. His head swiveled to his RC.
Kami, noticing Cox for the first time, shrieked and scrambled backwards. That's when he saw the little boy she was shoving behind her. Eva jumped beside her and they created a wall.
"Wait," Kami whispered holding her palms up. "You don’t understand."
Confused, he looked at Cox's furious expression then back at the little boy, scared out of his mind, peeking out between Kami and Eva’s legs.
Understanding dawned. Little shit looked just the bigger shit.
“Fuck,” He muttered. This was going to get ugly. There were two things in the world Cox truly cared about. The club. And his daughter. If he had known he had a son, the kid would have been on that list, too.
"What don't I understand?" Cox hissed. "I don't understand that there's a fuckin' kid standing behind you 'bout four fuckin' years old who looks just like me? I don't understand that I fucked his mother thirty ways from fuckin' Sunday the last time I fuckin' saw her, which was when, bitch? Five fuckin' years ago? Is that what I don't understand?"
Preacher stepped in front of Kami. "You're talkin' shit 'bout the boy's mother right in front of him which is bad enough. But that mother is family and so is the boy and talkin’ shit to my family does not happen in my fuckin' club."
"Fuck off Demon," Cox spat. "In case you haven't noticed that's my fuckin' kid!"
"Yeah asshole, I fuckin' noticed. Hard not to when he looks just like ya.”
"Would everyone shut the fuck up?" Kami screamed. "He doesn't know about you! All you're doing is scaring the crap out of him!"
Preacher shoved between Kami and Eva and scooped up the little boy.
"Once I got Devin upstairs and out of fuckin' earshot from you lot of assholes you can resume fuckin' screamin' at one another." He looked at Eva. "Me and you baby girl are gonna be havin' words. If what I think happened actually happened I'm gonna get real trigger twitchy."
Nobody said a word until Preacher disappeared into the stairwell. Once he was gone, Cox exploded.
"This is so fucked bitch! Hide a man's kid from him! Really fuckin' fucked!"
"You crazy fuck!" Kami screamed. "You live in Montana, you're fucking married, you already have a kid! I live in New York, I'm fucking married! What the fuck was I supposed to do?”
“What you were s’posed to do, bitch, was tell me you fuckin' shit out my kid!"
"You're disgusting!" Kami hissed. “A fucking dirty, disgusting, biker whore!”
Cox's eyes bugged out of his head. "Bitch, you think I'm fuckin' disgusting? Were you or were you not the same fuckin' whore who was ridin' my cock bareback, shovin' your fuckin' tits in my mouth begging me to bite harder while Ripper drilled into your fuckin' ass?”
Eva went screaming crazy and lunged. Cursing, he tried to grab her but the crazy bitch faked right and then went left, managing to cold clock Cox in the jaw just before he caught her and hauled her backwards.
"You're fuckin' dead bitch!" Cox shouted.
He snapped. Shoving Eva off to the side, he spun around, grabbed Cox by his shirt and slammed him into a wall. "Bitch is pregnant and you're gonna threaten her? You're gonna fuckin' threaten my fuckin' pregnant woman?"
"Oh Evie," Kami wailed, forgetting entirely about a very homicidal Cox. She threw her arms around Eva and together they sank down to the floor in a tangle of brown and blonde hair.
He released Cox and slumped back against the wall. He hadn’t slept in over twenty four hours and there was too much crazy going on around him to deal with on no sleep.
"Settled this shit in my head already,” Cox hissed. “I'm takin' my kid home."
"You're not taking my son away from me!" Kami cried.
Cox glared at her. "Then you best pack your shit and find a fuckin’ place to live in Montana."
Kami scrambled to her feet. "Montana!" She shrieked. "Devin is not going to Montana!”
Deuce wasn't quick enough to grab Cox before he got up Kami’s face. “Bitch,” He hissed, “I want to know my fuckin’ kid. You already stole four fuckin' years from me. You're not stealin' anymore.”
Kami’s lower lip trembled. “You don't understand," She whispered. "Until Devin, my entire life was spent doing what I was told and then finding ways to fill up the empty space in between. The drugs and drinking and the sex, all of it, was me not knowing what to do with myself, not knowing where I belonged. The moment Devin was placed in my arms everything clicked into place and suddenly I knew exactly what I was meant to do, where I belonged. I couldn't let you take him from me."
Her voice grew shrill. “I couldn’t let you take the only person in the world besides Evie that has ever meant anything to me!”
Eva burst into a fresh set of tears. Sighing, convinced he was the only sane person left in the world, he pulled her to him and started rubbing her back.
Cox turned away from Kami. "Shit," He muttered. "Shit. Shit. Fuckin' shit."
He turned back around and took Kami’s hand in his. “Woman, I wouldn’t have taken him from you, we woulda worked somethin’ out, back and forth bullshit. I’d never take my boy from his mama.”
Kami burst into tears and her knees buckled. Cox caught her before she crumpled to the floor, scooped her up in his arms and took off down the hall. He watched him lean down and kiss Kami’s forehead before he made a left and they were out of sight.
He decided to start back up where he’d left off. "Where's your room Eva?"
"I'm sorry," She whispered.
His nostrils flared. Jesus Christ, all he wanted to do was get this bitch to her room and take care of her.
“For fucks sake, what the fuck are you sorry for?"
"The motel," She whispered. "I wasn't thinking and I didn't put a condom on you before I…and you didn't pull out…" She trailed off.
He stared at her.
"You tellin' me that’s my kid inside you? Not that fuckin' pretty boy's?"
"No," She said, dropping her eyes. "I’m telling you I'm sorry because I don't know whose kid is inside me."
☼☼☼
I had never planned to tell Deuce I was pregnant therefore, I had never envisioned what his reaction was going to be. Whatever reactions I had dreamed up during the three seconds it took me to tell him that the baby might be his, the reaction he had was not one I would have ever dreamed up.
"Can you walk?"
Huh?
"What?"
"Can you walk?" He repeated. "Or do you need me to carry you?"
I blinked. "Carry me?"
"Yeah babe. Carry you to the shower."
Oh, god, he was trying to take care of me. How could a man be so perfect for me and yet so wrong for me all at the same time.
"I'm disgusting," I whispered.
His eyebrow rose. "Yeah babe, that's why I'm tryin' to get you in the shower."
"No!" I cried. "I mean I'm disgusting! I'm a whore!"
Deuce's face went rock hard. "Fuckin' listen to me. Up until you started askin' favors usin' your pussy as payment you'd only been with two men. Me and Frankie. You're not a fuckin' whore, you're a fuckin' idiot."
I gaped at him.
"Yeah babe, an idiot. You’ve been taken care of that crazy fuckwad so damn long you think it’s your fuckin' destiny. Chase knew that, he saw an opening and he fuckin' took it. And because he took it he's gonna fuckin' die. But babe, you're not a whore, farthest thing from it."
I swallowed hard. "I'm still disgusting," I whispered.
His eyes flashed with anger. "God dammit Eva! What the fuck did I just-
"I liked it!" I blurted out. "I don’t even like Chase all that much but I liked fucking him and stuff… because I'm fucking disgusting! I did things with him…" My voice cracked and I swallowed hard.
“Disgusting things…and I liked them and I liked that it was him doing them,” I finished in small voice.
Deuce took a deep breath then blew it out slowly. This was it. In about two seconds, he was going to tell me exactly how disgusting I was and then I would never see him again.
"Eva," He growled. I braced myself.
"You're bein' an idiot again."
"Excuse me?" I whispered.
"You heard me. You're bein' an idiot. But I get why you're bein' an idiot. You’d never fucked someone just to fuck ‘em. So I'm gonna lay this out for you babe. You don't gotta like someone to like fuckin' ‘em. You can even hate their fuckin' guts and still like fuckin' ‘em. Sometime's that's the best kinda fuckin'. Angry, crazy, fucked up, fuckin’. You got nothin’ to be ashamed of darlin’.
“That said, it don’t mean I’m not fuckin’ pissed as hell that you’ve been in another man’s bed and enjoyin’ it; that you might got a kid inside you that ain’t mine and that you’ve been runnin’ from me for eight fuckin’ years now. I know I’m a fuckin’ bastard with a bad temper and I don’t fuckin’ deserve you but, shit Eva, if you woulda stayed put I woulda done better by you than you’ve had. You feel me?"
I stared at him. And fell in love with him all over again.
"I feel you," I whispered.
His eyes went soft. "Babe," He said gently. "I know that fuckin' look. Can't fuckin' tell me you might have my kid inside you then look at me the way you're lookin' at me and expect me to keep it reeled in."
I shook my head. "I can't do this anymore."
"What part babe? You can't keep tryin’ to save Frankie from himself? Or you can't keep fuckin' Chase? Or you can't keep pretendin' that this crazy shit between us is gonna go away just cuz you keep runnin'?"
It was infuriating how well he knew me without even knowing me.
"All three," I snapped.
"That's good babe, cuz I can't do this anymore either."
I drew my brows together. "What can't you do?"
"I'm gettin’ old babe. Got grown ass kids and gray fuckin' hair. Spent too much time married to a bitch I couldn't stand, too much time beatin' myself up for wishin' I was balls deep in a bitch eighteen years younger than me. Add that shit together and that equals me being fuckin' miserable for a long fuckin' time. So yeah, I can't do this anymore. Can't fuckin' live without you. Want you on my bike and in my bed. Want my kids inside you. Want you by my side babe for as long as I got left."
By his side.
“By your side?” I whispered.
His hand went to my neck and tugged on the chain around it. For a moment, I thought he was going to break his father’s necklace again. Instead, he tugged it out of my shirt and held it up in front of my face. The medallion spun around. “You think I just like decoratin’ ya?”
I sucked in air.
It wasn’t his fathers. It looked exactly the same as his father’s except the back of this one read, "Deuce".
My chin began to tremble. “I thought…I…I thought you’d put your father’s necklace back on me.”
He shook his head. “Told you, you shoulda never been wearing that. You shoulda been wearin’ mine.”
Sheesh. I was going to cry again.
"Fuckin' listen Eva and listen good. Words are shit and I ain't good with them anyway. So here’s the fuckin’ truth for you, straight up, I'm forty eight years old, gonna be forty nine all too soon and I damn well know a good thing when I see it and babe all I’ve ever been able to fuckin' see is you. Not many chances a man has in his lifetime to do right, to earn the love of a good woman, and to get a taste of true freedom. And babe, for me, you're all fuckin' three. Have been for a good while now.”
He dropped my necklace, cupped my cheeks and tilted my head back.
“Whatever this shit is between us it’s always been there and it’s always gonna be there. I’m shit-fuckin’-tired tryin’ to ignore it. I’ll try to do right by you Eva, you’d be the first, but I’ll fuckin’ try my damndest. And baby, true freedom is the open road, the wind on your face and a good woman on the back of your bike holdin’ you tight like you’re her reason for breathin’ because she sure as fuck is yours.”
My mouth fell open. Hadn’t he just told me he wasn’t good with words and then he went and said all that to me? I was floored. Shocked to my core. I hadn’t been wrong about him after all.
"Deuce," I whispered. “You love me.”
He eyes went skyward and he snorted. “Babe. Yeah. Long time now.”
☼☼☼
Deuce watched her go liquid. Every part of her just went soft. Fuck, he loved that look. That look told him that he was her whole fucking world.
“Okay,” She whispered. “No more running.”
He breathed in a ragged breath of relief.
“Jesus babe,” He muttered as he ran his knuckles down her cheek. "'Bout fuckin' time. Now where’s your fuckin’ room?”