Owned & Untamed (Back Down Devil MC #11)(12)

“What kind?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Yes I do,” he said. “Go get me a beer and we’ll talk.”

It was a rare moment to talk to my brother without fighting. He didn’t want to talk about him neglecting himself. Or his house. Or the tree out back. Or anything that remotely resembled a normal life.

Still, it was better than finding him choking on his vomit.

I got two beers and sat on the top step of the porch. Just like I used to do in a different life. I used to sit with Duke. I’d wrap my arms around his arm and put my head on his shoulder. We’d sit there until sundown. Then Dad would find random excuses to come outside and bother us. His way of trying to protect me.

I used to sit there too and smoke. After everyone went to bed, I would sit there and smoke a cigarette or two, feeling cool as anything. I killed that habit a long time ago though.

Jim put his bottle toward me. “Cheers, sis.”

I clanked my bottle to his. “Cheers.”

“Tell me about Maggie.”

“Trust me, it’s nothing interesting. She’s hung up on her ex. Every time this guy calls, she falls right back in love. Sleeps with him. Then he breaks her heart the next morning.”

“Sounds like a f*cking tool.”

“Exactly,” I said. I glanced at Jim. “When was the last time you were out on a date?”

He turned his head at me. “What the f*ck does that matter?”

“Just trying to have a conversation.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Is Maggie okay? She safe and all?”

“Why? You want me to talk to her for you?”

“Shit. No. I didn’t say that. How’d you get that out of a question? Dammit, Belle…”

Jim grabbed his leg and bent it. He then ran his fingers back and forth where his leg ended and the prosthetic began.

“You know, Maggie has her own cleaning business,” I said. “She’s really good.”

Jim raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I could have her help out around here. For both of us.”

“Right. Both of us.” Jim took a big drink.

I opened my mouth and held back for a second. Then I asked, “What happened with you and Duke?”

“What? Where did that come from?”

“Just curious.”

“Trust me, sis, it’s none of your damn business.”

“So do you have anything to talk about?”

“Nothing.”

“Other than Maggie,” I said. “So worried about her. You should have asked her out a long time ago then.”

Jim looked at me. “Why? So I could get sent over there, get blown the f*ck up, and come home to a broken woman? Why put her through that? Day in and day out, worrying about me. Wondering if and when I was going to be able to call or write. Wondering if it was me each time she watched the news and heard about another situation over there? And now… what? Have her catering to me as some f*cking cripple?”

My jaw dropped.

Jim threw his beer bottle back and pounded the entire thing. He put the bottle between us and pulled himself up. I watched as he walked across the porch to the railing, putting his hands to it, staring off the side of the porch.

“Jim…”

“Let it go,” he said. “Go back to bitching at me about a dirty pan in the sink.”

Yeah, and that’s why I never brought any of that stuff up to Jim. If I did, he would spout off something about fighting a war and then compare to what I yelled at him for.

Jim went back inside and I didn’t even bother chasing him down.

To be honest, I was f*cking tired. Of everything.

There had been a split second of hope that Duke would come and fix everything - like he always would and the way he promised he always would. But that wasn’t going to happen.

It was a dream gone bad.

So I sat there alone, drinking a beer that I didn’t want.

I really wanted a cigarette.





seven.



(duke)



I lined up my shot and took it. The cue ball smacked the eight ball. I sank the f*cking thing right into the corner pocket I called for. Cash, Tristan, and Hudson erupted in cheers as Max threw his stick across the bar.

I put my stick down and pointed to the table.

“Fuck this,” Max said. He threw five twenties on the table and took his beer and walked away.

Cassie walked toward me with two beers in her hands. She had this little tick-tock thing going on with her hips, her shirt pulled up just enough to show some skin. She was blonde hair, blue eyed, full of wildness, obviously new to this life. Just wait until she saw her first dead body or one of us brothers cut up or shot. She’d learn real f*cking fast that it wasn’t all about riding fast and f*cking hard.

“Congrats,” she purred at me. “Let’s drink and pick up where we left off before.”

Temptation was an old friend of mine. But my phone conversation with Belle really f*cking rattled me. Shit, where had that come from? Calling me about Jim? I hadn’t talked to him…

Fuck.

I jumped out of my convoy, like a f*cking fool. I heard screams and shouts. It felt like there were bomb blasts everywhere. I was running the wrong way, no protection, all my f*cking training completely left somewhere else. All I could focus on was the twisted pieces of black metal that used to be the ride Jim was in.