Owned & Untamed (Back Down Devil MC #11)(49)

“He’s always on our ass,” Jasper said.

“I’ll take that if we need to,” Trev said. “This is about killing this deal. About pushing the Hell Five back where they belong.”

“But it doesn’t solve the Russian problem,” Cade said. “Sixty-five large.”

“That’s a lot of f*cking money,” Kye said.

“I know it’s a shot in the dark here, but won’t proof of what we’re doing to the Hell Five be some kind of reassurance to Ivan?” I asked.

“Possibly,” Jasper said.

“But it’s not cash,” Trev said.

Trent then knocked his fist to the table. “Shit. I heard there’s a big round of fights going on soon. A lot of underground money come through. We could jump on that.”

“Ivan wants blood money,” Jasper said.

“Ivan wants money,” I said. “We take care of the Hell Five on our own and give him the money our way, he gets what he wants and we don’t look like his bitch.”

“That’s a lot to ask for from a fight,” Trev said. “Who do we put up?”

“I’ll go,” Trent said.

“I’ll fight,” I said.

One by one we all raised our hands.

“What do you think, Cade?” Trev asked.

“I’ll fight,” Cade said. “And if we keep rolling the bets into the next fight…”

“One f*ck up and we’re screwed,” Jasper said.

“Then we’re at zero,” Tristan said.

“What about *?” Cash asked. “Can’t we put a little pressure on our friends at the club to help out?”

“Those girls can barely take care of themselves,” I said. “There’s no extra money being hidden.”

“Okay,” Trev said. “One thing at a time here. The Hell Five stole fifty-grand from this club. That money is owed to Ivan and Peter. Start with shutting down the deal. Then we can shake down the Hell Five for the fifty. The other fifteen we can worry about then.”

“Let’s all take a breather,” Jasper said. “We’ll arrange for the set up on the land and let that play out.”

“Agreed,” Kye said.

“Vote?” Trev asked.

Everyone nodded. Trev smacked the gavel.

The meeting was over. Even if nothing was actually resolved.

We all exited the conference room.

The clubhouse was getting full and coming to life. The rest of the day would be spent drinking, planning, and waiting for something to happen.

I couldn’t just hang around and wait.

Normally I’d just take a bottle of whiskey and a reliever to my room until we were both out of breath. I’d let her shower, clean up, and then kick her out.

But this time was very different. I had Belle at the clubhouse. And when I saw her sitting at the end of the bar, sipping some drink with a straw in it, nibbling at the straw, eyeing me, smiling, it f*cking damn near killed me. I’d been punched, kicked, stabbed, and shot, but it felt nothing like that moment.

I wandered down to Belle and she turned to face me.

“You’re quite settled,” I said.

“Just trying to look like I’m not terrified. I’m good at hiding myself.”

“Where’s Jim?”

“Having a drink with Maggie. How did everything go?”

“It went,” I said. “So do you plan on sitting there all day and night?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not allowed to go home, right? So what else is there to do?”

I put my hand to Belle’s waist. I leaned and put my lips to her ear. “You’re going to come for a ride with me, sweetie.”

I took her hand and led her out of the clubhouse. Cash, Max, and Kye all whistled and called out some dumb shit comments. Outside, Jim and Maggie were leaning against a railing, talking. It was good to see Jim actually smiling for once. Trev, Jasper, and Trent were standing at a picnic table with Cade, going over legal documents and maps.

Maybe I should have been in the mix of it all but I didn’t want that shit right then.

I wanted Belle. I wanted her all to myself.

The romantic reason would be to say because I loved her and wanted her for the rest of my life.

The truth… I wanted her all to myself because in the blink of an eye I could end up dead.





chapter twenty-four.



(belle)



My hands gripped his leather cut tight. The roar and rumble of the motorcycle chased away any thoughts I could have. I peeked over his body to see the open road flying at us. It was so powerful it stole my breath away for a few seconds.

I had no idea where we were going.

Just cruising from the town to a more country type setting. We weren’t going anywhere near my house or the land.

Minutes gave us miles away from everything wrong. And it felt good to be with Duke. Just like we used to be. Riding on his first motorcycle, getting ourselves into trouble, never thinking for a second that anything bad could happen to us.

Funny how innocence made you feel so invincible.

We ended up twisting and turning through about a hundred roads and then ended up at some flat land with trees. It was green, vast, and beautiful. Duke pulled over and killed the engine on his motorcycle. We climbed off and Duke nodded to the open field.