Owned & Untamed (Back Down Devil MC #11)(71)

As I kissed her I tried to envision the rest of our lives together. She would learn the MC life and we would make it all work. Not everything would be a constant barrage of violence and death. That’s not how the life worked. It was just a rough time and it was getting ready to finally pass by.

My plan was to carry Belle out of there in my arms, but then Ivan spoke up and stopped my plan.

“There’s just one more thing…”

I turned around as Ivan stepped toward us.

“What is it?” Trev asked.

“The land deal,” Ivan said.

“It’s dead,” I said. “There’s a police investigation going on right now. Our lawyers are working close with everyone they could. There is no way in hell that land is going to transfer ownership. Everything goes back to normal.”

“It was a big problem for me,” Ivan said. “A very big inconvenience for my organization.”

“Agreed,” Trev said. “And now you have your blood money. You have a body…”

“No, that’s for stealing my money,” Ivan said. “This land problem… so sorry.”

Ivan lifted his hand, his big gun in his hand. I turned my head and saw Jim’s face drop.

“No!” I screamed as I threw my hands back, knocking Belle against the door, forcing her to open and fall outside.

The gun thundered with a boom and Jim’s body ricocheted back, throwing him so hard against the wall, he ended up flying forward, face down.

It all happened so fast I had no chance to react.

“Now we’re done,” Ivan said.

I was stuck in the middle of the scene. To my right was my girl, Belle, on her ass, on the ground, outside. To my left was my best friend, Jim, face down, bleeding everywhere.

Stuck between life and death.

How f*cking fitting for me.

**

Jasper had two coffees in his hands. He crouched and gave one to me and one to Belle. He nodded to me and I nodded back. Belle just stared at the floor, her eyes saddened and in disbelief.

I sipped the coffee and stared at the white hospital floor.

Jim was in surgery.

Ivan had purposely shot Jim but he also purposely shot Jim in a way that would give him a chance to survive. Truthfully, Ivan could have shot Jim in the head or the heart, but he didn’t. That alone was a sign of respect to the MC. Try explaining that to Jim - or Belle - and it was impossible to do so.

“He’ll be okay,” I whispered to Belle. “He’s a tough *.”

Belle nodded. She sipped the coffee. She held the paper cup between her hands. I saw her fingers interlock. She didn’t wear nail polish. She didn’t have any rings on either. I had never met a woman like Belle… someone who could be so classically beautiful without a damn thing on. She could roll out of bed, skip brushing her teeth, skip touching up her hair, and she would be breathtaking to me.

I slid off my chair and turned to face her. I grabbed the coffee from her hand and put it on the floor, along with mine. I took her hands and held them tight.

“Sweetie, this is what it’s all about,” I said. “About fighting and pulling through. Making things work. That’s what we do in the club. Not everything goes right and not everything goes to plan. But we make it work. I hate the way you feel right now, Belle. I want to capture it and steal it for the rest of your life.”

“I can’t stop thinking about you, Duke. Not Jim. You.”

“Me? What about me?”

Belle’s eyes met mine. “I couldn’t go through this if it was you in there. If you got shot. If you got hurt. I get why you never came back, Duke. Because of this feeling inside me right now.”

“Ah, sweetie…”

“No. Listen to me.”

“Okay, fine. I’m all ears.”

“I want this, Duke. Whatever it is and whatever it takes. Nobody could ever be you or replace you. But I hate the idea of you going out there and getting hurt. Just like all those years ago. You’d come home from training and you were so happy. But I was scared something was going to happen. You got sent over there and it was bad for me. I was in such a dark place. I had nowhere to turn. My father was going through the same thing because of Jim. I spent every hour waiting for you to call me. And even when we talked, it wasn’t enough and it wasn’t the same.” Belle’s eyes filled with tears. “The night before it all happened, I had this dream. It was us. We had a house. We had a baby. I… I woke up feeling alive. I woke up feeling a future. Then it all changed.”

I wrapped my arms around Belle and let her cry. Shit, I had been over there dodging bullets and never really thought about what it was like for Belle. Or for anyone who was back home. They were enjoying their basic freedoms and chasing their opportunities but they were also carrying heavy hearts of worry for those who weren’t there.

What a f*cked up thing to go through.

“Listen, sweetie, I love you,” I said. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that and then some. I told you, I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it all up to you. You will never be alone. You will never feel alone.” I slid my hands up her face and forced her to look at me. Tears streamed down her cheeks, over my thumbs. “I will forever fight for us. For you and me to be together. When I go out on the road, yeah, there’s a chance the reaper might claim my ass. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to live in fear. And it also means that every moment we have together we take full advantage of it.”