Unattainable (Undeniable, #3)(96)

“Have I ever told you,” I shot back, “how insanely bright your clothing is? I mean, shit, Danny, where do you find this crap? Did Skittles come out with a clothing line?”

Danny opened her mouth just as the back door slammed open, causing both of us to jump.

“Dinner,” Deuce growled. “Get your dope-smokin’ asses in-f*ckin’-side.”

Jumping off the railing, Danny shoved her joint at me.

“It was Tegen’s idea,” she said, slipping past her father and disappearing inside. “She peer-pressured me!”

“Liar!” I yelled, jumping down. Tossing the joint over the railing, I made to follow her inside but Deuce stepped in front of me, blocking the door.

“Great,” I muttered. “What the f*ck did I do now?”

To my surprise, Deuce grinned and I could do nothing but stare at the nearly identical but older version of the man I loved. Deuce and Cage might not be pretty-boy beautiful, but they were no less breathtaking.

But…none of that beauty made up for their shitty, sexist piggishness.

“You gotta minute?” he asked.

“Do I have a choice? I can’t exactly walk through you.”

More grinning. Jeez. Was he drunk?

“Wanted you to know I still ain’t heard jack shit about ZZ,” he said. “Not since one of Hawk’s contacts saw him out in Vegas. I’m guessin’ he went off the grid.”

I nodded. A few months ago a nomad that Hawk would occasionally run into while on the road spotted ZZ in Las Vegas at an underground fight club. He wasn’t taking bets or running security. He was fighting. Without protective gear, bare-knuckled.

And the guy he fought, he killed. In fact, according to the nomad, ZZ continued to beat on him long after the man was dead.

No one had seen him since and I doubted anyone was ever going to hear from ZZ again. He’d been a Horseman; he knew the punishment for trying to kill a brother. And Deuce was looking for him, Deuce wasn’t going to stop either. If I were ZZ, I would have gone off the grid too. Fuck, I would have gone to Mars.

“And I got somethin’ for you,” he said as he reached into his back pocket.

I took the worn and cracked photograph from Deuce and stared down at the very young girl. I could see the family resemblance, the dimples it seemed Deuce had gotten from his mother.

“I can’t take this,” I told him, knowing that Deuce never knew her, that this photo was all he’d ever had of her.

“Yeah, you f*ckin’ can,” he said gruffly. “It’s all I can f*ckin’ give her now. She deserved somethin’ good, deserved to be my old man’s old lady, treated with respect, and she never f*ckin’ got it. But Eva’s got it and you’re gonna have it too.

“He don’t know it yet,” he continued. “But Cage is gonna need you more than he thinks. Sooner than he thinks too. I’m steppin’ down soon, Tegen, gonna be passin’ him the gavel and you being his old lady, you needed to know first. This job ain’t easy, but havin’ a good woman who’s got your back at the club when you’re on the road—havin’ her to come home to—that shit makes it a f*ck of a lot easier to keep f*ckin’ goin’.

“The two of you, Tegen, are gonna be the only ones keepin’ this club above ground. Holdin’ those boys together, their women and their families. Shit gets hard, they’re gonna come to you, they’re gonna be expectin’ you to fix it. I ain’t gonna lie and tell you it’s gonna be easy ’cause more often than not it’s gonna straight-up f*ckin’ suck. You’re gonna fight, you’re gonna wanna run, but I say it to all my boys’ old ladies, and I mean it every damn time, only when I say it to you, I ain’t just gonna be sayin’ it for the sake of sayin’ it. You’re different, you’re gonna be the prez’s old lady, you’re gonna have to eat, sleep, and f*ckin’ breathe the life, Tegen.

“You love the man,” he said. “You—”

“Love the life,” I finished for him. “I know.”

Deuce paused and stared down at me.

“Do you?” he asked quietly. “Tegen, I know we talked this shit over before but this here is the real f*ckin’ deal and I can’t be havin’ my boy as prez of my club with a woman by his side who can’t hold her own. It’s gonna be your job to make sure he’s stayin’ level-headed, to keep the boys’ women and kids happy in their absence, to keep their f*ckin’ secrets too.”

“I can’t always love what goes on in the club,” I told him truthfully.

Deuce’s hard gaze never wavered. “You don’t have to love what goes on. You only have to love the club and I know you love the club, Tegen. I know you love those boys. I know you wouldn’t want anything to happen to them.”

I blew out a large breath. “I’m not Eva,” I told him. “There are just some things I won’t turn a blind eye on.”

“Darlin’,” he said, laughing. “When Cage gets the gavel, what you do and don’t got a problem with, that’s gonna be his f*ckin’ problem to be dealin’ with, not mine.”

I narrowed my eyes. Darlin’ and dimples. This f*cker was pulling out the big guns.

“This is so unfair,” I said. “I never asked for this sort of responsibility.”