Undeniable (Undeniable, #1)(8)

Frankie had been nicknamed “Crazy Frankie” a few years ago because…well, he was crazy.

Hands clenched into fists, Frankie glared at Deuce. “You’re gonna wanna back the f*ck off Eva, Horseman.”

I tugged on his cut. “Calm down. He’s friends with Daddy.”

Frankie turned his glare on me. “No, baby, he’s not. He’s in business with him. It’s f*ckin’ different. You shouldn’t be around him; he’s f*ckin’ dangerous. If Preacher could, he’d take him to ground.”

I gaped at Frankie.

He shrugged. “Way it is, babe.”

Unaffected by Frankie’s casual talk of his death, Deuce took a deep drag of his cigarette and blew a long stream of smoke right into Frankie’s face. Frankie turned red with anger.

“Killed two of Bannon’s boys last week in Pittsburg, yeah, Frankie? Whole circuit knows. Word is he’s gunnin’ for ya. You got Eva cuffed to your side all the time. Think that might be kinda f*ckin’ dangerous for her?”

My mouth fell open. “You killed someone?” I whispered, floored that Frankie was capable of killing. I knew it happened when MC business went bad, but no one ever talked to me directly about it, and I certainly hadn’t thought my nineteen-year-old brother had been doing his fair share.

Frankie’s nostrils flared; his dark eyes trained on Deuce. “You f*ck,” he hissed.

Deuce shrugged. “Way it is, brother,” he said, throwing Frankie’s words back at him.

“Frankie,” I whispered. “Bannon’s gonna kill you.”

Mickey Bannon was a bad guy—Irish mafia kind of bad. He ran most of his business out of Pittsburgh, but he had ties all over the place, even overseas. I knew my father was having problems with him reneging on deals, but I didn’t think it had gone so far as to result in murder.

With his eyes still on Deuce, Frankie gripped my shoulder. “No, babe. I already took care of it. Me and Trey. Nobody’s f*ckin’ comin’.”

Trey was my cousin, Uncle Joe’s oldest son, and not a nice guy. Well…he was nice to me and his mother, but that was about it. Trey committing murder wasn’t a surprise to me.

Deuce snorted. “Gonna need a new bedpost to keep countin’ your notches. You’re rackin’ up bodies faster than the Germans took out the Jews.”

Reflexively, I jerked away from Frankie. “What!”

His head whipped in my direction. “Ev—”

“No!” I snapped. “I need you to go away right now!”

“Be f*ckin’ pissed, Eva. I don’t give a shit! But no way I’m leavin’ you alone with this f*ck!”

“How long you been followin’ her around now, Frankie? Protectin’ her from f*ckin’ nothin’?”

“Ten years,” I helpfully supplied. Frankie glared down at me.

“You gonna follow her down the aisle, too? Move in with her and her man? Be their f*ckin’ nanny?”

Instead of looking at his face, Deuce was watching Frankie’s hands, waiting for Frankie to make his move, so he could take him down. If he knew Frankie’s rep, then he knew Frankie’s fuse was nonexistent, and he was purposely baiting him.

“I’m. Her. Man,” Frankie spat through clenched teeth. “Any f*ckin’ babies she’ll be havin’ will be mine.”

Oh good Lord.

“Frankie,” I said sternly. “First of all, you are not my man. I have no man. And I don’t plan on having one anytime soon, especially not one who has f*cked my entire high school! Second, I don’t want to talk about hypothetical weddings or babies. Ever again. Third, if you get into another fight with one of Daddy’s business partners that Daddy’s cool with, he’s gonna kill you this time. Not just put you in the hospital with minor brain swelling, but put you in the ground. So do me a favor, go get a beer, go take a walk, go get a blow job, whatever. Just calm the hell down. And lastly, I need some time to process all this new information. So please give me some space.”

Frankie growled at me. An honest-to-God growl.

“I’m gonna tell Daddy,” I warned.

“Do you have any idea how f*ckin’ dangerous this * is?”

I glanced up at Deuce. Our eyes locked, and those baby blues sucked me in. Sheesh, he was beautiful.

“I’m guessing he’s about as dangerous as you,” I said, still staring up at Deuce, unable to look away. “So go,” I demanded.

“We’re talkin’ later, Eva,” Frankie said, fuming. “Count on it.”

He stalked off into the crowd.

“Boy’s got it bad for you, darlin’,” Deuce said, taking a seat beside me. I lifted my right leg onto the table and turned to face him. Suddenly, all my senses went on hyperalert. The proximity of him allowed me to smell the booze on his breath and a day’s worth of summer sweat on his skin. It wasn’t altogether a bad smell. It reminded me of…man.

“Not that I blame him. If I was his age and you were mine, I’d be jumpin’ up and gettin’ in faces, too.”

If I was his age and you were mine. Wow. Just…wow.

“I’m nobody’s,” I shot back.

His eyebrow rose. “Not sure Frankie agrees with that.”