Chapter 21
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
LUKE
The last thing I wanted was to worry about Duchess. I had enough shit on my mind. Between the club and finding the motherfucker who was trying to take me out. I was waiting on a call from Felipe. He said he had a party he could possibly get me into where I could find the son of a bitch who was pulling the strings like a fucking puppet master.
Not only that but searching for a new cocaine distributor was becoming harder than I originally thought. I had my team for years and it was why someone was trying to take me out to begin with. They wanted what I had, and there wasn’t a chance in hell I wouldn’t go to war for what was mine.
Things were getting tense, and word around the street was that I was sniffing around. I’d gotten a little too trigger-happy, and now I was reaping the consequences of my temper. Too many bodies were piling up. There was no staying behind the scenes right now. I was front and center with it all. I had to be. If someone wanted me out of hiding, then there the fuck I was.
Ready to make my presence known.
My plate was fucking full. As much as I wished I could be in more places at one time, my priority was my clubs. I had to travel all over the place to make sure everything was running smoothly. Just when I thought things might slow down and I could find a balance, some goddamn normalcy, unexpected shit would happen, and I’d be back to square one again.
Two weeks had passed, and in the back of my mind, Duchess’s contract would end soon. I couldn’t tell you why that made me anxious, but it did. I still didn’t know a damn thing about her, and it was getting harder to stay patient when I wasn’t one to begin with. I tried not to lose my shit on her when it was obvious she was still trying to keep me at arm’s length.
Not when I was falling for her.
Whatever the fuck that meant.
I went from not giving a shit about women to being slightly obsessed with one, and the irony was not lost on me.
It was Sunday night, and we were at another one of my private clubs. This one was in the middle of nowhere, and its sole purpose was to be away from prying eyes. It was past midnight, and the party was in full swing. Duchess was DJing the event, and she was taking a break in my office. My regular girl called in sick.
She was wearing a schoolgirl outfit, and it was distracting while she tried to talk to me.
“Luke?” she called out. “Are you listening to me?”
“Mm-hmm…” I rubbed the back of her thighs as she stood in front of me at my desk and I was still sitting in my chair.
“Then what did I just say?”
Kissing along her bare waist, I asked, “You wearin’ this for me?”
“Ugh. You’re not listening.”
“You dressin’ like this is gonna get me arrested.”
“I have that effect on men, but as you know, I’m my own bodyguard.”
“I haven’t claimed you yet.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“Yours.”
The ways that I wanted her were never-ending.
“That’s only because you’re so stubborn. If you would just let it happen, you could put it in any of my holes.”
I groaned, leaning my forehead against her stomach, and she started rubbing the back of my neck.
“My girl likes it up the ass, yeah?”
“If you keep this nonsense up, you’ll never find out.”
What can I say to that?
“I know what you do,” she stressed. “I know exactly the kind of man you are, and I have no problem with it.”
Gazing up at her, I declared, “I’ll wait as long as I have to. You’re worth it to me.”
She reached for my belt, but I caught her wrists, pushing her back. “Ain’t gonna happen.”
She scoffed out, rolling her eyes, and pushed away from me to stand on the opposite side of my desk.
Suddenly feeling pissed, I snapped, “Why can’t you understand about what I just said to you? Why is it so hard for you to have a man respect you for more than what’s between your legs? You throwin’ it at me isn’t goin’ to make me fuck you. If I want pussy, all I have to do is walk outside that door. Ya feel me?”
“Yeah, Luke… I feel ya. I feel everything about you. Including how hard your dick feels against me right before you stop us from having sex. I feel the way you look at me sometimes when you think I can’t see you. I feel the way you smile when I’m around. I feel the way you’re an asshole to everyone else, but to me, you’re sweet and patient and calm! I feel the way you worry about me and make sure I’m tucked in bed every night. I feel the way you need me to comfort you, support you, be with you… I feel everything! Is that enough fucking feels for you?!”
“That’s great.” I nodded. “’Cause I can’t feel one fuckin’ thing about you since you won’t at least tell me your goddamn name!”
She shook her head, disappointed with my response.
It was the truth. Every last word that fell from her lips was the truth, and I wasn’t going to argue with her about it.
“Alright…” she bit with her hands out at her sides. “I think about you all the time. I wait for you to call me to tell me you need me. To tell me you miss me. To tell me all the shit that comes out of your mouth when you’re lonely!”
I was in her face before she had the last word out. “Do I look like I want to be yelled at, darlin’?”
She angled her head higher in defiance. “Do I look like I give a shit?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Duchess…”
“Why not? It’s the only fucking I can do.” She abruptly turned and left, slamming my office door behind her without another word, and I let her.
“Fuck!” I yelled, pulling my hair in a frustrated gesture. Wanting to rip it the hell out.
I didn’t know what to do when it came to her.
What to say.
How to handle her.
I needed to figure out how to make it better without making it worse at the same time. I paced around my office like I would suddenly find the answers written on my walls or some shit.
I was at a loss.
I poured a glass of bourbon and chugged it down in one long swig, throwing it back as if it was water, needing something to calm me the fuck down. I slammed the empty glass onto the counter when I was done. I was about to go after her, but fate had other plans for me that night, and I didn’t expect any of it.
Out of nowhere, a faint shadow caught my attention from the corner of my eyes, reflecting on the wall behind me.
The rest played out in slow fucking motion.
I dropped to the ground, covering my head with my arms, and ducked behind my desk. I flipped it to the side—it was made of steel. Using it as a shield for as long as I could, I went in for cover as bullets sprayed throughout my office, destroying everything in its wake.
For what felt like forever, the only thing that could be heard were bullets flying in every direction through the drywall, shattering windows and causing shards of glass to fall on top of me. Within seconds, I pulled out my gun from the back of my slacks, standing without a second thought. I returned fire in the direction of the shooter, but it was hard to tell where it was coming from.
I did the best I could until the motherfucker fell to the ground dead, and I was able to run over to my safe. I grabbed another gun, throwing the extra clips in the pockets of my slacks. Thank God the private party was a bunch of corrupt sons of bitches who were ready to kill at a moment’s notice. When I hauled ass out my door to go find Duchess, the men were already retaliating.
My club was under fire, getting decorated with bullet holes in every corner of the 3500-square-foot space. An all-out war had broken out, and I didn’t have a clue who was behind this—simply fueling the flames inside me. Women were screaming bloody murder, running from rooms half naked, trying to seek cover as best as they could while others weren’t so lucky.
“Duchess!” I shouted, stepping over bodies, searching for her and feeling desperate that I hadn’t found her yet.
Fear quickly took over my body the longer I tried to find her. I sprinted down the hallway into another room, trying to ignore all the bodies, gore, and blood surrounding me.
Fucking praying I wouldn’t find her among them.
I opened fire, shooting men I didn’t recognize. It was an endless stream of shots coming at us from all directions. My club was unrecognizable from the mayhem with blood flying everywhere, not knowing if it was theirs or mine.
I was numb.
I was seeing red.
I couldn’t get to her fast enough without feeling like I was failing her somehow.
She shouldn’t have been there. I knew better, and I still brought her into my world that had so much darkness, but she felt like the light.
“Duchess!” I screamed as loud as I could.
“Luke! Behind the bar!” James yelled. “I saw her behind the bar!”
He nodded a silent gesture to go to her and that he was covering my back before he tossed an assault rifle to me. I threw the empty guns to the ground and tucked the otherone in the back of my slacks.
A rush of adrenaline coursed through my veins, throbbing into my bloodstream as I hurried toward her. My heart pounded against my chest. I took down every motherfucker who was in my way.
No one was going to stop me.
My vision tunneled, seeing nothing but death around me.
“Duchess!”
The smell of blood assaulted my senses.
Ten feet.
Twenty.
Fifty.
When all of a sudden, nothing but the sounds of cars and Harleys began taking off in all directions, the gunfire finally ceasing all around me. They were leaving from the hell and anarchy they brought upon me.
It didn’t matter.
This wasn’t over.
It was far from fucking over.
In fact, it’d only just begun.
“Luke!” she screamed, coming out from my hiding spot behind a concrete wall.
She immediately ran to me, and I saw it happen before it actually did.
“NO!” I shouted, running as fast as I could to her.
I would remember this split second for the rest of my life. I watched with tormented eyes as a red laser dot suddenly shined bright on Duchess’s forehead.
They say right before you died, you saw your whole life play out in front of you. Except this wasn’t the first time I was in a life-and-death situation. It was like a ticking time bomb of memories unfolding in front of my eyes. From childhood to adolescence, it all flashed before my terrified gaze.
Once I reached her, I reacted out of pure instinct. I had no choice in the matter…
My heart chose for me.
In one hard shove, I knocked her out of the way, and the next thing I knew, I was tucking and rolling with an intense throbbing pain. I blinked through the agony, realizing very fucking quickly that I just took a bullet…
For her.