30. Duke
THIRTY
DUKE
A quick text to MJ and I ensured Sylvie would have a safe ride home. I didn’t want MJ involved in the fight if things went south either. I hated leaving Sylvie in that small, sterile room, but her brothers were a ticking time bomb, and Sullivans were the target. I had to move fast.
You don’t treat anyone like an equal, least of all me.
The truth of Sylvie’s words had cut.
Deeply.
My gut reaction was to deny it, but deep down a small part of me knew she was right. Trouble was, she had no idea that I didn’t think of her as an equal because I never felt I could measure up to her . She was so much better than I could ever be.
I’d failed her. That much I knew to be true.
My whole life had become rows of people and things I needed to take care of—Dad, my siblings, the farm. Instead of Sylvie being a part of that line, she had stood next to me and propped me up. I wasn’t entirely sure of what to do with that information.
Sylvie deserved so much more than the scraps of attention her family reserved for her.
It infuriated me to see them walk all over her and trample her well-meaning heart.
Though I had watched a spark ignite inside her when I called her out on it.
She’d also zeroed in and poked a long-standing bruise I’d tried my whole life to hide.
I considered it my duty, and an honor, really, to take care of the people I loved. But did I really disregard their feelings and forge ahead with whatever plan I deemed best?
My fingers squeezed the steering wheel until my knuckles went white. Fuck, she was probably right about that too.
My truck bumped along the quiet road on the way to the Kings’ fortress. Animosity and adrenaline coursed through me as my scattered thoughts attempted to derail me. I wouldn’t let them.
I was singularly focused on ending whatever beef our families had. At the very least, taking Sylvie and me out of the equation.
We were together. She was my woman, and if they had a problem with that, fuck ’em. They could bring their issues to me instead of constantly beating her down over the choices we had made.
All thoughts of reconciliation flew out the window when I rolled down the driveway and saw my little brother Lee’s obnoxious black truck already askew in the drive.
The winter air slapped my cheeks, and I slammed the driver’s-side door shut. My boots crunched the icy snow as I made my way toward the voices in the back. My body was tense, ready to fight. My shoulders rolled back and set, chin lifted high.
When I rounded the large estate, Kings and Sullivans were already squared off.
Royal, Whip, and JP were facing Wyatt and Lee.
Beckett was rolling up his shirtsleeves and staring them down.
Even Abel King was there, standing in the back with his tree-trunk arms crossed over his barrel chest. Apparently his criminal record didn’t stop him from jumping into the fray despite his sister’s worries.
MJ stood between the line of idiots, her palms facing each side as she pleaded with her brothers.
“Step aside, Julep.” Russell King glared down from his position of power on the back deck. He looked down his sharp nose at the gathering of Kings and Sullivans.
“Dad, this is childish and dangerous and—” MJ pleaded, but her father’s voice sliced through the frigid air.
“I said step aside.”
Resigned, MJ drooped her shoulders and strode toward me.
Tears shimmered in her eyes as she walked past me.
“I’m going back to get Sylvie.” Her voice cracked, and I steeled my spine.
Russell King was a bully and a dick. I was tired of him looking down on the Sullivans for being hardworking, salt-of-the-earth kind of men.
Even more tired of seeing him push the King women around just because it made him feel like a big shot.
Shouts and obscenities stacked on top of each other, and insults were slung across an invisible line that separated my brothers and hers. I strode toward my family, and JP narrowed his eyes at me. Anger grew hot in my gut, and I shed my jacket, unfazed by the chill in the air.
I was confident the Bluebirds could quell the gossip around town, but these assholes were her brothers.
Without them getting on board with a relationship between Sylvie and me, she would never find peace.
She cared about them and their opinion—a fact I wished hadn’t been true, but I knew in my bones it was.
Sylvie would always love her lawless, reckless brothers.
“Hey!” I shouted, getting the group’s attention. Whip grunted in my direction but shut his mouth to hear what I had to say. “We aren’t here to bicker like children.”
“Yeah, we can end it like men.” Royal smirked his shit-eating grin as his tattoos stood in stark contrast to the white snow falling around us.
I stifled an eye roll. He was always looking for trouble. I pointed at Royal. “You know this isn’t about a window. We’re taking care of Matty... and the replacement of the shop window.”
Royal’s jaw ticced as though he was one part surprised and another part annoyed that he couldn’t hold the broken window over our heads any longer.
“It’s more than a fucking window.” From behind the group, Abel’s deep grumble was akin to a growl.
In only the soft glow of a floodlight, he was an intimidating motherfucker, I’d give him that.
He pointed right at me. “You should have kept your hands off my fucking sister. She isn’t some pawn you can use to fuck us all over. ”
Wait . . .what?
Did he seriously think I was using Sylvie in some ploy to get back at them for years of childish pranks?
My fist clenched, wanting nothing more than to pound it into his sharp jawline. I stepped forward, ready to go, but Wyatt moved in front of me.
“Don’t go there,” he warned. “I doubt even a King would stoop so low. Duke’s been on the fringes of this feud for as long as we’ve been old enough to pull our own pranks.”
“She’s not innocent either.” JP’s cunning eyes sliced over the group as one eyebrow tipped up. “Maybe she is the smart one. Trapping a Sullivan into a lifetime of servitude. Smarter than the rest of us, I’d say.”
Beckett mumbled something akin to fucking idiot , but I couldn’t take my focus off the Kings. I seethed with anger, hating the fact I’d briefly entertained that very idea during the infancy of my friendship with her.
JP shrugged. “If not, she’s a traitor to the King name.” Behind him, Russell King grunted in agreement like the piece of shit he was. Pitting his own children against each other seemed to fuel his hostility.
“None of you deserve her.” The words spat from my mouth as the tether to my rage frayed like a well-worn cord.
“What was that?” Royal cupped a hand by his ear and feigned ignorance.
“You don’t fucking deserve to breathe the same air as her.” I moved until I was chest to chest with Royal, peering into his eyes and wondering how she could ever care for these people.
“And you do?” Royal scoffed in my face as we stood toe to toe.
“Fuck no. I know I don’t deserve her.” His expression faltered at my admission.
“But do you even realize how much this petty feud is hurting her?” I allowed my eyes to graze over the King men.
“She has done nothing wrong, and you shun her like she means absolutely nothing to you. If you do find the time to acknowledge her presence, you somehow find a way to make her feel small. So no, you don’t deserve her love any more than I do.
You’re just mad because of my last name.
I worship the ground she walks on, so what the fuck is your problem? ”
The frozen air was thin as our breaths puffed out in white clouds, mingling and floating above us like icy thunderclouds.
I could feel the circle of men closing in on me, and I eyed them down.
Lee moved forward, kicking a rock, and it bounced across the landscape, landing with a smack against JP’s shin.
Fuck.
The tension snapped. Fists flew. Whip dove at Beckett, but he dropped an elbow to his back before tumbling to the snowy ground. I shoved Royal back, and he caught me in the eye with a cheap right hook. Heat and pain bloomed across my cheek.
When I dove at him, he held me at arm’s length as the rest of the brothers tussled. Abel stood on the sidelines, his huge body vibrating with indecision. Russell did nothing to stop it; rather, he watched from his perch on the enclosed porch with a grin.
“Enough!” My bellow echoed in the darkness, and, thank fuck , everyone paused as I bent over, sucking in breaths.
“We are not doing this.” I held my hands up and hoped Royal wouldn’t take another punk-ass shot.
He lowered his hands, and I breathed an audible sigh of relief.
“Why are we even doing this?” I pointed at JP.
“Do you even know?” I looked at the rest of them. “Do any of us?”
JP’s hands flexed at his side as Lee released the collar of his shirt with more force than necessary.
“I want to make a deal,” I continued between heavy breaths.
“For all intents and purposes, Sylvie and I are out of anything to do with the feud.” I stood, balancing myself and painfully sucking in cold air.
“I also want you to back off any inquiries into Sullivan land and the mineral rights held there.” JP quirked his eyebrow, and I didn’t have time to decipher the look of surprise that flickered over his features.
“What’s in it for us?” Abel defiantly lifted his chin.
The porch door creaked as Russell King pushed it open and sauntered down the pristine steps. “You can have your deal if”—his voice oozed condescension like a snake oil salesman on the prowl for his next witless victim, and he held up one finger—“that baby boy of yours bears the King name.”
Fresh fury tore through me. Not a fucking chance.
“No.” Wyatt’s deep rumble beat me to it as I stood in stunned, enraged silence. “It’s ridiculous you would even think it was an option, old man.”
Russell leaned back on his heels, clasping his hands in front of him. “Then we’ll let the chips fall where they may.” I wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face forever. “Sylvie will come crawling back. They always do.”
With that, he turned and walked into the house without another word. Despite fresh bruises blooming on their faces, I didn’t miss the uncomfortable glances the King men shared. Russell King was a monster of the highest caliber, and the choke hold he had on his children was unfathomable.
“We’re leaving.” Wyatt gripped my tense shoulder and guided me away. Beckett followed silently behind us. I had wanted to end the feud, but nothing had been accomplished. Waves of shame and defeat rolled over me. I didn’t bother eyeing the brothers as they retreated into the house.
We stood beside Lee’s truck as I dragged in a ragged breath. “I’m so done with this.”
Beckett flexed his hand as though it was sore, and Wyatt rolled his shoulder.
Lee was visibly upset, a small cut on his lip already crusting with blood. “You tried, man. No one would blame you if you decided it isn’t worth the heartache.”
My eyes whipped to him. “I’m choosing her. I will always choose her.”
Lee swallowed, his eyes wide. “I didn’t mean—Jesus, man, I?—”
I shook my head and swiped Wyatt’s hand away from my biceps, giving me some much-needed space to breathe.
To feel my fury bubble over. “No. You both need to hear this. This relationship? The life that Sylvie and I are desperately trying to create for ourselves? It is the only thing I have ever taken for myself.” I dragged my hand through my hair and let loose a humorless chuckle.
“You have no clue, do you? No idea how many years I pined for her in deference for your feelings. I’m not doing it any longer. ”
I turned my back and climbed into my truck, closing the door with a slam. My brothers had the good sense to look stunned and ashamed as I left them in the cold darkness.