He watched her body go rigid "He was tortured," He continued. "Gutted. Insides strung up on his own Christmas tree."
Eva dragged herself into a sitting position, clutching her abdomen. "Where"s Frankie?" She whispered.
"Off the grid."
"Oh my G.o.d. Chase...oh my G.o.d...this is all my fault...he didn"t...I...oh my G.o.d- "Baby," He gripped her face and forced her to look at him. "Listen to me good. Chase knew what he was getting into when he made that deal with you. He knew Frankie personally and he worked Frankie"s cases, he knew exactly how f.u.c.ked in the head Frankie is and what he is capable of. Thing is, he wanted you so bad, he didn"t care."
A tear rolled down her cheek. "He didn"t deserve that, I mean no one deserves that but Chase really didn"t deserve that," She whispered. "He could be a jerk but he wasn"t a bad person. He just wanted to be loved; he wanted a family to love and to love him...He just didn"t know how...Oh, G.o.d, Chase...Oh, G.o.d..."
She was grieving, he got that, but the last thing he wanted was to hear her cry for an a.s.shole she had f.u.c.ked and had feelings for.
Feeling the jealousy start to creep up and the anger that followed, he sat down beside Eva, took her mouth and kissed her hard.
She didn"t fight him and they shared a long, slow kiss, full of wet lips and greedy tongues. When he pulled away, Eva pressed her forehead against his and sighed into his mouth.
"How is she?" She whispered.
He cleared his head. The baby, she was talking about the baby. "She"s still not breathin" on her own babe."
Biting her lip, she nodded. "It"s not your fault," She whispered.
Yeah it was. He opened his mouth to protest but she placed her finger over his lips.
"It was a difficult pregnancy. It"s not your fault."
His chest compressed and he sucked in air. He didn"t deserve her. He never had. He never would.
"I named her," She said softly. "Ivy Olivia West. Ivy because it"s sort of still Christmas time and Olivia after- "My mom," He said hoa.r.s.ely feeling like the biggest piece of s.h.i.t in the world.
"Deuce?"
"Yeah babe?"
"The birth certificate. What do you want me to do?"
"Nothin"," He whispered. "I"ll fill it out, she"s my kid."
She locked onto his eyes, sucking him in, holding him still, making him so f.u.c.king crazy. Always making him crazy.
"Deuce?"
"Yeah?"
"No more women."
f.u.c.k.
"Yeah babe, I know. I"ve been f.u.c.kin" up."
"You get angry at me and you want to take it out on p.u.s.s.y you take it out on mine. It won"t matter how mad I am, I will never deny you." She gave a shaky laugh that made his chest ache. He"d f.u.c.king hurt his woman real bad.
"Eva baby," He said softly. "There"s not gonna be anymore women. Already moved Miranda out; cut all ties. I promised you I"d f.u.c.kin" earn you and it"s "bout time I started doin" that."
She let out a shuddery sigh that only made him feel worse.
"I love you, Deuce," She whispered. "So, so, much."
He stared at her, she stared at him and he knew exactly why his boys had railed at him. She did love him. He was her world. He knew because he could see it in her big gray eyes. Suddenly the past didn"t f.u.c.king matter anymore. She wasn"t going to run and he was going to treat her like the G.o.dd.a.m.n queen she was.
CHAPTER NINETEEN:.
For the first time in a long time, Deuce knew true peace.
Three months went by and Ivy was discharged.
Eva turned half his room at the club into a nursery.
Then the crazy b.i.t.c.h gave Danny her own room at the club, helped her decorate the f.u.c.king thing too. Pink and purple as far as the eye could see. He flipped his f.u.c.king s.h.i.t. Put a steel door on her room with a sliding deadbolt. Put bars on her window. Lined all his boys up and told them straight up his baby girl was off f.u.c.king limits. Told them if any of them looked at her the wrong way they were going to ground.
Not one of them so much as looked at her. In fact, they stopped talking to her altogether.
s.h.i.t moved forward.
Life got good. Real f.u.c.king good.
Kami and Devin moved to Montana to be near Eva and Ivy. Not c.o.x. Kami swore up and down c.o.x had nothing to do with her decision. He might have believed her if she hadn"t been in c.o.x"s lap while she was spouting her bulls.h.i.t.
He turned forty nine.
c.o.x left his wife and moved in with Kami.
Danny got a boyfriend.
Danny"s boyfriend broke up with her and he swore he had nothing to do with that.
c.o.x finalized his divorce. He put a diamond ring on Kami"s finger. She didn"t like it and bought herself a bigger, more expensive one. And matching earrings. And he thought he heard c.o.x muttering about taking away her internet access. Something about shoes that cost several thousand dollars.
Devin turned five.
c.o.x bought him a dirt bike and Kami beat the c.r.a.p out of him with a cooking pot.
Eva turned thirty one.
Kami kicked c.o.x out. Something about not liking the way he"d been looking at a supermarket cashier. He was more interested in how she"d managed to get c.o.x in a supermarket.
The boys had a new tag made for him, the back of which read, "Foxy". He managed to punch three of them in the face before they all turned tail and ran. Then he put it on.
And grinned.
Summer was good to the club. Lots of business. Lots of coin rolling in. Two of his boys got married. The club voted in three new brothers.
Eva"s a.s.s deflated. Not that he cared. He"d take Eva any which way he could get her. Thin, curvy, juicy as h.e.l.l. A f.u.c.king blimp. What the f.u.c.k ever. It had never been her body that kept him tied to her. s.h.i.t with Eva went a h.e.l.l of a lot deeper than looks. Although those t.i.ts of hers...and those lips...
And G.o.d knows those f.u.c.king eyes made him d.a.m.n crazy.
c.o.x and Kami got married; she let him move back in.
Ivy turned one. She took one look at her h.e.l.lo Kitty birthday cake, Danny"s idea, and did a face plant dead center. A picture of her covered in cake and frosting, her white flecked blue eyes glittering, grinning her old man"s grin, was sitting front and center on his desk.
He started planning something big. Something real f.u.c.king special for his woman.
Then one summer day it all blew to smithereens.
CHAPTER TWENTY:.
Ivy, Deuce and I walked hand in hand through the club"s large backyard; country music was blaring through several strategically placed speakers, three large grills were already lit and cooking up hot dogs, hamburgers and steaks as Biker"s and their wives, girlfriends and children were milling around, drinking beer or soda, talking animatedly with each other.
Smiling.
Dancing.
Happy.
Deuce squeezed my hand. "Babe, go get busy with woman s.h.i.t, I gotta talk to Ripper."
Before I called him any one of the a.s.sortment of names I had stashed away for all of his chauvinistic bulls.h.i.t I hurried off to a long table housing several different varieties of macaroni salad, chips and dips, pretzels and a.s.sorted veggies. Dorothy stood behind the table wearing a black ap.r.o.n over her cute pink sundress dishing out food.
I kicked off my sandals and went to help her.
"Hey," I whispered, nudging her with my hip. "You okay?"
Biting her bottom lip, she shook her head. "I"m never okay when I have to watch him with her."
I followed her line of sight to Jase, his wife Chrissy, and their three kids. Thirteen years he had been messing with Dorothy, she was thirty three now and he still hadn"t made good on any of the promises he"d made her. She had left her husband for him; her daughter was sixteen, headed for college next fall and she was going to be all alone. It was none of my business but that didn"t mean I had to like it.
"Take a break," I suggested. "I got this covered."
Her eyes went wide. "You"re Deuce"s old lady."
I shrugged. "So? I pretty sure that doesn"t mean I can"t serve noodles."
Shaking her head, but smiling, she untied her ap.r.o.n and handed it to me. "Thanks," She whispered and ran off. Jase turned away from Chrissy and watched her flee the barbeque and disappear inside the clubhouse. Frowning, he whispered something in Chrissy"s ear who nodded and smiled - and took off after Dorothy.
"Eva?"
I turned back to the table and found c.o.x"s ex-wife Anna standing in front of me. She"d cut her long black hair short; it looked good.
"Hey," I said, "Dropping Mary Catherine off?"
She nodded and pointed to her preteen daughter who was laughing, chasing after Devin.
"Food?" I lifted up a plate in offering.
She wrinkled up her nose. "No thanks, I"m trying to lose weight."
I looked her over wondering where she needed to lose weight.
"Hi Eva! Anna!" Chrissy was sauntering over. She was gorgeous. Tall, lithe, big perky b.r.e.a.s.t.s, long auburn hair. With her perfect tan and perfectly shaped and symmetrical features, she was an all American wet dream. She was everything Dorothy wasn"t. h.e.l.l, she was everything I wasn"t. Good thing I didn"t give a c.r.a.p.
"Chrissy," Anna said, greeting her.
"Are you two coming to Yoga tomorrow?" Chrissy asked, bouncing up and down in her cutoff jean shorts and tight white tank top, drawing the attention of every biker within thirty feet. Even Deuce.
I glared at him. He flashed me a mouth watering grin before turning around and resuming his conversation.
"Yep," I said. Chrissy and her yoga cla.s.ses had been my saving grace. I had lost all my pregnancy weight and then some.
"Yep," Anna said. "G.o.d knows I need it."
I shook my head. Anna had gone a little nuts after c.o.x left her.
"Awesome!" Chrissy cried and started bouncing again.
"Where"s Dorothy?" ZZ bellowed from across the lawn, trying to be heard over the music.
I raised my palms in an "I don"t know gesture" and yelled back, "What do you need?"
"Lighter fluid!"
I gave him the thumbs up and headed inside.
I was halfway down the hall of bedrooms when I heard loud moaning coming from Jase"s room. I headed that way knowing exactly what I was going to find.
Sure enough, with his pants around his ankles, Jase had Dorothy pinned up against the wall, her dress pushed up to her waist.
"I f.u.c.kin" love you," He rasped. "You don"t even know D. You don"t even f.u.c.kin" know."