"Fuck off Demon," Cox spat. "In case you haven't noticed that's my fuckin' kid!"
"Yeah asshole, I fuckin' noticed. Hard not to when he looks just like ya.”
"Would everyone shut the fuck up?" Kami screamed. "He doesn't know about you! All you're doing is scaring the crap out of him!"
Preacher shoved between Kami and Eva and scooped up the little boy.
"Once I got Devin upstairs and out of fuckin' earshot from you lot of assholes you can resume fuckin' screamin' at one another." He looked at Eva. "Me and you baby girl are gonna be havin' words. If what I think happened actually happened I'm gonna get real trigger twitchy."
Nobody said a word until Preacher disappeared into the stairwell. Once he was gone, Cox exploded.
"This is so fucked bitch! Hide a man's kid from him! Really fuckin' fucked!"
"You crazy fuck!" Kami screamed. "You live in Montana, you're fucking married, you already have a kid! I live in New York, I'm fucking married! What the fuck was I supposed
to do?”
“What you were s’posed to do, bitch, was tell me you fuckin' shit out my kid!"
"You're disgusting!" Kami hissed. “A fucking dirty, disgusting, biker whore!”
Cox's eyes bugged out of his head. "Bitch, you think I'm fuckin' disgusting? Were you or were you not the same fuckin' whore who was ridin' my cock bareback, shovin' your fuckin' tits in my mouth begging me to bite harder while Ripper drilled into your fuckin' ass?”
Eva went screaming crazy and lunged. Cursing, he tried to grab her but the crazy bitch faked right and then went left, managing to cold clock Cox in the jaw just before he caught her and hauled her backwards.
"You're fuckin' dead bitch!" Cox shouted.
He snapped. Shoving Eva off to the side, he spun around, grabbed Cox by his shirt and slammed him into a wall. "Bitch is pregnant and you're gonna threaten her? You're gonna fuckin' threaten my fuckin' pregnant woman?"
"Oh Evie," Kami wailed, forgetting entirely about a very homicidal Cox. She threw her arms around Eva and together they sank down to the floor in a tangle of brown and blonde hair.
He released Cox and slumped back against the wall. He hadn’t slept in over twenty four hours and there was too much crazy going on around him to deal with on no sleep.
"Settled this shit in my head already,” Cox hissed. “I'm takin' my kid home."
"You're not taking my son away from me!" Kami cried.
Cox glared at her. "Then you best pack your shit and find a fuckin’ place to live in Montana."
Kami scrambled to her feet. "Montana!" She shrieked. "Devin is not going to Montana!”
Deuce wasn't quick enough to grab Cox before he got up Kami’s face. “Bitch,” He hissed, “I want to know my fuckin’ kid. You already stole four fuckin' years from me. You're not stealin' anymore.”
Kami’s lower lip trembled. “You don't understand," She whispered. "Until Devin, my entire life was spent doing what I was told and then finding ways to fill up the empty space in between. The drugs and drinking and the sex, all of it, was me not knowing what to do with myself, not knowing where I belonged. The moment Devin was placed in my arms everything clicked into place and suddenly I knew exactly what I was meant to do, where I belonged. I could
n't let you take him from me."
Her voice grew shrill. “I couldn’t let you take the only person in the world besides Evie that has ever meant anything to me!”
Eva burst into a fresh set of tears. Sighing, convinced he was the only sane person left in the world, he pulled her to him and started rubbing her back.
Cox turned away from Kami. "Shit," He muttered
. "Shit. Shit. Fuckin' shit."
He turned back around and took Kami’s hand in his. “Woman, I wouldn’t have taken him from you, we woulda worked somethin’ out, back and forth bullshit. I’d never take my boy from his mama.”
Kami burst into tears and her knees buckled. Cox caught her before she crumpled to the floor, scooped her up in his arms and took off down the hall. He watched him lean down and kiss Kami’s forehead before he made a left and they were out of sight.
He decided to start back up where he
’d
left off. "Where's your room Eva?"
"I'm sorry," She whispered.
His nostrils flared. Jesus Christ, all he wanted to do was get this bitch to
her room and take care of her.
“For fucks sake, what the fuck are you sorry for?"
"The motel," She whispered. "I wasn't thinking and I didn't put a condom on you before I…and you didn't pull out…" She trailed off.
He stared at her.
"You tellin' me that’s my kid inside you? Not that fuckin' pretty boy's?"
"No," She said, dropping her eyes. "I’m telling you I'm sorry because I don't know whose kid is inside
me."
☼☼☼
I had never planned to tell Deuce I was pregnant therefore, I had never envisioned what his reaction was going to be. Whatever reactions I had dreamed up during the three seconds it took me to tell him
that the baby might be his
, the reaction he
had was not one I would have ever dreamed up.
"Can you walk?"
Huh?
"What?"
"Can you walk?" He repeated. "Or do you need me to carry you?"
I blinked. "Carry me?"
"Yeah babe. Carry you to the shower."
Oh, god, he was trying to take care of me. How could a man be so perfect for me and yet so wrong for me all at the same time.
"I'm disgusting," I whispered.
His eyebrow rose. "Yeah babe, that's why I'm tryin' to get you in the shower."
"No!" I cried. "I mean I'm disgusting! I'm a whore!"
Deuce's face went rock hard. "Fuckin' listen to me. Up until you started askin' favors usin' your pussy as payment you'd only been with two men. Me and Frankie. You're not a fuckin' whore, you're a fuckin' idiot."
I gaped at him.
"Yeah babe, an idiot. You’ve been taken care of that crazy fuckwad so damn long you think it’s your fuckin' destiny. Chase knew that, he saw an opening and he fuckin' took it. And because he took it he's gonna fuckin' die. But babe, you're not a whore, farthest thing from it."
I swallowed hard. "I'm still disgusting," I whispered.
His eyes flashed with anger. "God dammit Eva! What the fuck did I just-
"I liked it!" I blurted out. "I don’t even like Chase all that much but I liked fucking him and stuff… because I'm fucking disgusting! I did things with him…" My voice cracked and I swallowed hard.
“Disgusting things…and I liked them and I liked that it was him doing them,” I finished in small voice.
Deuce took a deep breath then blew it out slowly. This was it. In about two seconds, he was going to tell me exactly how disgusting I was and then I would never see him again.
"Eva," He growled. I braced myself.
"You're bein' an idiot again."
"Excuse me?" I whispered.
"You heard me. You're bein' an idiot. But I get why you're bein' an idiot. You’d never fucked someone just to fuck
‘em
. So I'm gonna lay this out for you babe. You don't gotta like someone to like fuckin'
‘em
. You can even hate their fuckin' guts and still like fuckin'
‘em
. Sometime's that's the best kinda fuckin'. Angry, crazy, fucked up, fuckin’. You got not
hin’ to be ashamed of darlin’.
“That said, it don’t mean I’m not fuckin’ pissed as hell that you’ve been i
n another man’s bed and enjoyin’
it; that you might got a kid inside you that ain’t mine and that you’ve been runnin’ from me for eight fuckin’ years now. I know I’m a fuckin’ bastard with a bad temper and I don’t fuckin’ deserve you but, shit Eva, if you woulda stayed put I woulda done better by you than you’ve had. You feel me?"
I stared at him. And fell in love with him all over again.
"I feel you," I whispered.
His eyes went soft. "Babe," He said gently. "I know that fuckin' look. Can't fuckin' tell me you might have my kid inside you then look at me the way you're lookin' at me and expect me to keep it reeled in."
I shook my head. "I can't do this anymore."
"What part babe? You can't keep tryin’ to save Frankie from himself? Or you can't keep fuckin' Chase? Or you can't keep pretendin' that this crazy shit between us is gonna go away just cuz you keep runnin'?"
It was infuriating how well he knew me without even knowing me.
"All three," I snapped.
"That's good babe, cuz I can't do this anymore either."
I drew my brows together. "What can't you do?"
"I'm gettin
’
old babe. Got grown ass kids and gray fuckin' hair. Spent too much time married to a bitch I couldn't stand, too much time beatin' myself up for wishin' I was balls deep in
a
bitch eighteen years younger than me. Add that shit together and that equals me being fuckin' miserable for a long fuckin' time. So yeah, I can't do this anymore. Can't fuckin' live without you. Want you on my bike and i
n my bed. Want my kids inside
you. Want you by my side babe for as long as I got left."
By his side.
“By your side?” I whispered.
His hand went to my neck and tugged on the chain around it. For a moment, I thought he was going to break his father’s necklace again. Instead, he tugged it out of my shirt and held it up in front of my face. The medallion spun around. “You think I just like decoratin’ ya?”
I sucked in air.
It wasn’t his fathers. It looked exactly the same as his father’s except the back of this one read, "Deuce".
My chin began to tremble. “I thought…I…I thought you’d put your father’s necklace back on me.”
He shook his head. “Told you, you shoulda never been wearing that. You shoulda been wearin’ mine.”
Sheesh. I was going to cry again.
"Fuckin' listen Eva and listen good. Words are shit and I ain't good with them anyway. So here’s the fuckin’ truth for you, straight up, I'm forty eight years old, gonna be forty nine all too soon and I damn well know a good thing when
I see it and babe all I’ve ever
been able to fuckin' see is you. Not many chances a man has in his lifetime to do right, to earn the love of a good woman, and to get a taste of true freedom. And babe, for me, you're all fuckin' three. Have been for a good while now.”
He dropped my necklace, cupped my cheeks and tilted my head back.
“Whatever this shit is between us it’s always been there and it’s always gonna be there. I’m shit-fuckin’-tired tryin’ to ignore it. I’ll try to do right by you Eva, you’d be the first, but I’ll fuckin’ try my damndest. And baby, true freedom is the open road, the wind on your face and a good woman on the back of your bike holdin’ you tight like you’re her reason for breathin’ because she sure as fuck is yours.”
My mouth fell open. Hadn’t he just told me he wasn’t good with words and then he went and said all that to me? I was floored. Shocked to my core. I hadn’t been wrong abou
t him after all
.
"Deuce," I whispered. “You love me.”
He eyes went skyward and he snorted. “Babe. Yeah. Long time now.”
☼☼☼
Deuce watched her go liquid. Every part of her just went soft. Fuck, he loved that look. That look told him that he was her
whole fucking
world.
“Okay,” She whispered. “No more running.”
He breathe
d in a ragged breath of relief.
“Jesus babe,” He muttered as he ran his knuckles down her cheek. "'Bout fuckin' time. Now where’s your fuckin’ room?
”
Deuce
,
accompanied by Cox
,
walked onto the 35th floor of Martello Tower and into the law offices of Henderson, Fredericks and Stonewall and stopped in front of a very pretty, very young, wide eyed receptionist.
“Do you have an appointment?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Cox muttered. He pulled an envelope out of his back pocket and slapped it down on the desk. “A thirty fuckin’ thousand dollar appointment which buys us you keepin’ your mouth shut and not callin’ security. You feel me?”
Her mouth fell open and she stared down at the envelope. “Thirty thousand dollars?”
“Yup.”
“Legal?”
“It’s not tagged, darlin’.”
She jumped out her chair and spun around. They both stared as her skirt-clad ass went up the air as she bent down and rummaged through a file cabinet. She resurfaced with a purse and sweater and snatched up the envelope.
“Thank you,” She said breathlessly. “I hate Mr. Henderson! He is the worst boss I have ever had! I’m so going back to bartending!”