"Deuce," I said, smiling impishly. "You've aged."
He threw his head back and laughed a deep, rumbling laugh that had my belly clenching and my nipples tightening. I wasn't the only female affected; several women on th
e roof were openly
fawning over him.
Reaching inside his cut, Deuce pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He kept his eyes on me as he lit it. "How old are ya now, darlin'? Eighteen, nineteen?"
"Sixteen," Frankie hissed appearing beside me. "Six fuckin' teen."
Deuce's eyes cut to Frankie and I watched as recognition dawned. It wasn’t happy recognition.
"Crazy fuckin' Frankie," Deuce said smirking. "Got a pretty impressive rep for a brother so fuckin' young."
Frankie had been coined “Crazy Frankie” a few years ago because…he was crazy.
Hands clenched into fists, Frankie glared at Deuce. "You're gonna wanna back the fuck 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 fuckin’ different. You shouldn't be around him, he's fuckin’ 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 fuckin' 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 were flaring, his dark eyes trained on Deuce. “You fuck,” 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 Pittsburg but he had ties all over the place, even overseas. I knew my father was having problems with him reneging on deals but I hadn't thought 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 fuckin’ 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 did not come as 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 fuckin’ pissed Eva, I don’t give a shit! But no way I’m leavin’ you alone with this fuck!”
“How long you been followin' her around now Frankie? Protectin’ her from fuckin’ nothin’?"
"Ten years," I helpfully supplied. Frankie glared down at me.
"You gonna follow her down the isle too? Move in with her and her man? Be their fuckin' 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 non-existent and he was purposely baiting him.
"I'm. Her. Man." Frankie spat through clenched teeth. "Any fuckin' 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 fucked 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 blowjob, 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 have any idea how fuckin’ dangerous this asshole 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 hyper alert. The proximity of him allowed me 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. I was his age and you were min
e, 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."
I snorted. "Frankie's a whore."
“He fuckin’ your friends?
“Yep. All of them except Kami, my best friend. She would never touch him.”
Kami and I had gone to prep school together since kindergarten. She was the daughter of a former senator and an heiress. She’d been raised by nannies and spent most of her time with me and steered clear of Frankie. She'd didn't like him and in all honesty I think he scared her.
Smirking, Deuce shook his head. “He’s tryin’ to get you to notice him. Tryin’ to make you jealous. A fuckin’ blind man could see how bad that boy wants down your pants.”
Grossed out, I scrunched up my nose. “Not gonna happen. He's like my brother. Besides, I'm not about having a boyfriend. I don't even like boys."
Except him. Only Deuce wasn’t a boy, he was a man, full grown. It was ridiculous to feel this way but I couldn't help it. Ever fiber of my being felt drugged with his presence. I kept catching myself leaning into his space.
"Darlin', you just haven't met the right guy," He said, smiling. "If you were just a little bit older…"
He stopped talking and shook his head.
"If I was older," I prompted, needing to hear what he'd been about to say.
He leaned sideways and bent his head to mine. His lips brushed against my cheek. "If you were older darlin', I'd have you on the back of my bike and in my fuckin' bed and you'd be not just likin' it but lovin' it, beggin' me for more."
My lips parted and my chest expanded as I sucked down much needed air. Holy shit. I’d felt that statement all the way down to my toes and back up again. And I wanted to feel it again. And again. Only naked and wrapped around Deuce's body.
"There it is, darlin'," He said softly, his lips curving slowly in a sexy grin. "Nothin' like seein' a pretty girl gettin' all fired up."
I. Just. Stared.
"Back of a bike is comin' for ya and soon too, cuz baby the way you’re lookin’ at me is tellin’ me you want it. And you want it bad."
Pushing himself off the bench, he winked once and disappeared into the crowd.
My heart poun
ding I looked around feeling embarrassed and over exposed but no one was paying me any attention at all.
I put my ear buds back in and started singing again, not quite as loud as usual since my voice was shaking.
☼☼☼
Deuce stayed up on the roof long after
everyone had moved inside the club to keep partying, start fucking or pass the hell out.
He was having a hell of an internal battle and
had
already gone through half a bottle of Jaeger and two packs of smokes while he was having it.
Eva. That fucking girl. She should have stayed awkward and skinny, all elbows and knees and legs too long for her body with insecurity blazing in those big gray eyes.
She was damn beautiful now. Her face had carved out nicely, baby fat gone, ivory skin as far as the eye could see, dark wavy hair hanging down her back, full fucking lips and those damn big and beautiful eyes; color of a rain cloud. God dammit mother fucking shit. Her awful singing. Those damn chucks. Those fucking tits. Fucking fat and heavy, nipples hard, pressing through her threadbare Harley tee. Jeans, big and baggy, hanging real low on her hips, low enough to see her hip bones.
He wanted inside of her. It was sick and he knew it. His old man
kinda sick. But there it was.
And he wasn't the only one. Frankie had it bad and not in a good way. Kid was fucked up. Got crazy eyes every time he looked at her. He got the jealousy thing. Eva was a fine piece of ass; being as sweet as she was, as smart as she was, and not giving a shit about mainstream crap, only made her even hotter.
“Fuck,” He muttered. He had to get out of there. Get on his bike and get the fuck out of Manhattan. Away from Eva fucking Fox and her soul sucking eyes.
He made it down to the fourth floor stairwell when he heard yelling coming from the floor below. Pausing, he leaned over the railing.
“What's wrong with me?” Frankie demanded.
“Nothing,” Eva said. "It's not just you. I don't want to be inv
olved with any one…like that."
"You looked pretty fuckin' involved on the roof talkin' to that fuckin' Horseman! I watched you with that fuckin’ asshole! You were fuckin’ flirtin’ with him! You let him touch your fuckin' face!”
“Yeah Frankie, I was flirting with him not shoving my tongue down his throat. He’s hot, so what? It’s not like he gives two shits about some sixteen year old girl he barely knows!”
She thought he was hot? Women didn’t think he was hot. They thought he was scary as fuck. But this beautiful, young, sweet as fuck girl thought he was hot. His cock jerked.
Fuck.
Don't go there asshole. Do not fucking go there.
“Not the fuckin’ point babe! What the fuck did I tell you? WHAT THE FUCK DID I TELL YOU ABOUT OTHER FUCKIN’ GUYS?”
Eva sighed noisily. “You said they’d hurt me. They’d use me and throw me away.”
“Yeah, baby.” Frankie
’s
tone had gone soft and threatening. “What else did I say?”
"Sheesh, Frankie, what is up your butt tonight?"
"What. Else. Did. I. Say."
"That they would never love me. That only you will love me."
Man, this kid was sick.
“Want you on my cock, Eva. Sick of waitin'.”
Deuce’s teeth clenched. If Frankie wasn’t Preacher’s fucking golden boy he'd fucking kill him.
"Then stop waiting!" She shot back. "Because it's not gonna happen! You're like my brother Frankie! My brother!"
“You keep sayin’ that,” He growled. “But we’re fuckin’ sleepin’ next to each other every night, an your pressin' your tits on my arm an your ass on my cock and I’m so fuckin’ hard I can’t see straight and you won’t fuckin’ do shit 'bout it. Makin’ me go out and fuck other bitches when you know I only want you. When you know I’m not gonna let anyone else fuckin’ near you. Ever. Never ever Eva. You get me or you get nothin’. Do you get that? You're not with me, you're never with no one.”
Ass. Hole.
"Frankie," She said evenly. "Stop acting crazy. I do not press anything against you. You wrap yourself around me like a damn blanket and it's you who is always rubbing against me and copping feels. And if you keep throwing this shit in my face I'm going to tell daddy you sleep in my bed every night. And I'll tell him you jerk off right next to me."
He heard Frankie’s heavy boots pounding the wood floors, then a door slammed. He waited a beat then continued down the stairs.
Eva was sitting in a corner on the third floor landing, knees pulled up to her chest, smoking a cigarette. Her head turned in his direction and she smiled. He smiled back.
"Hey," She said softly. "Thought you left."
He'd been trying to leave. He should still be trying to leave.
"I heard," He said gruffly. "You and that crazy fuck."
She pressed her lips together and looked away. "He's just overprotective."
"So your definition of overprotective is makin’ sure no man gets anywhere near you, forcin’ you into bein’ with him?"
She shrugged. "My father's going to pass him the gavel someday and Frankie and I together would give him peace of mind."