Duke Page 11

  Reese remained silent for several excruciating minutes, digesting everything I said. “Why are you still married to her?”

  I sighed. “This is going to make me sound like a complete idiot, but it’s the truth. I sort of forgot that I had married her.”

  Reese stiffened. “You forgot? How could you forget you had a wife?”

  “Because I didn’t give a shit about her. I only married her so I could use her family’s money to find Harper. We were only married for a few weeks before I found Harper and split. Then, I was focused on being able to provide for Harper and making sure she was okay mentally.”

  “Did you sleep with her?” she calmly asked, a little too calmly for my liking.

  I studied her face, looking for a hint as to what she was getting at. “Does it really matter if I did or didn’t?”

  “Yes,” she answered flatly.

  “Not that it’s really any of your business, but yes, I did. And not that I should have to explain myself, but I had to fuck her so she wouldn’t know what I was up to. She had to think I really wanted to marry her.”

  “So, you married the girl, used her for sex and money, and then left her swinging in the wind when you got what you wanted. Does that sum it up?”

  “It wasn’t my finest moment, Reese, and I’m definitely not proud of my actions, but I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had to. I love my sister and I had to find her. Marrying Shannon was the fastest way to get Harper back. And you’re assuming Shannon is this delicate little flower that I crushed. She’s not. She’s a cold, calculating, crazy bitch. You of all people should realize that.”

  “Why would I realize that?” she asked, puzzled.

  “Because she’s the one who ran you off the road!” I blurted.

  “What?” she shrieked. “How do you know that?”

  “I don’t know it for sure, but she is from Arizona, she has dark, curly hair, and, like I said, she’s a crazy bitch.”

  “Why would she come after me? I thought you hadn’t seen or talked to her in years.”

  “I haven’t. My best guess is she found out you and I have a child together and that pissed her off. How she found out is anyone’s guess.”

  “So, what are you going to do about her now?”

  I sighed and ran my hands over my face. “I figured I would let the police handle it and, of course, I will happily divorce her, but I have to find her first.”

  “You’re telling me no one can locate this psycho bitch?”

  “That’s what I’m telling you. She has the means to make it hard to find her, but we’ll get her eventually. That I can promise you.”

  “We’ll see. So, what’s next on our list of topics we’ve been ordered to discuss?” she asked, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

  “The abortion,” I stated bluntly. “I heard you on the phone saying ‘He doesn’t want it and neither do I’ and ‘I don’t care about the money, I just want to get rid of it quickly.’ Then, you had a doctor’s appointment the next day. Care to explain that?”

  “How did you even know I was pregnant?” she asked.

  “I wasn’t awake yet, but I could hear people talking. I heard Harper ask you if you were pregnant because you kept getting sick and you were having dizzy spells. You quickly denied the possibility, but I knew by the sound of your voice that you were lying to her.”

  “I see. Well, about what you heard me say on the phone; I was talking about selling my grandmother’s house. I was explaining that I didn’t want it and neither did Carbon. The real estate agent was telling me all sorts of things we could do to get more money out of it. I explained that I didn’t care about the money, I just wanted to get it sold quickly. I did know that I was pregnant and I was freaking out about money. As for the doctor’s appointment, I went to confirm the pregnancy and get some medication for morning sickness.”

  I looked down at my hands in my lap. I had made a huge mistake. Fucking huge. I said things to her that I knew would destroy her and send her running far away from me, all because I jumped to conclusions instead of acting like an adult and talking to her about it. “Reese, I need to apologize for what I said to you in the hospital. I was already so angry about being stabbed and when I thought you aborted my baby, I was fucking furious. I wanted to drive you away, so I said the things I knew would do that. I didn’t mean any of it. Swear on my life, I didn’t mean a word I said. You have to know that.”

  I looked up when I heard her sniffle. Tears were streaming from her vivid green eyes.

  I moved to sit next to her on the bed, caressing her cheek with my hand. “I’m sorry, sugar. I know how much those words hurt you, but I promise you, I didn’t mean them. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but please know I didn’t mean a damn word I said.”

  Her breath hitched when she started to speak. “That’s why I left and that’s why I didn’t tell you about the baby.” She began sobbing. “I thought you didn’t want us. I was going to tell you about him eventually, but I wanted to prove to you that I wasn’t a little girl, that I could do it on my own if I had to.”

  I pulled her into my arms and held her while she cried. “I’m so sorry, sugar. So sorry,” I murmured to her, gently rocking her back and forth.

  When her sobs quieted down, I shifted so I could pull back and see her face. Even with her eyes red and puffy from crying, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world. I met her eyes and bared my soul. “I do want you. I’ve always wanted you. And now, I want both of you. You good with that, sugar?”

  She whispered the word I desperately wanted to hear, “Yes.”

  My lips met hers with raw, animalistic need. I grabbed the back of her neck with one hand, sliding my fingers into her silky hair. My other hand went straight to her perfect ass. She braced herself with her hands on my shoulders, squeezing just enough for me to feel her fingernails through my shirt. I groaned at the sensation. It had been over a year since we were together and I had been longing for her ever since.

  “Duke,” she whimpered against my lips.

  “What is it, baby? What do you need?” I asked, never taking my mouth away from her. I trailed kisses along her jaw and down her neck, waiting to hear her answer.

  “You, Duke. I need you,” she moaned.

  I leaned forward and carefully positioned her on her back. She was a sight to behold laid out before me. Her tank top was doing nothing to conceal her hard nipples and her short as hell shorts were barely keeping her perfect pussy covered. My mouth watered at the feast before me. “Get that shirt off, sugar,” I demanded while I pulled mine off and tossed it to the floor.

  She immediately tensed and crossed her arms over her stomach. “Duke,” she said softly, “I’m not the same.”

  My cock was hard and throbbing, begging to be inside her. It was all I could focus on. That, and getting my mouth on her tits. “Of course you are. Shirt off. Now.” I reached for the hem of her shirt. If she didn’t want to do it, I would.

  She slapped my hand away. “No, Duke. I want it to stay on.” She turned her head to the side so she wasn’t looking at me, but she held onto the hem of her shirt like it was a lifeline.

  I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. Obviously, something was at play here. “Reese, baby, talk to me. What’s going on?” I planted my hands on the bed beside on either side of her face and hovered above her.

  “I’m not the same as I was. I had a baby. I don’t look like I used to or like those girls running around out there,” she mumbled.

  “Sugar, I don’t look the same either, but you know I don’t give a damn about any of that. I’ve always thought you were beautiful, but that’s not why I’m with you. Knowing your body changed to give life to my son, fuck, that makes me want you even more.”

  She shyly smiled. “You’re with me?”

  I growled, “Damn right I am. Now get those gorgeous tits out. I want to suck on them while I slide those hot ass shorts and your sexy panties down.”

  She hesitan
tly pulled her tank top over her head and popped open her front clasp bra. She was right. She wasn’t the same. Her tits were bigger and I couldn’t have been happier about that. I dove right in, latching onto one nipple with my mouth and clasping the other between my fingers. “Oh, baby, I love your tits,” I uttered.

  I slowly slid a hand down her stomach until I reached the button on her shorts. Quickly, I popped it open, lowered her zipper, and divested her of her shorts and panties, being mindful of the boot on her foot. I kept my mouth on her nipple, alternating between sucking and biting, while I slid two fingers into her tight, wet pussy. I pumped them in and out twice when she started gasping and digging her fingernails into my back.

  “Damn, baby, I wanted this to be slow and sweet, but it’s been too long.” I undid my pants and pulled my cock out, rubbing the head along her slick slit.

  “Please, Duke,” she whined.

  “Please what, baby?” I loved it when she begged. She did it every time I fucked her and I couldn’t get enough of it.

  “Please fuck me, Duke. Please fuck me hard and make me come all over your cock. Please. Please. I need you to fuck me.”

  Music to my ears. I stood and pulled a condom from my wallet before I shoved my jeans and boxers to the floor. Once I was covered, I climbed between her splayed thighs and slid my cock into her all the way to the hilt on the first thrust. “Fuck,” I hissed. “You feel so fucking good, baby. You’re going to have to come fast, I’m not going to last long. Fuck. I need to move, yeah?”

  “Please. Fuck. Me. Now. Duke.”

  I dropped my mouth to hers while I pulled almost all the way out and slammed right back in. I could already feel the tingle in my spine. Slowing my pace, I tried to think of anything that would help delay the inevitable.

  I had things under control until I looked down to see Reese rolling her nipples between her fingers. Fuck me. I was going to come and there was going to be no stopping it. “You like playing with your tits, dirty girl?”

  “Yes,” she groaned.

  I pulled back so I could rub her clit while I continued to pound into her. “You gonna come for me?” I lightly smacked her clit once, twice, and that was all it took. She screamed as she came, her pussy clamping down on my dick so hard I swear I saw stars. I pumped into her harder while she rode out her climax and then I was shooting my own release into the condom.

  I collapsed on top of her, my dick still just as hard as it was before I fucked her. I took a minute to catch my breath and then I started moving my hips, gliding in and out of her, slowly this time. I framed her face with my hands and softly kissed her lips. “I’ve missed you so much, sugar.”

  She ran her hands over my sweat soaked hair and then wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me down to her. “I missed you, too, Duke. More than you know.”

  “I’m not letting you get away again. I’ll make things right and we’ll raise our boy together. I promise.”

  “Okay, Duke.” I could hear the smile in her voice. I turned my head toward her, kissing along her jaw while I held her tightly to me.

  I continued moving, softly thrusting into her. It occurred to me at that moment that I was making love to a woman for the first time in my life. I pulled back. I wanted to see her eyes when I said, “Reese, baby, I l-”

  She cut me off, “Don’t say it now. Please.” The desperation in her tone had me agreeing to her plea without questioning it.

  “Okay, sugar.” I captured her lips again and didn’t let them go until we both came down from our second orgasms.

  For a second, I was worried things would be awkward or uncomfortable between us, especially after my almost declaration of love, but Reese eased my worries when she said, “You know Shaker is going to kick your ass for fucking me on his bed.”

  We both burst out laughing. “Yeah, you’re probably right about that. Let’s get dressed and get out of here.”

  I held on to the condom while I slid my thankfully deflated cock out of her. When I came back from the bathroom, Reese had a strange look on her face. “Reese? You okay?”

  Her expression changed into her well-known mask of indifference. “Yes, I’m fine.”

  “Don’t bullshit me. If something’s bothering you, tell me. Don’t shut me out.”

  She pulled her shirt on over her head and moved the sheets to cover her lower half before she said, “I didn’t like that you had a condom in your wallet. I know I have no right to say anything about it. You’ve been free to do whatever you wanted, but-”

  “That’s been in my wallet since the day after your prom. I haven’t been with anyone since I was with you the first time.”

  “You can’t be serious. You had a club whore on your lap not even two hours ago.”

  I snorted. “You walked in at the right, or wrong, moment. She’d just plopped her ass down when you came through the door. You ran out of there so fast you didn’t see me push her onto the floor. I promise, baby, no one since you.”

  I wanted to know, but I didn’t want to ask. Thankfully, she voluntarily shared the information I craved. “I haven’t been with anyone since you either.”

  “It feels like there’s something else you’re not saying.” She seemed nervous and that was completely out of character for Reese.

  “At the beginning of my pregnancy, I had to have all the tests done and everything came back fine. So, I’m clean, and I’m on birth control now, and I was thinking if you were clean, too, maybe we could not use those.”

  “I’m clean, sugar. I had to have a complete physical when Ember hired me to work at the stable.” I paused for a moment, then asked a question that probably wasn’t my place to ask, “Why are you on birth control now?”

  “Um, I had a difficult delivery when I had James. The doctor said that I shouldn’t get pregnant for at least one year, preferably longer, and recommended birth control.”

  My chest hurt. She had a difficult delivery and I wasn’t there for her. “Was anyone there with you? When you had him?”

  “A friend from work was with me. My water broke at work and she drove me to the hospital. When she found out I didn’t have anyone coming to the hospital, she stayed with me.”

  “I would have been there if I had known.”

  “I know. Let’s not talk about it anymore. What’s done is done and we can’t change it.”

  “Okay, sugar. You ready to go?”

  “Yep, I’m going to toss Shaker’s sheets in the wash and then I need to find Ember to tell her I’m leaving with you. I’ll come find you when I’m finished.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Reese

  I closed the lid on the washing machine and turned around to find Ember, Harper, and Phoenix surrounding me, all with matching looks of dread on their faces. Fuck! “What happened?” I croaked.

  I’d seen that look before, more than once. That was the look people had when they were about to tell you something that was going to destroy your life. “Tell me!! Duke? Carbon? Who is it?”

  Nothing could have ever prepared me to hear the next words that left Phoenix’s mouth. “Neither. It’s James.”

  Everything stopped. The sounds in the clubhouse dissipated. My vision blurred. My chest tightened. My heart exploded with pain. A scream of sheer terror erupted from me as I collapsed to the floor. “Nooooooo!!!! Not my baby!!!” I gasped for air and started to fold in on myself. Massive arms scooped me up and then we were moving.

  “Just hang on, Reesie. The boys have already left. They’re going to get him back. You just hang in there. He’s going to need you when they find him,” Phoenix said into my ear while he carried me down the hall.

  “He’s alive?” I whispered.

  “Far as I know,” he answered.

  He gently placed me on Carbon’s bed. Normally, Carbon’s room was my safe haven, but this time I wanted to be in Duke’s room. “Can we go to Duke’s room?”

  “Anything you want, Reesie.” He scooped me up again and off we went to Duke’s room.
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  I picked up his pillow and squeezed it tightly to my chest. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know the details, but the short of it is he was taken from the Martins’ house. Coal stopped by his parents’ house and found his mother on the floor trying to crawl to the phone. He called as soon as she told him what happened. That woman wouldn’t even let him help her off the floor until he called here.”

  “Is she okay? Does she know who took him?” I asked.

  “She’s at the hospital, pretty banged up, but she should be okay. She’s beside herself about James though. She didn’t know who took him, but she said it was a woman and gave us a description.” He paused and looked down. I already knew what he was going to say.

  “It matches the description of the woman who hit me, right?” I guessed.

  “Yeah, darlin’, it does.”

  I pushed to my feet. “Fuck this. I’m not sitting around this clubhouse crying while some crazy bitch has my baby. Ember, give me your keys.”

  “Wait just a second,” Phoenix said, now on his feet, too. “I can’t let you leave, for a number of reasons, but before you flip your shit, listen to me. I really hoped you would never have to know about this, but that Blackwings pacifier clip that Duke brought home for James, it has a GPS locator in it. We put one on his infant carrier, too. Duke insisted on it after you guys were stuck in the tunnel for hours. We know where he is and the boys have gone to get him.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You put a GPS locator in my baby’s pacifier clip and on his car seat?”

  “Yeah, we did and I ain’t going to apologize for it,” Phoenix firmly stated.