Madeline Sheehan - Undeniable

"Okay," I whispered, knowing I wasn't going to tell my father anything.  Me disappearing only to show back up beaten by the ATF…

That would not go over well.  For me or the ATF.

The hand patted my back.  "Okay," he whispered.  He slid his card across the bar and walked away.

☼☼☼

Deuce carried Eva down the hall to his bedroom.  Kicking the door shut behind them he laid her out on his bed and stared at the growing bruise on the side of her face.   Since she'd told him her old man didn't have clue where she was, he knew she wasn't going to tell him what happened.  That meant it was up to him to take out the agent.  Which was fine with him.  This fucking girl had just taken a beating for him and his club.

“I'm okay,” She whispered.  “He punched like a girl.”

Fuck him. She was perfect. Perfect old lady material. Perfect heart shaped face, big gray eyes, smooth skin and fuck me lips. Perfect tits, long legs, and a flat stomach.  Perfect curves to run his hands over, long hair to grab hold of.

And he'd gotten angry, let his temper get the better of him and completely fucked everything up.

Sighing, he sat down on the bed beside her.  "Bout earlier," He started. "I-

"Don't," She whispered.  "I get it.  I was stupid for expecting anything from you.  I'm leaving tomorrow anyway."

His chest went tight.  He’d been too hard on her.  He had a horrible temper, couldn't think straight when he was angry.  Add Eva Fox to the mix and his brain was just a big lump of idiot.

"No babe.  You're not leavin."

There.  Now she wasn't leaving.

Fire flashed in her eyes.  "Yeah, Deuce, I am.  You made it clear that I couldn't hang at the club, that you didn't want me around your boys and I refuse to be locked in some cabin for an entire summer.  Besides, Kami and I had planned on going to Hawaii after this."

She was lying.  He could see it in her eyes.

"Babe, calm down.  You can come to the club with me when I don't have to work."

She snorted then winced in pain.  "Sorry, babe. I've already made up my mind.  You pretty much sealed the deal when you decided I had to share you.  My daddy's going to be angry enough when I return; I'm pretty sure bringing back an STD as a souvenir would result in me being locked up in a nunnery."

Fucking shit.  She was running her mouth again and he was getting pissed.

"Woman, if you think I’m gonna let you walk outta here, you’re fuckin’ crazy.  You showed up outta nowhere cuz you fuckin' wanted me, so you fuckin' got me, and I'm gonna tell you straight up that a few fuckin' days of you hasn't been enough.  So you reel that fuckin' attitude in cuz you're fuckin' stayin'!"

Her face wiped clean, no expression whatsoever.  "Get the fuck away from me," She said evenly. “Now.”

He curled his hands into fists.  “Eva,” He growled.  “Stop it.”

She rolled to her side, facing away from him.

Stiffly, he got off the bed and stalked to the door.  He shot one last look at her.  She was staring off to the side at nothing.

☼☼☼

I woke up in darkness as the bed dipped and Deuce slid in beside me.  Instead of curling up next to me he stayed on the opposite side of the bed.  I couldn't let it end like this.  Not with him.  My stomach was sore but nothing like my face and nothing I couldn't handle so I rolled over and crawled on top of him.

"Hey," I whispered.

His arms wrapped around me.  “You still mad, darlin’?”

Instead of answering, I kissed him.  When I pulled away, we were both breathing heavy.

I rubbed my lips across his and whispered, "You want it hard or you want it slow?"

"Babe," He said thickly.  "I want it fuckin' slow."

So I gave it to him slow.

☼☼☼

He woke up alone.

Deuce rolled over and hit air.  He patted around for a moment looking for Eva and came up empty.  He clicked on his bedside lamp.  No Eva.  No IPod on his nightstand.  No chucks by the door.  No backpack on the floor. His stomach clenched.

Pulling on a pair of jeans he headed straight for Cox's room and kicked open the door.  Ripper was snoring loudly, his long body draped over an armchair.  Cox, lying belly down in bed, jerked his head up.

“Prez?”

He scanned the room.  No Kami.

The vice around his chest went painfully tight.

“Where’s your fuckin’ bitch?”

Cox looked right then left.  “Shit,” He muttered.  “I thought I heard something earlier.  Figured she was fuckin’ Ripper again.  Fuckin’ hell.  I was gonna ask her to marry me.”

“You’re already married shithead.  This ain’t fuckin’ Utah.” He slammed the door shut and took off down the hall.

He found Blue sitting alone at the bar in the dark.  Seventy-two years old, two pack a day smoker and a raging alcoholic, yet healthy as a twenty year old.

"Eva?” He asked.

Blue swallowed down a shot of Petron. "Gone."

His chest went so fucking tight he had to slap his palm over his heart and rub before he could breathe again.

"When?”

Blue poured then threw back another shot.  "'Bout two hours ago."

Fuck.

FUCK.

"Sorry Prez, I woulda woken you up, told you what she was doin', but she was cryin' her fuckin' eyes out.  Hysterical.  Beggin' me to open the gate.  Beggin’ me not to wake you up.  Can't deal with hysterical women myself.  Makes me want to drink."

"Right," He said numbly.

"Left you this."  Blue held out his hand.

He took the small folded piece of paper and opened it.

Deuce,

I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have come and imposed on your life.

<3 Eva.

P.S. Take care of yourself.

"Prez?"

"What?"

"She's a good girl," Blue said.  "Sweet too.  Knows her way round a club, took two fuckin’ fists for it.  Fuckin' adores you too, woulda thought you were the King of fuckin' England way she looks at you, and she's good to the boys, not givin' ‘em shit 'bout the girls, bringin' them beers, talkin' and jokin' with ‘em, makin' friends with Jase's piece a ass.  Didn't much like Miranda…"

Blue tossed back another shot and chuckled.

"But I don't much blame her.  I were you I woulda done everything I coulda to keep a girl like that in my bed.”

What else could he have done short of tying her to the bed or drugging her.

"Yeah," He muttered, "Too late now."

His hand fisted around the note, crushing it.

“Pour me one of those,” He muttered, taking a seat beside Blue.

Fuck Eva Fox and her perfect face and her perfect tits.  He had a life to get back to.

So he got back to it.

For three long years he lived his fucking life.

His miserable fucking life.

And then he saw her again.

And miserable got a fuck of a lot worse.

Groaning, Frankie collapsed on top of me.

"Off," I demanded, pushing at him.  "I can't breathe."

He lifted his head, grinning.  "Like you where you are babe.  Fuckin' naked and underneath me."

Frankie was insatiable.  I almost wished he would start whoring around at the club and give me break.

"Frankie!  I can't breathe!  Get off!"

Grunting, he pushed himself up a few inches.  "I'm tryin’ babe but you're not lettin’ me back in."

"Ahhh!" I yelled, shoving him as hard as I could.  Which wasn't very hard but I did manage to shove him off to the side so I was able to roll away.

Frankie rolled too, reaching for me.  I jumped backwards and slapped his hands away.  Glaring at him, I headed into the bathroom to dress.

“Remind me why we had to sleep at the club?”  I asked, stepping into my underwear then slipping my jersey cotton sheath dress over my head.

“Got a meetin’ this mornin’.”

I pulled my hair up and turned on the faucet.  Scooping water in my hands, I started washing my face.  “So, why did I have to stay at the club?”

“Can’t sleep without you babe.”

Grabbing Frankie’s toothbrush, I loaded it with toothpaste and shoved it in my mouth.

“What’s the meeting about?”  I mumbled around the toothbrush.

“Bunch of MCs havin’ trouble with Angelo Buonarroti.  Seems the douchebag put out a coupla bids for the same jobs.  Things got messy, brother's got buried.  Need to get this shit straightened out.  Maybe Buonarroti needs to go to ground.  We’ll see.”

I spit, rinsed the toothbrush and put it back in its holder.  Then I grabbed my makeup bag and set to work making myself look presentable.

“Gonna go have breakfast with Kami while you’re working.”

“At her place?”

I leaned forward, dotting some cover up underneath my eyes.  “Probably.”

“Don’t like that fucker she married,” Frankie muttered.

I grinned.  “Who does?”

Chase Henderson was a high paid lawyer for a predominant law firm who had made partner by the age of twenty five.   We’d all gone to prep school together but he’d gone off to Harvard whereas Kami and I had stayed in Manhattan to attend NYU.  Their parents had arranged their marriage a long time ago.  It was ridiculously old school but it wasn’t unheard of in their circle.  There were many wealthy, political families that still practiced arranged marriages.

Chase was extraordinarily good looking in an All-American Calvin Klein underwear model kind of way.  Never once had I seen him not clean-shaven and without one of many designer outfits on.  He never had a single gelled hair out of place and always wore a pissed off, haughty expression. There was nothing simple or comfortable about him.  He reminded me of a house that was too expensive, too new, too clean, too perfect, to feel comfortable in.