Duke

by Candace Blevins

  He showed her a picture, and Gen saw a younger version of Gonzo, cleaned up and happy, almost like he had a twin out there somewhere, one who’d been raised good and clean. He was with a woman and two kids — a beautiful boy and girl, probably seven and four in the picture.

  Gen looked up, not sure she wanted to hear the story, but not prepared to send him away, either.

  “This picture was taken a week before my wife was diagnosed with cancer. Five months later, I buried her. A year and a half after she died, I thought I’d found the second love of my life. She was perfect for me, and great with my kids. I was a skip tracer, so I had guns around. She’d never been taught to handle them, so I took her to the range, showed her how. I kept them locked up so the kids wouldn’t have access to them, but thought she needed to know how to handle them, and how to use them if there was a problem and I wasn’t home.”

  He shook his head. “Her family didn’t tell me about her mental problems. I knew nothing of them until I came home to find both of my kids dead, and barely got out alive myself.” He took his shirt off and Gen gasped at the scars on his chest and stomach.

  “So please don’t hold it against Duke. The guys voted on my side because I freaked at the mere idea you’d be in the compound with a gun. It’s supposed to be my sanctuary, the one place on the planet I can feel safe.” He put his shirt back on. “He needed to make me feel safe, it’s what he does for us.”

  Brain spoke up. “The club needed to know you weren’t armed without him talking to you. If he’d stopped you at your car, explained it to you, it wouldn’t have proven anything to the men.”

  Gen looked at both of them a few minutes before asking, “You need another retail spot?”

  “Yes,” Brain said. “I’m going to apply for an FFL, and we need to have the address before I can apply. They have up to sixty days to approve my license, or not, so we’ll be paying rent well before we can open up shop.”

  “FFL?” Gen asked.

  “Federal Firearms License. It’s what I need to open a gun store.”

  Gen smiled. “Might have been easier to just say you need retail space for a gun store, and then tell me the part of town you’re looking at.”

  Brain tilted his head, smiled, and said, “We’re thinking it might be nice to be close to a few of the big box stores that sell guns, so people shopping for them can hit us at the same time they go the other places. We’d prefer the Hamilton Place area over the Hixson area, but we don’t want to pay an arm and a leg in rent.”

  They spent a few minutes talking about square footage needs, budget, and timing, and Gen stood to walk them out. “I’ll do some research tonight, make some phone calls tomorrow, and if I have properties to show you, I’ll give you a call. I have your number from before.”

  Gen stood and walked to Gonzo, unsure of how he’d react, but she put her arms around him and hugged him. “Thanks for telling me, and I know there’s nothing I can say to make it better, but I wish there was.”

  He tentatively returned her hug, and she squeezed him tighter and then let go as she stepped back.

  “You needed to know,” Gonzo told her. “I’m sorry you were hurt, and I apologize for my part in it. I’m glad I got to see you under pressure and pissed, though. It reminded me all chicks ain’t crazy. We’ll get out of your hair, now. I know you’re busy.”

  Brain followed him out, but stopped at the door and said, “I’ve never seen Duke like this, like he is with you. He’s fallen hard, Gen. Please give him another chance.”

  Gen worked with her clients and gave them the attention they needed, but when she stepped away to let them talk in privacy, her mind went back to Duke. By the time she returned them to their home, she knew what she had to do.

  She called her assistant and asked him to phone a large to-go order into Sticky Fingers, and drove that direction to pick it up.

  She pulled into the compound and looked toward the bikes, but couldn’t tell if Duke’s was there or not. It was obvious a couple weren’t, but several looked a lot like his.

  She tucked her concealed carry license, a credit card, and one hundred dollars in cash into the pocket of her dress pants. Her car key went into another pocket, and she tucked her purse up under the dash so it wouldn’t be easily seen. It was probably safer in the compound than any other place in the city, but she figured better safe than sorry.

  The clubhouse was full of men, all of them watching the door as she opened it and walked in. Dozer was sitting where she’d seen him last time, and he said, “Duke’s five minutes out, on his way in. Can we get you something to drink while you wait?”

  She lifted the bag and said, “Didn’t know how many would be here, I got enough for a dozen people. Leave enough for me and Duke. I have sweet tea for me, the rest of you are on your own for something to drink.”

  A large man she didn’t know went to the bar and got paper plates and plastic forks, and carried them to the biggest table. Someone’s cellphone buzzed, he looked at it, and said, “I’m gonna relieve Brain in the back,” and he left.

  A few minutes later Brain came out, walked to Gen, and hugged her. “Good to see you, Duchess.”

  She rolled her eyes and pointed to the food, “Get something to eat already, enough with the emotional crap.”

  When Duke walked in, she was cutting up with the men, smiling and laughing. He walked to her, lifted her from the chair, and pulled her to his chest, cradling her head. “Thank you, Beautiful. I promise I won’t hurt you again.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Duke. I’m sure I’ll hurt you, and you’ll hurt me. As long as we don’t do it on purpose, don’t cut each other too deep, and apologize afterwards, do our best to make amends? We’ll be okay.”

  They sat and ate, talking to the other club members like it was a big family, which Gen was learning, it really was. Duke had to deal with her crazy, overprotective brother, and would have to deal with her mother at some point. Making friends with his family was the least she could do. Abbott said she needed to use strategy, so she was going to take his advice. She was no longer just going to be along for the ride, she’d take control when there was something she didn’t like.

  When they finished eating he pulled her to the back, towards his room, but she shook her head and told him, “No, Duke. I’m not ready for… that. I’m working on it, but I need some more time. Maybe we can go for another ride?”

  His gaze traveled down her body, back up. “You can’t ride in that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “We’ve already ascertained I don’t look the part. If you aren’t ashamed to have me on the back of your bike, I’m not ashamed to be there.”

  “Never gonna be ashamed of you, Beautiful, but it’s a safety thing. You wear jeans or leathers to ride. It’s about protection. If the bike goes down you want something thick between your skin and the pavement.”

  She looked at her dress pants, silk shirt, high heels, and suit jacket in a new light. “Okay then, looks like a ride is out. The extra jeans and tees you bought me are here, but I wore the jacket and boots home the other night.”

  “No it ain’t, sweet cheeks.”

  Gen turned to Sheila, who said, “I’m a size seven and have some boots you can wear. My jacket’ll be too big, but will work okay. I’m not goin’ anywhere for a few hours, you and your man go take a ride.”

  * * * *

  Gen pulled into her garage four hours later. She opened the bay beside her and watched Duke maneuver into the empty spot. His bike was louder for a few seconds in the garage before he shut it off.

  She got out of her car, watched him take his helmet off and swing his leg over the bike. So, damned, sexy. She still had her jeans on, but had put her high heels back on when she gave Sheila the boots back.

  He started walking towards her, and she got the idea he was stalking towards her, like prey, instead of merely walking across her garage.

  “Have you ever had sex on your bike?” she asked.

  He
shook his head. “Tried it once, wasn’t very practical. You probably don’t want details.”

  Thinking about it, she realized she didn’t like thinking about him with other women, and nodded agreement.

  “That’s a different one than you took me on the first time. How many bikes do you have?”

  “Three cars, nine bikes.”

  Gen did the math in her head and Duke said, “That’s an awful big smile, Beautiful. What’s goin’ through your head?”

  “It’s been a long time since I dated someone whose vehicles were worth more than mine.”

  He shook his head, “You drive a one hundred and twenty thousand dollar car, Gen. Asking for someone to have a more expensive vehicle than you substantially limits your dating pool.”

  “Don’t need my guy to have money, Duke, but it’s nice knowing you have enough so we’re on more of an even playing field. Bethany thinks Mike stuck with me for my money. I’m not so sure she’s wrong.”

  She let him pull her into a hug and relaxed into his arms.

  “I’m always gonna pay when we go out,” Duke said. “I’m never gonna give you the idea I want you for your money, Gen.”

  “There will be exceptions, and you’re just gonna have to deal,” she told him. “I’ll pay for your birthday dinner, and times like tonight when I pick up dinner and bring it to the clubhouse of my own accord without you asking. I’ll let you pay for dates, but you can’t get ridiculous about it.”

  He looked at her a few seconds and said, “I assumed, with the way you research, that you’d know my net worth. I’m thinkin’ maybe I’m wrong?”

  “There was a miscommunication with Drake Security. Apparently, Aaron Drake gave his people a list of not-important data to give anyone who asked for info on you, with instructions to notify Aaron who was asking, so he could figure out what they needed to know. So, I got the non-research BS, but Aaron wasn’t readily available, so I didn’t get the visit from him.” She shrugged. “By the time I realized what’d happened and Aaron came to me, I figured you’d tell me what I needed to know, and I told him to just credit me what I’d paid and not to worry about it.”

  “Okay, then. I owned a thirty four hundred square foot home in Atlanta. I sold it for nearly three hundred and fifty thousand dollars before coming to Chattanooga. All charter members put in a hundred thou for seed money, and we had another three hundred we’d arranged for the Atlanta Chapter to loan us. The bike shop should be turning a profit by our one year mark. The bar already is. Other chapters have some illegal income streams, and so far I’ve kept Chattanooga out of them, but some of my boys are chomping at the bit, and we voted for one of them to begin dipping our toes into the water. In six months it’s likely we’ll be pulling in a great deal of cash on the venture, but if we weren’t a democracy I’d keep us out of this particular pool. I pulled in around a hundred and forty grand a year while I was in Atlanta. I expect I’ll be pullin’ at least that much here within another year to year and a half.”

  Gen didn’t want to know about the illegal income streams, and yet she did. “There’s no way to tell me more without giving me information I’d rather not have, is there?”

  “No, Beautiful. There isn’t.” He sighed. “I’ll tell you up front, I’d be more comfortable if you knew the basics of this one, but if I follow your rules I can’t, so don’t you dare get pissed for me keepin’ it from you if you ever find out.”

  They walked to her front door, she unlocked it, he disarmed and rearmed the alarm system, double-checked she’d locked the door back, and they headed upstairs.

  Duke went to the sofa in her bedroom and motioned for her to come sit with him, but Gen put her gun away and moved to her mini-bar. She grabbed the Jack Daniels Honey and a shot glass for herself, and a beer for him, and moved to the sofa.

  He accepted the beer with a thanks, opened it, took a sip, and watched as she poured a shot and downed it.

  “I need to let you in on a few things,” he told her. “Decided today we can’t have any secrets, and I took steps after I claimed you publicly to be able to keep you safe.”

  She poured another shot, downed it, and sat back, close to him but not touching. “Okay.”

  “Hear me out before you say anything, okay? I set up parameters for your privacy. The trick with any security is finding a balance between privacy and knowing where someone is and who’s around. We have a control room at the clubhouse, with cameras set up around town. Someone’s always in there, always watching. We know what’s going on in our territory because we watch it so close.”

  Gen nodded and he continued. “I had someone put cameras up so we can watch your front and back door, and your garage. There’s a tracker in your car, and we jacked into your phone so we can track it. However, those feeds do not go to the control room. They go to a file on Brain’s computer, so if you ever turn up missing we can go back and look, to see what happened. No one is watching you, no one is keeping tabs on you.”

  He caressed her cheek, smoothed her hair. “I’ve looked to see where you were one time, and that was last night. Your car was home but you weren’t, and I was worried. Your phone was at The Billiard Club, but when I went to find you, you weren’t there. The way we’re jacked in, if I wanted to I could listen in through the microphone, and turn the camera on, but I didn’t. Abbott runs a tight ship and I had to trust you were safe. So, I went to your house and waited, and nearly three hours later, Abbott brought you home.”

  Gen considered it from every angle, but the only real problem she had was his ability to hear what was being said. If someone found out about a deal she was working, it could be disastrous for all involved, especially her.

  Other than that, while his doing it without telling her was a bit highhanded, she knew he lived a dangerous life, and something inside of her felt good he’d taken steps to make sure he could keep her safe.

  “Let’s put an app on my phone that’ll let you track me, and I need you to undo whatever you’ve done. I’m not comfortable with anyone having access to privileged business conversations, as I’m sure you wouldn’t be, either.”

  He nodded. “Okay, I’ll get Brain on it. Thanks for understanding, Beautiful.”

  Gen nodded and poured another shot, but he stopped her arm before she could belt it back. “Why are you tossing shots back like they’re water, Genesis?”

  She looked at him a few seconds before giving him the unvarnished truth. “I’m not sure I can handle you sober tonight. It’s probably a good thing I got some rest last night, but I’m still so damned sore it isn’t funny.”

  “Babe, I don’t want to hurt you. We can sixty-nine, take care of each other with our mouths. I’ll give you another night, if you want.”

  “What’s sixty-nine?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Duke looked at her a few seconds, trying to figure out if she was serious. He quickly realized she wasn’t messing around, so he tried to explain.

  “I use my mouth on you, like last night, but I’m turned so you can give me a blow job at the same time.”

  Gen looked at him as if she were scandalized, and then looked back to her bottle. She poured another drink, downed it, and kept looking at the bottle as she said, “I’ve never…never…”

  Duke touched her chin, used a single finger to gently encourage her to look at him. When she did, he held her gaze and asked, “Never been in a sixty-nine, or never given a blow job?”

  “Both?”

  Duke’s cock went hard as a rock.

  Her mouth was a virgin. He’d get to teach her. He was willing to bet her ass was, too, but she wasn’t ready for that conversation yet.

  “Let’s get in the shower together, Beautiful. Take turns cleaning each other?”

  * * * *

  Gen didn’t know what to expect in the shower, but as usual, Duke exceeded anything she could’ve dreamt.

  He got her wet, moved her out from under the water, and massaged soap into her entire body. She stepped away with a
yelp as his soapy finger cleaned her bottom hole, but he made her lean against the wall and spread her legs so he could rinse her everywhere.

  He leaned into her when he finished, his hard length at her hip, and growled into her ear, “Okay, Beautiful, now I’m gonna sit on your pretty tiled shower bench and let you play and explore. I expect you’ll spend a lot of time cleaning my cock and balls, because your mouth will be on them when we finish our shower.”

  Gen washed his hair, soaped his neck, his chest. She made him turn so she could get to his back, and then sat on the floor of the shower and soaped every toe before working her way up his body. When she got to his cock she tentatively used two fingers to soap it, but he took her hand and wrapped it around his thick length, saying, “Play around with how hard to squeeze.” He tightened his hand over hers, let it go up and down loose, and then put more strength behind it. “That’s about as tight as you should go on my cock, but the balls are sensitive. Light touches to them.”

  Gen’s face flamed hot at the instruction, and he said, “No embarrassment with me, ever, Genesis. If you don’t know how to do something, I’ll teach you. As you get used to me, I’ll make a lot of demands, but if you please me and do as you’re told, I’ll make sure you enjoy yourself.”

  He let go of her hand, allowed her to play on her own again, and she looked at his cock instead of him as she asked, “What kind of demands?”

  “Eventually, if I wanna fuck you over the back of your sofa, I’ll tell you where I want you. If I want to look at you, I’ll expect you to lay still, all spread out, so I can look. If I want a blow job, you’ll give me one. I want your hands on the headboard while I play with you, you’ll leave them there.”

  His harsh words set her heart beating faster, and even more heat streamed towards her girl parts. Duke caressed her cheek, encouraged her to look up, and when she did his eyes were gentle.