Duke

by Tressie Lockwood

  “Your car looked pretty full.”

  She stepped out of the path of a bus boy holding a huge tray of dirty dishes. “When did you see my car?”

  Duke didn’t bother answering that question. “You can take all of your things to my house when we close here.”

  “Um, no I can’t. I told you—”

  “That I don’t have anything to offer you?”

  She sighed, too tired to argue with him.

  Duke leaned over close to her, and she stiffened thinking he was going to kiss her in front of the entire dining room of people. Most of the customers had finished their meals, paid their checks, and gone home, but there were a few stragglers who seemed to want to wait until the last moment. Everyone loved the atmosphere of the restaurant. Takiyah did too, and she would enjoy it more if she wasn’t so dog tired.

  She pushed at Duke’s chest. “Stop playing games, Duke. I told you I’m tired. Or I think I did.”

  He grinned bigger. “You stay right there. Don’t move.”

  He took a few steps away from her and then returned. She blinked in confusion at him. What the hell was he doing?

  “Oh yeah,” he said. “You will move into my house tonight. I’ve made all the arrangements. Stefan oversaw everything, and when we get there, we’ll both be surprised at what he did. There’s furniture in every room, including the bedrooms.”

  “You let him choose your décor?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t care about the details, but if you do, then we can save up and buy what we like.”

  “You’re talking like I’m going to live with you.”

  He held up his finger. “Wait there.”

  She decided it was easier to humor the fool than to fight him. Since her people were done, and all she needed to do was clean up one more table, she waited. Arms folded, she watched him weave through the waiters scurrying about to meet the last needs of their customers. Creed stood near the front of the restaurant shaking the hands of some important people Takiyah recognized but couldn’t place their names. Stefan chatted with his older brother by the kitchen door. On this rare occasion, his wife sat nearby, yawning as much as Takiyah wanted to. Damen and Heaven’s kids were sound asleep, lying across chairs without a bit of shame.

  “Everybody,” Duke said into the microphone, snapping Takiyah’s attention off his family. He winked at Takiyah and grinned at everyone who turned to look his way. Takiyah wanted to sink through the floor. He was going to make a fool of himself. She just knew it. What was he going to do? Make jokes? Sing? The three brothers sang together late at night sometimes. She had enjoyed them once herself, but as far as she knew Duke never joined in. Could he even hold a tune?

  A few ladies who had held out until it was almost time to close, sat straighter. Takiyah figured they thought they were about to get a treat that no one as far as she knew had ever gotten before—Duke entertaining with music. Because she loved him, Takiyah willed his voice not to crack, and then she hoped Stefan would run over and add some music on the piano to soften the impact.

  “I’m not too eloquent with words,” Duke began.

  Damen shouted out. “I’ll say.”

  Duke scratched his head with his middle finger, a very obvious insult to his cousin. Takiyah groaned and covered her face.

  “Sing, Duke,” one of the ladies shouted. “We will always love you, poor or not.”

  Takiyah sank into a chair at that embarrassment, but Duke laughed.

  “There’s only one person I want to love me,” Duke said, and Takiyah started shaking. “The woman I love is Takiyah Silver. So, without getting fancy and mushy about it, Kiyah, will you marry me?” He held up his injured arm with the stitches and then the broken hand in a cast. “I’ve already risked my life for you, but I’ll do it a hundred times more and forever if you say yes.”

  Takiyah peeked between her fingers at him. He stared at her. The smile was still in place, but she saw the seriousness in his eyes. Fearfully, she gazed at his cousins. Creed had the nerve to nod in approval and wasn’t shocked at all. Had he known Duke would do this? Stefan beamed, and Damen slapped a hand over his grinning mouth, eyes wide.

  Karey dropped into the seat beside her and hugged her, squealing. “Well, girl? What do you say to him? Yes, right? Yes!”

  Takiyah couldn’t help herself. She started crying. This was absurd. They had hardly dated. Sure, they had gone through some scary stuff together, but that didn’t make a marriage. She was certain she loved him, but love could be fleeting. Her heart might beat for him today, and it could disappear tomorrow.

  “Kiyah,” Duke said again, capturing her attention and making her heart beat faster.

  “Yes,” she whispered. Damn responsibility. She said it louder and with more boldness. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Duke.”

  A cheer went up all over the restaurant. The kitchen door opened, and Shada, dressed in her customary white chef’s outfit came in pushing a cake on a white sheet-covered trolley. Takiyah marveled over the three layers of cake with edible purple, pink, and white flowers all around the base layer. Sugar-spun butterflies flitted in a couple spots on the middle layer with smaller flowers, and the top was a cone-shaped layer with more flowers springing from it. At first she thought Duke’s proposal was planned to the extent that he had arranged for the cake, but then she saw the writing on the card in front of the cake. Congratulations, Stefan and Talicia. We’ll miss you. Leave it to Duke to interrupt a planned farewell party for Stefan.

  While everyone crowded around the cake and Stefan, Duke crooked a finger at Takiyah. She managed to stand without falling and wandered over to him. He drew her tight to his chest and kissed her.

  “Are you sure about this?” she asked when he let her draw in a breath.

  “Very.” He nuzzled her cheek, and she melted in his arms.

  “We don’t know each other.”

  “If it will make you feel better, we can have a long engagement, but you are moving in tonight.”

  “You’re so damn bossy.”

  “You like me taking charge.”

  “Whatever.”

  They kissed a few more times, and she thought again about what he was doing last night. He was her fiancé now, so she should feel free to ask him whatever she wanted to know.

  “Duke, what were you doing last night?”

  He spun her to face the partiers. “Let’s get cake before it’s all gone.”

  She had no choice but to walk ahead of him as he shuffled her along. Someone handed her a massive piece of cake, and she scooped up a bite on her fork. Talk about heavenly goodness, she marveled at Shada’s skills. The moist cake made her taste buds dance, and she goggled far too much.

  Stefan and Damen pulled Duke away from her to tease him, and Takiyah found herself standing on the outskirts of the festivities, watching everyone else. To her surprise, Talicia appeared next to her. Takiyah hadn’t seen Stefan’s wife earlier, but she might have been in the kitchen with Shada. Come to think of it, those two didn’t get along very well, so maybe Talicia was somewhere else.

  “Welcome to the family, “Talicia said with a serious expression.

  Takiyah wasn’t sure how to take her. “Thanks.”

  “You made a good choice.”

  Takiyah gasped. “I thought most of the family kind of looked down on him. He’s pretty reckless and says whatever pops into his head.”

  A fleeting smile surfaced on the woman’s face and disappeared. “That’s one of the things I like about him. He’s…I don’t know…cocky, arrogant, an asshole.”

  Takiyah winced.

  “All those things, but pretty special too.” Talicia laughed. “I like him. Far better than Shada. I don’t think Shada and me will ever be true friends, but Duke’s cool.”

  “I appreciate you saying that.” Takiyah couldn’t help confiding her worries. “He’s keeping something from me. Don’t you think that’s a bad way to start out?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Last n
ight he was out doing something. I don’t know what it was. His hand is broken, and who knows how that happened. He gets arrested every time you turn around. I love him, but I don’t want to worry over him every day.”

  A knowing look came into Talicia’s face. “One thing about Duke is he’ll never brag about what he does to help other people out. He’ll just say he took care of it. Nobody confides in me, so I don’t know if you’ve been going through some trouble or whatever. If you have, you can believe Duke quietly took care of it.”

  Takiyah thought of the gang that attacked her son and shook all over with shock. “You mean he… He wouldn’t have killed…”

  Talicia squeezed her arm. “If he had to, he might have. That’s the man you’re marrying. Duke has his own code. It might not be right in the eyes of the law, but he does what he has to do. Once he helped me out with a drug dealer who had a vendetta against me. Duke slipped into the shadows and handled it. When he showed up later, it was all over. I haven’t had trouble since.”

  “And that’s why you like him?”

  “Isn’t that enough?”

  She wandered off, leaving Takiyah standing there with her mind in a whirl. Duke had murdered someone for her and Keen? She couldn’t process the idea. He was violent and unapologetic. The petty arrest for a punch in the face was nothing compared to what he had really done.

  She took a few stumbling steps backward, thinking to run in to Damen’s office, grab her son, and escape. Now she knew why Duke wouldn’t tell her the truth about what he had been up to. When she reached the office, she didn’t turn on the light. The moon illuminated the room enough to see. Keen lay curled up on the cot sound asleep. She didn’t want to disturb him, but she had no choice. They wouldn’t come back to the restaurant, and she was sorry to disappoint Creed. Adele would allow them to stay with her. Somehow they would make it work.

  Takiyah jostled her son’s shoulder. “Keen, baby, wake up. We need to get going.”

  He moaned and settled deeper into sleep. The door behind her opened and closed. She stiffened.

  “I’ll carry him. Leave him alone for now,” Duke said. He moved next to her and touched her back. She flinched and felt his gaze on her face in the moonlight. “What’s wrong?”

  Her fingers ached because she clenched her hands so tightly in front of her. “How did you break your hand, Duke?”

  He answered right away. “I punched Creed’s office wall when I thought I lost you.”

  His reason surprised her, but she heard truth in it. “And last night?”

  He sighed. “Can’t you let that go?”

  “No, I can’t! I have reason to believe you did something I can’t wrap my mind around. I don’t know if I can marry a man who would… Who would…” The lump in her throat cut off her air supply.

  Duke dug into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He tapped the screen a few times and then held it up for her. She turned her head. He grasped her chin and forced her to face the phone. “Look at it.”

  She blinked tears away and looked. The shot was of a thirty-something blond woman and a man maybe a decade older. The two seemed to be in the living room of a lavishly appointed house. Around them was a crowd of defiant teen faces. Takiyah sniffed and wiped her nose. “Who are they?”

  “This is an old girlfriend. I never asked her to marry me, but I remember thinking if I ever did want to marry, she would make a decent choice. Unfortunately for the old Duke, she had an insane love of kids, the kind nobody wants. She loved the thugs, getting them off the streets and living better. Her house in New York is always filled with them, and after I broke it off with her, she found a man to share her passion. That’s her husband.”

  “Why are you telling me about her now?” Takiyah could guess, but she didn’t dare assume.

  “Because she was a part of the business I had to take care of. She has contacts in several states, including Louisiana. From what I hear, her people are already moving in to work with those kids from the gang that hurt Keen.”

  Takiyah gasped. “You got her to do that?”

  “Am I a monster?” He raised her chin and stroked away a stray tear. “You need to know the man you’re marrying.”

  She heard the determination in his tone, as if he wouldn’t accept her leaving him.

  “I have never harmed a child. Never will. The piece of human garbage who pushed those kids to do what they did has been dealt with. That’s the only information I will give you.”

  “He was an adult.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you—”

  He touched her lips, silencing her. “I don’t want you to think about any of that. I handled it. You and Keen are safe, and I will make sure you always are from now on. Tell me you love me, Kiyah.”

  Her heart ached for him. “I love you.”

  He drew her closer. “Tell me again, baby. I live off of it.”

  “I love you, Duke, so much.”

  “That’s my girl. Now, let’s go home.”

  “Okay.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Takiyah sat at the bar on a stool. She raised her glass to her mouth and took a sip. The music blared all around her, and people gyrated to the beats. Across the room, amid the crowd, she spotted Talicia. Her soon to be cousin-in-law watched her husband on the stage as Stefan rocked the house with his deep, sexy tones. Many of the women didn’t give a damn that he was married. They wanted him to notice them, so they flocked the stage, wiggling their hips and bouncing their boobs. Stefan was in his own world, totally loving the music. Every now and then, his gaze roved the audience. The women sighed and trembled, but Takiyah knew him well enough now to know he had eyes for one woman alone.

  Thinking of a possessive Marquette man, Takiyah scanned the crowd again. This time she searched for her man. She found Duke at the far side of the club. His intent gaze never missed anything, and she couldn’t help staring at him, dressed in his black tee and slacks, the little white bud and wire hanging over his ear. She didn’t know if he was getting reports from his men or if he gave orders. Duke took his job at Stefan and Talicia’s club very seriously, and she knew by the energy he gave off every night that he loved it.

  Tonight, she was bone tired, but she had come to support Duke and the other Marquettes. To her surprise, Creed had also come a couple times. She’d heard how he started a sensation with his massive bodyguard tailing him. After all the hoopla, Stefan had declared his brothers weren’t allowed to visit the club at the same time, and Creed’s visits couldn’t be more than once every six months because he was too important. Takiyah thought that was hilarious, but word had it his head swelled over the treatment he received. All was forgiven in Marquette Land between the brothers.

  The alcohol started to get to Takiyah, so she set her glass down. Her eyelids grew droopy, and she thought she would fall asleep right there. Her head kept dipping forward no matter how many times she tried to get a hold of herself.

  A male voice spoke in her ear at the same time he touched her arm. “Here, drink this to wake up.”

  Without thinking, she took the glass, muttering her thanks. The glass was almost to her lips when it was nabbed away. She tumbled forward and fell into a hard chest. When she forced her head up, she met Duke’s gaze. He frowned at her. “You know better than to drink something from someone you don’t know.”

  “Don’t talk to me like a child.” She complained, but her head was still fuzzy. Duke let her lean on him, and when she looked to right, she found a man being hauled away by two others on Duke’s staff. “Who was that?”

  His hand touched her lower back, sending chills racing along her spine. “Nobody. Come on, baby. You’re going home to sleep.”

  “I don’t want to sleep.” She yawned.

  Duke snapped his fingers, and it was more about the signaling than the sound. No one could hear him over the noise, but apparently he had a man watching. Takiyah didn’t recall his name because of her dull mind, but Duke gave orders to the man who was
at least six-foot five if an inch.

  “I’m taking my wife home. You’re in charge,” Duke told the guy. “Don’t forget all the check points. Call me when you close shop. I don’t care what time it is.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  Takiyah warmed all over. Duke had started referring to her as his wife the day he proposed and she accepted. She thought it was a ploy to get her to shorten the engagement, but he should be satisfied. They lived together. As far as she was concerned nothing mattered. He was hers, and she was his. That settled it.

  At home, Takiyah shuffled up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with Duke. He stayed on the first floor for a while, checking things out. No matter how hard she listened, she never seemed to hear him moving about. When they first moved in, there was a creak in the hall floorboard. Since she never heard it now, she assumed he fixed it. The man was a ninja.

  Takiyah stripped naked and readied the shower. She would sleep like the dead tonight and wake up early so she could pick up Keen from Shada’s house. Her son was in a new school now and doing great. Creed had offered to pay for him to go to private school, but after Takiyah and Duke discussed it, she turned him down. Maybe in time, but for now, they were fine. Duke felt just like she did. It was important for them to make their own way in the world, not take handouts all the time. Duke was already working hard, and he had plans to open his own security firm. She was proud of him. He hadn’t been arrested since they got engaged.

  “Hell, yes!”

  She yelped in alarm at Duke speaking behind her. She smacked his arm. “You scared me. Stop sneaking around.”

  “I walked normally.” His gaze was locked on her bare breasts. “I made a great choice.”

  She shook her head. “With what, my boobs? Up here, buddy.”

  “Naw, my eyes are right where they belong.” He held out his arms. “Come here, and let me enjoy myself.”

  “I’m sleepy.” She darted into the shower. He tried to follow, but she shoved him back. “You’re still dressed, crazy.”

  Duke stripped off his clothes so fast, he must have set records. Takiyah did everything she could to make the man keep his hands to himself, but failed. He grabbed the shower gel and squeezed a heap into his palm.