Duke (Aces MC Series Book 2) (5 page)

The room was now silent apart from the sound of our ragged
breathing as we lay in the dimly lit room catching our breath. I suddenly felt a
little self-conscious and pulled the quilt over my body to hide my nakedness. Without
saying a word, Duke casually got out of bed and stalked to the bathroom. As he
did, I took the opportunity to take a sneaky peek at his marvellous physique. Silly
I know as we’d just had animalistic sex but I didn’t have time to appreciate
his body, I was too busy experiencing pure pleasure.
Duke returned shortly after and got into bed. He laid next to me in all his
glory, placing both arms behind his head as we lay there in comfortable silence
whilst our breathing returned to normal.
I wanted to ask him a million questions but he was obviously deep in thought as
I watched the contours of his face move as he stared at the ceiling.
I needed to touch him I hadn’t acquired my full fix of Duke. I slowly reached
out in a comforting gesture to touch his cheek, gently stroking the side of his
face. He closed his eyes briefly and leaned into my hand. I softly moved my
fingers along his jaw and down his neck as he took in a sharp intake of breath.
I continued to softly caress him but I could feel my arm getting heavier as I started
to feel tired. I removed my hand so that I could cover my mouth as I yawned and
felt my eyes slowly droop as sleep took hold.

I didn’t know how long I was asleep for but I
woke
to find Duke kissing my neck and caressing his
way slowly down my body. I eagerly opened my legs for him so that he could
position himself comfortably between my thighs. Duke gently positioned my hands
so that they were placed either side of my head but this time I noticed it
wasn’t with the earlier force of our first encounter. His enlarged length found
my entrance easily and I felt him shudder at the first contact.
We moved rhythmically and I wrapped my legs around his back to allow him to go
deeper. Duke kept eye contact the whole time and I could see an array of
emotions in his eyes that were softer than what I saw earlier. He shook his
head from side to side and closed his eyes briefly, “I’m sorry.” He said
tenderly before he quickened his pace a little.
What could he possibly be sorry for?
  He hadn’t done anything wrong! The
thought was quickly erased as I could feel myself building towards my release
as he applied pressure on my pelvic bone.
With one final push I found my release and came hard around him. Duke did the
same and I felt him explode inside me.
Shit!
Had he not worn a condom?
I was on the pill but even so. He
must have felt me stiffen as he looked into my worried eyes.
“I’m clean Ash,” I nodded my head quickly making it clear I understood, “and
I’ve seen your birth control.” Oh, how very observant, he had it all figured
out!

Duke rolled off of me, taking me with him into his arms. I
lifted my head looking directly at him about to ask him a question, when he
simply put his finger over my lips to silence me.
“Please don’t. Let’s just enjoy the moment.”
Enjoy the moment! I had a million things I wanted to ask him but it was no use as
he obviously wasn’t going to talk. I lay there on his chest for a while,
listening to the steady beat of his heart. I yawned loudly feeling tired from
our earlier exertion as Duke gently stroked my cheek mirroring my earlier
sentiment. He placed a light kiss on the top of my head, comforting me as I
slowly drifted to sleep.

Duke

I woke at around 4.00am with Ash wrapped around me. She smelt
fantastic and felt great in my arms but I couldn’t handle this shit no matter
how good it was. Everything comes to an end and that finality hurts so it’s
better not to start anything in the first place. I needed to keep my head clear
of distractions which meant no dramas.
I quietly got out of the bed and gathered my clothes before going down stairs
and getting dressed in the living room. I took a brief look around her house and
was surprised on how similar our tastes were. Thoughts of last night sprang to
mind and I caught my reflection in the mirror as I smiled reminiscing.
There’s
no way you’re doing this man. You need to put all thoughts of last night behind
you and move on!
I shook my head gaining some composure and quickly gathered the rest of my
things, leaving the house before I got distracted.

I arrived at the gym. It was early so CJ wouldn’t have
opened yet but I had keys to the building. I desperately needed a work out to
take away some of the stress that had been building since my encounter with
Rev. Ash had helped to ease some of the tension but I had a desire to smash the
shit out of something. I always kept a change of clothes here in my locker for
such an emergency and was grateful of the clothes that would help me achieve a
better workout. I put on my gloves and started to vent my anger on the punch
bag.

I didn’t know how long I’d been here but the harder I hit,
the better I felt so I continued my assault.
“I would offer to spar but the way you’re hitting that bag, I don’t fancy my
chances.” CJ said humorously leaning against the wall and drinking from his
water bottle. I ignored him and continued with my work out.
“Do you wanna talk about it? You only hit the gym this hard when you’ve
something on your mind.” CJ had now moved closer and I noticed that he was
texting on his mobile, probably informing the others of my location.  
I stopped my work out and grabbed my towel to wipe the sweat from my face. CJ
handed me a bottle of water and walked over to the seating area expecting me to
follow. I slowly made my way over, not looking forward to the bombardment of
questioning that were sure to follow.
We sat in silence as I drank my water, allowing my body time to return to its
normal heartrate. Diesel, Bear and Spike boldly entered the building talking
among themselves, I glanced at CJ and raised my eyebrows.
“What? I only let them know where you were, I didn’t ask them to come over.” He
said grinning.
“So have you got over your little tantrum?” Diesel asked standing beside me
with his hands in his jeans pockets.
I looked at him rubbing my hand over my tired eyes, “Yeah, sorry about that
man.” The guys started to laugh in unison.
“The love of a good woman, sort you out?” Bear asked gyrating his hips, mimicking
various sexual positions as they continued to laugh at my expense.
I looked at them confused, “How do you know where I was last night?”
Spike raised his arms in mock defence, “I followed you, I had to make sure you
were okay,”
That was Spike alright. We should’ve named him ‘Care Bear’ or another aptly
named huggable creature, rather than Spike. “And after I spent two hours
outside in the cold with no sign of you, I knew you were being well looked
after!” He said with a wink to the roar of the guy’s laughter.
“Right enough of that, we have businesses to run.” I stood letting them know
that this gathering was over.
As we were leaving the gym, Diesel pulled me to one side, “Will you be seeing
her again?”
I let out a loud sigh pondering my answer, “No, it’s best I keep my distance.”

Taylor

I woke to a cold empty bed. I don’t know what I was
expecting but I felt a pang of hurt that he couldn’t be bothered to hang around
until morning. I knew one thing though, I wasn’t going to sit around feeling
sorry for myself and in fact, I felt good apart from some of my limbs hurting
from so much exertion. Duke had scratched the itch that I so badly needed
seeing too and I’d obviously helped him sort out his own head.
I took my time in the shower making sure the rays soothed multiple over used
areas. Once I had finished, I made my way into the bedroom and quickly dressed
in my uniform.
“What the fucking hell is that?” I said aloud looking at my neck in the mirror.
A fucking love bite, he’d given me a fucking love bite.
What was I, sixteen?
I spent some time covering it over with concealer and blending it so it was
hardly visible. Who was I kidding it was fucking huge, I was gonna kill him!
On top of that, I was now running late and had to rush to get into work on time
for my first customer.

“Hi you must be Harlow.” I assumed this was her as she
arrived with Spike. I’d spoken to him briefly on Saturday evening about booking
Harlow in for a new set of extensions. She’d been through a traumatic time, in
fact the whole club had with the death of one of their club members. Spike had
mentioned that the funeral was tomorrow and that’s why he needed the
appointment so quickly.
“Yes, pleased to meet you…” she looked at me expectantly.
“Oh sorry, I’m Taylor the owner of this establishment.” I said waving my hand
around. “Please sit down and we can discuss your requirements.” I directed her
to the chair and after selecting the perfect colour extensions, I worked on her
for the next two hours, getting her hair back to normal.

“WOW! You look fantastic Ink.” Spike said leaning closer to
touch her hair gently. I observed the interaction between the two of them. They
were obviously very close almost like siblings. I wondered how long they’d
known each other.
Their interaction made me think of my sister, Sophia. I hadn’t spoken to her in
a while and made a mental note of giving her a call this evening. Sophia was
two years younger than me and lived back in New York. She’d never been
interested in the whole ‘England thing’ as she called it and was more of a home
bird. She was expecting baby number three in December and I truly don’t know
how she manages especially with Brad working away all the time.

“How much do I owe you?” Spike asked as Harlow started
chatting to Chanel about her hair.
“It’s on me. It’s the least I can do after Diesel helped me out yesterday at
the gym.”
Spike started to laugh as he recalled the incident. “You can tell me to mind my
own business but I hope Duke was the perfect gentleman last night.” Spike
glanced at my neck and moved closer to look directly into my eyes for a
reaction to his comment as the heat started to rise through my body. Damn it I
was getting embarrassed.
I took a deep breath, “I wouldn’t say a gentleman but it was pretty damn
perfect.” I had found out very quickly that the only way to engage with these
bikers was to be as crude and smart mouthed as them. I was naturally sarcastic
and out spoken so it did come rather easily.
A smile spread across Spike’s face, “I saw him earlier this morning and he
looked a little tired.” He said raising his eyebrows up and down dramatically.
“Well I’m pleased one of us had the pleasure of seeing him this morning.” I
stated in a clipped tone.
My remark took him by surprise as he narrowed his eyes, taking in the
statement.
I briskly walked towards Harlow and Chanel to put an end to the awkward
conversation. I didn’t feel comfortable, discussing my humiliation with a
stranger.
“Thank you so much Taylor, my hair looks great. I don’t have to hide it under a
hat anymore.” Harlow said whilst playing with a strand of her hair.
“Come on Ink, we’d better get going.” Spike interrupted walking towards the
door.
“Thanks again Taylor, I’ll hopefully see you again soon.” I waved as they left
the shop closing the door behind them.
Letting out a loud sigh, I slumped on the sofa and rested my head on a cushion.
Chanel joined me a couple of minutes later with a strong cup of tea.
“Thank you Chanel that’s just what I need.” I said gratefully taking the cup from
her and quickly slipped my feet from my heels, resting them on the coffee table
directly in front of me.
“Do you wanna talk about what you and Spike were discussing?” Chanel asked
placing herself next to me on the sofa.
“Did you hear our conversation?” I asked shocked. I thought she was out of ear
shot, talking to Harlow at the time.
“Are you gonna see him again?” She asked reclining on the sofa.
Should I be talking to a seventeen year old about my love life? Would I ask
her such personal questions about hers?
Probably!
“I’m going to tell you only once and when I’ve finished I don’t want any more questions,
do you understand?” Chanel nodded dramatically. “He came over last night, we
had great sex, twice actually but he left before I woke this morning.
Experience tells me he’s not interested or even going to call.”
“But what if he…” I held my hand up in front of Chanel’s face to stop her from talking.
“No questions, end of discussion. Are we clear?” I said lowering my hand.
Chanel nodded and slowly stood to walk over to the customer that had just
arrived.
“Morning Taylor.” Anne said as she took off her coat. “Your aunty Pam sends her
love and said that she’ll call you this evening.”
I smiled sweetly, “Thanks Anne. I look forward to it,” knowing full well that
my aunt would be fishing for more gossip.

Duke

We stood in the middle of Chingford Mount Cemetery, in the
pouring rain watching Jimmy’s coffin being lowered into the ground. As I looked
around I saw Ink holding Diesel’s hand tightly. He looked a little uneasy and I
started to wonder if he’d asked her yet? He’d been putting it off all week,
worried about her reaction. He didn’t give her the credit she deserved, she was
a strong woman and in an indirect way, she’d asked to be involved in the death
of the people responsible for her father’s murder.

After the service I sent the guys to their motorcycles,
whilst I walked over to speak to Ink and Diesel.
“Ink,” I said with a nod, “Has he asked you yet?”
She slowly looked between myself and Diesel with a confused expression. “Asked
me what?”
Diesel continued to look everywhere but directly at her. She shrugged her
shoulders looking at me for answers.
“We have Patch in a safe house. Do you want to be present when he meets his
maker?” I could see the mixed emotions on her face and I gave her the time she
needed to process this information.
“It’s a very fitting day Duke. I’d love to accompany you.” She walked towards
Diesel’s van.
I burst out laughing at her reaction and the look of shock on Diesel’s face.
“You have one gutsy lady there Diesel.” I stated, patting him on the back and
directing him towards his van.

We rode in unison for thirty minutes to an old farm house that
we owned in Stapleford Abbotts. It was in the middle of dense forest and ideal
for its intended purpose. I looked over at Diesel to see the hesitation on his face.
The club had carried out similar tasks numerous times over the years but he was
worried how Ink would react and rightly so, she was his old lady. I gave her a
smile as she followed us into the derelict building and noticed that she was
flexing her fingers in the direction of Diesel looking for him to take her hand
for reassurance.

Patch was bound and gagged, lying on the dirty floor in the
middle of the room.
“It’s a shame you’re not naked.” Ink said kicking him in the groin. I could
hear the pain in her voice and could only imagine what took place in that
cellar before Spike arrived and rescued her.
Bear picked Patch up, throwing him onto the wooden chair that was positioned in
the middle of the room and tied him securely.
“What are you going to do to him?” Ink asked.
I could see the glistening of her eyes as she tried to keep it together.
“That depends on you Ink. Do you want to watch or participate?” I asked as I
held up my hand to stop Diesel from talking.
Ink nodded and slowly took out a knife from her belt and stalked towards Patch,
tapping the blade against her right thigh.
Bending down between his legs, I heard her whisper, “It doesn’t matter to me, if
you die now or later babe.” She pulled the blade up high and thrust it down
fast into his right leg. Patch let out a loud scream and jerked forward. I held
out my hand across Diesel’s chest to stop him from charging over to where Ink
knelt between Patches thighs. I understood his need to protect her but she
needed to do this to help her get over the recent events and find some kind of closure
for her father’s death.
Ink quickly pulled the blade out and plunged the knife into his other leg.
Patch thrashed about in the chair as pain radiated off him but Bear held him
firmly as Ink stood and wiped the blade on his leg before casually returning it
to its sleeve.
Ink turned and walked back into Diesel’s arms and I saw the love between them.
Diesel was totally consumed with his emotions to protect her and so was the rest
of the club now that she’d become his old lady. Ink turned her head briefly looking
towards me, “Thank you, he’s all yours now.”
I nodded, understanding what she meant as I gave her a small smile. I eagerly waited
for Diesel and Ink to leave the room and then gave Bear the signal. I had
things to do and needed this over and done with quickly. He grabbed Patch by
the hair and pulled his head back sharply to reveal his neck.
“Please man don’t do this. We can sort something out!” He screamed thrashing
around in the chair. “I can give you some more information.”
Bear looked at me briefly, “What information?”
“If I tell you, do you promise to let me go?” Patch said pleading.
“Yeah. Now spill.”
“Flex was involved in Harlow’s kidnapping. He had some pact with Hawke. I don’t
know all the details but I can find them out if you let me go.” Patch said
hopefully.
I nodded for Bear to continue. He casually ran the blade deep across the length
of his neck and I could hear the sickening gurgling sound coming from Patches
mouth as death drew closer. Bear abruptly let go of his head as we watched it
flop forwards towards his chest. My job here was done!
I turned to the prospects, “Bury him in the usual place.” I stated as I pointed
to Patch slumped in the chair. They nodded understanding my instructions.
“Bear, call Flex and let him know it’s done. Step up the surveillance to
twenty-four hours and if I find out he was involved in the death of Jimmy and
the kidnapping of Ink, he’s a dead man. Under no circumstances are you to
mention this to Diesel. Do you all understand?” I glanced around the group as
the guys nodded their heads, understanding the severity of this confession.
“And when you’re finished, come and find me at the Bird Cage. I need a fucking
drink.” I left the guys to it and rode to the club so that I could try and
unwind. It had been a fucking shitty day.

I sat in my usual place knocking back drink after drink.
There were no other brothers in tonight as they were at Jimmy’s wake and that’s
just how I wanted it.
Was it disrespectful not to turn up? Did I need to be
at the club house to think about Jimmy? Would people think badly of me? Did I
even give a shit what people thought?
I continued to knock back my drink when I noticed someone sitting opposite me.
In my blurred state I tried to focus on the person.
“What’s this all about Duke?” Savannah asked reaching across the table resting
her hand on top of mine. I pulled it back, out of her grasp to pour myself
another drink, ignoring her whilst I knocked back the amber liquid in one gulp
and started to pour myself another. Savannah reached over and swiped the bottle
of Jack from my hand.
“I think you’ve had enough Duke.” She said moving it out of my reach.
I swiped the table which sent my glass flying across the club and shattered on
the floor, drawing attention from some of the punters.
“I’ll be the judge of that bitch don’t forget your place Savannah. You’re just
a fucking stripper.” I spat angrily at her.
Savannah folded her arms across her chest and I could just about make out her scowling
at me. She sat there staring as she placed the bottle of Jack back on the
table.
“Thank you.” I said as I started to swig directly from the bottle.
“You keep talking to people like that and you’ll eventually lose everyone.”
Savannah stated as she continued to stare at me. Our relationship ran deep and
she knew I didn’t mean what I’d said, it was the drink talking.
“It won’t matter coz she probably won’t talk to me again anyway.” I took another
swig from the bottle and rested my head on the table. Sleep slowly invading my
body.

Bear

“Can anyone join the party?” I asked as I sat next to
Savannah on the sofa.
She gestured to Duke slumped unconscious on the table, “What’s going on with
him? I know you had Jimmy’s funeral today and a job to attend to after that but
that’s nothing he hasn’t dealt with before.” I looked at her with raised
eyebrows shocked that she knew so much.
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist! Duke has no one to confide in apart from
myself and Amy. He sometimes needs to get things off his chest. You’d be
surprised by what we know.”
I laughed shaking my head at the realisation. It was club rules not to share
information but we all needed to vent frustration and anger from time to time
and it was usually the old ladies that had that pleasure. In Duke’s case, I
suppose Savannah and Amy were the closest he had to an old lady.
“I’ve never seen him like this Bear!”
I shook my head. I knew the visit from Rev annoyed him but that shouldn’t make
him want to drown his sorrows. Maybe it was the combination of Jimmy, Rev and
the up and coming drugs deal that had set him off?
“Before he passed out he said something about it not mattering coz she probably
wouldn’t talk to him again anyway. Who do you think he was referring too?”
I knew exactly who he was talking about, “Taylor.” I said bluntly.

I got the prospects to move Duke to the van, this took a
while because of his shear weight and we had to ask some of the security at the
club to give us a hand. They had direct instructions to take him to the club
house where he could be put in to bed with the help of some of the brothers at
Jimmy’s wake. I would make my own way home after I’d spoken to Taylor, probably
using Duke’s motorcycle. He’d go fucking mad as he didn’t let anyone on his
ride but it was justified and I’d take the repercussions.

Taylor’s mobile number was easy to get hold of from Natasha,
the manager of the club. I dialled the number hoping that she’d be available as
I needed to find out what we were up against. She thankfully answered on the
third ring.
“Hello!” A sleepy Taylor answered the phone.
“Taylor, its Bear,” the line stayed silent, “Sorry it’s late but I need to ask
you a few questions.” I said hopefully.
“Don’t you own a fucking watch?”
I sniggered which was probably the wrong thing to do but she had a smart mouth
which I found amusing.
“Hurry up, what do you want to ask me?” her clipped tone told me this wasn’t
gonna be easy.
“What’s the state of play between you and Duke?” If I could find out if they
were seeing each other it may shed some light on the situation.
“That’s none of your fucking business and I don’t appreciate you calling me in
the middle of the fucking night asking me stupid questions about him.” The line
went dead.
I turned to Savannah pouring myself a drink, “Well I can safely say that
they’re not an item.” Savannah shook her head in disbelief, “You men haven’t
got a fucking clue!”

Taylor

What the fuck just happened? Did Bear really just call me
in the middle of the night to ask what I was doing with Duke? Should I have
told him that he scored two home runs then bailed on me in the middle of the
night?
I got up out of bed and put on my dressing gown before going downstairs to make
a cup of tea. Tea made me feel better in a crisis. I sat at the kitchen table
when my phone bleeped indicating I had a text.

Hi Taylor, it’s Amy. Sorry that Andy (Bear) didn’t
handle the conversation well. Men! LOL

A little confused as to why he contacted me in the
first place? T

Mitchell’s been acting strangely!

What’s new! LOL

He’s not acting himself and the guys are worried

Not being funny but what’s this gotta do with me Amy?
T

That’s what we’re trying 2 find out. What happened
Sunday evening?

We shagged twice, he left before I woke. T

That good! LOL

Dented the ego but I’ll get over it. T

I’m even more confused. No big fight or fall out?

No. Perfectly normal one night stand! T

Well thanx Taylor. Sorry to bother you but the guys
asked me 2 make contact. Pop in tomorrow 4 a chat. X

I’ll try. Night x

Good night x

Could this night get any stranger?
Looking at the
clock I could see that it was now just after 2.00am which meant it would be
9.00pm in New York, so I decided to take my tea into the living room and call
my sister. I just needed a normal conversation.

“Hi stranger, how you doing?” Sophia asked in her usual
jovial tone.
“I’m good. More to the point how are you and my nephews doing?” It had been so
long since I’d seen them all.
“The boys are doing well. Charlie made the soccer team and Luke’s singing in
the school talent contest next week.” She paused and I could hear her take a
sip of her drink. “I don’t know where he gets his confidence from?” We both
started to laugh. We were regulars on the karaoke machine when we were
teenagers and had an abundance of confidence.
“Enough about the kids, how you doing?” I asked concerned. Sophia always got on
with things without a fuss and I was concerned for her welfare.
“The doctor told me to rest but it’s easier said than done with two young
children.”
“Why, what’s up?” The doctor wouldn’t tell her to rest for no good reason.
“I’ve been having a bit of tightening in my stomach.” She stated as if it was a
normal thing to have.
“Do you need me to come home?” If my sibling was in trouble I would be expected
to go and look after her regardless of my new business.
“Nah, I’m fine Taylor. Anyway, how could you possibly leave your hot biker
friend?”
“I’m assuming you’ve spoken to Pam.”
“Sure have. She said he propositioned you.” She started to snigger.
That was just like Pam, giving half a story so that she thought the worse of
me.
“Don’t get too excited. It was a business proposition.” I stated making sure
she clearly understood.
“I was only having a little fun.”
“Yeah at my expense.”
“Taylor, you’re allowed to let your hair down and have some fun. All work and
no play makes Taylor a grumpy cow!”
“I know I just have so much going on at the moment that it’s difficult.”
I could hear crying in the background.
“Sorry, I’m gonna have to go Taylor. Charlie’s crying. He’s probably had a nightmare.”
“Not a problem, we’ll catch up soon. And Sophia…”
“Yeah?”
“If you need anything, please give me a call. It doesn’t matter what time of
day or night it is. You hear me?”
“I hear you. Love you.”
“Love you too.”

It was great to speak to Sophia. I
needed to make more time so that I could catch up with her and my nephews more
often. I didn’t want the fact that I’d moved to England to compromise our
relationship.
We’d been through a lot together over the years which made me very protective
over her.
Growing up she blamed herself for mom being unwell. It wasn’t until her late
teen’s that she truly appreciated that it wasn’t her fault but she’d carried
that guilt around for so many years blaming herself for mom experiencing
postpartum depression after her birth.
With the support from the Postpartum Resource Centre in New York and
counselling, Sophia managed to change her outlook on a lot of things and
stopped blaming herself.
I walked into the kitchen and dug around in my handbag until I found a pen. I
wrote on my calendar that I’d spoken to her this evening and hoped that this
visual reference would make it easier to remember. It wasn’t that I didn’t want
to, it’s just with everything that was going on in my life at the moment, it
was difficult to find the time. I placed the pen back into my bag and also made
a mental note of sharing as little information with my aunt as possible!