OWNED & UNTAMED (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel)

by London Casey

  So I had an entrance. I could just rip that door open and go right inside.

  I slowly rose back to my feet and reached back for my gun.

  That’s when I heard the click of a gun getting ready.

  “Turn around,” a voice said, eerily familiar.

  I looked over my shoulder.

  “Don’t touch your gun.”

  I showed my hands.

  I felt a rage build up inside me.

  I was fucking dead. Belle was fucking dead.

  I gritted my teeth and asked, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  thirty-two.

  (belle)

  When I came to I was sitting in a chair at a table. I was in some kind of office. Jim had his hands tied behind his back, being held against a wall by some guy with a gun. The two men were the ones that attacked at the fight.

  “It’s okay, Belle,” Jim said. “Duke is coming.”

  “Fuck off, asshole,” the man said and slammed his gun into Jim’s face.

  Jim tried to fall but the guy wouldn’t let him.

  I screamed and felt a hand touch my neck. The hand came around and I was forced to look up at an ugly guy. He had tattoos all over his neck and when he smiled, I saw flashes of silver and gold.

  “Aw, what’s wrong, fine pussy?” he asked. “Don’t be afraid. Your brother is right. Duke is coming to save the day.”

  Both men laughed.

  “Why is that funny?” I asked.

  “Go ahead, Carlo, tell her,” the man said, holding Jim up.

  I looked at Carlo again.

  “He’s giving us our pay day. And then we’re taking everything from him still. Starting with you, fine pussy. You and your brother are all wrapped up in this. It was your land. And I’m sure you’re sucking Duke’s dick, huh? Well, fine pussy, maybe it’s time to suck something with a little more flavor.”

  Carlo touched his jeans and I stiffened. His eyes looked high and evil. Like a man with bad intentions and no logical reasoning to keep those intentions from becoming a reality.

  “Hey, Carlo, let me do in the brother. Let me get him now. Send a message.”

  “No, Leto, take it easy,” Carlo said. He reached for me and stroked my face. “Let’s all just take it easy. Nice and slow. Keep this feeling alive.” Carlo then crouched down so he was eye level with me. “Fine pussy, tell me the truth. Why’d you get involved in the land deal?”

  “I didn’t,” I said. “Duke saw you guys making some deal. Then he showed up to my place. He said his club would have to kill us if the deal went through.”

  “Tough break. You lose either way. I appreciate the honesty. Tell you what… after I kill Duke and take his money, I’ll give you a little magic pill. You’ll never wake again. I’ll make it easy for you.” Carlo leaned in and pressed his lips to my cheek. “Fine pussy…”

  I shook my head.

  The feeling soaring through my body was hard to explain. A mix of anger, rage, regret, hate, and pain. Not to mention the love I had for Duke. I wanted to see him and hold him again. I wanted him to save me.

  Carlo disappeared again for a little while, leaving Leto to keep Jim and I hostage. There wasn’t much work to be done, considering Leto had a gun.

  When Carlo returned, he whispered something to Leto. Leto then went outside for a few seconds and came back in. They were somehow talking without words and it drove me nuts. Finally, Carlo sat on the corner of the table, a gun on his lap.

  The silence that filled the room started to make me shake. Something was going to happen, and soon.

  When I heard a pounding on the door to the office, I jumped.

  Carlo stood up and gave a nod to Leto.

  Leto opened the door and it was Duke.

  He was here. He was going to save me…

  “Duke!” I cried out.

  Carlo turned and pointed his gun right at me.

  “Let’s do this right,” Carlo said. “Come on in, Duke. And leave your weapons behind.”

  Duke was allowed to be with Trev and nobody else was allowed in the office. Leto slammed the door shut and locked it. Part of me wanted to know why the rest of the MC wasn’t there, shooting the place up. But that didn’t make sense, did it? If they started shooting, they were liable to kill one of us.

  We were really screwed.

  Duke had his hands up while Leto patted him down. Leto then patted down Trev.

  “This is simple,” Trev said. “You get what you want and we get what we want.”

  “That simple?” Carlo asked.

  “I say fuck you,” Leto said. “You know what you fucking did to us.”

  “Fair enough,” Duke said. “But this had nothing to do with Belle and Jim. They did their part. Let them go.”

  “Show me the cash,” Carlo said.

  Duke had a bag in his hand and opened it. It was full of cash. Lots and lots of cash.

  “That looks beautiful,” Carlo said. “Almost as good as her pussy.”

  Carlo thumbed at me and grinned.

  I saw the flash of rage in Duke’s eyes.

  He jumped forward as Trev grabbed him. But Duke broke away. Carlo quickly moved the gun, letting Duke run right into it, right against his broad chest.

  “Come on,” Carlo said. “Make me pull this trigger.”

  “Hey!” Trev growled. “We’re here to talk, right? So we work this out or we don’t. Pick a side.”

  Duke just stood there.

  He was so angry… but then… he started to smile.

  “Pick a side,” Leto said. “I pick a side where you guys get killed.”

  “Why the fuck are you smiling?” Carlo asked.

  “Because we’ve already picked our side,” Duke said. “You’re fucked, Carlo.”

  Carlo started to laugh. “No, my man, you are…”

  That’s when I felt a hand touch my shoulder.

  And then the sound of a bomb went off.

  **

  Okay, it wasn’t a bomb. But it was the loudest gun I had ever heard in my life. To my right, a very portly man stood there, touching my shoulder, hand raised. It took me a second to realize the man had shot Leto in the shoulder, sending him flying back into the wall. Trev turned and went after Leto, stripping him of his gun.

  At that exact same moment, Duke took advantage of Carlo, who had turned his head to see the newcomer.

  Duke clotheslined Carlo up on the desk and grabbed his arm, slamming it down on the desk, forcing Carlo to drop his gun. Duke then took hold of Carlo and lifted him up like he was a bag of potatoes and threw him across the office, against the wall.

  Carlo hit with a thud and looked as surprised as me.

  In a matter of a few seconds, the tables were officially turned.

  Duke and Trev were holding weapons. Carlo and Leto were the ones being held hostage. Leto was curled up in the corner of the office, holding his shoulder, crying.

  “You,” Jim said. “I know you.”

  “Yes, you know,” the man who shot Leto said.

  “This is Ivan,” Duke said as he dropped down to one knee next to me. “Our Russian friend.”

  I looked at Duke and then dove off the chair into his arms.

  He’d done it. He’d saved me.

  Duke squeezed me tight. “Fuck, sweetie, I’m so sorry that happened. I should have never…”

  “Duke,” Trev said. “We have to bolt out of here sooner than later.”

  “Right,” Duke said. He stood up and nodded down at me. “Go to the door, Belle.”

  “This is all you need to see,” Trev said to Ivan. “These are the ones.”

  “Right,” Ivan said. “A pain in my ass. Stealing money. Fucking everything up.”

  I slowly walked toward the door. There was a lingering sense of death in the air and I didn’t like it at all. When I got too close to Trev, he swung his right hand and gently nudged me right against the door. I twisted the lock to unlock the door and I waited.

  “So this is all settled,” Duke
said.

  “Fuck you!” Carlo said. “You’re not getting away with this shit. You fucks are going to pay.”

  “Actually,” Duke said, “I think he’s right about that.”

  “Very true,” Trev said.

  Duke grabbed the bag of money off the floor. “This, Ivan, is the winnings from the fight. This is your owed money. When the land deal fails completely, the MC will then take up the fifty grand with the Hell Five personally. Does that sound fair?”

  “Yes,” Ivan said. “Very fair to me.”

  “Now, Belle and Jim are free to go,” Duke said.

  “Not my hostages,” Ivan said.

  That’s when Jim broke away from the wall and ran toward me. Trev took a second and cut the rope from Jim. My brother hugged me as we were both shaking.

  “Holy fuck, Belle,” Jim said. “I’m so sorry…”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “It’s going to be okay.”

  Jim stood next to me as the meeting with Back Down Devil MC, the Hell Five, and the Russian man continued.

  Duke put the bag on the table. “This is yours, Ivan. You can do what you want with these guys.”

  “No, no,” Ivan said. “This is not my problem. This is yours. Your club’s problem.”

  “I’m going to get you for this,” Carlo said. “I’m going find that fine pussy of hers and rip it apart.” Carlo looked at me. “I will get you. I have contacts. I have ways…”

  “Shut up!” Duke yelled.

  “That’s right,” Carlo said. “Be afraid.”

  I had to admit. The guy was scaring the hell out of me. He was goading Duke into doing something.

  “You touch me and you die,” Carlo said.

  “Duke, let’s ride,” Trev said.

  “Wait a sec, Prez,” Duke said. He then looked at Ivan. “You still want that blood money, Ivan?”

  “Yes,” Ivan said.

  “Good,” Duke said.

  He grabbed the bag of money and held it up. A second later he threw the bag right at Carlo. Carlo’s natural instinct was to catch the bag. As he put his hands out to do so, Duke lifted his gun and shot.

  I let out a scream and watched Carlo bounce against the wall and fall over to the floor. He was dead. There was money on the floor. Some of it had blood on it. I guess that was considered to be blood money.

  “Now we’re done here,” Duke said.

  He wiped the gun down and tossed it to the floor. He set his attention to me and scooped me up. It maybe wasn’t the right time or place to kiss but we both couldn’t wait any longer. It was such an intense moment between us. How close we had come to actually losing each other for good.

  I told myself it was all finally over.

  But then Ivan changed the course of it all with one sentence.

  “There’s just one more thing…”

  thirty-three.

  (duke)

  The feel of Belle in my arms was like nothing else. It was the reason for my life. It was the most intense feeling ever. I could never lose her. I could never let her go. Too much had happened between us and things needed to finally find a way to settle down.

  As I kissed her I tried to envision the rest of our lives together. She would learn the MC life and we would make it all work. Not everything would be a constant barrage of violence and death. That’s not how the life worked. It was just a rough time and it was getting ready to finally pass by.

  My plan was to carry Belle out of there in my arms, but then Ivan spoke up and stopped my plan.

  “There’s just one more thing…”

  I turned around as Ivan stepped toward us.

  “What is it?” Trev asked.

  “The land deal,” Ivan said.

  “It’s dead,” I said. “There’s a police investigation going on right now. Our lawyers are working close with everyone they could. There is no way in hell that land is going to transfer ownership. Everything goes back to normal.”

  “It was a big problem for me,” Ivan said. “A very big inconvenience for my organization.”

  “Agreed,” Trev said. “And now you have your blood money. You have a body…”

  “No, that’s for stealing my money,” Ivan said. “This land problem… so sorry.”

  Ivan lifted his hand, his big gun in his hand. I turned my head and saw Jim’s face drop.

  “No!” I screamed as I threw my hands back, knocking Belle against the door, forcing her to open and fall outside.

  The gun thundered with a boom and Jim’s body ricocheted back, throwing him so hard against the wall, he ended up flying forward, face down.

  It all happened so fast I had no chance to react.

  “Now we’re done,” Ivan said.

  I was stuck in the middle of the scene. To my right was my girl, Belle, on her ass, on the ground, outside. To my left was my best friend, Jim, face down, bleeding everywhere.

  Stuck between life and death.

  How fucking fitting for me.

  **

  Jasper had two coffees in his hands. He crouched and gave one to me and one to Belle. He nodded to me and I nodded back. Belle just stared at the floor, her eyes saddened and in disbelief.

  I sipped the coffee and stared at the white hospital floor.

  Jim was in surgery.

  Ivan had purposely shot Jim but he also purposely shot Jim in a way that would give him a chance to survive. Truthfully, Ivan could have shot Jim in the head or the heart, but he didn’t. That alone was a sign of respect to the MC. Try explaining that to Jim - or Belle - and it was impossible to do so.

  “He’ll be okay,” I whispered to Belle. “He’s a tough asshole.”

  Belle nodded. She sipped the coffee. She held the paper cup between her hands. I saw her fingers interlock. She didn’t wear nail polish. She didn’t have any rings on either. I had never met a woman like Belle… someone who could be so classically beautiful without a damn thing on. She could roll out of bed, skip brushing her teeth, skip touching up her hair, and she would be breathtaking to me.

  I slid off my chair and turned to face her. I grabbed the coffee from her hand and put it on the floor, along with mine. I took her hands and held them tight.

  “Sweetie, this is what it’s all about,” I said. “About fighting and pulling through. Making things work. That’s what we do in the club. Not everything goes right and not everything goes to plan. But we make it work. I hate the way you feel right now, Belle. I want to capture it and steal it for the rest of your life.”

  “I can’t stop thinking about you, Duke. Not Jim. You.”

  “Me? What about me?”

  Belle’s eyes met mine. “I couldn’t go through this if it was you in there. If you got shot. If you got hurt. I get why you never came back, Duke. Because of this feeling inside me right now.”

  “Ah, sweetie…”

  “No. Listen to me.”

  “Okay, fine. I’m all ears.”

  “I want this, Duke. Whatever it is and whatever it takes. Nobody could ever be you or replace you. But I hate the idea of you going out there and getting hurt. Just like all those years ago. You’d come home from training and you were so happy. But I was scared something was going to happen. You got sent over there and it was bad for me. I was in such a dark place. I had nowhere to turn. My father was going through the same thing because of Jim. I spent every hour waiting for you to call me. And even when we talked, it wasn’t enough and it wasn’t the same.” Belle’s eyes filled with tears. “The night before it all happened, I had this dream. It was us. We had a house. We had a baby. I… I woke up feeling alive. I woke up feeling a future. Then it all changed.”

  I wrapped my arms around Belle and let her cry. Shit, I had been over there dodging bullets and never really thought about what it was like for Belle. Or for anyone who was back home. They were enjoying their basic freedoms and chasing their opportunities but they were also carrying heavy hearts of worry for those who weren’t there.

  What a fucked up thing to go through.<
br />
  “Listen, sweetie, I love you,” I said. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that and then some. I told you, I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it all up to you. You will never be alone. You will never feel alone.” I slid my hands up her face and forced her to look at me. Tears streamed down her cheeks, over my thumbs. “I will forever fight for us. For you and me to be together. When I go out on the road, yeah, there’s a chance the reaper might claim my ass. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to live in fear. And it also means that every moment we have together we take full advantage of it.”

  That’s when it hit me. The truth of the rest of my life.

  I felt words slipping up to my tongue that shouldn’t be said in a hospital in such a dire time.

  I opened my mouth again to say something but someone called Belle’s name.

  It was the doctor.

  We both stood up, holding hands, ready to face whatever waited.

  I kissed the top of Belle’s head.

  Then I asked, “How is he, Doc?”

  **

  Jim survived surgery. It took him hours to wake up and I sat in a chair next to his bed until he did wake up. When his eyes fluttered open, I grabbed his hand and stood up.

  “Brother,” I whispered.

  “Asshole,” Jim groaned. “You got me shot.”

  I smiled. “You deserved it.”

  “Probably.”

  I stood there, smiling at my best friend. For a split second I saw Jim as a ten year old out of control punk kid. Clothespins holding baseball cards to our tires so it sounded like we were riding motorcycles. Stealing Big Jim’s air rifle to sneak out into the woods and shoot squirrels and birds. Getting caught and Big Jim cracking both of us across the ass with his bare hand. Not being able to sit down for hours but laughing the entire time.

  That was my best friend right there.

  Then we’d go upstairs and pick on his little sister. Twist the heads around on her dolls and convince her they were evil. Poor Belle, right?

  Life was such a sick journey. A wild and twisted ride.

  Belle came into the room and broke down in tears. She hugged Jim and he mustered up enough strength to hug her back. Then the entire MC came into the room.

  To my shock, some of our brothers from Frelen were there.