A Ride or Die Kind of Love

by Chelsea Camaron

  Eva went screaming crazy and lunged. Cursing, he tried to grab her, but the crazy bitch faked right and then went left, managing to coldcock Cox in the jaw just before he caught her and hauled her backward.

  “You’re fuckin’ dead, bitch!” Cox shouted.

  Deuce snapped. Shoving Eva off to the side, he spun around, grabbed Cox by his shirt, and slammed him into a wall. “Bitch is pregnant, and you’re gonna threaten her? You’re gonna fuckin’ threaten my fuckin’ pregnant woman?”

  “Oh, Evie,” Kami wailed, forgetting entirely about a very homicidal Cox. She threw her arms around Eva, and together they sank down to the floor in a tangle of brown and blonde hair.

  He released Cox and slumped back against the wall. He hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, and there was too much crazy going on around him to deal with on no sleep.

  “Settled this shit in my head already,” Cox hissed. “I’m takin’ my kid home.”

  “You’re not taking my son away from me!” Kami cried.

  Cox glared at her. “Then you best pack your shit and find a fuckin’ place to live in Montana.”

  Kami scrambled to her feet. “Montana!” she shrieked. “Devin is not going to Montana!”

  Deuce wasn’t quick enough to grab Cox before he got up in Kami’s face. “Bitch,” he hissed, “I want to know my fuckin’ kid. You already stole four fuckin’ years from me. You’re not stealin’ any more.”

  Kami’s lower lip trembled. “You don’t understand,” she whispered. “Until Devin, my entire life was spent doing what I was told, and then finding ways to fill up the empty space in between. The drugs and drinking and the sex—all of it—was me not knowing what to do with myself, not knowing where I belonged. The moment Devin was placed in my arms everything clicked into place, and suddenly, I knew exactly what I was meant to do and where I belonged. I can’t let you take him from me.”

  Her voice grew shrill. “I can’t let you take the only person in the world besides Evie that has ever meant anything to me!”

  Eva burst into a fresh bout of tears. Sighing, convinced he was the only sane person left in the world, Deuce pulled her to him and started rubbing her back.

  Cox turned away from Kami. “Shit,” he muttered. “Shit. Shit. Fuckin’ shit.”

  He turned back around and took Kami’s hand in his. “Woman, I wouldn’t have taken him from you; we woulda worked somethin’ out, back-and-forth bullshit. I’d never take my boy from his mama.”

  Kami burst into tears, and her knees buckled. Cox caught her before she crumpled to the floor, scooped her up in his arms, and took off down the hall. Deuce watched him lean down and kiss Kami’s forehead before he made a left, and they were out of sight.

  He decided to start back up where he left off. “Where’s your room, Eva?”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  His nostrils flared. Jesus Christ, all he wanted to do was get this bitch to her room and take care of her.

  “For fuck’s sake, what the fuck are you sorry for?”

  “The motel,” she whispered. “I wasn’t thinking, and I didn’t put a condom on you before I…and you didn’t pull out…” she trailed off.

  He stared at her.

  “You tellin’ me that’s my kid inside you? Not that fuckin’ pretty boy’s?”

  “No,” she said, dropping her eyes. “I’m telling you I’m sorry because I don’t know whose kid is inside me.”

  • • •

  I had never planned to tell Deuce I was pregnant, therefore, I had never envisioned what his reaction was going to be. Whatever reactions I had dreamed up during the three seconds it took me to tell him that the baby might be his, the reaction he had was not one I would have ever dreamed up.

  “Can you walk?”

  Huh?

  “What?”

  “Can you walk?” he repeated. “Or do you need me to carry you?”

  I blinked. “Carry me?”

  “Yeah, babe. Carry you to the shower.”

  Oh God, he was trying to take care of me. How could a man be so perfect for me and yet so wrong for me all at the same time?

  “I’m disgusting,” I whispered.

  His eyebrow rose. “Yeah, babe, that’s why I’m tryin’ to get you in the shower.”

  “No!” I cried. “I mean I’m disgusting! I’m a whore!”

  Deuce’s face went rock hard. “Fuckin’ listen to me. Up until you started askin’ favors usin’ your pussy as payment, you’d been with only two men. Me and Frankie. You’re not a fuckin’ whore. You’re a fuckin’ idiot.”

  I gaped at him.

  “Yeah, babe, an idiot. You’ve been takin’ care of that crazy fuckwad so damn long you think it’s your fuckin’ destiny. Chase knew that; he saw an opening, and he fuckin’ took it. And because he took it, he’s gonna fuckin’ die. But, babe, you’re not a whore—farthest thing from it.”

  I swallowed hard. “I’m still disgusting,” I whispered.

  His eyes flashed with anger. “Goddammit, Eva! What the fuck did I just—”

  “I liked it!” I blurted out. “I don’t even like Chase all that much, but I liked fucking him and stuff…because I’m disgusting! I did things with him…” My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard.

  “Disgusting things…and I liked them, and I liked that it was him doing them,” I finished in a small voice.

  Deuce took a deep breath, and then blew it out slowly. This was it. In about two seconds, he was going to tell me exactly how disgusting I was, and then I would never see him again.

  “Eva,” he growled. I braced myself.

  “You’re bein’ an idiot again.”

  “Excuse me?” I whispered.

  “You heard me. You’re bein’ an idiot. But I get why you’re bein’ an idiot. You’d never fucked someone just to fuck ’em. So I’m gonna lay this out for you, babe. You don’t gotta like someone to like fuckin’ ’em. You can even hate their fuckin’ guts and still like fuckin’ ’em. Sometimes that’s the best kinda fuckin’. Angry, crazy, fucked-up fuckin’. You got nothin’ to be ashamed of, darlin’.

  “That said, it don’t mean I’m not fuckin’ pissed as hell that you’ve been in another man’s bed and enjoyin’ it, that you might got a kid inside you that ain’t mine, and that you’ve been runnin’ from me for eight fuckin’ years now. I know I’m a fuckin’ bastard with a bad temper, and I don’t fuckin’ deserve you, but shit, Eva, if you woulda stayed put, I woulda done better by you than you’ve had. You feel me?”

  I stared at him. And fell in love with him all over again.

  “I feel you,” I whispered.

  His eyes went soft. “Babe,” he said gently, “I know that fuckin’ look. Can’t fuckin’ tell me you might have my kid inside you, then look at me the way you’re lookin’ at me, and expect me to keep it reeled in.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t do this anymore.”

  “What part, babe? You can’t keep tryin’ to save Frankie from himself? Or you can’t keep fuckin’ Chase? Or you can’t keep pretendin’ that this crazy shit between us is gonna go away just ’cause you keep runnin’?”

  It was infuriating how well he knew me without even knowing me.

  “All three,” I snapped.

  “That’s good, babe, ’cause I can’t do this anymore either.”

  I drew my brows together. “What can’t you do?”

  “I’m gettin’ old, babe. Got grown-ass kids and gray fuckin’ hair. Spent too much time married to a bitch I couldn’t stand and too much time beatin’ myself up for wishin’ I was balls-deep in a bitch eighteen years younger than me. Add that shit together and that equals me being fuckin’ miserable for a long fuckin’ time. So yeah, I can’t do this anymore. Can’t fuckin’ live without you. Want you on my bike and in my bed. Want my kids inside you. Want you by my side, babe, for as long as I got left.”

  By his side.

  “By your side?” I whispered.

  His hand went to my neck and tugged on
the chain around it. For a moment, I thought he was going to break his father’s necklace again. Instead, he tugged it out of my shirt and held it up in front of my face. The medallion spun around. “You think I just like decoratin’ ya?”

  I sucked in air.

  It wasn’t his father’s. It looked exactly the same as his father’s, except the back of this one read Deuce.

  My chin began to tremble. “I thought…I-I thought you’d put your father’s necklace back on me.”

  He shook his head. “Told you, you shoulda never been wearing that. You shoulda been wearin’ mine.”

  Sheesh. I was going to cry again.

  “Fuckin’ listen, Eva, and listen good. Words are shit, and I ain’t good with them anyway. So here’s the fuckin’ truth for you—straight up. I’m forty-eight years old, gonna be forty-nine all too soon, and I damn well know a good thing when I see it. And, babe, all I’ve ever been able to fuckin’ see is you. Not many chances a man has in his lifetime to do right, to earn the love of a good woman, and to get a taste of true freedom. And, babe, for me, you’re all fuckin’ three. Have been for a good while now.”

  He dropped my necklace, cupped my cheeks, and tilted my head back.

  “Whatever this shit is between us, it’s always been there, and it’s always gonna be there. I’m shit-fuckin’ tired of tryin’ to ignore it. I’ll try to do right by you, Eva. You’d be the first, but I’ll fuckin’ try my damnedest. And, baby, true freedom is the open road, the wind on your face, and a good woman on the back of your bike, holdin’ you tight like you’re her reason for breathin’ because she sure as fuck is yours.”

  My mouth fell open. Didn’t he just tell me he wasn’t good with words, and then he went and said all that to me? I was floored. Shocked to my core. I wasn’t wrong about him after all.

  “Deuce,” I whispered, “you love me.”

  He eyes went skyward, and he snorted. “Babe. Yeah. Long time now.”

  • • •

  Deuce watched her go liquid. Every part of her just went soft. Fuck, he loved that look. That look told him that he was her whole fucking world.

  “OK,” she whispered. “No more running.”

  He breathed in a ragged breath of relief.

  “Jesus, babe,” he muttered as he ran his knuckles down her cheek. “’Bout fuckin’ time. Now, where’s your fuckin’ room?”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Deuce, accompanied by Cox, walked onto the thirty-fifth floor of Martello Tower, into the law offices of Fredericks, Henderson, and Stonewall, and stopped in front of a very pretty, very young, wide-eyed receptionist.

  “Do you have an appointment?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Cox muttered. He pulled an envelope out of his back pocket and slapped it down on the desk. “A thirty-fuckin’-thousand-dollar appointment, which buys us you keepin’ your mouth shut and not callin’ security. You feel me?”

  Her mouth fell open, and she stared down at the envelope. “Thirty thousand dollars?”

  “Yup.”

  “Legal?”

  “It’s not tagged, darlin’.”

  She jumped out of her chair and spun around. They both stared as her skirt-clad ass went up in the air as she bent down and rummaged through a file cabinet. She resurfaced with a purse and sweater and snatched up the envelope.

  “Thank you,” she said breathlessly. “I hate Mr. Henderson! He is the worst boss I have ever had! I’m so going back to bartending!”

  She let out an excited shriek, flashed them a killer grin, and ran out of the office.

  They looked at each other. “That was easy,” Cox said.

  “She forgot her photos,” he said, pointing at her desk.

  Shrugging, they headed past reception and straight into Chase’s office.

  He glanced up from his laptop.

  Deuce stepped forward. “Eva Fox,” he growled.

  Chase glanced between him and Cox and stuck on Cox. His eyes went wide. “Jesus,” he muttered. “It’s about time you came and picked up your kid. Wasn’t sure how much longer I could stomach pretending the little spic was mine.”

  Cox’s fists clenched.

  “Eva Fox,” Deuce reminded him.

  Chase glanced back at him. “I’m a little busy right now. Do you mind coming back another time? Maybe making an appointment?”

  Cox sat down on a leather armchair and put his feet up on Chase’s desk. “We’ll wait.”

  “Yeah,” Deuce said, spotting a photograph of Eva. He picked it up off the desk. “You take your fuckin’ time.”

  Her high school graduation. She was wearing her gown, holding her cap in her hand and grinning, looking like she didn’t have a care in the world. His mouth went dry looking at it. That photo had been taken right before he had her in that alleyway and made her his forever.

  “Beautiful, isn’t she?” Chase murmured.

  Yeah, she fucking was, but he wasn’t going to mince words. He had come here for a reason, and it wasn’t to discuss how beautiful his woman was.

  “Thought you only had to worry ’bout Frankie Deluva, yeah? And since Deluva’s locked up tight, you thought you had nothin’ to worry ’bout.”

  Chase smirked. “I take it I was wrong?”

  “Yeah, asshat,” Cox said. “You were fuckin’ wrong.”

  Chase pointed his index finger between him and Cox and grinned. “Are you both here defending Mrs. Fox-Deluva’s honor? Because if that’s the case, I’m sorry to tell you, but I’m pretty certain I fucked it all out of her.”

  “Sorry, slick,” Deuce said to Chase. “Eva’s got fire inside her you ain’t never touched.”

  “Considering I’ve touched every possible part of her there is to touch, including her womb, I’m inclined to disagree with you.”

  His nostrils flared.

  “Oh,” Chase arrogantly continued, “didn’t you know? Funny thing about condoms. They don’t work very well when you break them beforehand. So as far as Eva’s fire is concerned, I think I’ve cornered the market.”

  “Funny thing ’bout condoms,” he growled. “They don’t work very well when you don’t use them at all.”

  Deuce watched, satisfied, as Chase lost his grin and anger flickered in his eyes.

  “Oh, didn’t ya know,” he said, “I’ve been cornerin’ that fuckin’ market ’bout twelve years now.”

  Cox leaned forward and plucked a framed photo off the desk. “Goddamn, Kami looks slammin’ in a bikini,” he drawled. “Like her better naked, though. And ridin’ my face screamin’ my fuckin’ name.”

  Chase shrugged. “You think Kami screams, you should hear Eva.”

  Holy shit, he wanted to kill this asshole.

  Chase folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his desk chair. “That baby is mine,” he said evenly. “I made sure of it.”

  Gritting his teeth, he counted to ten before he did something that would land him in a cell next to Frankie. While he was counting, he stared at the picture of Eva. Why did this asshole have a picture of Eva from her high school graduation? Unless…

  He looked back at Chase. Fucker was a cruel bastard, but if he just wanted a taste of Eva, he wouldn’t have tried to get her pregnant. He wouldn’t have her photo on his desk, a photo taken twelve years ago, no less, and he wouldn’t give a shit who else she was fucking.

  Jesus Christ…

  “I know what Eva sounds like when she’s screamin’,” Deuce said quietly, waiting for the reaction he knew would come.

  “Know what it feels like to be buried deep inside, her sweet pussy squeezin’ my shit so fuckin’ hard it hurts.”

  Chase’s face went tight.

  “Best part—and you should know this since you’re fuckin’ her—is when she’s comin’ and screamin’ she loves me and—”

  Chase lunged forward in his chair, and his fists came down on his desk. “Shut the fuck up!”

  Yeah, Chase Henderson loved Eva Fox.

  “Funny thing ’bout Eva,” Cox said.
“Prez don’t ever shut up ’bout her. We quit tryin’ to make him a long fuckin’ time ago. Always talkin’ ’bout her big titties and tight pussy—”

  “Get out,” Chase hissed. “Or I’m calling security.”

  “Don’t worry, kid,” Deuce said. “We’re gettin’ the fuck out. Came up here to feel you out, see what the fuck your game was. See if I needed to take you to ground, but I get it now, know exactly what you’re about. You ain’t got no game. You just want my woman, plain and simple. Wanted her for a long time now. Wanted her so bad you were desperate enough to settle for fee-for-service fuckin’ instead of love.”

  Chase’s jaw locked up tight.

  “I ain’t got shit to worry ’bout. Eva’s never gonna look at you as anything more than a ride she got off on.”

  “GET! OUT!”

  Grinning, Deuce lifted his chin at Cox, and they headed for the door. Not a moment later, after they had closed Chase’s door behind them, something smashed against it, rattling the walls.

  “We’re not gonna kill ’im?” Cox asked.

  “Trust me,” he said. “This is much fuckin’ worse. Boy is in a world of hurt. Been hurtin’ for a long time now. We just sharpened the fuckin’ blade a little. He’ll bury himself in no time…that is, if Frankie doesn’t find out and do it first.”

  Cox nodded. “Sweet.”

  Once they were inside the elevator, he grabbed Cox by his neck and slammed him into the wall. “You ever fuckin’ talk ’bout Eva’s tits or pussy again, I will fuckin’—”

  “Prez!” Cox said, laughing. “That was all for show. Chill the fuck out.”

  • • •

  Freshly showered and sipping a tall glass of ginger ale, I was sitting in my beanbag chair, watching Kami and Devin curled up in my bed sleeping, and hoping like hell Devin wasn’t going to need counseling from the events of the day.

  Because I sure did.

  My bedroom door clicked and opened slowly. Cox walked in first, followed by Deuce. Cox’s gaze flickered over me before landing on Kami and Devin. There was possession in his eyes. He wasn’t giving up his kid—no way in hell. I wasn’t sure what that meant for Kami, but I was going to find out.