Duke (11 page)

She looked up and he said, “There are a few exceptions. Police with a warrant, obviously. A few special friends have been given weapons privileges, but it takes a majority club vote. In an emergency, any three members can agree to a one-time privilege, and if we’re bringing in extra manpower, we obviously let them bring their weapons.”

“
So, for me to have my gun when I visit, there’ll need to be a vote.”

“
Yes, and I’m going to let the club get to know you a little better before I call a vote. I don’t want to pit my woman against my men. They see the club as sanctuary, where they don’t have to be on their toes twenty-four seven. Out in the world, wearing our colors? We have to be constantly ready for attack. Our rules make the compound safe — until they’re comfortable with you, they won’t feel safe if you have a piece.”

“
It can stay in the car, right? So I don’t have to drive to you without it?”

“
Technically, no. However, I think I can convince them to let you do that. I’ll be with you, you know I’ll take care of you. If something happens so there’s a problem and I’m worried about you, you know I carry two, I’ll hand one off to you as I use the other.”

Gen nodded. “I don’t like it, but I’m glad you explained it. I’ll follow your rules as long as I can leave it in the car.”

Duke nodded, Gen took a drink, and then she said, “Is Isaac really that much of a bad-ass? The more I replay the scene in my head Friday night, the more it seems your men were more upset about Isaac, even though Frisco’s the one who threw the punch.”

“
I love how your brain thinks, Beautiful. Yeah, Isaac’s a bad-ass and my men were worried about him. He has quite the reputation, but I knew he wouldn’t do anything as long as I didn’t hurt Frisco, and could assure him I had good intentions with you. I grew up with him, they didn’t, and they weren’t so sure.”

As their server brought their food, Duke said, “The club isn’t quite ready yet, but if you happen to come across some land you think would make the perfect location for a biker bar, give me a heads up. We’re probably another six to eight months out on it, but if something pops up at the right price, we might consider jumping the gun. Would mean hiring more people to work it because the club’s numbers aren’t where they need to be yet, but nothing we can’t handle.”

“
How many people are in the club?”

“
We brought eleven of us from Atlanta, men who wanted to make the change. We had another dozen who came to help us establish before going back home. We have nine prospects at the moment, another dozen associates, and nearly three dozen with permission to hang out with us.”

She shook her head. “I think we need to go back to the dictionary thing.”

Gen decided she loved the way Duke looked as she watched him laughing. He was always gorgeous, but his face transformed when he laughed.

“
Someone wants to be part of us, they let us know, we talk to them, maybe let them come on a ride or to a party. If we like them, we give them permission to hang out. This doesn’t mean they can come into the compound at any time, only for special occasions, but they can hang out at the bike shop or bar, and talk. Sometimes we’ll even give ‘em a job.”

“
Okay,” Gen said, “and when they pass that stage, they become an associate?”

“
Yes. They can come into the parking area of the compound, and onto the grassy area where we sat at the party, but can’t go farther unless invited each time. They can come to all functions, but again, not in a building unless invited. They get beyond that stage, the first cut is the prospect cut, and we don’t offer it to many. Most who make it that far eventually become a member. Takes a minimum of eight months after we offer prospect status, can take as much as two years. If you haven’t done something to prove yourself in two years, you’re done.”

“
What are prospect privileges?”

“
No weapons at first, most get weapons privileges within a few months. They can come into the clubhouse without an invite, but have to leave if we start talking ‘bout something they don’t need to hear. They go to functions with us, even patrol, but we send ‘em away at first, if things get too rough. When we’re out we have each other’s backs, and it takes time to trust someone will have your back.”

“
It’s going to take time for me to trust you, too, Keith.”

Duke nodded. “I’d prefer it if you trusted me until I gave you a reason not to, but knowing your history, I’ll give a little leeway. I was serious about you not acting afraid of me, though. Not gonna hurt you.”

“
Sometimes you can be scary.”

Duke sighed, looked at his plate a few seconds, then back up. “Do you think you can tell me I’m being scary without lookin’ like you’re scared of me?”

Gen smiled. “I can try.”

* * * *

When they finished dinner, Duke didn’t head towards her house. He’d picked her up in what he’d told her was a 1969 Ford Mustang. It was red, and shiny, and the inside looked brand new. He’d told her he had personally restored it, and she was impressed.

She’d also been relieved to see him in dress pants and a dress shirt. She’d only seen him in blue jeans up to this point. She didn’t want to change him, but it was nice to know he could clean up and look presentable when he wanted.

“
Where are we going?” she asked now, after a wonderful dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in town. She’d offered to pay the check, but had ticked him off.

He glanced at her, looked back to the road. “Now that I’ve dressed up for you, it’s time for you to dress down for me. I looked in your closet last night after you crashed, got the size of one of the pairs of jeans. Bought you three pair today, different cuts in that size, so you’ll have a choice. Took Sprite with me, she handles the paperwork at the bike shop, and she helped me pick out the jeans and some shirts and a jacket for you. Got your shoe size, too, and Sprite helped pick out some boots. It’s past time I had you on the back of my bike.

“
I’m not sure I’m comfortable with you spending this much money on me, Duke. Dinner was expensive, and the clothes, and—”

“
Hold that thought, Beautiful.”

He pulled into the compound, but instead of parking he drove just past the parking area, took a left, another left into a section Gen hadn’t seen yet, and hit a button on his visor so a door swung open. He drove through and closed the door behind him, and Gen looked around in wonder at the beautiful cars around them — Porsches, Mercedes, what she thought might be an antique Corvette… there had to be fifty cars in here.

“
Who owns these cars?”

“
They belong to club members. Three of ‘em are mine, counting this one.”

“
This your way of telling me you have plenty of money?”

He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, touched his forehead to hers. “I’m not hurtin’ for money, Beautiful. I was in good shape before we came up, and I’ve been living in the compound with practically no expenses since I came to town.” He lifted his head off her forehead, his gaze intense. “I know you have money, but you’re never going to pay when I take you out. Asking and offering will just piss me off. Please don’t do it.”

Gen looked at him a second, shocked, and finally managed to say, “You said please.”

One side of his mouth tilted up. “I did, Beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, all right. At least for a while, but there’ll be some exceptions, and I’m going to expect you to give them to me if I say please.”

Duke laughed as he parked, opened his door and stepped out. “We’ll have those discussions when the time comes.” He walked around the car, got her out, and took her to a side door they could walk through, but stopped before he opened it. “We don’t broadcast what we have in here. There’s close to two million dollars in this garage. You’re going to learn stuff about the club by bein’ with me. I’m vouching for you, so it’s important you don’t talk to anyone but me about any of this. Not even another of the club members’ wives or girlfriends, because not all of my brothers share with their women.”

Gen took a breath and said what she’d been thinking for a while, but hadn’t known how to bring it up. “Stuff like this? No problem asking me to keep my mouth shut, but I’m going to ask you not to let me know about anything illegal. I don’t want to have to lie to law enforcement, Duke.”

His eyes went dark, but he nodded and said, “Fair enough, Beautiful. I’ll do my best to keep it from you, but you can’t get mad at me for not telling you something.”

She shook her head. “You’re going to have to find a way to tell me what I need to know about you without putting me in a compromising position, Duke. If there’s something I need to know, or something you damned well know you should tell me, and you choose not to? I reserve the right to be pissed.”

“
I believe you. We’ll have to figure it out as we go along, but if you get pissed I hope you’ll give me the benefit of the doubt and hear me out.”

Gen wasn’t prepared to make any promises, so she reached for the door and went through.

She’d expected it would take them outside, but she found herself in a hallway, still inside. She looked to him and he took her hand and walked her through a couple of dark halls until they came into what she figured was the back of the main room of their clubhouse.

Half the room called, “Duke!” and Gen looked at him as he nodded to them and pulled her to the bar. “Gen, this is Gonzo. You want a shot of tequila, he’ll get you one. You want a margarita, you’ll need to go behind the bar and make it yourself. He doesn’t do mixed drinks. I need to check in on the control room. Be right back.”

* * * *

Duke had Brain install cameras on Gen’s house while he had her at dinner, so they could keep an eye on her, make sure she was safe. He’d already planted a tracking device in her car, but was stymied about how to put one on her person because she seemed to carry a different damned purse every time he saw her. He didn’t want to bug her phone, but was beginning to think it was his best bet.

“
Any problems?” Duke asked as he closed the control room door behind him.

“
None. Got a wide angle on her circular driveway, regular one on the driveway to her garage, and a hi-def one to give us the face of anyone at her front door. Also, angles in the kitchen, living room, and den. None upstairs, though I think that’s a mistake.”

“
No one sees her naked but me,” Duke growled.

Duke handed his phone to Brain, with a picture he’d taken of Gen’s phone when she’d been in the bathroom. “Tell me what I do so you can track it.”

Brain looked at it a few seconds, clicked on his keyboard a minute, printed something, looked at it, and handed it over. “Open up the number pad like you’re going to make a phone call, and punch in this sequence of numbers. Triple check you have them right before you hit the final pound sign on the end. The phone will reboot, go through a sequence, and then reboot again back into what she’s used to seeing, so make sure you have five or ten minutes with it when she isn’t around, so she won’t notice.”

“
I don’t want anyone but you and me knowing we’ve done this, and I’m trusting you to respect her privacy. Don’t read her texts, don’t listen to phone calls. We only use this to find her if she comes up missing, yeah?”

Brain nodded. “I got it, Duke. You want me to watch her housekeeper a few days, make sure there’s nothing screwy, and then get rid of the inside cameras. You want a picture of anyone who comes to her house, and you want me to keep the footage but not watch it, so if she comes up missing we can go back and look at it to see who got her.”

“
Yeah. We’re keeping her safe without spying on her. This is just between you and me. If there’s a problem and you gotta bring Dawg in, do… but no one else.”

Brain looked at one of the monitors and laughed. “Damn, I like her.”

Duke looked and saw his woman behind the bar with a shaker, pouring something into glasses for a half dozen of the men. Everyone was cutting up and laughing, including Gen.

Even Gonzo was laughing, and Duke would’ve sworn the man’s face would break before he’d ever smile again for a woman.

Shaking his head, Duke walked to the door saying, “She’s something else. I should probably go rescue the men from her before she charms them more than I want her to.”

Brain was chuckling as Duke went out the door.

By the time he made it to the bar, Gen was drinking a margarita while the men around her were drinking something dark pink from beer glasses.

“
Damn, Beautiful. Tell me you didn’t pussify my men in ten minutes?”

Tiny handed his beer glass to Duke as he said, “It’s called a Pink Panty Dropper. Try it.”

Duke took a sip and eyed his girl. “Yeah, ten minutes. Gotta be a record. What’s in it?”

“
Vodka, beer, and pink lemonade. I saw the kids drinking pink lemonade out of cans at the party. It’s better if we can freeze the lemonade first, but the boys had ice so it still worked.”

“
And I’m sure they’ll report back to you later on whether it can really drop panties or not, though I don’t think any of them have had problems with that before. Come on, Beautiful. Time to get you changed and onto the back of my bike.”

* * * *

“
You can’t expect me to change in your room with you in here!”

Duke shook his head. “Sorry, Beautiful. I keep forgetting. Let me get changed and then I’ll wait outside the door. I can’t leave you back here yet, not until the boys trust you more. Rules say no one in the back without an escort.”

Gen started to argue, but Duke started taking his clothes off and she turned around and faced the wall.

“
You can watch if you want. I’m not bashful.”

“
Well, I am, and I don’t want to…” Gen realized if she finished her sentence she’d be lying. She very much wanted to see him naked, she was just too embarrassed to watch. He might call her beautiful, but he was
gorgeous
.