Duke, page 8
“Duke?”
“We’ll phone her.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” He slung his elbow over the truck seat to glance out the back window as Sage strapped the seatbelt around her. Her excitement filled the air as he reversed out of the parking space. He purposely drove around the front and watched the detective walk to his car, taking in the make and plate before turning in the opposite direction. Duke wouldn’t be surprised if Banks or another detective put a trail on them. To determine whether or not they were being followed, he took residential roads out of the city and to the only place he knew no one could trace back to him.
“Are we going back to Susan’s first?”
“No.”
“Can I ask where we’re going?”
“Somewhere safe.” Safe now, but twenty-five years ago it’d been a death zone.
He turned on a forlorn country road, similar to Susan’s, with only one house on the dead end. The mailbox at the end of the driveway had fallen over and long grass had grown around it. He didn’t bother with a signal as he turned the wheel down the long driveway shaded by old oak trees. Duke steered to the right and left to miss large pot holes as he manoeuvred down the winding gravel path. His stomach knotted tighter the closer they approached. He’d only ever come back here once. His motive had been to never forget people couldn’t be trusted, even the closest family hid dark secrets until it was too late.
The two-story, beige-sided house crept up like the sickening feeling in his chest. He could assign each window to each room and remember what happened there. On the first floor, the right window belonged to the living room where his father sat most nights by the fireplace grumbling about the unkempt mess and often raising a hand to his mother, Duke, or one of his siblings. The left window belonged to the kitchen where his mother would hide away and cry while preparing a meal his father never approved of. The top three windows belonged to he and his siblings. Window one was where his younger brother would cry in the night. Window three was where his younger sister would sneak away and the middle window was where they’d all end up, in Duke’s bedroom. If only he’d been there that night. If only he’d stopped his brother’s cries and not woken his parents Instead, he’d snuck out, like he’d done many times after he’d turned fifteen. Life outside the house had been different, better.
“Whose house is this?”
Duke parked by the front door. “Mine.”
“Oh ...” He hardly heard her soft reply as he took in the boarded windows and pieces of yellow tape, faded, but still hanging on the porch. “You live here?”
“No.”
“But you own it?”
“Yes.” Duke didn’t let her ask another question before climbing out of the truck. His shoes crunched the old twigs and leaves that had fallen without being swept up for years. He didn’t bother to take his keys out. The door opened when he turned the knob.
“Does anyone live here?” Sage’s front was lightly pressed against his back as they walked inside.
“No.”
He’d swear the smell of burning wood still lingered in the air or was it the history echoing from the walls?
He didn’t let his eyes wander up the wood staircase in the entrance but, instead, turned into the kitchen, pulling away from Sage’s grasp. He walked to the other side of the round wooden table and faced Sage, making sure a table of distance stood between them. Her eyes swept over the kitchen. The dated wallpaper above the wood paneling had peeled in places and the sink, stove, counters, everything had a layer of dust.
He set her phone in the middle of the table. “Keep it on speakerphone. I want to hear everything.”
“Why?” He should’ve expected her snippy reply. “Do you believe what Banks is implying? Do you think I had something to with my parents being shot?”
“I want to know exactly who your mom told about hiring me. Linda? She’s your mom’s right hand at the store?”
Her eyes grew soft. “Linda wouldn’t hurt us.”
“Would she hurt Dean?”
“No. She’s like my mom, kind and sweet. Her heart is gold.”
“Or is she after gold?”
“No!”
“Vengeance comes in all forms Sage. Listen to the facts.” Duke ticked off a finger each time he named a piece of evidence. “She sent your dad threat letters. She’s been working for your mother for five years and didn’t tell you that you had a half sister. She knew your mom was at your condo yesterday at the time she was shot.”
Sage shook her head. “My gut tells me this isn’t what it seems and you of all people know how to listen to your gut.”
“I also don’t ignore facts.”
Sage slid the phone across the table and Duke caught it at the edge.
“Get my mom on the phone.”
He lifted the phone and dialed the hospital. Three pushes later and Celeste’s groggy voice answered the phone.
“Mom?” Sage ran around the table and grabbed Duke’s arm bringing her mouth closer to the phone.
“Sage?”
“Mom, are you okay?”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m here with Duke. We’re fine.”
Celeste sighed through the phone. “Thank God.”
“Mom, have you talked to the police?”
“Yes.”
“Did they tell you about Linda and Ally?”
There was silence on the other end.
“Mom?”
“Sage, I already knew.”
Sage’s hands lifted from Duke’s arm and she took a step back, eyeing the phone with a mixture of confusion and anger.
“One look at Ally and I could see pieces of you,” Celeste said.
“One look? Like, one look a year ago when I hired her or one look five years ago when you hired Linda?”
“It wasn’t my place to pry. They’d tell us when they were ready.”
The color drained from Sage’s skin. She covered her mouth with her hands. When Duke reached for her, she stepped further away.
“Sage?” Linda’s voice echoed through the room. “Sage?”
“We’re here,” Duke said. “The police suspect Sage of arranging the shootings or Linda and Ally.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“That’s their lead right now. I suspect they’ve both been brought into the police station for questioning. I need to know who you told about hiring me.”
“Not a soul.”
“Linda? Ally?”
“No.”
“I know Linda opens your store and is there by herself. Did you make the call from the store or search my name there? Are there any leads in your business that directs back to me?”
“No.” Duke heard the coolness in her tone shift. “But I see you’ve already labeled them guilty.”
“You hired me to protect you and Sage. I can’t do that if I don’t know the details.”
There was a pause on the other end. “There is no trail at my business.”
He inwardly sighed. “Thank you.” He held the phone out to Sage, but she only stared at it. “We’ll check in tomorrow,” Duke said.
“All right.”
He could hear the strain of exhaustion in Celeste’s tone.
“Thank you, Duke. Keep my daughter safe until this monster is found. I love you, Sage.” The phone went quiet without giving Sage the opportunity to reply, but by the look across her face, she wouldn’t have said a word anyway.
“I’ve never lied to her. My entire life, I never kept a secret. Not you, not the drinking or parties or drugs. She wasn’t supposed to lie to me. We had a deal. That was my dad’s role to play. Not hers.”
Duke moved closer and his fingertip grazed her shoulder. She pulled away. “Don’t touch me. You’re no better.” Her accusing eyes bore into his soul before she turned and stalked off. He kept his distance as he followed. It was his job to keep her in vision twenty-four-seven. She walked into the living room and he stopped in the entrance.
Was he giving her space or avoiding the room he’d stayed clear of during his childhood?
She walked into the middle of the room, and Duke had to blink away the memories. “What is this house?”
“We should get back on the road. We could make it back to Susan’s by early afternoon.”
Her head slowly moved from one side to the other. “You don’t get to keep things from me. My life is being splayed out for you. You don’t get to bring me to some shit hole and not tell me what it is!”
“I can’t protect you unless I have all the details.”
“Is this where you grew up?” She walked to the fireplace and picked up a gold-framed picture, wiping away a layer of thick dust. “Is this you?”
“You can’t run from the pain of your mother’s betrayal by avoiding the topic.”
“Is this your brother and sister? Where are they? Why’d you bring me here?” Each question he ignored, made her face a darker shade of red until she threw the picture and the glass shattered at his feet. He looked down. Between the broken glass, his family stared back at him as if warning him not to tell her, not to let her in, not to give someone the opportunity to take her away.
“They died where you’re standing, begging for their lives. I’ll never really know for sure because I wasn’t there to save them.”
Chapter Fourteen
LIKE A TRIGGER, the broken glass at his feet started an echoing scream in his head. Terror, fear, and pain for every person he’d loved as a boy ricocheted off the four walls in this room, slamming into him with a force of regret that nearly sent him to his knees.
He needed to escape this house, get off the property, and as far away from the memories flooding him right now as he could. The rotting smell of death burned his nostrils.
The deep, red blood splatters on the wall had been partially washed away leaving old, dark stains not nearly as big as the stains left on the wood floor planks. The thick layer of dust couldn’t hide where his mother had bled on the floor at Sage’s feet, almost dying that night like his brother and sister had.
Death. This house was a stale pit of death. He should’ve never stepped foot here again.
His hands slammed open the screen door with such force one hinge came off behind him. The dried-up, broken wooden steps creaked and cracked beneath his shoes and dirt crunched under each step.
Somewhere in the background of his mind he heard Sage call his name but couldn’t find the strength to stop walking until he felt safe, secure, and protected from the very place he’d escaped the day Duke’s father had murdered his siblings and severely injured his mother.
His feet stopped moving. His numb body stilled. He gave his brain a moment to remember his steps from that night. Slowly, he pieced the moment back together and started toward the barn. His feet carried him on the same path as that night, into the old barn and up the ladder to the second floor
Standing in the loft now, he drank in the picturesque view of the escarpment at the edge of the property and the small pond located behind the house boxed-in with pine trees. He’d once spent time swimming and splashing in the pond with his siblings on hot summer days. Those had been the best hours of the day when their father had either been working or passed out drunk in the living room. The occasions had given them an opportunity to escape—if even only for a short time—the malevolence that lived inside the walls of the house.
His brother used to enjoy cannonballs off the dock. Duke remembered him doing cannonball after cannonball one whole afternoon. His sister had practiced floating on her back. Duke had simply savored the moments of peace instead of the commonly carried fear and anxiety about how the day would play out.
After all these years he’d forgotten the good days or chosen not to remember them.
The warmth of Sage’s hand on his shoulder drew him back to the present.
“I’m sorry.” Her low whisper breezed around him and drifted out the window. “Duke, I had no idea—”
He turned and captured her mouth with his before she finished the sentence. He couldn’t talk about it. Not here, not now. He kissed away her surprised gasp, her second of reluctance, until she kissed him back, equally hard and needy. He could feel desire was only one part of her intense touch and it matched his own. The need to forget everything in their lives expect this very moment fueled both their desires.
Her warm, sweet mouth provided a delicious escape that cut through all the other emotions flowing inside him. He swallowed her soft, tantalizing moans, craving more. His hand skimmed down her body, learning all her new womanly curves and appreciating each one of them as he worked his hand to the hem of her blouse where he slipped his hand underneath. His fingertips sizzled as they slid up her silky skin and cupped her full breasts. Her moan electrified in his mouth. He wrapped the other arm around her ass, and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist. Her arm left a trail of heat when she wrapped it around his neck. Her free hand fisted the material on the front of his shirt.
He didn’t dare take his lips off her, afraid this moment might end without nearly kissing and touching her enough. As he walked, totally lost in the woman he had never stopped craving, his pristine memory worked in the background and helped him step over the missing floorboards and avoid the boards that had barely held him as a kid.
When his shoe touched the edge of a bale of hay, he set her to her feet. Her fingers began to unbutton his shirt, her lips nibbling on his. Each second that past unearthed the desire he’d hidden for so long. He slid the edge of her shirt off her shoulder and his mouth moved down her neck, sprinkling kisses, and nibbling along the way. Her body arched against him at his touch. They’d always meshed well together. If he could live right here, in this moment, forever, he would.
He tore her shirt over her head. Her hair fell back around her bare shoulders and he tilted his head back to watch her unbuckle her shorts and slip them down over her curvy hips.
A sharp intake of breath escaped between his teeth as her hands skimmed over his bare middle and up his torso to his shoulders, in a seductive dance to rid him of his shirt. She slid his shirt down his arms. He caught it with one hand before it hit the floor, and then laid it on the hay bale behind her.
He didn’t dare talk and break the spell between them, but his fingers caught her chin and pulled her face close to his. He searched her eyes the way he’d searched a thousand times before, only he was looking for a different answer. Not guilt, or involvement. She had to be absolutely sure this was what she wanted. Her full, round eyes answered him—the removal of her bra assisted too.
He picked her up and brought her breasts to his mouth, kissing the bare tops before laying her on her back.
She gasped and then giggled, which he once again captured with his mouth. His fingertips dug into her hair and he pulled her mouth firmly against his.
His sensibility had vanished. If he’d been thinking straight, he’d realize the rift sex with Sage would cause between them.
But damn, he’d missed her.
Damn, she felt good.
So instead of stopping her when she unzipped his pants, kicking them and his briefs over his hips with her foot, he let her pull him on top of her sunk and inside her warmth.
SAGE HAD A ONE TINY millisecond in the furthest part of her lucid mind that told her to step away from Duke and stop whatever they had started. A tiny millisecond she completely ignored when their lips turned into frantic hot kisses, relieving her of any reluctance. If he’d wanted to talk, he wouldn’t have kissed her. If he didn’t want to kiss her, he would’ve walked away—he didn’t do anything without pristine calculation. And if she’d been smarter, she would never have followed him into the barn. However, there was no going back now, even if her senses tried to word in. Duke moved in and out of her, quick and hard, just like their first rendezvous on the couch and she became lost in the past as much as the now.
His teeth nipped her chin, drawing her back to him. Desire consumed the panic in his eyes she’d witnessed earlier, giving him a gentler, kinder side he didn’t often show. She recognized the man watching her now, even if he didn’t want to reveal this part of him, it was by far her favorite.
Sweat glistened across his forehead and she ran her fingers over his softer face. There were no stress lines and no firm concentration now. He didn’t flinch or move away from her touch. It was just the two of them. His head dipped down and kissed her again. She dug her fingertips into his scalp and pulled his mouth harder against hers as her body started to spiral with him.
Chapter Fifteen
THE DRIVE BACK to Willow Valley was a quiet one. Not a word had been exchanged after they’d collapsed on the hay and the reality of what they’d done settled in like the dry, scratchy hay that had rubbed her bare ass.
What could they say?
What was there to discuss?
Neither of them had planned to have sex in the barn, but the reality of it left them awkwardly avoiding eye contact as they dressed and loaded back into the truck.
Watching the house fade away down the driveway had brought a flood of questions to Sage’s mind. How had his family died? When had they died? Had all of them died? During the long drive, no appropriate moment presented itself for her questions and she remained quiet.
Back at Susan’s house, Duke parked beside Stone’s truck and Sage broke the silence.
“Let’s not talk about what happened back there. It was a moment of escape for both of us, clearly not to be repeated and nothing more.”
“Okay.”
His one word burned disappointment inside her.
What had she been expecting—for him to disagree? To sweep her off her feet like she’d once hoped he would? Her logical, safe side—the one she’d developed in her best years––didn’t want any part of a relationship with him. But maybe somewhere, deep in the ravine of her heart, was a different story.
