Page 65 of Duke

Nodding weakly, I let him lead me across the lot to his father’s old Harley. He quickly places a helmet on my head, and we’re off, racing away. My face is pressed against his back, my arms locked tightly around him, palms pressed flat on his hard pecs.

“Shanna!” Spence cries, running after us. I squeeze my eyes shut. I wish I could love him. But Duke’s imprinted on me. He’s in my blood—in my soul, and I don’t think he’s ever getting out. His powerful bike races up the hills above LA while my hair streaks out behind us.

The wildfire in my blood is strong. I want this beast of a man to mate with me. Claim and plunder me like only he can. My heart pounds, I haven’t felt this alive in months.

Duke pulls off in a patch of dirt off the side of a road.

“This is beautiful. Where are we?”

“The Hills.”

I climb off on rubbery legs, shaking my hair free from his helmet. The lush hills above LA are filled with stucco houses with red clay roofs all the way down to the Pacific Ocean, but all I see is him.

“Shanna…” He breathes my name, trembling, standing a foot away.

This huge man is shaking… for me. On a cry, I hurl myself forward savoring the smell and feel of him again. I place my arms around his neck and press my lips to his.

But he turns his face, and his arms don’t come around me like I dreamed. They stay fisted by his side.

“Duke?”

His head drops, feet planted apart, and with a hand planted in the pocket of his jeans, he half turns.

“I can’t. We can’t. I want better for you baby girl. The club life ruined your mother. She cut and run, but in the end, it killed her anyway. I won’t have that for you. Meat tells me you’ve been keeping up with your classes and that you are on track to graduate at the top of your class. I won’t have you fall to the bottom because of me. I shouldn’t have taken you out here. But I saw how much you just need to escape.”

I can’t say anything. Because in my gut; I know he’s right.

“Stay with Spence. He’s the one who can save you—not me.”

“You don’t mean that?” I answer on a broken whisper.

“It’s fuckin’ killin’ me to say this. You’ve taught me what love is, baby girl. I’m lettin’ you fly in someone else’s arms.”

“You’re wrong. I never fly in his arms… only in yours.”

“It wasn’t meant to be, baby girl. We needed closure. This is our goodbye.”

With a tear streaming down my cheek, I turn around, walking up to the road. “I’m still your cherry. I never fully gave myself to him, Duke,” I mutter under my breath so he can’t hear. He’s right. He’s so motherfucking right, that walking away is the only thing to do. I know we’d burn together but doubt I’d survive the fire. Part of me desperately hopes he’ll chase me. Run after me and haul me into his arms… take me captive and ride off into the sunset to plunder me all night. I want him to do that with every fiber of my being. But a bright red pickup navigating the curves of the hill below tells me someone else is coming to bring me home. I stop and wait.

“Get in.”

“Hey Meat. Duke called you?”

He nods, cutting his eyes back to the road.

“Where’s Pops?”

“Back at the funeral home.”

“I can’t—won’t go back there.”

“Where you gonna go then?”

“Her place? Duke said it was safe?”

He nods again, pulling the truck around back down the hill. In my rearview mirror, I catch a glimpse of Duke, riding his bike like a total badass. A new tear falls down my cheek. Tearing my eyes away, I feel in my jacket for my cell and text Spence.

Me: Sorry. I’m so sorry.

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