Page 94 of Duke

Hissing through my teeth, I bite out, “No. I’m not letting you be his martyr anymore.”

“Not your choice, Duke. It’s mine.”

“Fuck no.”

“He’s all I have left. He sacrificed so much to raise me.”

“Bullshit. You’re seeing things different ‘cause he’s sick.”

She slaps her palms on the table walking out.

“Son of a bitch,” I mutter fast on her heels.

She walks past my bike across the street, into the thick woods down an old logging road. I follow behind until she stops on a fallen log by a stream. She’s fighting hard not to cry. Kneeling on the ground in front of her, I cup her face with my hands, eyes begging her not to do this.

“I’d walk through hell for you. Please don’t break my heart baby girl.”

She closes her eyes, rubbing her cheeks against my palm. “I know you would. That’s why this has to end. You’d give up everything for me—I can’t let you. I decided not to keep my mother’s apartment. I donated all her furniture. It’s done. I’m staying here after graduation to look after Pops. I’ll run Stan’s, just like I always have.”

“That’s what you want? You’re giving up on your dream so easily it makes me wonder how badly you actually wanted it.”

“Fuck off! You don’t know how much this is killing me,” she yells, running down the road.

“I do. Because you’re fuckin’ killin’ me!” I roar chasing after her, all the light in my heart goes dark. All the happiness is sucked from my soul with every step she takes running away from me.

Grabbing her round the waist, I pull her back against me. We’re both out of breath, frustrated and afraid.

“Don’t do this. Choose me, Shanna. JUST. CHOOSE. ME. I can afford to hire someone to look after him.”

“I can’t.” She shakes her head. I turn her around fusing our lips together. She kisses me desperately. I kiss her back so hungrily our teeth scrape together. Biting, licking, sucking, we feast on one another. Picking her up, I hook her legs around my waist and walk her back against a tree. Unzipping my pants, I free myself, shove her shorts down and ram in.

My thrusts are desperate, I pound into her like the devil and take my pleasure. Palms full of her plump ass, hips jerking wildly, I lose my goddamn mind at the thought she’s taking herself away from me. The sound of my balls slapping against her skin echoes in the woods around us. She moves, riding my cock as I beat it into her. She’s so slick, I fall out a few times before finding my way back in.

“Don’t come in me,” she pants.

But it’s too late. My balls draw up fast; my body quakes with the force of my release. I empty myself in her, holding her tight until there’s nothing left of my body to give hers. She’s angry, probably forgot to take a pill or something.

“I didn’t want the risk of you planting a baby in me.”

“Never bothered you before.”

She shrugs, “It does now.”

Hurt and angry by her rejection, I turn walking away. She just wounded me worse than the explosion in Iraq did.

We don’t speak on the ride back.

“So be it,” I finally bite out after parking the bike in front of the garage.

Walking past her into the house, I grab my duffel bag. Flipping Colin the bird—I march out brushing past her without a backward glance. I have my pride, and she has hers. But it’s hers that ends us.

Strapping my duffel to the back of my bike, I shove my helmet on. Her sobs mix with the roar of my engine as I pull out of the drive.

So, we end the way we began—both of us angry and torn apart.

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