Madeline Sheehan - Unbeautifully

He glanced over at the waiting minister, then back at Eva. “What she said,” he grunted. Then he turned to their guests.

“This is it,” he bellowed. “This here is me and fuckin’ Eva and this is our fuckin’ road and anyone who doesn’t like it, anyone who’s got somethin’ fucked-up to say, can get the fuck off our road!”

The crowd—his boys, their family and friends, even Preacher—erupted in happy cheers and laughter.

“You may kiss your bride,” the minister said, shaking her head.

He didn’t waste any time. He grabbed his woman, his wife, his Eva and lifted her off her feet and crushed her to him. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her arms around his neck, and their mouths crashed together.

“’Bout fuckin’ time!” Blue bellowed from his place at the bar just before “Born to be Wild” blasted through the outside speakers and drowned out the cheering.

Eva pulled away laughing, happy tears rolling down her cheeks. He curled his hand into a fist and ran his knuckles down the side of her face.

“There it is,” he whispered.

“What?” she whispered back.

“You, Eva. Just fuckin’ you.”

They both turned to watch as Kami threw herself across the aisle at Cox. Beside them, Dorothy buried her face in her hands, her veil of red hair shielding her from view, and burst into tears.

Mick rolled his eyes. “Idiots,” he muttered. “I’m surrounded by idiots.”

And Danny…he paused to study his oldest daughter.

“Mama!” Ivy cried out, bursting out of the crowd, gunning for Eva. Eva turned away from him to bend down and catch their daughter as she toddled up the stairs and into her mother’s arms.

Deuce looked back to Danny, worried about the strange expression on her face. He followed her line of sight to…

Ripper?

They appeared to be having some kind of staring contest, the rest of the world forgotten, no winner in sight.

What the fuck?

“Yo, Danny!” ZZ said, appearing beside his daughter, startling her. She turned to ZZ.

“You wanna dance?”

Danny shot one last look at Ripper, turned back to ZZ, and nodded. Deuce watched them walk off—already planning on how many different ways he was gonna beat ZZ to death—then got up in his former sergeant at arms’ face.

“What was that?” he growled.

Ripper eyed him boldly. “What was what?”

His nostrils flared. “You. Danny. What. Was. It.”

“Baby,” Eva said, wedging herself in between them. “I wanna dance.”

Of course she did. She always had him doing stupid shit like dancing. And for some reason he was always doing it, even though he fucking hated it.

“Later,” he promised Ripper, and allowed his new wife to drag him off.

“When can we get the fuck outta here?” he asked her.

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his neck and tucked her beautiful body against his. “I love you, Deuce.” She giggled. “So, so much.”

“Babe,” he said softly, holding her tightly. “Fuckin’ yeah.”

“One more thing,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“You’re mine.”

He grinned. He sure as fuck was.

• • •

With Deuce as far away from Ripper as she could get him, Eva thanked god she’d interrupted the two of them before Ripper said something out of anger and blood was shed. The guy looked strung out, both pain and fury deeply etched in his features, and he hadn’t stopped staring at Danny since breakfast this morning. Glaring, really. He wasn’t even trying to hide it. It was a wonder no one had noticed yet. Although…

She glanced around the crowded lawn, her eyes landing on Cox, who also seemed to be more concerned with Ripper than Kami’s violent attempts at getting him to dance with her.

Danny wasn’t acting any less obvious either. And Deuce wasn’t stupid. Neither was ZZ. If Danny and Ripper weren’t careful, someone was going to put together: one, those hateful, needy looks those two were giving each other; and two, Ripper’s sudden and unexplained disappearing act, and BOOM, the mess that would follow in the wake of that discovery was going to be worse than if an atomic bomb had gone off. Deuce would know instantly why Danny had fallen apart, and his anger wouldn’t just be stemming from the secret affair but Ripper’s fault in Danny’s superseding emotional demise.

Plus the fact that Deuce had been forced to accept ZZ as a part of his daughter’s life. That because of Ripper, Danny wasn’t just hanging around the club, she was ZZ’s old lady now. It was something Deuce had never wanted for her and had only dealt with because he’d known ZZ was the sole reason he’d gotten some semblance of his daughter back.

There had been so many times Eva had wanted to tell Deuce what she knew, or tell Danny she knew why she was hurting, but the timing never seemed right. The family fights had been unending; neither Cage, nor Danny, nor Deuce could be in the same room and not start in on one another. Telling Deuce would have only added fuel to the already blazing fire, and telling Danny…

She had no idea what Danny would have done. She hadn’t wanted to push her any further away, and having had no prior experience with brokenhearted teenage girls, she was at a loss.

So she’d said nothing and though it killed her to do so, kept her distance unless her refereeing interference was needed. Eventually things began to settle. Danny would never be the same spunky, covered head to toe in pink and sparkles, sixteen-year-old girl she’d met a few years before, but the girl had recovered enough to start moving forward again and in turn, so had Cage and Deuce.

For Danny’s sake, it was a very, very good thing Ripper was leaving tomorrow. Although Deuce had convinced him to come back to the club, not that he’d ever been truly out of it, Ripper wasn’t returning to his former sergeant-at-arms status. He was going nomad. Dorothy had already replaced the territorial rocker on the back of his cut with a nomad patch, meaning Ripper would be holding no allegiance to any Horsemen chapter anywhere in the country, but would still be accepted as a full member.

It had taken a whole lot of arguing between the two men and a significant raise in equity but Ripper had eventually agreed, more than likely only out of loyalty to Deuce and the club. And despite Deuce wanting Ripper back one hundred percent of the time, this wasn’t a complete loss.

Deuce had jobs all over the country that needed “taking care of,” and if there was ever anything that Ripper was good it, it was “taking care” of things.

Just not his own things.

Like Danny.

Feeling Deuce’s hands run down her back, stopping on her backside to tightly squeeze, Eva smiled.

“You ready for Belize?” she whispered, holding him tighter.

He grunted. “Babe, I’m ready to take you inside and fuck you ’til you’re fat with another kid.”

“Okay,” she said, grinning. “But after that, aren’t you excited?”

He stopped dancing and pulled away from her. “Are you fuckin’ serious? You wanna go to Belize?”

Fighting her laughter, she nodded. “Kami booked our tickets months ago. We fly out tonight.”

Eyes narrowed, Deuce frowned. “No.”

“Yep.”

“No.”

“Yep.”

“What the fuck am I gonna do in Belize?” he shouted.

She shrugged. “No kids, me in one of the thousands of skimpy bikinis Kami made me buy, lots of drinking, lots of fucking—”

“Babe,” he interrupted. “You coulda shut the fuck up after ‘no kids.’ ”

She burst out laughing. “Deuce,” she breathed out, clutching her stomach. “But you said you wanted more.”

“Eva,” he growled softly. “I fuckin’ do. Just thinkin’ ’bout you knocked up, fat with my kid, is makin’ me hard as fuck. Don’t mean I don’t need a break from Ivy whinin’ and Danny mopin’ and Cage just bein’ a motherfuckin’ dumbass.”

Biting her lip, she stared up at him. How could she have ever thought of leaving him? This, him, them, finally at peace, had been worth waiting for; worth the pain, the tragedy, the seemingly unending heartache. He was worth everything.

Every single thing.

“Babe,” he whispered. “Can’t look at me like that and expect me to be keepin’ it reeled in.”

“Baby, don’t ever keep it reeled in,” she whispered back. “Not with me.”

Eva watched his pupils dilate, his nostrils flare, and couldn’t contain her body’s natural response. His ability to affect her instantaneously and so completely had always been true. From their first meeting, long before the sexual pull between them took root and never let go, she’d always been drawn to him, captivated by him.

She’d always been his.

She always would be his.

“Dude,” Hawk whispered, poking Ripper in the arm with his fork. “You need to stop.”

Ripper glanced away from Danny and ZZ to glare at Hawk.

“Fuck you, you fuckin’ hypocrite,” he said. “And fuck off.”

He couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of here. The only reason he was still here was because Dorothy had begged him to stay for breakfast. Which should have been quick and painless. Only he hadn’t counted on having to be seated at the opposite end of the table, directly across from ZZ and Danny, forced to watch the brother manhandle her.

She was a goddamn motherfucking whore. Letting ZZ touch her after he’d fucked her.

Hawk shrugged. “The boys know, brother. They been talkin’ all night about the way you two have been lookin’ at each other, guessin’ that it’s ’cause of Danny you took off. Only reason Z hasn’t figured it out is ’cause he’s always neck-deep in her.”