“No more than me, Frankie. No more than me.” I reached out and grabbed his arm, waiting for Charlie to make the first move. He stepped out of the car and held the door open, smiling sweetly to whoever he was talking to. Then I saw her. I forgot how to breathe when I saw my whole life emerge from the car. She was breathtaking, literally, just as she had always been. Her tight skirt wrapped perfectly around her toned, tanned legs. She stood tall in a pair of black heels, and even from here, I could see the necklace I gave her dangling on top of her black, button down shirt. She was fucking perfect, and she was mine.
“Get out,” I snapped at Frankie, he needed to do something to piss me off. The sight of Dallas for the first time in over ten days was throwing me off my game.
“You ain’t got to holler at me, you cocky little fuck. I’m going.” Well, that did it.
“Charlie may not kill you. He may actually let you live. Don’t push your fucking luck with me, though. I want you dead.” Frankie mumbled something I couldn’t understand and got out of the truck. I took a deep breath and stepped out. Time to make a deal with the Devil.
Dallas
I didn’t know where we were heading. Charlie had just said that he wanted to show me his cabin. I had asked him when I would get to see Luke, but he told me ‘when it is time’ in that voice that let me know I shouldn’t ask again. I thought the gravel road we had turned onto looked familiar, but in Texas, there were many open fields that looked just like this one. I still wasn’t sure if it was the right place until I saw Luke’s truck barreling down the road. Without realizing it, I had grabbed onto Charlie’s hand and squeezed. I couldn’t believe my eyes when his truck came into full view and I saw him for the first time. I looked at Charlie and smiled, he didn’t smile back, only watched my reaction. Luke backed his truck into the yard across from us so that the vehicles were facing one another.
“It’s time to get out, Dallas. Are you ready?” I nodded enthusiastically, the words ‘ultimate sacrifice’ resurfacing in my mind. I didn’t care about anything except seeing Luke at this point. Charlie stepped from the car, and reached his hand out for me to take, smiling warmly. I slid across the seat and placed my hand in his. When the doors were closed and I had a full view of Luke’s face, I noticed that he looked pissed as he looked at Frankie. How had he managed to ride all the way up here with him? Was he alone? The thought of Luke, alone with Charlie, Frankie and all of Charlie’s goons sent a shiver up my back. Where was the club? Every thought, every worry and all my fear subsided when Luke stepped from the truck.
He was so amazingly perfect that I had to remind myself to breathe. Even with his left eye still black and slightly puffy, the cut in his lip and the bandage he wore over his eyebrow- he was beautiful. There was no way any person on this planet could feel as strongly towards someone as I did Luke. He wore loose fitting jeans and a flawless white t-shirt. He was the only man I knew that could make something so simple, look so damn good. He didn’t wear his normal black ‘DFFD’ hat, but in its place sat a gray cap with an Under Armor symbol. It was turned around backwards and Luke looked like a street thug mixed with biker and a hint of country boy, hence his brown squared toed cowboy boots that he wore on his feet. The six foot two bad boy wore a look of determination as he stood with his arms crossed, baring the tattoos that covered them for all of us to see. How had I managed to survive ten days without him? Charlie took a step towards Luke and I was thankful that he was holding my hand, or else I would have fallen flat on my face. I willed my legs to walk at an even pace with him, when all they wanted to do was take off running and wrap around Luke’s waist.
Luke and Frankie met at the hood of the truck and walked the short distance to us. I was surprised at the way Frankie looked. He didn’t resemble the crazed maniac I remembered. His head was clean shaven, as was his face, his clothing was nice and he looked- normal. He wasn’t dirty and nasty, or bouncing around waving a gun. This must be the man Maddie thought of when she pictured him as her father. My heart hurt for her, and even for him. Despite what he had done to me, this was a human being and he had a daughter, one that he obviously cared about. He might not have done the best job of showing it, but he sure had stirred up a lot of shit trying.