The Four Stages of Loving Dutch Owen - Debra Kayn Page 0,30
to go around touching you."
"I can touch anyone I want."
Her eyes rounded before they narrowed. "You never touch me like that."
"Jesus Christ." He stepped a few feet away. "You can't be saying shit like that."
"It's true." She pulled her feet up on the hood and hugged her bent knees. "What does that bitch have that I don't?"
"About ten years," he muttered, exhaling harshly. "You shouldn't be offering yourself to anyone, especially those assholes around here."
"You act like I'm a baby." She slid off the car, gained her balance, and planted her hands on her hips. "I'm sixteen."
To him, she was a child. He shook his head. One that had a lot of growing up to do, despite looking like a sex-craved woman in shorts that showed her ass cheeks and wearing a tank that appeared painted on.
Marla Marie walked up to him and slipped her arms around him. He cupped the back of her head and held her to his chest. He wasn't ready for her to grow up.
He wasn't ready for another man to touch her.
He wasn't ready for her to stop depending on him and put all her attention on someone else.
"I always want you to belong to me." She rubbed her cheek against his chest. "I don't want someone else to have you."
He closed his eyes. She would never know that from the moment he decided to kidnap her from the fucked-up life she'd led, she already belonged to him.
Marla Marie was the reason he delayed all his trips to Spokane. Being around her made him want to settle in a house somewhere and bring her home.
His feelings toward her were anything but parental. They never were.
There was something about Marla Marie that gave him peace. He wanted to be the one who would never let her down.
He couldn't take her from Rachel and Skull. They were better parents. They were what she needed.
Fisting her hair, he pulled her head back. His body thrummed, looking into her eyes. Afraid he'd hurt her if he acted on how he was feeling, his hand shook. She was a little bitty thing, and the violence in him would be too much for her to handle.
To see her around those boys, those men, knowing she was ready to start something with them, made him want to kill each of the fuckers. None of them were good enough. Hell, he wasn't good enough.
But, he refused to step out of her life.
"Why do you act that way about me?" he whispered.
"What way?"
"Like you belong to me."
"Because it's the only way I know how." She tilted her head. "Don't you want me?"
"I'll always want you. It's always been you and me, Marla Marie." He raised his other hand and cupped her cheek, strumming the pad of his thumb against her soft cheek. "Just don't let this life make you hard like me. Don't give your soul to the men around here. They won't protect you the way I will. They don't deserve you."
Her face relaxed, and she nodded. He brushed his knuckles along her jaw, itching to bring her closer, to inhale the sweetness underneath her rebel soul.
"I'm going to find Rachel. Stay here. Don't wander off." He stepped away.
She swayed, biting her lip. He strode toward the clubhouse. At her age, he'd been knees down and cock deep in any woman he could find.
This lifestyle would ruin her.
It was too late for him. He'd sold his soul to the devil. Marla Marie still stood a chance of making it out with her heart and her mind clear.
He pushed his way inside the clubhouse. A fight still went on in the middle of the room. The others formed a circle around the edges of those participating, egging them on.
All the rallies ended up the same. They'd be lucky if someone wasn't killed tonight.
Spotting Skip, he smacked his MC brother on the back. Skip turned as if to hit him, and Dutch held up his hand.
"Have you seen Rachel or Skull?" he asked.
"They were here somewhere before this shit started."
He walked away, straight through the crowd, making men step back and let him pass. Jogging up the steps leading to the second floor, he peered down, but he still couldn't make out his sister in the crowd. On the landing, he went door to door, looking inside the rooms in his search. Some of the bikers took their party upstairs, needing more privacy, while others fucked out in the open.