The Four Stages of Loving Dutch Owen - Debra Kayn Page 0,36

wouldn't let what happened—what she believed happened—go. "I'd kill any man who touched her or...or make sure they spent the rest of your years in prison for touching her. She's a child, Dutch. What you did to her was a crime."

He wasn't even going to fight her on that. He knew what he'd done.

"Marla Marie will belong to me for the rest of my life." He lowered his voice. "You better get used to it."

Rachel shook her head. "It's not right."

"Right or wrong, it is what it is, and I won't let you tell me differently." His head cleared the longer he stayed away from Marla Marie. He wanted everything out in the open now. "She's sixteen years old. She'll be graduating in less than two years. You better wrap your head around the idea that she will leave you."

"She's my daughter."

"She'll always be your daughter, but she's going to grow up, and like you, like me, nobody is going to tell her how to live her life." He exhaled. "Only one thing would ever ruin the relationship you both have together, and that's if you try and come between her and me. If you do, all you're going to do is lose her."

Rachel hissed. "You don't know that."

"When you calm down, I think you'll accept that you know how Marla Marie's felt about me this entire time." He turned when the motorcycle shut off and raised his chin in greeting to Skull. "You also know how I feel about her. I would lay down and die before I hurt her, and leaving her would kill her."

"That doesn't make it right," said Rachel behind him.

He exhaled loudly. "A lot of things about this life aren't right. The state should've kept us with mom when we were kids instead of having us go back and forth while trying her damnedest to keep us all together. I shouldn't have spent time in prison for the robbery at the gas station when that money belonged to WAKOM to start with. You shouldn't have to cater to Skull's ways and give your body to other men. Marla Marie should've had a mother that put her first."

"Those are circumstances, Dutch. You're making a decision before my daughter is ready or mature enough to know her own mind."

"That might be true for other girls her age, who had a different past than Marla Marie, but she knows her own mind. If she told me to leave and never come back, it would take me a second to ride out of here and never look back because I'd do it for her."

Skull walked up the pathway, putting an end to their discussion. What Rachel wanted to do with the information, that was her right. But he wouldn't let her opinion harm Marla Marie.

"Good ride?" he asked Skull.

"Sparky's out of commission for a while. He took a slug to his thigh. Woody's got the doc at the clubhouse now." Skull stroked Rachel's ass. "I got a hole burning in my stomach. Is there any food in the house?"

"Tacos." Rachel ignored Dutch. "I'll go warm some up for you."

His sister went inside. Skull hung around on the step with Dutch. The day was wasting. He needed to get going.

"Is something wrong with Marla Marie?" asked Skull.

He studied his brother-in-law. "Why would you think that?"

"Pretty intense around here." Skull looked down the driveway. "You two look like you're two seconds from throwing punches."

"Nothing for you to worry about." He reached back and turned the doorknob. "I'm going to grab my stuff and get out of here."

He grabbed his duffle and looked around for Marla Marie. Hearing the shower going behind the bathroom door, he went into her room and found a piece of paper and a pen.

Wednesday

5pm

Call me.

~Dutch

He paused, knowing she'd want more from him.

In a rush, he scribbled. Take it slow. Don't wear yourself out, Marla Marie.

He walked out of the house without another word to his sister. Whatever came his way would come regardless of what he could do to stop it.

A vision of Marla Marie in the shower, discovering herself, having an orgasm without him, kept him riding in the opposite direction.

Rachel was right in the fact Marla Marie needed to grow up.

But, God damnit, there would come a time when he wouldn't have to hit the road, and he was free to claim what had always been his.

Sirens invaded his thoughts. He looked in the side mirror, and flashing red and blue lights grew bigger in