One Night in the Outlaw's Bed (12 page)

Although they wouldn’t consider McNamara an
associate or friend, they had helped him out a few years back when he was held
at gunpoint. If not for the Grizzlies being there at the right time this little
shit would be dead. Ever since then Jordyn was very cooperative in anything the
club needed from him.

Brick and Diesel stood. “Yeah, give the club a call
when you know anything you might think is pertinent.” McNamara nodded, but they
left before they could be shown out, and once outside they stopped at their
bikes.

“You think this MC is going to be trouble?” Brick
asked. He slipped his sunglasses on over his eyes and looked at Diesel. Ever
since the Sergeant at Arms for the club had gotten an old lady, something had definitely
changed in him. He was still this scary bastard that could break an asshole in
two, but when with Darra he melted for her. It was so unlike the Brick Diesel
had known for years.

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling we will find out
soon enough.”

Chapter Nine

One
week later

Maggie sat in the waiting room at the Free Clinic in
River Run. She had already filled out her information and handed it back to the
receptionist, and now sat in the very uncomfortable chair and looked at the
people sitting around her. The majority of the ones waiting to be seen were
younger women, even some girls that didn’t look older than sixteen. Some were
obviously pregnant, and there were a few that appeared to be with their mothers,
who looked less than pleased.

Spending the week with Mora at her parents’ cabin
had made a world of difference in perking Maggie up, but as soon as she had
come back to Steel Corner and seen a few of the Grizzly MC members riding
through the square of town, the thought of Diesel had slammed in her head. But
honestly he hadn’t really left her mind, not even when she had been laughing
with Mora and soaking in the sun by the lake. The distraction she got from relaxing
and having a good time with her friend had helped her in keeping anything
Diesel related buried. The side door opened, and an older woman in faded scrubs
stepped out holding a cream colored folder.

“Miss Drake?” Her attention was on the folder, but
when she called out Maggie’s name she looked up and scanned the waiting room.

Maggie stood and walked toward her and into the
hallway behind the door. After she was weighed she was showed into the exam
room, her vitals were taken, and she was left alone. All of it had seemed to
take less than five minutes with the nurse barely saying a few words to her.
Maggie rubbed her arms, suddenly grew nervous, and then wiped her clammy hands
on her pants. She glanced at the poster that was right across from her. It was
the image of a mother holding a newborn, and the words below it listed all the
benefits of breastfeeding. There was a knock on the door, and a woman who had
to be in her fifties walked in. She had on a white lab coat and held a small
laptop.

“Miss Drake?” She smiled, and the gap between her
two front teeth was pretty pronounced. “What brings you in today?” Maggie had
never understood why they asked patients what brought them in since they always
asked why she wanted to be seen when she made the appointment.

Actually saying she needed to be tested for STDs
because she had stupidly had a one-night stand without using proper protection
was humiliating, even if Maggie was an adult and this was a professional. But
she did finally get all of that out. The doctor nodded and smiled warmly. She
probably saw and heard these types of things all the time.

“I’ll have the nurse get some blood and run some
tests. We will also run a pregnancy test since it is pretty standard, given the
reason for your visit.” Maggie nodded again. “But I’d like to get a Pap smear done
since you have never been here before, and according to your history it’s been
about a year since you had one last.”

Maggie nodded.

“It’ll take at least a week, maybe ten days to get
the results back. We are backlogged, and we send the samples to Denver to be run.”
The doctor smiled again, handed her one of those paper gowns, and left her
alone.

Twenty minutes later, and Maggie was stepping out of
the office. It had been gynecological hell and some needle pricks thrown in. Maggie
left the office and headed to her car, but stopped when she heard the rumble of
motorcycles nearing. She stood there and watched four tricked out Harleys ride
past. They stopped at the red light, and she saw that they were called the
Brothers of Menace, according to the backs of their cuts. The rider in the
front turned his head and looked over at her. She didn’t know what it was about
this stranger watching her, but her stomach dropped and her pulse increased. He
wore dark sunglasses and a skullcap helmet. She could see his dark hair peeking
out from under the helmet. But it wasn’t his huge frame that made her wary. It
was this very strange, almost apprehensive feeling she got when she looked at
him and the other members. These men were dangerous, lethal, and she gathered
all of that—even with her human senses—with just one look. A chill raced up her
spine, and fortunately the light turned green. The guy she took as the leader from
the simple confidence that seemed to come from him, and the fact he was the one
in front of the others bikers, grinned at her. There was a boom of an engine
being revved, and then the bikers were taking a right and disappearing behind
the large buildings of River Run. There was something scary and wrong about
that man, and her instincts had known it.

Maggie climbed into her car and started the engine.
She didn’t like River Run, and not because of that biker gang she just saw. The
scenery was beautiful, when she was actually out of the industrial part of the
city, but she knew a lot of illegal things happened in this town—even more so
than what happened in Steel Corner. Drugs, guns, and prostitution were some of
the rumors that had circulated to her part of the woods. But here, in this
town, there was this nervousness that she felt, one that she couldn’t quite
understand and didn’t want to analyze. Maggie didn’t feel this tightening of
her skin or uneasiness about the Grizzlies, though. Maybe it was because she
had grown up around the MC, and although she knew they weren’t priests and did
a lot of questionable things, it seemed to flow well with Steel Corner. At home
she didn’t feel like she should be watching over her shoulder, but she sure did
when she was in River Run. Once in her car she headed out of town and back
home, but for some reason she found herself continuously glancing in her
rearview mirror until she was out of River Run.

****

Diesel sat at the bar, his back to the counter, and
his attention on the party commencing in front of him. The clubhouse was
popping with loud music, booze, joints, and of course club whores that were
already greedily giving themselves to the guys. Court was getting a private lap
dance by a scantily clad female, and Drevin and Stinger were sitting at the
couch watching a stripper reach for the ground and pop out her ass. Dallas was
leaning against the wall, a beer bottle in one hand and a pool stick in the
other. But Dallas wasn’t focused on the game or the women around them, and
instead was staring right at Diesel. He pushed away from the wall, set his pool
stick down, and moved in Diesel’s direction. He stopped at the bar and asked
the tender, a prospect that was nearing his year stint with the club, for a
double shot of Crown. Johnny Boy, the prospect, handed the shot to Dallas. He
brought it to his mouth and tossed it back. Neither of them said anything, but
Diesel didn’t have shit to say to the other member. He was still fucking pissed
at Dallas running his mouth about Maggie. He had managed to steer clear of the
other male, kept his anger and the violent need to punch him in the jaw at bay,
but having him this close, and feeling like Dallas was taunting him with his
presence, had Diesel clenching his teeth.

Dallas moved a few steps closer until they were only
a few feet apart. “D, man, can I have a word with you?”

Diesel could see out of the corner of his eye that
Dallas was looking at him, but he wasn’t in the mood for this shit. “Dallas, I
don’t really want to get into this right now.” He did, but he didn’t because he
had been actively thinking about everything Jagger said, and how he felt for
Maggie. He wanted to make this real with her, and give a relationship with her
a shot.

“I don’t want to fight, and I’m not about to badmouth
your woman.”

That had Diesel looking at him.

“I just think I should probably talk to you and
explain some shit.”

Diesel faced forward again. “You don’t need to
explain shit to me, because I don’t fucking care.” He was done with this
conversation and pushed up from the bar, but Dallas reached out and wrapped his
big hand around Diesel’s bicep. Diesel looked down, tensed all over, and then
looked back at Dallas. “I suggest you get your fucking hand off me, Dallas.”

He did, and ran his hand through his short blond
hair. Dallas’s green eyes were red-rimmed, and the stench of pot and liquor
surrounded him. “Can you give me a minute? Please.”

Diesel stared at the other man, and the fact he had
said please with this almost desperate tone had Diesel relaxing and nodding.
Dallas seemed to relax as well, and he started heading out the front door.
Court and Stinger glanced at them, but when it looked like they were going to
stand Diesel shook his head. They sat back down, but he could still sense that
they thought shit was going to go down with him and Dallas.

They stepped outside but didn’t go very far from the
front doors. Dallas moved over to the truck used by the club and leaned against
it. He reached inside his cut and grabbed a joint, lit it, and inhaled from the
end twice before he finally started talking.

“I don’t apologize for a lot of shit I do, but I
want to say sorry for talking all that shit about your girl.” He brought the
joint to his mouth again and looked at Diesel as he inhaled. Once he exhaled he
looked down and kicked a rock across the parking lot. “The reason I’ve been
drinking a lot, keeping to myself, and not able to filter my mouth is because I
have this dark anger inside of me.” A moment of silence passed between them.

“We all do, brother, but we just have to deal with
it, and work with each other, not against one another.”

 
Dallas was
shaking his head before Diesel even finished. “No, you don’t understand. I’ve
been trying to help numb the toxic shit going through me, but as you can see
it’s only been making it worse, and all I’ve been doing is taking it out on the
people I consider my family.”

Diesel didn’t say anything because he knew Dallas
had more to say. The sun was starting to set, and the sky was this pink/orange
color. It was a beautiful setting to what was turning out to be a very dark
conversation. For the first time since Diesel had known the male, he saw a deep
vulnerability and sorrow in Dallas’s green eyes.

“Did you know I was married and had a kid with
Meghan?”

Diesel nodded, but even though he did know that, as
did every Grizzly member, there was a lot of shit members kept to themselves.
With broken and battered pasts and violent, animalistic natures, it was common
for a lot of shady information to be kept hidden. Not saying this was
particularly “shady”, but some guys just didn’t feel like sharing. Dallas
nodded and took another hit from the joint. He held it out for Diesel, but he
shook his head. He had plans later this evening, and he wanted to be clear
headed and sober when he dealt with them.

“Yeah, I got married to Meghan right out of high
school. We were together for five years after
that,
even had a little boy together during that time. But she couldn’t handle the MC
life.” Dallas looked up at the sky and breathed out. “I wasn’t always a Nomad,
was even patched in with the Texas charter for a long fucking time, but…” He
looked back at Diesel, “A few weeks back I got word that Meghan had gotten into
a car accident. Some motherfucker ran a stop sign, T-Boned her car, and she
died, as did my son who was in the passenger’s seat.” Dallas finished off his
joint in several rapid intakes after he spoke. The air was thick with a lot of
emotions, but all Diesel could do was stand there.

“Man, I am so sorry.” He took a step forward.

Dallas shook his head, held out his hand to stop his
advance, and looked up at the sky.
“Yeah, me, too.
She
divorced me when
Maddix
was little, and I haven’t
seen her in years, man. I was sending money to her for the kid, but visits with
him had been few and far between. Shit.” He flicked the roach away and rubbed
his eyes, and although he didn’t cry, the scent of his sorrow was thick. “She
was actually taking
Maddix
to college.” Dallas
smiled, but that faded and this painful look crossed his face. “My kid was
smart as hell, D, even got a scholarship to CSU.” He lowered his head so he was
staring at Diesel again.

“You must be really proud. I know I would be.”
Diesel was trying to go along with the conversation, but this was downright
heartbreaking. Dallas was a hard male, strong and didn’t take shit from anyone.
Some people thought being patched in
was
a harder life
than being a Nomad, but there was different roads people took, and different
hardships on those roads. Seeing Dallas like that had a lot of empathy filling
Diesel, and he wasn’t used to that. He was out of his element here.