One Night in the Outlaw's Bed (14 page)

“Not that I’m complaining, but maybe you can let me
know what is going on.”

He chuckled again, but grabbed her upper arms and
gently pulled her back so they were looking at each other again. “I want you to
be my old lady, Maggie.” He cupped one of her cheeks in his hand and stared
into her eyes. His hand was so big he nearly engulfed one side of her head. She
thought about his words hard. Having a member want an old lady wasn’t something
small. This was big, and Diesel wanted
her
to be his. “Your silence isn’t too comforting, baby.” He stroked his thumb
along her cheek, and she blinked several times.

“That’s big.” Those two words were softly muttered,
but he didn’t smile or laugh.

“Yeah, baby, it’s really fucking big, and I mean every
single damn word.”

“But I don’t understand.” She wanted to say more,
but couldn’t find the words to explain that this was a one-
eighty
and a scene from the Twilight Zone. “I just don’t understand.”

He shook his head. “Me either, Maggie, but this past
week I have tried to convince myself that not being with you for more than that
one time was the right thing.” He continued to stroke her cheek, and moved his
thumb along her bottom lip. “It took some very wise words and a broken male to
show me that I shouldn’t fight what feels so incredibly right.” The way he
stared at her was consuming.

Her breath hitched, and she felt as though this was
the most surreal moment in her life. Diesel spoke so softly, so gently, that he
didn’t appear like the hardened, angry biker she was so used to seeing. How
bizarre that it was only a week’s time that she had been with him, and already
she felt like it had been a lifetime. Maggie may have known him nearly her
whole life, had wanted so much more from him when she realized what that meant,
but she knew that time didn’t really mean anything. She felt
something
with Diesel, something that
she had felt the moment she had seen him at the age of seventeen and realized
that it was lust that churned within her. And then the sex with him had been
incredible, but it was so much more than that.

“That’s what I really want, Maggie, if you want
that, too.”

“I…” She looked down, at a loss for words, because
even though this was going very fast, it also felt as though it had taken a
lifetime to get to this moment. “Yeah, Diesel, I want that, too.”

He pulled her toward his chest again, speared his
hands in her hair, and tilted her head to take her mouth in a kiss that
couldn’t be called anything but proprietary. When he pulled away from her the
possessive and territorial light in his eyes had her heart palpating.

“Do you know what it means to be my old lady,
Maggie?”

She licked her lips, but Diesel’s stare was
unwavering.
“Yes, Diesel.”

He slowly shook his head. “No, baby, I don’t think
you do.” He leaned in close so there were only centimeters that separated them.
“It means you’re mine. It means no other male will touch you, look at you in
sexual way, or even think about being with you.” His words were in a growl, a crass
statement. He wrapped his hand around her hair and leaned in so their lips were
touching. “It means that if any male tries anything on you I’ll fucking kill
them.” There was promise in his words. She should be frightened, should turn
and head back inside, and never look back. But this was his animal talking,
his
animal making the demands. The flash
of black that covered his blue irises told her as much. “I won’t smother you,
won’t keep you a prisoner, but I also won’t share, and I am a pretty
territorial bastard, Maggie.”

Her mouth was dry, and her throat closed up. “I like
that you don’t want to share, because I only want to be yours. But I also don’t
share.”

He grinned and then took her mouth again. She melted
into the hardness of his body. The smell of his leather cut had sparks of
remembrance from over the years slamming into her head, and she knew this was
only the beginning of what she hoped was a new chapter in her life.

****

“So, what, you guys are like an item now?” Mora
grabbed one of the chips out of the red plastic basket in the center of the
table and dipped it in salsa. She shoved it in her mouth, and the crunch and
Mora’s voice were so loud Maggie looked around to see if anyone had heard. It
had been a week since she and Diesel had decided to give this relationship a go—if
that was the right title for it—and everything was still fresh and intense.
Even now she tingled between her legs at the remembrance of Diesel taking her
roughly on his bike in the middle of the woods last night. It had been
exhilarating and exciting, and each time she was with him only seemed to make
her feelings for him grow deeper.

“Can you keep your voice down?” she said in a hushed
whisper.

Mora stopped chewing, but reached across the table
for another chip. “Would you quit diverting and just answer?”

Maggie leaned back in her seat and stared at her
friend. Was Maggie upset she really didn’t have a lot of people she considered
close, that
she hung out with, or felt comfortable enough to
talk about this stuff with? No, because for every handful of fake friends she
could have, there was still that one that she would always turn to, and that
was Mora.

She breathed out and reached for a chip herself. She
ate it, but she was just stalling because she knew Mora was going to scold her
for jumping into this … whatever
this
was that she was doing with Diesel. Were they together, yeah, they were, but
they didn’t have a label aside from her being his old lady. She knew of the MC,
but certainly wasn’t an expert. But what she did know was that what she was to
him was more than just being his girlfriend. “He wants me to be his old lady.”

Mora stopped crunching again, but seemed to catch herself
and swallowed her food.
“Old lady?
As
in his biker bitch?”

Maggie coughed on the piece of chip in her throat
and reached for her water. “Um, I guess, but I kind of prefer the term old lady.”
Maggie started laughing, because although she certainly wouldn’t consider the
term “biker bitch” derogatory, not when it concerned the Grizzly
MC,
and she was Diesel’s old lady.

Mora started laughing, too. “Okay, well I have to
admit I think I like the idea of you being a biker bitch. It has this bad-ass
feeling to it.”

Maggie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

“But really, is this thing serious with him? I mean
I assume it is because I don’t often hear of the Grizzly members getting
serious with a woman. Although I’ve seen women on the backs of Jagger’s and
Brick’s bikes, ones that wear those ‘Property of’ leather jackets. Those two members
are some of the least likely ones I would have thought would settle down.”

“I mean it is pretty serious. He came over and
talked to my dad.”

“I guess it must be pretty serious for Diesel if he
was the one that came over and talked to you about it.”

Maggie had asked Mora out for lunch because she
desperately needed to talk to someone. Her father was out of the question since
half the time he grumped around the house, growling about dirty bikers taking
away his little girl, but she knew that even if he was upset about it now, he
would support her in whatever she decided to do in the end. He had been
uncomfortable when she left for school and had never liked John, but he had
dealt with it, and he’d do the same with this. If this turned out to be a big
mistake, well, it was her mistake to make.

“Yeah, I suppose.” Maggie couldn’t help the smile
that curved her lips.

“Oh, God.
Did he go all ‘Mine’ on your ass?” Mora shoved another chip in her mouth, but
her expression was filled with eagerness. But she didn’t let Maggie answer.
“The look on your face tells me he did.” She leaned back in the seat and
breathed out in almost euphoria. “I need to find a guy like that.”

“Like what?”

Mora rolled her eyes. “Don’t be coy. I need to find
a guy that will kick guys’ asses if another dude looks at me.” She tossed her
hair over her shoulder and gave this almost wistful sigh. “You know the douche-bags
I’ve been dating. I mean look at that asshole Craig. Oh, and let’s not forget
that little blip in the romantic department I had with Keith.” The waiter came
by with some fresh drinks, and Mora took that opportunity to flirt with him. He
was cute, but couldn’t be more than nineteen, maybe twenty at the most. Maggie
watched as Mora really put on the charm and had the young man blushing. The
sound of her phone going off in her bag had her turning away from the current
entertainment to get it. She had programmed the Free Clinic’s number into her phone,
and when she saw those digits flash across the screen her heart pounded hard.

“I’ll be right back,” she said to Mora.

“Everything okay?”

She held up the phone, but didn’t need to say
anything, because Mora understood well enough. Maggie headed out of the front
of the restraint and away from a small group of kids. “Hello?”

“Is this Miss Drake?”

“Yes.” Maggie walked back and forth. She trusted
Diesel, had to if she was going to give their relationship a go, and even if
she had known him all her life, the truth was still right in her face.

“I have the results of your lab work.”

Maggie listened for the next few minutes as the
woman went over the tests. She also scheduled her first appointment. Once she
disconnected the phone she stood there a moment. She could hear children
laughing, cars passing by, and a dog barking, but nothing could fully penetrate
the news she had just gotten. She forced herself to walk, to go back into that restaurant,
and sit back down at the table. The waiter was gone, and after a minute of
Maggie not saying anything she saw Mora’s eyes grow large.

“What is it? What did they say?” Mora leaned
forward, the concern coming from her fast and hard, and the worry clear on her
face. “Maggie, talk to me. You’re starting to freak me out. You are far too
quiet and have this ‘Oh fuck’ look on your face.”

Maggie loosened the hold she had on the napkin, not
even realizing that she had grabbed it. “I’m pregnant.”

For what seemed like forever Mora didn’t move,
didn’t speak, and just stared at her like she had grown another head. But then
she blinked rapidly and leaned back in her chair. “Well holy motherfucking
shit.” Mora gestured for the waiter, but this time ordered
herself
a big-ass margarita. “But aside from that everything else is okay?”

Maggie nodded. She had tested negative on the STD
screening, but all she could focus on right now was the fact she was pregnant
with Diesel’s baby. “Mora, what am I going to do? I can’t even support myself
right now. How am I going to support a baby, too?”

Mora reached across the table and took her hand. “Maggie,
I’m here for you, and your dad is here for you.” She rubbed her fingers back
and forth over her hands. “And if Diesel is this serious about you and him
being together, then he’ll be supportive of this, too.”

“Mora, I’m pregnant.” Maybe she was in some kind of
shock, because she felt numb, almost as if she wasn’t fully connected with her
body. Mora smiled at her sympathetically. “I’m scared.”

“Of course you’re scared. That’s some scary shit
right there, but that doesn’t make it bad. You have people that care a lot
about you, so there isn’t anything to be scared about.” Maggie pulled her hands
away and looked down at her lap.

“How am I supposed to deal with this?” Maggie looked
up again. “How am I supposed to tell my dad? God, how am I supposed to tell
Diesel? We just slept together two weeks ago, have just started seeing each
other, and now I have to drop this freaking bomb.”

“Just calm down, Maggie.”
Mora didn’t looked freaked out anymore, didn’t even look like this was shocking
anymore. She appeared in control, something that Maggie felt nothing like. “One
thing at a time, okay?”

“How am I supposed to calm down when I just found
this out? Not that I thought I’d be married first before I had kids, but Mora,
I don’t even have a place of my own, let alone a job.” She covered her eyes
with her hands and breathed out. “And working for my dad isn’t something I see
myself doing long term.” Suddenly her head her, her stomach was in knots, and
she felt like crying.

“Maggie, this isn’t the end of the world.”

“Easy for you to say.”
Maggie’s words were muffled with her hands covering her face.

“Come on, you’ll get through this like you get
through everything else.” Maggie dropped her hands and looked at her friend. “You
don’t give yourself enough credit for your strength. Look at how tough you have
been after everything that has happened in the few months since you’ve been
back in Steel Corner?” Mora smiled. “Did you ever see yourself getting with Diesel?”
Mora shook her head, answering her own question.
“No, but
look at you now.
I don’t know much about the guy other than what I see
around town and hear through the rumor mill, but I do know that the Grizzly MC
is loyal, strong, and protect what’s theirs. And you’re Diesel’s, Maggie. That
baby growing inside of you is his. Do you actually think he would just walk
away from that?”