KNOCKED UP BY THE REBEL: The Shadow Hunters MC

by Nicole Fox

  “Can I tell you something?” she asked quietly.

  I had woken up with an erection, and I was ready to go again. Having her once had only made me want her more. I trailed my hand down her stomach and touched her gently between her legs. “Is it something we could talk about in a few minutes?”

  She sucked in a breath, hesitating. “We could, but I really think you ought to know.”

  Pushing myself up on my elbow, I looked down at her with curiosity. “What is it?”

  “Well, um …” She bit her bottom lip, and it only made her sexier. Our late-night escapades had ended without any time for washing off her makeup, since we had instantly fallen asleep in each other’s arms when we were done. Her dark eyeshadow had smudged, but it did nothing to detract from her looks. “You see, what we did last night … I had never done that before.”

  “You mean you’d only done it in missionary before?” We hadn’t done anything too crazy. I didn’t get it.

  Bambi’s cheeks flushed a pale pink. “No, I mean that I was a virgin until last night.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  I couldn’t have heard her right. “You’re joking.” It wasn’t a question, as I was determined for my statement to be true.

  “I’m not.” Her eyes were glossy, threatening tears. “I hadn’t ever done that before. Any of it.”

  Shocked and yet somewhat pleased, I pulled her to my chest and held her tightly. “That’s hard to believe. You’re so beautiful. I would have thought some guy would have gotten to you already.” I racked my brain, trying to think if I had even met a virgin anytime in the last five years other than her.

  She shook her head, and her hair brushed against my skin. “No. I hardly ever even went on any dates. Mother kept me so tightly under her wing, and the only time I could go out was if it was someone she approved of. I know you haven’t met her, but I can tell you there weren’t very many guys who fell I that category.”

  I hadn’t met the woman, but I had seen her in the car during the parade and I’d heard her harsh voice in front of the courthouse. “No, I can imagine not.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have told you beforehand. But I got so carried away, and I just didn’t think about it.” She shrank down against the pillow, and I wondered just what she had been through that had made her so submissive. Bambi had told me about her childhood, but I had a feeling I didn’t know the full extent of the abuse. “I’m sorry, Snake.”

  Pulling gently on her shoulder so she had to roll over, I looked down into her eyes. They were big and brown, like a doe’s, and so deep I could get lost in them. “First of all, stop apologizing. I’m glad I was the one to do it. What I want to know is, do you regret it?” It was too late to change things, but I had to know.

  She gave me a faint smile. “No.”

  “Good.” I pulled her into me again, wrapping my arm around her and holding her close. I was no longer eager to do it again right away. We could wait, and she could rest. Besides, my mind was too busy working. There were so many things to think about. Knowing that Bambi had been a virgin had changed things more than I would have imagined. She wasn’t just a conquest, although if I was honest with myself she had stopped being one long before now. This woman was someone I was going to protect, and I would do anything to keep her safe. I had changed her life, and I was responsible for her.

  Bambi sighed contentedly against my chest, and I dropped a kiss on her temple. “I’m going to go find us something to eat.”

  I got dressed quickly and stepped outside, the morning sunshine harsh after the dark cocoon of our motel room. I blinked and pulled on my shades, noticing that a few of the guys were standing near their bikes. “There any good grub nearby?”

  Rusty just grinned at me. “Why would you need breakfast? Sounded like you were eating plenty of pussy last night. Didn’t that fill you up?”

  I shook my head. “I guess that means your room is next to mine? Hope we didn’t keep you up too late. Actually, I hope we did.”

  “Just late enough to know you’re in the running for the bet.” Rusty thumbed over his shoulder at the building. “They really ought to make those walls more soundproof.”

  I looked behind me at the motel office. “Yeah, what are you going to do about the bet? Did you manage to lay your hands on the manager at this motel as well?”

  Rubble stepped up and punched Rusty in the shoulder. “Only if he’s into hairy foreign guys.”

  We all laughed, and I had never felt so alive. I had a beautiful woman in my room, and I was with my friends. I had it all.

  Rusty shoved Rubble aside. “Very funny. What about you, Snake? Are we going to have to take your little blonde beauty queen back to Myrtle Creek? Then I guess we’ll have to come back in a few weeks and see if she’s starting to look fat.”

  He thought it was funny, but his questions only brought me back to the thoughts I’d been having ever since Bambi had broken the news to me a few minutes ago. She was sweet and innocent. She couldn’t go back to her mother, and she needed someone to look after her. I couldn’t let her go back to Myrtle Creek if I wanted to maximize my chances of impregnating her. I wanted both her body and her mind. “No, she’s going to stay with me.”

  “Oh, I see,” Moose said with a knowing nod. “Someone’s got himself a bitch.”

  “Don’t call her that,” I snapped, my fists instinctively curling at my sides. “And anyway, I want to win that bet. I can’t do it if I send her on home, now can I?”

  “Can’t argue with that logic,” Axle volunteered with a wink. “I tried to get my farmer girl to come with me. She was so wild, and I thought for sure she’d want to ride around on the back of my bike for a little while, but—”

  “But then she saw you in the daylight and realized how ugly you were?” Rusty interrupted.

  We laughed heartily, and Axle waved him off. “But,” he continued, “she had too many obligations on the farm. I am, however, invited to come back and help her do a little milking anytime I want to, if you know what I mean.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  I headed off to get breakfast, finding a little diner down the street that would wrap up a couple of breakfast sandwiches to go. I had no idea if she liked bacon, sausage, or if she even ate meat, but I would find out. I still had a lot to learn about her, and I had plenty of time to do it in.

  Chapter 10

  Bambi

  Life with the Warriors was a busy one. We never stayed in one place very long, as they were always eager to ride to the next town and see what it held for them. Some days we rode for hours and other we didn’t ride at all, but I was still painfully aware of how close or far we were from Myrtle Creek. Still, I tried to put it behind me and focus on the sexy man I was always with.

  We always found someplace to stay. Most of the time we stopped at cheap motels, but there were a few nights that we camped outside and one time that we slept in an old warehouse. Even so, Snake always found a way to make love to me. I thought he might slack off after a week on the road and having sex every night, but every time we bedded down he reached for me.

  One night we found a motel that was pretty decent. The carpeting was new, and the air conditioning actually worked. The small lobby boasted a free breakfast, which I knew we would take full advantage of in the morning. I settled down in the clean sheets and sighed. The mattress moved slightly as Snake got into bed as well.

  “You aren’t tired of me yet?” I asked as he pressed his body against my back. I could feel his hardness against me, eager and ready. I knew it was an insecure question to ask, and the kind that men didn’t really like, but I couldn’t help it. In the back of my mind, I still didn’t quite understand why he wanted me instead of some biker chick. Still, I knew that I could fall for him. He was so different from everything I’d ever known, and I liked it.

  He moved his hips, poking me. “What do you think?” I could hear the smile in his voice.

  I rolled over compliantly, just as ready as he was. Snake disa
ppeared under the covers, and I felt the heat of his breath against my most sensitive flesh just before his tongue flicked across my clit. “Oh!”

  Snake laughed, but he didn’t stop. His tongue caressed every fold, licking and sucking until I had the sheets twisted in my fists and my hips pressed against him, begging him for more. He put one finger inside me and then a second one, moving them slowly and deliberately as he continued to work his mouth against me.

  I shivered and quaked against him, my legs turning into jelly. “I need you inside me. Please, I can’t stand it anymore.”

  He was on top of me in an instant. There was something about having his cock inside me that gave me a final, calming orgasm. In the back of my mind, I knew we should have been using protection. But I wanted to feel his skin against me, to know the heat of his body and his desire. I wanted him to get the most satisfaction as well. He deserved it, since he had done so much for me. He pounded his hips against mine, every inch of his dick buried inside me, until he shuddered with satisfaction.

  We lay in each other’s arms and listened to the highway traffic that streamed by just outside. “I’ve been thinking about something,” I said into the darkness of the room.

  “Hmm?” He was almost asleep already, but he wouldn’t let go of me until sometime late into the night when we had already been out for a few hours.

  “I need to go home.”

  “What?” Snake sounded much more awake now, and I could feel the change in his body. His muscles had hardened, building up an energy that scared me a little.

  “Well, we’ve been gone for a while,” I began, forcing myself to keep calm and say what I’d been thinking about for the last day or two. “I know she wasn’t kind to me, but I should go make up with her.”

  “No.” His voice was powerful, final.

  “You don’t have to come with me, if that’s the problem. I know you want to stay with the Warriors, and I’m not going to try to stop you. I can just get a cab or catch a bus.” It probably wouldn’t be a good idea if he came back anyway. Mother would be furious enough with me, but there was no telling what awful things she would have to say to him.

  “That is not the problem.” He pushed himself to a sitting position, and I could just see his eyes glittering in the dark. “You’re not going anywhere, Bambi. You’re staying with me.”

  His insistence scared me a little, but I had to admit I was flattered that he wanted me with him so badly. “It doesn’t have to be for very long. You can let me know where you’re going to be, and I can come back to meet you.”

  Snake had me by the shoulders, and he shook them gently. I felt the vibrations in his body; he was barely keeping himself from getting violent. “No. There’s nothing you can say to make this sound any better.”

  “I don’t understand. I just want to go apologize to her. Then I’ll leave. I don’t see why that’s such a problem.” I felt that I was walking on thin ice. I wanted to stay with Snake more than anything, so I didn’t want to piss him off and make him leave me. But I hadn’t been able to get Mother off my mind, and it seemed to me that the only way to move on was to make up with her.

  “And do you really think she’ll let you leave once you’re home again? Think about it, Bambi! Think about everything she’s done to you. You’ll go home and say you’re sorry—even though you have nothing to be sorry for—and she’ll convince you to stay.” He turned and was off the bed, his silhouette dark against the window.

  I sat up. “She can’t convince me. I want to be here with you.”

  He ran a hand through his hair and made a noise of frustration. “Don’t you get it? She’s been controlling you your entire life. If you go back there, she’ll work her little mind trick on you like she always has. She’ll make you believe that you’re wrong, and you’ll never be able to come back unless I kidnap you. No, Bambi. You’re not going back there. Not now, and not ever.”

  “So now that she doesn’t get to control me, you do?” I countered. The darkness was making me bold. I couldn’t have said that to him in the daylight. “Why do you get to decide if I go or not?”

  “You decided to come with me. Now it’s my job to protect you, which is completely different. Now go back to sleep. I’m done talking about this.” He braced himself against the window trim and kept his back to me.

  I rolled away from him, hot tears soaking my pillow. I realized I wasn’t just Snake’s lover. I was his prisoner.

  * * *

  I woke the next morning with dried tears on my face, wondering just what I had gotten myself into. My jailer had changed, but I was still a prisoner.

  But Snake was there at the side of the bed with a fresh mug of coffee. “Listen, I’m sorry about last night.” He didn’t look at me as he spoke, focusing instead on the coffee and the doughnut he was setting next to it. “I’m just trying to protect you and keep you safe. I haven’t changed my mind about you going, but I’m sorry I yelled.”

  He was just impossible to resist. “It’s okay. You were right, anyway. I’ll stay here.”

  And I did. The days flew by and turned into weeks, and we never again talked about our argument or the idea of me going back home. I knew that Snake was right; Mother wasn’t going to change. She would have found a way to make me stay with her, and then I might never get another chance to be free again.

  I was beginning to adjust to life with the club. The clothes Snake had bought for me now felt natural, and I no longer felt that I was just pretending to be a biker chick. I was learning the names of the other members and getting used to the late nights and long days on the road. I looked forward to the wind in my hair and the feel of Snake’s body in front of me as he drove. The other men seemed to accept my presence, and the few women that rode with them no longer gave me long sideways glances. Instead, they chatted with me in the bathroom and laughed with me over the guys’ antics.

  I was getting so absorbed into biker life, in fact, that I was swiftly losing track of my old life. So much so that when I woke up one morning and realized I’d missed my period I couldn’t figure out just how late I was.

  I couldn’t seem to get it off my mind as we rode into the next town, and the idea made me a little dizzy. I was so young. Could I be a mother? What kind of father would Snake be? Both of us had had rough childhoods, so how could we do this and raise a kid that was stable and happy?

  “What’s the matter?” Snake asked, pulling me aside just before we went into the local pool hall with the rest of the club members. “You’ve been quiet all day, and you hardly ate anything for lunch.”

  I smiled weakly. “I’m sorry. I just feel a little under the weather today. Maybe it’s all the traveling and the fast food.” It definitely wasn’t the cause of my behavior, but I could have benefitted from a big salad or a homecooked meal. “I think I’m going to walk over to that pharmacy and get some medicine.”

  “I’ll come with you.” Snake put his hand on my waist and began to guide me across the parking lot.

  I stopped and pushed his arm gently away. “No, you don’t have to do that. The guys are waiting on you. Just go, and I’ll join you when I’m done.” I smiled, hoping I could convince him. I wasn’t ready to tell him of my suspicions until I knew the truth myself.

  He looked around as though he expected someone to jump out of the bushes and kidnap me. “I don’t know. It’s late, and I’m not sure you should be out here by yourself.”

  “It’s just across the parking lot,” I reasoned. “I’ll be fine.”

  Snake pressed his lips together. “Okay, I guess. Here.” He handed me some cash. “But don’t take too long. I don’t want to have to go looking for you.”

  “I won’t.” I stood on my toes to kiss him and headed off. When I reached the front of the pharmacy, I turned around. He was watching me from the front door of the pool hall. He waved and walked inside, and I did the same.

  I knew I had to work fast. I couldn’t imagine what he would be like if he came to the pharmacy to look for m
e and discovered I wasn’t there. I found the right aisle and grabbed a pregnancy test, my stomach twirling as I went to the checkout.

  The older woman behind the counter smiled at me over her glasses. “Good luck,” she said, and she handed me the receipt.

  I trotted quickly across the street to a small diner, looking over my shoulder to make sure Snake hadn’t come back out of the pool hall yet. There were plenty of bikes in the parking lot, but I saw no sign of him.

  The place smelled of cheap burgers and pancakes even late in the evening. It had the look of a classic diner from the fifties, with chrome edges on the tables and chairs and a large bank of windows all along the front of the building. The man behind the counter wore a paper hat and had grease stains on his apron, and he frowned at the cash register as he rubbed his stubble. There were a few older couples at the tables and a man at the counter, but it was otherwise fairly empty. Perfect. I went right past the seating area to the little hallway where the restrooms were.