Property of the Biker_A Motorcycle Club Romance_The Warriors MC

by Naomi West

  “It’s okay,” Clarissa said gently. “You can tell us.”

  But I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell them what Mother wanted me to. I couldn’t lie to them, and not just because of any moral impulse. I couldn’t let the world think Snake had done such a terrible thing to me. My eyes wandered up toward the ceiling, studying one tiny little cobweb that Mother had missed, and I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Any of it. I didn’t want to think about being forced to lose my baby or the fact that Mother would find a way to make it happen. I didn’t want to think about the fact that I had no idea where Snake was or what his true intentions had been. I didn’t want to imagine what my life would be like when this interview was all over with.

  I stood up and ripped off the mic, dropping it in the chair. “Excuse me. I need to get some air.” I went toward the front door.

  “Bambi!” Mother hissed as she ran forward to intercept me. “Sit down and finish the interview! You’re embarrassing me!”

  “I can’t do this right now,” I choked out. I flung open the door and stepped outside. The day was bright and sunny. The man down the street had done a wonderful job on the front yard, making it look amazing, as though a happy little family lived here. The front door, painted a brilliant red, matched the roses that bloomed on either side of it. Mother had gone to great lengths to put up a façade for us, a show that would trick everyone into thinking we lived a completely different way than we did. She had worked so hard, but in the end she had nothing, and neither did I. A tear slid down my cheek and plopped onto the concrete patio, making a dark splash.

  A rumbling in the distance pulled my head up. I knew I couldn’t really be hearing it. It was only part of my dreams, a fantasy that had come to tease me. My days with Snake were over, and I wouldn’t be a free woman until Mother died. As mean as she was, she would live forever. The sound I heard was just the highway in the distance.

  But something shiny came around the corner and down our street. I watched with shock, still convinced I was hallucinating. I recognized the set of the handlebars and the angle of the front forks. I knew the sound of the engine like the beating of my own heart. Most of all I knew the man who sat on that motorcycle. His dark hair, the green bandana that barely held it back, the twisting tattoos on his arms, and the small quirk of his mouth as he pulled to a stop in front of my house. There was no question anymore. Snake was here.

  I was only vaguely aware of the front door slamming open as Mother came outside, followed immediately by Marty and Clarissa. The cameraman was catching the whole thing.

  “Bambi! You get in the house right now, young lady! You’ve been very rude to these nice people, and I won’t tolerate it any longer!” Mother pressed her lips together so hard they turned white, and her fists were curled at her sides.

  I ignored her, stepping slowly down the stairs and out toward the curb. Snake lifted his sunglasses and set them on his head. His eyes said everything, and I took another step.

  “Bambi! Get away from him! He’s dangerous! Do I have to remind you that we’re on live TV? Come back here and finish your interview!”

  The world was watching, and I didn’t care. In fact, I was glad they could see this. I was about to change my life once again, morphing it back into the one that I wanted. They would understand beyond a shadow of a doubt that I hadn’t been kidnapped this time.

  Snake held his hand out to me. I went to him, reaching my fingers out. My heart leapt through my arm, and sparks danced against the tips of my fingers. Snake took my hand in his, and his warmth melted the cold wall of ice that I’d worked so hard to build around myself ever since I came home.

  “I missed you,” he said, just loudly enough that I could hear him over the throbbing sound of his engine.

  “I missed you, too.”

  “Let’s go.”

  I had no choice but to obey him. I could have turned and run back into the house, but I would never have been happy. I needed Snake, and I knew now that he needed me. I swung my leg over the back of the bike and wrapped my arms around him, leaning happily into his back. Snake revved the engine, sending a rattling vibration up through my knees. I turned to the small gathering on the porch, giving them a beauty queen wave and a dazzling smile.

  Mother’s face was red as she stood on the edge of the porch, yelling and raging. I could no longer understand what she was saying, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t ever say anything that would bring me back. Marty was still filming, following us with his camera as Snake moved off down the road. Clarissa stood just behind Mother and Marty, jumping up and down and waving, her white teeth flashing in the sunlight. At least one person was happy for me, even if that was mostly for her own sake. I waved back, continuing to do so until we were out of sight of the house.

  I studied my hometown carefully as we headed toward the city limits. It was possible I would never see it again, and I had to be okay with that. There would be some things I would miss, like having everyone know my name when I walked in a store or the way the town suddenly came to life when it was time for the Peach Festival. There were good things about Myrtle Creek, but I was leaving one very bad thing behind. I held Snake a little tighter. He reached down to where my hand rested on his abdomen and rubbed the back of it reassuringly as we went past the last gas station on the edge of town and headed east.

  Chapter 15

  Snake

  I wanted to throw back my head and laugh. It had been so much easier than I had imagined it would be, and now I finally had Bambi where she belonged. Though it had really only been a few weeks since she had gotten into the back of that squad car, it felt like forever since she’d been with me. We had been happy up until that moment, and then everything had changed. That seemed to be the theme that revolved around us, but I knew even that itself was going to change.

  The little town went by in a blur, and I relished the sign that indicated we were leaving the city limits. I was going to get her as far away from this place as I could. She deserved something new, something different, something better. Maybe we both did. I kept on driving, unwilling to stop. As long as we rode, my fantasy could continue.

  Bambi seemed content to let the illusion stay intact, as well. She didn’t ask me where I’d been or why I had come for her. She didn’t wonder how I had found out where she lived (although that was an easy thing to do in a place like Myrtle Creek, where everybody knew everyone else). Even when we stopped for gas, we only spoke enough to get the job done and then we hit the road again. We were back together, and that was all we needed for the moment.

  It was dark when we crossed the state line into Alabama, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had ridden so long. Bruiser had often been content to go only a few hours at a time, with only a longer stretch here or there when one of the guys had gotten in trouble and we needed to cross a state border. I was getting tired, and I had been watching the signs on the side of the road for a while. This wasn’t an occasion for just any old motel with a tired check-in clerk and mashed shag carpeting. Bambi deserved more than just a sleazy room with a bed that no longer vibrated and years of dust clinging to the sagging ceiling fan. I swung into the nicest place I saw and stopped.

  She blinked in the bright light of the sign. “What are we doing here?”

  I grinned. “Starting our new life together.”

  We checked in, and for the first time went up an elevator and down a long carpeted hallway to our room. We made an odd couple, with me in my leathers and her in that sexy pantsuit, but I didn’t care what anybody might think of us. I slid the key card in the lock and opened the door for her.

  The room was probably the nicest one I’d been in during the last five years. I couldn’t say it was a luxury hotel, but it was a far cry from the dumps we had made love in before. The carpet was deep and fluffy, and it matched the long curtains that draped down on either side of the window. A flat-screen television hung on the wall over a massive wardrobe. To the right was the door to the bathroom, which I noticed cont
ained a jacuzzi tub. Next to that was the kitchenette, complete with a coffee pot and a mini fridge. Most importantly, a king-sized bed presided over the room. The pillows were fluffy and white against the turned-down comforter.

  But as much as I wanted to, I didn’t scoop her up and set her on it. Instead, I guided her to the sofa that faced the couch. “I think we ought to talk.”

  For the first time since our reunion, I saw uncertainty flash through her eyes. But she sat down and nodded, eager to hear what I had to say.

  “I’m sure you already know this, but I’ve been nothing but a complete idiot.”

  “Don’t say that …”

  “No, Bambi. I have. And you’ve got to let me just get all this out, because I don’t want to wait any longer. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us. Even if something is hard or uncomfortable, I want us to be able to deal with it together. I’ve spent most of my life thinking about just myself because nobody else was going to do it for me, but I know now that isn’t true.”

  I paced back and forth in front of the couch. I should have been tired and sore from so much riding, but there was too much going on in my brain, and it took precedence over my body. Even while moving, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She had the flush of new life under her skin, and it suited her well.

  “Here’s what really happened: The Warriors and I rode into Myrtle Creek, and I didn’t think it was going to be any different than any other place we landed in. We went to the bar, we got drunk, and we weren’t thinking about the future. Life in a motorcycle club isn’t a sure one, where you know where you’re going or what you’re doing. It’s all spur of the moment.

  “Anyway, when you get a bunch of horny idiots together, sometimes stupid things happen. Rusty started this bet that we all put in a thousand dollars, and whoever knocked up a local girl first got the money. Looking back, I can see what an awful thing that was to even suggest, much less agree on. But I saw your poster from the Peach Festival, and I just couldn’t resist. You were hot, and I wanted you. Most of the guys just went after random chicks they thought might be easy, but I told them I would find a way to have the Peach Festival Queen.”

  “How sweet.” Bambi smiled at me demurely from the couch. She still looked like that sweet Texas beauty queen with her nice clothes and her conservative makeup on, but I knew there was a whole other side to her. The poster I had seen that night had come to life, and it had been so much more than I had bargained for. It wasn’t the kind of thing I would ever give up, though. Not again. I had let her slip through my fingers too many times already, and I had to make sure I kept her. Telling her the truth—the entire truth—was the first step.

  “No, it wasn’t sweet,” I countered. “It wasn’t sweet at all. I was just a horny biker after an innocent, beautiful woman. My intentions were far less than honorable, and you need to know that. I wasn’t the same person then that I am now, even though it’s only been a couple of months. I wanted the money from the bet, and I wanted to get you in bed. Even if I didn’t win the cash, there was no way I could really lose if I got to sleep with you.”

  I ran my hand through my hair, whipping off the bandana and flinging it to the soft carpeting of the hotel room. “I saw you through that window, watching me. Even without talking to you, it was like I could tell you were ready for someone like me to come along. Still, I didn’t think it would be so easy to get you on the back of my bike.”

  “You drew me like a moth to a flame,” she admitted, her lips curling upward once again. “I can’t quite explain it, either, but it was like I just had to see what you were all about. For a little while, I regretted jumping on the back of your bike like that. It seemed like such a foolish thing to do. But now, I can’t imagine myself doing anything different.”

  “I can’t, either,” I agreed. “And it’s been strange since I met you. It’s like everything in my entire life has changed, and I can’t believe I was ever anybody other than who I am when I’m with you. And I feel horribly about the fact that, initially, you were nothing but a bet. It wasn’t anything romantic or nice. I don’t even like to admit it, but if we’re really going to do this, then I want you to understand the truth. More importantly, I need to know if you accept it. If not, well, then I understand that as well.” I sucked in a deep breath and stared at her, waiting for her to rage and yell at me for using her. I had been a dick, and that wasn’t restricted to just the bet. She had every right to reject me before we took this any further.

  Bambi stared at her hands where they sat clutched together on her lap. She rubbed her lips together while she thought, having no idea how sexy it made her. “When I walked into that pool hall and I heard you talking to the guys about whether or not I was pregnant and if you had won the money, I was horrified.” Her voice was quiet, almost hoarse.

  My heart dropped into my boots. I couldn’t believe I had done that to her. What the hell was wrong with me?

  “I had thought that what we had was something big and romantic, and that we were just constantly riding off into the sunset together. That was how it had felt up until that moment, and I loved it. I didn’t care that we were never in one place for very long or that we stayed in old motels. It made it feel more like an adventure, and I think I needed that.” She brought those big brown eyes up to look at me, and I damn near fell right into them. “I’d lived such a miserable life, Snake. I didn’t really know who I was, and I hated what I was forced to pretend to be. Nothing was right in my world, and I needed something completely different to free me from that.

  “I have to admit that I started to question myself when you wouldn’t let me go back to explain things to Mother.” Her eyes dropped to the floor again. “I felt bad for her. She’s always been alone. Her parents weren’t very loving or kind, and they died shortly after I was born. She didn’t have a lot of friends, and she didn’t do well with men. As soon as she got pregnant with me, my father left. I know she’s completely crazy—there’s no doubt of that—but I couldn’t help but feel some sort of sympathy for her when I knew she was all alone in that house.”

  “Bambi, I’m so sorry. I should have let you go back.” I reached a hand toward her, realizing what an asshole I must have seemed when she had asked me about going home. I never should have denied her anything, especially something so important.

  “No, you shouldn’t have.” She held up her hand, palm out, to stop me. “You want to explain things to me, and I should have a chance to do the same. Snake, you might have done something really wrong by taking part in that bet, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have some things to tell you as well. And I can’t say that I’ve been perfect. There’s a lot I’m still trying to figure out.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “You claimed to have won that bet, and that was when I realized it was all over for me. The dream was over, and I had to return to reality. But I did mean what I said when the cops showed up. You never kidnapped me, and I came with you of my own free will. It was also of my own free will that I left and went back home.

  “Of course, it was miserable there. Mother was pissed at me for running away, and she was horrified when she found out about the baby. She didn’t say much about it once she was done yelling, but then she told me what she really wanted.” Bambi paused, swallowing several times.

  I wanted to swoop down to the couch and hold her in my arms, but I could tell that wouldn’t have helped. She was upset, but she needed to get this out. And she was a much stronger woman than I had originally imagined.

  “Mother asked me to claim you had raped me,” she whispered, her eyes falling to the floor.

  “What?” My voice boomed through the room, and I was sure any guests in the surrounding rooms could have heard us. “I wouldn’t do a thing like that! You told her it wasn’t true, didn’t you?”

  “Of course I did,” she defended. “But that’s the thing about her. She doesn’t care if it’s the truth or not as long as it serves her purpose. I was to claim that you raped me, and then tell e
veryone later on down the road that I had lost the baby. Mother was going to make me give it away.” She choked on the last words.

  I couldn’t help myself any longer, and I was next to her on the couch in an instant. My arms were around her, caressing her, touching the delicate bump where our child was growing. I couldn’t touch enough of her at once, needing to feel that I could protect every square inch of her skin. “I never would have let that happen. I waited around far too long, hoping you would come back, but I would have fought tooth and nail for that child if it had come to it. I still will. I want all three of us to be together, no matter what happens.”

  Bambi buried her head into my shoulder. She smelled of flowers and sunshine. “I know. And that’s exactly what I realized while I was back at home. For a little while, I had thought you were just like Mother, trying to keep me trapped so you could use me for your own purposes. But then I realized that you were protecting me and taking care of me in everything you did, even when you wouldn’t let me go home. You just wanted to keep me away from Mother because she would manipulate me, and you were right. That’s exactly what she was trying to do.”