Magnolia's Fall From Grace

by Zara Teleg

  “So, Maggie, Voodoo wants to meet you. You’re invited to a barbeque next weekend,” he rushed out, like he wasn’t sure how I would react.

  I blinked a few times. “Your father, Voodoo, wants to meet me?” It came out as more of a squeak when I thought of all the things I heard about the man.

  “Don’t worry. Sissy will be there, and so will everyone else.” He tried to play it down and change the subject. “Now, can I take you on that ride, or do you only go on adventures with doctors in Jeeps?” he asked sarcastically.

  I scrunched my face. “He was my ride,” I tried to explain.

  “Yeah, sure, I know. You couldn’t fit in with Catherine and Paul even though you came home with them.” His eyebrow quirked.

  “Vincent.” I inhaled deeply. I did expect to hear about this at some point. “He’s just my boss. And he is helping me build my med school resume.”

  “That better be all he’s helping you with. Now let’s go.” He tugged my hand, offering a dazzling smile as we walked to the back parking lot where a shiny black and chrome bike was parked with a helmet on the seat.

  “I don’t know. I’m not a fan of fast rides or becoming road splat.” I let my hand glide over the seat.

  “Do you think I’d ever let anything happen to you?” He caught my gaze.

  “No.” I shook my head.

  “No, I wouldn’t. You’re my girl. I’ll take it slow until you want me to go faster.” His eyes pinned mine. He was referring to more than just the bike ride.

  My chest was seizing as anxiety choked me. I was never good with nerves and usually threw up if I was really nervous. I felt like that now as I sat on the tiny seat and followed Vincent’s instructions. I tried to hide my fear with a smile. But I wanted to do this, and I knew Vincent wouldn’t let anything happen to me. If I didn’t muster the courage to do this, I would regret it forever. As if he was reading my mind, Vincent’s voice broke through.

  “Maggie, stop thinking and strap the helmet on. You’ll be fine. If you hate it, I’ll stop and get you a ride back, but you won’t hate it, I promise.”

  “What about your helmet?”

  “You’re wearing it, and I’m fine. I ride without it all the time.” Vincent’s hand closed over my hands that were strangling his waist. “Okay, I’m going to start her now.”

  He flipped the key, and a repetitious rumbling filled the air as the seat beneath me tingled to life. My legs tightened around him. My fear was now mixed with excitement as he yelled over his shoulder. “You ready?” I swallowed hard and nodded yes.

  My grip became like a vice around his waist. He hit the throttle but drove slowly through the lot before taking off onto the road. I recited his instructions in my mind, how to lean when he turned left and right.

  My arms were numbing before I began to relax and enjoy the ride. The gorgeous scenery flew by as I finally became present in the moment. It felt good, so good. Tears of joy nearly surfaced as I tossed my head back. I let go of the fear and embraced the adventure that we were experiencing. My cheeks ached from the smile I couldn’t remove from my face. I felt alive.

  We passed no one for miles as we cruised along the bayou, slowing to a stop next to a beautiful swamp. I knew why he took me here. It was nearing sunset, and I could already see the majestic orange sun divided by purple clouds. It was so much prettier here than at the mission.

  My legs were wobbling when Vincent helped me off the bike. Even my fingers were having trouble opening from the grip I held so long.

  “Watch the exhaust pipe. I don’t want it to burn you.” An ache shot to my core as his finger glided up near my thigh. “Well, what did you think?”

  “I didn’t like it.” I lied and held it long enough to watch his face fall. Then I squeezed his hands and smiled. “I loved it.”

  His frown turned into a wicked grin. “I knew it.”

  Venom

  I loved living close to Maggie at the campground. The clubhouse was more comfortable, sure, but it had been so crazy over there this week that I had tried everything to avoid going there.

  Voodoo made the place so intense. The groupies and the brothers were all thrilled to get his attention. As for me, I wanted to be as far off his radar as I could. Voodoo had a way of reading people and situations that was almost supernatural. We could never get anything by him.

  Viper went there as often as possible, while I spent most of the week working at the mission and taking Maggie on evening rides and kissing her ‘til my balls were so blue I could hardly walk.

  “Why the fuck don’t you sleep?” A ball of socks hit me as I tried to quietly leave the cabin. “The fucking sun just came up,” Viper grumbled, putting his pillow over his head.

  “I’ll meet you at breakfast.” I swiped my knife and smokes off the dresser before closing the door. I dug in my jeans and pulled out my lighter. The flame flicked to life, matching the red morning sky, foretelling the hot day ahead. It wasn’t even 6 a.m. and the air was thick and sticky, almost unbreathable. I could see Maggie’s hair like a light shining in the thick trees where she sat beneath the cypress writing in her journal. Her quiet singing became clear as I got closer.

  Amazing Grace, of course.

  She looked like Snow White sitting on her blanket, enchanting the woods with her song.

  “Hey, gorgeous.” Her eye snapped from the page she was furiously writing. I plopped down on her blanket and dipped her back for a kiss. The flowery scent of her hair and minty mouth had me not wanting to let go.

  “Hey.” She pulled away, smiling softly as she pushed her fingers through my hair.

  “I must have been lost. I didn’t even hear you coming.” She leaned into me as I tugged her back against my chest and closed my arms around her.

  “Vincent?” She wound her fingers through mine and blew out a small breath.

  “Magnolia, what’s wrong.”

  “I’m a little nervous about meeting your father. I’ve heard things from Sissy and other people… He sounds really intimidating.”

  I didn’t want to lie, but I also didn’t want her to back out of coming to meet him. “You have nothing to be scared of. Voodoo is intimidating when he has to be. The club members and outsiders need to know that he is in charge. He has a heart, or Sienna and Sissy would not have had a place to live all these years. Being a provider and having so many people whose lives depend on you can be a lot of pressure. He has been grooming us to be Kings since we were little children. Whether we wanted it or not, he showed us the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of running a club.”

  “What do you mean? Was your mother okay with that?” Maggie turned her face to look at me as I spoke.

  “As much as she could be. She hated that he had called us by our road names since we were in diapers. You, aside from the authorities, are the only one who calls me Vincent.” She smiled at that. “Actually, when we’re in front of him, it’d be better if you called me Venom if you don’t mind.” I could tell she was mulling it over.

  “I understand, Venom,” she said, like she was testing it on her lips. “It’s okay if you don’t want to answer, but do you miss her? Your mother?”

  A pain in my chest made the lie harder to push from my lips. “No. Once someone leaves the club, they get cut off. You have to learn to move on without them. She left us and the club.” I realized just then how angry I was with her. How could she have left us with Voodoo? We were only little boys. If it hadn’t been for Sienna stepping up, God knew we would have had guns in our hands even earlier.

  “Maggie, I don’t like to talk about her or think about her. She’s just a memory.”

  “But you went to see your grandad. Why was that okay?”

  “He was not part of the club. There are rules, too many to explain. Can we just not talk about this?” I began to stand up when Maggie clasped her tiny hand around my wrist.

  “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pried. I’m just nervous about meeting him.”

  “I get it. But y
ou have nothing to fear. I will be with you the whole time. You’re not going to be out of my sight.” I kissed her hand, feeling guilty for pushing her away.

  “You know, I may have grown up with everything most people could want—fancy house, cars, country club, not wanting for anything, but that comes at a price too.”

  “How could being rich come at a price? From my side of the tracks, you can buy happiness.”

  “You’re wrong.” The snappiness in her voice was not what I expected. “You’d think that. But at ten years old, I learned the hard way that wasn’t true.” Her eyes became glassy as she blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall.

  “Maggie, tell me. You can tell me anything. I want you to.” My arm trapped her against me as I waited for her to continue.

  “Paige. Her name was Paige.” Her voice cracked as she swallowed again. “She was a year younger than I was, and my best friend. We were like sisters. She was our caretakers’ baby, Viola and Frederick.” Taking a pause that felt like forever, she continued, “I loved their home. They lived in the tiny guest house at the back of our property, but it had what our giant house lacked—it was full of love. She and her siblings actually played together and had fun, unlike my family. My parents had my brother and me packed away to boarding schools, and when we were home during breaks, they were away a lot, vacationing with all the important people, congressmen, senators, anyone who could offer a mutually beneficial relationship.

  My parents paid Viola and Frederick full-time salaries, but insurance was not part of that. I didn’t know what that meant until I was older. Anyway, it was Christmas break, and my parents were in Europe. I was supposed to be staying in our home with our grandmother, but she wanted to play cards at the club on a Saturday night, so she always allowed me to stay in the guest house and play with Paige. We had been together the day before, and she seemed fine. But after dinner, Viola sent me back to stay at the main house. She said Paige had a fever.” Tears were leaking down her cheeks, her pale skin turning bright red.

  “Maggie, are you okay?”

  She sniffed and nodded. She squeezed her eyes, pushing more liquid down her cheeks.

  “It’s okay.” I wished I could comfort her. Wiping her tears away with my finger, I tucked her into my chest.

  “I’m sorry, it still hurts, and I don’t think I will ever understand.” She sniffed. “When my grandmother went to drop me off there that night, Frederick answered, and Viola was screaming. By the time the ambulance arrived, it was too late. Paige’s fever had spiked so high, it overtook her poor little body.” Her words were hard to understand as she gripped my shirt in her hands. “She was only nine. I will never forget Viola’s howls of pain as they placed a sheet over her little girl and took her away.” She cried into my chest, which now burned with the same outrage Maggie had. Her story tore me up inside.

  Maggie peeled her face from my chest. “That’s why. That’s why I vowed to go against my parents’ wishes and pursue becoming a doctor. I wish no one would have to worry about money to get their child better. I want to help people who cannot help themselves. I want to travel the world and help every child who is sick and needs care.”

  If I had any questions about my feelings for Maggie Grace, I knew at that moment that I didn’t just love her. I loved her soul. She was everything right in the world, and I was about to feed her to the piranhas because I was selfish and wanted more time with her.

  “You will. You will save lives. You will make your dream come true. You will be the one who can make that happen. I know it. Maggie, I believe in you.”

  “You know,” she sniffed, “it was the only time in my life that I questioned my religion. Where was God for Paige? I didn’t pray for weeks. I was mad at God. But then I went back to school after winter break, and Sister Theresa explained things to me that made me realize that as tragic as it was, as heartbroken and full of grief as I felt, someday it would begin to feel better, and I would be stronger. I vowed if I ever had a daughter, I would call her Paige.” Her eyes connected with mine. “I learned that without sorrow, we cannot always appreciate what is in front of us.”

  Maggie pulled my hand to her chest. “Vincent, right now, you are in front of me, and I’ll savor every moment we have until I have to let go.”

  With my hand still on her heart, she pressed her lips to mine. My whole body just wanted to become a cocoon around her, to shield her from ever feeling that pain again.

  I let myself become lost in her kiss before pulling away. “I’ll never hurt you, Maggie Grace. And I would protect you with every cell in my body. You’ll always have a place in my arms.”

  Her whole body relaxed into mine, and it was the most satisfied I’d ever felt. She deserved it, she deserved the world, and I wished I could give it to her.

  Chapter 15

  Magnolia

  “Why do you always want to argue?” On my belly, lying next to him with my chin propped on my fist, I ran my fingers across Vincent’s hair, pushing it away from his face. He was on his back, looking at the sky with his arms folded like a pillow under his head.

  “It’s not arguing. It’s common-sense questions. Maggie, I don’t understand some of these stories that you just blindly believe.” There was questioning in his tone, almost like I was trying to convince him Santa Claus was real.

  “You just have to be open-minded. It’s called blind faith for a reason. You don’t need to see it to know it’s there. Didn’t you ever just know something in your heart, not because someone convinced you, but you just knew. It just felt right.”

  His eyes shifted down to me. His lip lifted slightly as his arms came from behind him and stopped under my arms, pulling me on top of him. I giggled as he positioned me so our eyes were level. His calloused hand cupped one side of my face.

  “Yes, Maggie. I know exactly what that is like. The feeling you just know, you can’t explain what it is or why, but you just know.” The last words were a whisper. Violet irises burned into me as my lips descended on his. I wished I could stay in this moment forever, my heart thumping in sync with his, the tender yet hungry kisses that made my body ache for more of him. I was taught that ache was lust, and lust was a sin. But how could feeling this euphoria in the arms of someone you love be wrong? Wanting to feel your bodies become one because that was all your heart craved? I could feel that he wanted more. Could I give him more? Was I ready for more? My nerves took over, breaking us apart.

  “Are you attempting to distract me from my point?” I asked, trying to seem as if I couldn’t handle the heat between us.

  Vincent sat up. “Maggie.” He breathed deeply, exhaling hard through his nose. “You’re killing me.” My eyes flicked to the ground as he adjusted himself.

  “I’m sorry.” I looked at him through my lashes, not letting on that I knew exactly how he felt. Did he really think I was not affected by his touch?

  “Don’t be. Sometimes I just get caught up in the moment with you.” His fingers lifted my chin. His smile was so devastatingly sexy it could set water on fire. “I wouldn’t want you any other way.”

  Vincent bent over, picking up my book and blanket. “We better get back.” He took my hand in his as we strolled back to the campground.

  “Is Shannon coming to the barbeque tomorrow? We can go on my bike, but Sissy would be glad to pick her up. I can’t see her riding in with Viper.” He chuckled.

  “I’ll ask her.” We stopped in front of my cabin. He leaned in, giving me a peck on the cheek.

  My brain wasn’t on work all day. I was just going through the motions. I was more concerned with observing the workshop tent where Viper and Vincent were working outside it. Both had no shirt over their blue jeans. They were indeed a sight.

  “Maggie? Have you heard anything I said?” Alcide waved his hand in front of my face. I shook my head clear.

  “Uh, what?”

  “I asked if you put all the electrolyte drinks in the fridge.”

  “Yes, I did.” At le
ast I thought I did. Crap, did I do them all? I had been so preoccupied.

  Alcide dragged a stool and sat in front of a chair, pointing for me to take a seat. “Maggie, can we talk?”

  I blew out air, knowing I deserved whatever he’d say for being so distracted this week. “Of course. What is it?”

  “Maggie, I know you have been spending a lot of time with Vincent.” He nodded his head toward the tent. “I know this is your first time on your own, and it’s not my place, but I really care about you. I want nothing more than for you to be happy, but Maggie, you have to see that you two are from different worlds. It’s obvious how much you like him. I’m afraid you are not thinking about your future.”

  I could feel heat climbing up my neck and my fair cheeks burning red. I couldn’t believe he was saying this.

  I put my hand up. “Just hold on, Alcide. You don’t know anything about him or us or our relationship.”

  “Relationship? How deep are you in? And you’re wrong. I do know about him and his family. I have access to everyone’s files. Maggie Grace, you need to know, they are part of an outlaw biker gang. I’m sorry, I’m not judging you for liking him. You seem to need to fix what you see as broken, to give attention to those who need it. It’s a beautiful quality. But people who are that caring can be blind to someone who may be using them.”

  I rose from my seat, stomping my foot. “How dare you accuse him of using me. And yes, I know about his family. And you know what, they have treated me like family more than my own, thank you very much. Don’t pretend like you know me or what’s good for me. I know what is in my heart. And Vincent is a good person.” I could feel the pain pricking at my eyes as I fought back the urge to let tears roll down my cheeks.

  “We are not talking about this again.” My voice was now loud and cracked slightly as I pushed away from the curtain and stomped my way to the bathroom, wiping at my eyes. Vincent saw me and then looked at Alcide, who was calling after me. I didn’t want Vincent to know I was upset and ask me why, so I darted into the restroom.