One Night in the Outlaw's Bed (10 page)

Diesel looked at all the guys. They all held the
same expression: one of annoyance and amusement.

“Fuck you all.” They all started laughing, and
Diesel shifted in his chair again. “I’m going to make myself perfectly clear.”
The room grew silent, and all focus was on Diesel. “I don’t want anyone saying
shit about Maggie. She isn’t up for discussion, and if I hear anyone talking
about how they want to fuck her or do anything else with her I’ll personally
take you out back and beat your ass.”

No one said anything, but there was clearly a
feeling of weirdness that came from each male.

“Everyone is cool with that, D—”

“
You placing
a claim on
her, Diesel?” Jagger’s words were cut off when Dallas decided to open his
mouth.

Diesel curled his hands into tight fists, but kept
them on his thighs.

“Dallas,” Jagger growled out. The tension in the
room was growing to a volcanic level.

“No, Jagger, I want to know. This conversation
started when D decided to tell us all she was off limits, but he can’t really
make that kind of demand unless he is related to her, has some kind of history
with her that doesn’t have anything to do with her dad selling bike parts, or if
he claimed her as his own.” Dallas was either drunk, high, or both to be
starting this shit now.

Court and Stinger all shifted in their seats, Brick
stared at Dallas with an inscrutable expression on his face, and Jagger wore a
scowl.

“Dallas, this is not up for debate.” Jagger spoke
before Diesel could tell Dallas off.

“I’m not trying to start shit.”

Diesel grunted, because that seemed like an outright
lie. “What in the fuck is your problem, man?” Diesel didn’t hide the growl in
his voice. “Since you got patched in you can’t seem to stop running your mouth.”

Dallas slowly leaned back in his chair. “There isn’t
a problem. I am simply stating that if I wanted to go after Maggie it shouldn’t
be a problem since you have not staked your claim.”

“The only thing you’re interested in is getting
between her thighs.” Diesel didn’t realize he had been about to stand until
Jagger put his hand on his forearm.

“Easy, brother.”
Jagger kept his voice low.

Diesel sat back in his seat and kept his focus on
Dallas. There was a moment of silence where no one did anything but look
between Diesel and Dallas.

“I mean it. Stay away from her, Dallas. She isn’t up
for grabs whether I have claimed her or not.” Diesel gritted his teeth and
forced his bear not to come out, scale this table, and kick Dallas’s ass.

“Dallas, I think the smart thing is to just back the
fuck off on Maggie. This is a brotherhood, and respecting each other is our code.
I don’t know what shit you’re going through that is making you act like this,
but back the fuck off.” Court was the one to speak. “If D doesn’t want you near
her, then that is the end of it.”

Dallas didn’t respond right away.

“We don’t screw with brothers, no matter what shit
we are going through,” Jagger said, and although he didn’t say that they had
all noticed a change in Dallas, it was clear from Jagger’s voice that they had.
“Especially when it concerns a female they are protective of. D might not be
sleeping with her, but he has said what he needed to say. This goes for any of
the members in this club.” Jagger looked at each Grizzly that sat around the
table. “And I think it is safe to say Diesel, as well as all of us, don’t want
to see Maggie hurt. She isn’t just a female, but Brian’s daughter, and we
respect the hell out of him.”

Diesel would have been happy if no one had gotten
involved in this. He wanted to make it clear to Dallas that Maggie was not up
for discussion, but Jagger was the President, this shit had been brought up at
the table, and it was clear this was how it was going to happen.

“There are plenty of chicks for you to fuck,
Dallas.” Brick chimed in, which surprised the hell out of Diesel. “In fact, go
fuck a few of the club whores. They would be more than happy to fuck you until
you are comatose.”

Dallas still didn’t say anything, and the rage
inside of Diesel increased.

“Understand?” Diesel made that one word come out on
a harsh growl. His bear was right there, just about to come out and do some
real fucking damage. “I don’t care if she is mine or not. Just back off, man.”

Dallas looked down at the table, and there was a lot
of emotion passing across the male’s face. Diesel didn’t know what was going on
with Dallas, felt sorry for him since it was clearly eating away at his soul,
but he still wouldn’t ease up on having him back away from Maggie.

“Yeah.”
Dallas scrubbed a hand over his face and then finally lifted his head and
looked at Diesel.

“If you want to talk, you know we are all here for
you,” Jagger said to Dallas. “You’re one of us, a brother, and you don’t need
to keep your problems buried inside of you.”

Dallas’s expression turned dark, and the sound of
him grinding his teeth came through like a whip cracking. “I don’t need to talk
about anything. That is the end of it.” He stood with enough force that his
chair skidded backward and slammed into the wall. He looked right at Diesel.
“Maggie is off-limits. I got it, but if you don’t want anyone going after that
female, then maybe you should lay your mark on her. As it is I—as well as I
know everyone else at this table—can smell the fucking sex on you,” Dallas said
with a growl. He looked at Jagger. “
We done
here?”

Jagger normally wasn’t one to let anyone talk to him
the way Dallas just had, but there was no mistaking that there was pain coming
from the other member, pain that he was trying really fucking hard to mask.
Because of
that,
and whatever shit Dallas was going through,
Jagger didn’t rip him a new asshole.

“Yeah,” their President said with
a
sharpness
to his voice. That was all it took for Dallas to get the fuck
out of the room.

No one said anything for a while, but there was
confusion in the air. The other members were lucky they didn’t bring up the
fact Dallas had called Diesel out on fucking Maggie, because even if he had
showered that morning, there was no getting rid of the scent of her that seemed
to cover his skin, the fact he was constantly thinking about her, or that he
was so fucking hard from said thoughts that he couldn’t sit comfortably.

“Brick, I want you and Diesel to head over to River
Run and get any information you can from McNamara on that new MC. He was stingy
with the details, but he also isn’t all about talking on the phone.”

No one gave out a lot of information on the phone.
Even if they were on disposable phones it was too risky to talk anything “business”
related, seeing as it was usually illegal.

“When you want us to head out?” Brick asked.

“This afternoon.
McNamara is expecting you.”

Diesel and Brick stood, but before he could leave
Jagger spoke again.

“Sit down a minute.”

He did, and waited until Brick shut the meeting room
door behind him before he started talking again. “What’s up?”

Jagger leaned back in his seat. “Want to tell me
what’s going on with you and Brian’s kid?”

“She isn’t a kid. She’s twenty-three.” Everyone in
the club knew about her because of their affiliation with Brian, and Diesel
knew that was what this was all about. “Besides, nothing is going on.”

Jagger cocked a brow. “No?”

Diesel shook his head.

“Then why can I smell the fact you had sex with her?”

Diesel didn’t know how to reply.

At Diesel’s silence Jagger signed and rubbed his
eyes. “D, man, she is Brian’s daughter. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I wanted her pretty damn
badly.” His annoyance grew over the fact first Dallas and now Jagger was giving
him shit about it. “If she wasn’t Brian’s daughter we wouldn’t even be having
this conversation. She is an adult, and was consenting. Why the fuck does
anyone care who I screw?” But it hadn’t been just fucking Maggie. It had meant
more, and that scared the shit out of him. He rested his elbows on the table
and leaned forward. “Jagger, I don’t know what is happening to me, but when I
was with her my bear took control. I couldn’t think rationally, and honestly
didn’t want to. I just wanted
her
, in
every fucking way imaginable. I was so damn possessive of her, too.” He never
talked about this kind of stuff. Maggie was a clear weakness for him.

“Fuck, dude.”
Yeah, that about
summed it up.
“
You going
to take her as an old lady?”

He was already shaking his head before Jagger even
finished. There was a frown between Jagger’s eyes.

“No?
Why not if you clearly want
her this badly?”

Diesel thought about what he said but didn’t have an
answer. “I don’t know, Jagger. I really fucking don’t know. What I do know is I
don’t want an old lady right now.”

“Why?”

Damn him for his quick response.

“Because I don’t think bringing in a female into the
fucked up life I lead is smart. She’s a good girl, and if anything happened to
her under my protection…” He clenched his jaw. “I would go off the deep end for
sure.”

“I would rather be there for my woman than try to
fight how I feel and end up missing out on a really fucking special thing. You
get my drift?” Jagger didn’t wait for Diesel to respond. “Diesel, you make it
sound like it is the end of the damn world having an old lady, when it is
actually the opposite. Since being with Sonya I feel different. Yeah, I still
have all that anger and violence inside of me, but she soothes it with just a
touch or the sound of her voice. I won’t lie and say that when all that shit
went down with Trick I wasn’t a fucking mess with worry over her. It’s a part
of life, and can’t be avoided.”

Diesel glanced out the window and saw Brick making
his way over to Darra. The Sergeant at Arms embraced her, and whatever he said
in her ear had her throwing her head back and laughing.

“You will never know the satisfaction you get
knowing you have someone to protect, or the feeling of this possessiveness and
territorial need to make it known she is yours. My animal revels in it, and I
don’t fucking fight him.”

Diesel didn’t know what to say. He had never heard
Jagger speak this “deeply” about anything aside from the MC before.

“I love that female, Diesel, and would take a bullet
in my head for her. And if what I’m picking up from you is accurate, you might
be feeling some pretty deep shit for Maggie as well. Did you ever think you’d
see Brick or me settled down, and pining for women?”

No, he hadn’t, but then again he didn’t think he
could have ever imagined any member of the club claiming a female. “This isn’t
something I want to talk about,
Prez
.”

“No? Well, you may not want to talk about it, but
you’re going to hear me out regardless. You want to screw chicks, I got no
problem with that, but you make damn sure you don’t mess around with a female
of the club’s associates unless you are willing to claim her as yours.” There
was a threat in Jagger’s voice. “Brian’s been working with the Grizzlies for
years. He’s a good man, and Maggie is a good girl. I don’t want to see her get
hurt. If you want to not have a member go after her, then you need to be the
one to treat her right. Understand?” There was this fatherly figure in Jagger,
even if he was a mean motherfucker at times. He was protective of everyone and
everything he considered family.

Diesel clenched his jaw. “I’m the last person that
would ever hurt her, and if anyone tried to fucking touch her I’d kill them.”

This smug look crossed over Jagger’s face.

“That’s what I thought. Why don’t you think about
that proprietary attitude that just came out of you, and the fact your bear was
the one that growled out those words? You don’t want an old lady? Seems like
you do, and her name is Maggie Drake.” Jagger held Diesel’s gaze with his own
and then turned and left him alone.

“Shit.” He rubbed his hand over his face and
breathed out. “You are so fucked, D.”

Chapter Eight

Maggie put the last box of air filters on the shelf
in the back room. The sound of the bell above the front door of her father’s
supply store dinged with a customer. She wiped her hands on the off white apron
tied around her waist and headed back out front. At first she didn’t see anyone
when she stepped into the main floor, but then Mora popped out from behind one
of the shelves with a huge grin on her face.

“Good God, Mora. How about not being creepy as hell
this early in the morning?”

Mora stepped up to the front counter and leaned on
it.

“This early?”
She looked down at her cell in her hand. “Girl, it is noon, and lunchtime.” She
smiled brightly and popped her gum.