Snake

 

I smiled to myself as we headed into the next town. It was an impulsive thing to do, and if I’d had time to think about it, I wouldn’t have imagined that it would work. I was just some grubby biker, and she was a beauty queen. But as soon as I came to a stop in front of her and looked over my shoulder, I knew she was coming. I saw that look of desperation in her eyes, that need to do something different, something bad.

 

As soon as I had her sweet little body behind mine on the bike, I felt a heat spread over my skin. Her ample breasts pressed against my back and she wrapped her arms around me, and it felt like it would take forever to get into the next town. It wasn’t fair to have to drive and not be able to see her or touch her the way I wanted to.

 

Myrtle Creek had been an all right place, and Johnson City wasn’t much different. It was just another small southern town with a few fast food joints and a motel. I led the other members into the parking lot and pulled to a stop in front of the office. I reached back and put my hand on her thigh as I got off. It was warm and solid, but the muscles flinched under my touch. “You stay here. I’ll be right back.”

 

She nodded meekly.

 

The guys didn’t argue when I shoved my way to the desk first. After all, I had business to take care of. I arranged for a room without even hearing the jeers of the other men. When I returned to my bike, Bambi was exactly where I had left her. She sat stiffly on the back of the seat, her arms folded awkwardly in front of her chest. The ride had tattered the hem of her dress, the dirty gray of the road corrupting the stunning silver of the material.

 

I moved my bike down the parking lot so it would be in front of our room, and this time I gestured for her to come with me. I unlocked the door and shoved it open, standing aside to make room for her.

 

She entered the room stiffly, her brown eyes wide and her muscles tensed. She paused a few feet inside the room and stared down at the ancient carpet.

 

“Make yourself at home,” I said as I shut the door and latched the deadbolt. “We plan on being in Johnson City for a few days before riding on to the next place.”

 

“Oh, okay.” But she didn’t move. She just stood there, soaking in her surroundings.

 

I couldn’t blame her if she was disappointed, but these were the kind of quarters we usually got. Being on the road so much, we couldn’t afford some ritzy hotel with a hot tub and laundry service. Instead, we stopped at places like the Park Avenue Motel, which sounded nicer than it looked. The bed sagged slightly on one corner underneath its faded plaid comforter, and there was no telling when someone had cleaned the mirror last. The carpet crunched slightly underfoot, and I was sure the telephone next to the bed had been there since the place was built.

 

Still, there were fresh doughnuts and coffee in the office every morning, and the room didn’t cost much. We weren’t the types of guys who needed a lot of amenities or special treatment. We were used to living rugged.

 

“Just relax a little, Bambi. I don’t bite. Well, unless you want me to.” I raised my eyebrow at her.

 

She rubbed her arm with her hand and leaned away from me a little, looking like her namesake. “How do you know who I am?”

 

Grinning, I pulled the Peach Festival poster out of my back pocket and showed it to her. “You could say you’re a little bit of a celebrity in these parts.”

 

Bambi scowled at the paper and sidled a little further away. “Oh. I see.”

 

I watched her for a moment, feeling a little lost. I wasn’t used to women who were shy. She was playing coy. Okay, I could deal with that. I stepped toward her and put my hands on her hips, yanking her toward me and pressing her body against me. She was pliant in the moment of surprise, but she stiffened quickly. I looked down at her and tipped my head to the side. “What’s the matter, baby? Do I scare you?”

 

She didn’t respond right away, and I didn’t give her a chance. I pressed my lips to hers, bringing one hand up to the back of her head. Her hair was soft against my skin, and she tasted so good. Fresh. Clean. Not like the women I was used to, who smelled of old coffee and cigarettes. This was a girl from the right side of the tracks, a girl who had never run off with a stranger before.

 

Still, she relaxed into the kiss, her body finally pulling toward mine. Her lips were soft but determined as she kissed me back, parting at my insistence and allowing my tongue inside. I roved over the curves of her tongue and the ridges of her teeth, unable to get enough of this good thing.

 

We were finally on the right track, and I had waited long enough. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since I’d seen that damn poster, which was now abandoned on the dresser. This was no longer just an image on a poster, but a woman in my arms. I wanted her, and I needed her. Expertly, I reached behind her back and found the top of the zipper that fastened her dress. Slowly, agonizingly, I began pulling it down.

 

Bambi was out of my arms in a flash, and I didn’t see her hand coming until I felt the sting of her slap on my cheek.

 

I grabbed her wrist, unsated and angry. “What the hell was that for?”

 

Her lower lip, swollen from our kiss, trembled. “I’m not that kind of girl,” she insisted. Her voice was high and sweet, like an angel.

 

“You could have fooled me, since you were the one who got on the back of my bike.” I raked my eyes up and down her body, trying to decide just how far I wanted to push this. Up close, she was even hotter than she had been on the back of that convertible. Her dress showed off her amazing figure, from her luscious breasts to her tantalizing hips. I instantly imagined myself underneath her, grabbing her hips while her tits brushed against my face. “Now then, let’s pick up where we left off.” I pulled her toward me by the wrist.

 

She twisted away. I could have held on, but I didn’t want to break the delicate bones of her arm. I let go, and she stumbled backward toward the bed. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” Bambi’s eyes were wild, fearful.

 

“Well, I thought I was going to have an afternoon of fun with a beautiful woman. It seems that she’s changed her mind.” I kept myself placed between her and the door. I wouldn’t hold her captive, not really, but I wasn’t ready to let her leave.

 

She slowly sank onto the mattress, tears in her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? I was just trying to get away from my life and from my mother. I never should have come with you. I’ll just leave.” She stood and headed toward the door.

 

I intercepted her easily. “Not so fast. You were looking at me through that window. You were staring at me during the parade. You got on my bike. Now tell me how you can do all of that and then turn around and say it was a mistake?”

 

She pulled her shoulders in so that her arms hugged her body, unaware of the fact that it made the material of her dress show off a little more of her cleavage. “I said I was sorry. I just want to go.” Bambi reached for the door again.

 

It only took a little flick of my arm to stop her from grabbing the handle, not that she could have pulled it open with me standing in the way. “Hey, now. You wanted to come with me. Just what did you think was going to happen when you got on my bike?”

 

She shrugged, a lift of her pale shoulders that accented her frown. “I don’t know. I just wanted to run. You looked so … free.”

 

Realizing that this was definitely not the kind of woman I was used to, I laughed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. I go where I want and I do what I want.” The words made her flinch, and I laughed again. “At least, most of the time. You must be pretty gullible if you thought we were just going for a joyride.”

 

Her sadness and fear swiftly turned to anger. She crunched up her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “I’m not gullible!”

 

“No? A beauty queen in a small town who thinks a complete stranger is just going to be nice to her because she asks him to? A young lady who’s trying to run away from her mother and thinks the best way to do it is to get on the back of my bike and ride to the next town? Sorry, Bambi, but you’re too eager to believe the world is a nice place.”

 

“I know it isn’t,” she sneered, but she took a step backward to increase the distance between us. “Even the tiny little world I’ve been living in isn’t very nice. My mother doesn’t let me do anything I want, and she never leaves me alone. Even the other girls in the Peach Festival Pageant are horrible to me, simply because I won. The people of the town want to pretend that I’m so loved and adored just because I won a crown, but I’m just their little puppet.”

 

Leaning against the door, I grinned. “Yep, you’re just proving my point. You’re gullible. You’re too innocent. You’re never going to make it like that in the world.” I had been young and innocent once. I was only twenty-five, but I had learned a lot of hard lessons and most of them had come early. My stepmother had been sure to teach me the ways of the world when I wasn’t yet old enough. I didn’t mind at the time, but I knew now what it was to be taken advantage of. Since then, I’d kept everybody in my life at arm’s distance or even a little further.

 

“That’s exactly why I’m trying to change!” Bambi insisted. “Maybe it was stupid of me to go with you. But at least I had the chance of making a mistake, which my mother would never let me do. Now I know, and trust me, I won’t be going anywhere with you again.”

 

Maybe it was something about the way she looked when she was pissed, with her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. Maybe it was because I knew she was a challenge like I’d never had before. I couldn’t be sure, but Bambi was irresistible. I jumped forward to wrap her in my arms, pulling her tightly to me and kissing her once again. I expected her to squirm away, to slap me or punch me or try to kick me in the nuts. But to my surprise, she melted into me.

 

I let the kiss last a long minute as I explored the smooth planes of her back and the soft wisps of her hair. I pulled in the sweet scent of a clean woman, taking as much of it as I could. When I finally broke away, she looked up at me with softness in her eyes.

 

“Then why do you let me do that?” I asked.

 

She blinked, as though she had suddenly woken up and couldn’t remember where she was. “What?”

 

“If you’re so determined not to have anything to do with me, then why do you kiss me like that?” I didn’t mind, but I didn’t quite understand, either. “You talk like a woman who wants to leave, but you behave like a woman who can’t help but stay.”

 

Bambi closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. “I don’t know, Snake. I don’t know what I’m doing at all.”

 

Running my hand across my chin and feeling the stubble that had grown there over the last few days, I wondered just what I had gotten myself into. No doubt the rest of the MC members were in the surrounding motel rooms, listening at the walls. They would give me hell for a long time if they knew what was really going on in here. Still, I wasn’t the kind of guy to force myself on someone. No matter how much I would have liked to, I couldn’t do this to her. She was young and vulnerable, and this afternoon had already changed her entire life.

 

I stepped to the side, giving her free access to the door. “Then maybe you should go.”

 

She gaped at me for a moment. “You don’t want me to stay?”

 

I sighed. “Sweetheart, I don’t have time for games. You want to stay, you want to go, and then you want to stay again. You make up your mind and let me know.” One thing was for sure, I was going to run out of patience before too long.

 

“I just thought you were going to make me stay, that’s all.” Bambi took one hesitant step toward the door and then another. When she had her hand on the knob, she turned around to look at me. “Um, I don’t have any way of getting back to Myrtle Creek.”

 

For the trouble and the frustration she had caused me, I should have just told her she was on her own. Plenty of people would be thrilled to help a beautiful woman in distress, and she would have been able to bum a few dollars off anyone she met. But I found myself reaching into my back pocket for my wallet and pulling out a little cash. “Here. Get a cab.”

 

Bambi looked at me then with such love and adoration, her eyes wide and her lips soft, that I must have been her hero at that moment. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

 

I didn’t like being put in the spotlight, even if it was only between the two of us. “You need to go.”

 

She scrambled out the door and was gone. I stared at the closed door for a minute, realizing I had now lost the bet for sure.