“So, Zara, right? Where did Demon pick you up? Don’t tell me, you’re one of those women who flock here to the parties all the time. The ones who are just looking to catch a biker,” Harlow said with a smug look on her face. I wanted to strangle her. I looked at Terror for help. I felt Zara stiffen beside me.
“No, sorry to disappoint. I’m not a barfly or any other kind of slut. I met him through Jessica. You know her, right? She’s Ajax’s woman.” Before I could stop it from going any further, Zara’s cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket.
“Excuse me, I need to take this.” I knew that had to mean one thing. It was the hospital. Damnit, she was supposed to be off this weekend. I hope they weren’t calling her in. They seemed to take advantage of her a lot.
While she was taking the call, I laid into Harlow. “Cut it out, Harley. Zara isn’t some slut. She’s my woman. I had hoped you’d at least be cordial to her,” I snapped.
“Demon, I just don’t want you to get hurt or to make a mistake. I admit she’s beautiful, but there’s more to a partner than their looks. I want you to have what Terror and I have.”
As I started to tell her that I knew Zara was the one, Zara’s voice got louder.
“I told you not to discharge her until after I checked her one more time!” There was a pause. “And you thought you could make that decision on your own? Really? I want you to set up and call her every four hours until I get a chance to check on her. And make sure you do it. Don’t foist this off on one of the nurses. I’ll talk to you on Monday,” she spit out and then clicked off her phone angrily.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” She came back to join us, shaking her head with a pissed-off look on her face.
“A dumbass intern thought he’d discharge one of my patients without me seeing her. I told him not to do it until I could check her out. The little shit is going to find his ass on the floor if he keeps defying me. The little shit thinks because I’m a woman, he doesn’t need to listen to me. He keeps it up, and he’ll find himself out of the program.”
“Intern? Patients? What are you, a doctor?” Harlow asked her in a tone of disbelief.
“Yeah, she is. Zara is Dr. Newton at the hospital here in town. She works in the ER. Is it that Matt guy again?” She nodded her head yes. I could tell she was still fuming. Harlow was standing there with a comical look of shock on her face.
“You’re really a doctor? No shit! How in the hell did you manage that, Dem?”
“Hey, no need to sound so surprised. I do have my good qualities. And I managed it with a lot of begging,” I half-joked. I might not have begged, but it came damn close to it. “Do you need to go in?”
“No, I don’t. She’s already been discharged. It’ll do the shithead good to have to call her every four hours. I’ll call her in the morning. Sorry for that. Where were we? Oh yeah, Harlow, you were trying to insult me and see if I could take it or would run off crying,” she said sweetly with a gleam in her eyes.
Terror burst out laughing. He stepped up closer and pulled her into his arms. “Damn, I like you, Zara. You’re perfect. Don’t pay any attention to these two. They like to one up each other. Let me tell you about what I thought the first time I saw the two of them together.”
So, that was how the ice was broken between my woman and my “sister”. Zara laughed her ass off when she heard Terror had thought Harley and I were an item and he’d been jealous and wanted to punch me in the face. By the time he was done with that story, we were headed back inside.
I took her around to introduce her to the ones she hadn’t met yet. I got a lot of high fives from the other Dublin Falls’ guys. Zara seemed to be at ease with the old ladies and the horde of kids. This was a family party, so all the kids from Dublin Falls had come with their parents. When I introduced her to the Louisville chapter as well as the Gastonia one, who’d rolled in after the scene in the parking lot, I caught the single guys checking her out with interest. Just not too much. Lucky for them.
It was maybe an hour or so later when Zara had excused herself to go to the bathroom, that Harlow caught me alone. “I’m sorry, Demon. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I just wanted to be sure she was the right woman for you. And I think she is. Congrats.”
I hugged her close. “Thanks, Harley. I know she is. I didn’t tell you about her because I wanted to wait until you could meet her. Besides, she’s skittish. It took me weeks to convince her to give us a chance. And just so you know, I plan to claim her officially in front of everyone tonight.” She squealed in happiness and clapped her hands. “Shh, don’t give it away.”
When Zara came back, we continued to mingle. Later, I knew the bunnies would be coming to join us. The ones who’d come with the other clubs had gone off to the rooms where ours tended to stay. They knew when it was family time, they needed to keep their shit under wraps. That was new for them since we’d started taking old ladies. Terror had been navigating that for the last five years or more in his club.
I proudly took Zara over to meet Ms. Marie. God, did I love that woman. She was Menace’s wife, Alannah’s grandma and the official grandma to the Dublin Falls’ crew. Hell, to all of us really. She was in her sixties and a ball of fire. We’d met her before we met Alannah. She was known as a huge flirt. We’d all more than once been flirted with, patted, or pinched on the ass, and heard her lament the fact none of us could handle her. She was hilarious.
When I stopped in front of her, she looked me up and down, then she looked searchingly at Zara. “Well, are you going to introduce me to the woman who took you from me, or what? I think I deserve to know who stole you. I need to know if I let her keep you, or if I need to cut a bitch,” Marie said seriously. I watched, trying not to laugh, as Zara’s eyes got huge, and her mouth fell open.
I gave Marie a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Settle down, hot stuff. You knew one day you’d have to give me up.”
“Yeah, but only when I said I was done with you. Are you sure you want him? He’s a pain in the ass. I think he might be a slob. His ass won’t look like that forever. His muscles will fade, he’ll get a pot belly, and then what?” she asked Zara.
“Yeah, I think I’ll keep him for now, but you have a good point. He’ll start to lose all this fineness when he gets older. I think I’ll just wait and replace him with a younger man then, and become a cougar like you. Would you be willing to give me tips on how to do that?” Zara answered back without missing a beat.
“Wait a minute! I’m never going to look like you two are saying. I’m going to be a stud forever,” I protested. They both laughed.
“Sure. Well, I do have to say, she’s very lovely, Demon, and more than able to put up with lip. What’s your name? I’m Marie. The grandma to this motley crew of outlaws.” She hugged Zara. I saw Zara squeeze her back.
“Hello, Marie. I’m Zara. Nice to meet you.” This started them chatting for the next half an hour just about this and that. I stood by and proudly watched my woman charm another one.
I waited until after we’d eaten and people were starting to relax more. I had one of the prospects turn off the music so I could get everyone’s attention. When they looked up to see what was going on, I began my speech.
“Everyone, before things get too crazy and you’re all drunk, I wanted to take a minute and do something. Baby, come stand here.” I gestured for her to come stand beside me. She did it with a questioning look on her face. I held her against me.
“I think all of you have met her, but if not, this is Zara. She’s my woman. As you all know in our world, your woman can mean a couple of things. Well, in this case, it means my old lady. Baby, I want to give you this and have you wear it. It tells the world you’re mine and that I’m yours. Would you please be my old lady?” I asked her with nerves jumping in my stomach. What if she said no? I held up the property cut that Player had slipped into my hand where she couldn’t see it.
On the back were the words, Property of Demon, and on the front was my nickname for her, Hellion. She didn’t say anything for a moment. She just stood there looking at it. I was about to lose it when she threw herself in my arms and kissed me senseless. Cheers and catcalls went up all over the room.
Thankfully, it was after ten and all the kids were down. Like they had in Dublin Falls, Bull had an area made just for the kids. Instead of losing a few of the bedrooms, he’d gotten Tank’s crew to put an addition onto the clubhouse. It had a couple of bunk-style rooms, a large central play area and a couple of bathrooms. If not, they might have heard a few things they shouldn’t have.
When we were done kissing, I slipped her cut onto her. The ladies came over to congratulate her and admire her cut while the guys came over to me. Once the excitement died down, I led her away from the crowds.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m taking my old lady to our room. I want to continue this celebration in private, and I want it to be one that lasts all night long,” I growled. She shivered and followed me. Once we were in my room, it took no time at all for us to strip and start to pleasure each other. I didn’t lie either. We made love on and off all night long, well into the early hours of morning. I fell asleep with her in my arms, content with the next phase of my plan having gone off without a hitch. Next was to get her to agree to a house and a wedding. I couldn’t wait.