Wilson's Hard Lesson (4 page)

True to his word, as soon as Summer was out of work, Wilson
was waiting. He had a helmet for each of them.

“I don’t need that,” she said.

“You’ll wear it,” he said.

“I’ve ridden without one before and I just as soon not. I
want to go home. I am dead tired,” she said.

Summer couldn’t believe it. She teared up. She couldn’t seem
to cap her emotions.

“You must think I am a wuss. Get wiped out tired from going
to school and working. Cry like a baby,” she said.

“And throw up,” he added quietly.

Did he have to mention that?” It was pretty embarrassing.

“Can we go?” she asked.

He handed her the helmet.

“Duran didn’t make me wear a helmet,” she mumbled.

“You rode with Duran?” he asked her.

“Do we have to do this here? Out in front of my work?” she
asked. “Yes. The day I walked home from your place. He just happened to pull
up. I got on the bike with him. When I opened the door, he pushed his way into
the house.”

“What happened next?” he asked.

“He chased me. I got out of the house, watched him go and
that was that,” she said.

“Put on the helmet,” he said.

The look in his eye was firm. She put on the helmet and he
helped her to adjust it.

It didn’t help that she reacted to their physical charisma.
That she wanted to grab his hand and tell him that she had missed him so. She
placed her hands on him just enough to hold on. As he did on that first night,
he corrected her. He placed her hands around his middle so that she had to hold
onto him tightly.

But instead of going to her house, they went to his
apartment. As he pulled into a parking lot, her stomach jumped. So many
feelings came to the surface and Summer didn’t want to do this right now.

He parked the bike and took her hand. Summer knew that
Wilson was a pretty reasonable guy. She guessed that after he said what he had
to say he would take her home. He took their helmets as they entered the
apartment. It had been two months since that wonderful night. The only thing
that she could think of was the Wilson probably had been with another girl
since then. She was jealous.

“What do you want to say?” she asked.

He set out box for her. She read it.
A pregnancy test?

“What?” she asked.

And then she thought. Oh no, she thought. Could she really
have lost track like that? Reluctantly she went into the bathroom and took the
test. It didn’t take that long before the test came back positive. Summer put head
into her hands and sobbed.

She wasn’t sure how long she cried for. They were deep and
quiet tears. Wilson had come in and sank down beside her.

“Hey,” he shook her gently.

Even in a moment like this, she was instantly worried about
what she looked like. She reached for a tissue. He handed her a bunch and
together they wiped her face. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

“Hey,” he said again. “It’s going to be okay.”

“How did you know? I’ve had my head in the clouds. I didn’t
even know. You were almost right. I am not young. I am stupid.”

“Wow” he said. “None of that. And anyone who can go to
school and hold down a job, isn’t dumb. But as far as this is concerned, you didn’t
get pregnant by yourself. I stand by you no matter what. I just ask that you
don’t make any rush decisions. I mean if you know right now what you want to do
and you’re sure, I still ask you to please, please just think about it.”

It sounded as though Wilson wanted her to have the baby.

“What are you saying? What is it that you hope I will do?”
she asked.

He took a deep breath.

“I know I told you that morning to go and not come back. To
not come back to Rowdy’s. I love being a biker and all that entails. To me
you’re just so pure, so beautiful. I didn’t to do anything that ruined that.
But I have to tell you, I prayed for a reason to have you back in my life. Call
me crazy but I think I fell in love with you that night.”

These were words she was so happy to hear. She didn’t know
what her mother and father would say but the first thing she thought of was
that there was no reason she couldn’t continue to go to school if she was a
mother. Lots of people did it. Summer looked at him intently.

“So are you saying I don’t have to stay away from you
anymore?” she asked.

“I know you don’t understand why I did that but no, I don’t.
I want you to be a part of my life,” he said.

“So what about Duran?” she asked.

“What about him? They found enough evidence, including a
neighbor who said he saw Duran pulling away from your house. Your parents are
present charges. He may not get much in the way of time. But I will make sure
he doesn’t bother your family anymore,” he said.

“Is he part of your club?” she asked.

“For now. We’ll put it to a vote but I am going to suggest
he gets kicked out. He’s not going to like that,” said Wilson.

Then in a spontaneous moment, Wilson took her heads in his
hands and kissed her. It was a slow, sensual kiss. He scooped her up and
carried her out of the bathroom and onto the sofa into his living room area.
They continued making out for a while. Then he broke the kiss.

“Here I asked you to wait for to take time to make your
decision and then I told you what I want,” he said.

“What do you want really? I know you want me in your life.
You want me to have the baby?” she asked.

“Yes, I do. But I want you in my life no matter what you
decide. I hope you can come to feel the same about me,” he said softly.

Summer didn’t want to rush into to telling him one way or
the other, after all. So much had happened. She was so tired. He could see
that.

“I think we need to get you home,” he said, kissing her on
the forehead.

Summer’s parents were much cooler than she had expected they
would be when she informed them that they were going to be grandparents.
Everyone agreed, even Wilson, that they would work together to make sure that
Summer would finish school. She cut back her hours at the store. Wilson helped
out financially so it all worked out.

She waited those few days he had asked her to. She was off
from the store on a Friday night and asked him if he would take her out so they
could talk.

“Where do you want to go?” he asked.

“I want to go to Rowdy’s,” she said.

He didn’t entirely like the idea.

“I want to shoot pool again while I still can. Before I get
too big,” she said.

He conceded.

Rowdy’s actually had a good menu. All eyes were on them when
the two of them entered the bar. Many of the guys at Rowdy’s had devilish
grins. Wilson and Summer took a seat a table with menus.

“I guess I should let you know there’s a rumor going around
about me and you,” he said.

“Really,” said Summer teasingly. “Well I guess I should make
an honest man of you.”

“Is that so?” he raised his eyebrow with an expression of
hope.

“Yes,” she smiled.

Wilson leaned over the table and kissed her. He took her
into his hands and kissed her hard. The bar whooped and hollered. Applause
broke out. The bartender came over to put cocktail napkins on the table.

“Dinner is on Rowdy’s,” he said.

“Wait a minute,” said Wilson. “What did we do to deserve
this?”

The bartender grinned. “Just let us. What can I get you to
drink?”

“Give us a couple of waters to begin with,” said Wilson. “Let’s
have a basket of chips and salsa.”

The bartender stood at the table grinning.

“And let’s have a little privacy,” said Wilson.

The bartender left the table.

“I am sorry,” said Wilson.

“That’s okay,” she said. “I just wanted to tell you that I
am keeping the baby. My parents are supportive.”

“So am I,” he said with excitement.

“I believe that with all my heart,” said Summer.

“Well,” he said pulling something out of his pocket.

It was a diamond ring. Summer’s eyes were as round as the
ring.

“I know this is sudden. I know this is whirlwind. But Summer
will do me the honor of being my wife?” he asked.

Summer was most definitely overwhelmed. She didn’t want to
make the decision of a young girl but a mature woman. She could accept the ring
and think some more.

“I think the answer is yes,” she said. “But I want to think
about it. How is that?”

“I think that’s smart under the circumstances,” he said with
a twinkle in the eye. “Will you let me put the ring on your finger?”

It fit perfectly.

“How did you manage that?” she asked.

“Your mother helped me,” he confessed.

Wilson and Summer had dinner and afterwards as planned, they
played pool. Summer actually one. It was a real victory. Wilson was such a
softy he would be the type to let her win. But Summer was a good match for him.
They were neck and neck with ability and this time Summer won fair and square.

As they wrapped up their game, the door to Rowdy’s opened
and in the person who walked in made the place go stone silent. Wilson turned
his head. His face grew dark. Summer shivered. Duran.

He boldly walked over to the chalk board and wrote his name
down as the challenger.

“You have some nerve,” said Wilson. “And maybe a
death-wish.”

“I have news for you both,” said Duran. “I am standing here
because the cops let me go.”

“Right,” said Wilson. “You posted bail.”

“Didn’t have to,” said Duran. “So whatever grudge you have
against me, you’ll have to let it go.”

“You got a lot more to answer for than just a busted window
and slashed tires,” said Wilson.

Summer knew he was talking about the fact Duran chased her
through her house.

“Be that as it may, the charges have been dropped,” said
Duran triumphantly.

Summer broke her silence.

“My mother and father wouldn’t do that,” she insisted.

“You’re correct,” he gloated. “They did not. Summer did
Wilson ever get a chance to tell you about his past? Did he ever get around to
tell you why his first wife left him? Now I am up next. You playing or not?”

“Leave,” said Wilson.

“You got some nerve,” said Duran. “Wanting me out for a
couple of misdemeanors when you have a rapsheet as long as my arm.”

Duran ignored him and started to rack the balls.

When Wilson took a threatening step forward, the entire bar
stood up. Summer’s head swam with confusion. Duran put the pool rack down and
left the bar.

By: Steamy Reads

Owned by the Bad Boy Outlaw

© SteamyReadsPublishing 2016 – All
rights reserved

Published by Steamy Reads4U

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the
publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
or reviews.

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, businesses,
places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or used in a fictitious manner.  Any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, or actual events are purely coincidental.  This book is
licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

This book may not be resold or given away to other people. 
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Warning

This book contains graphic content intended for readers 18+
years old.

If you are under 18 years old, or are not comfortable with
adult content, please close this book now.

With her straw blonde hair waving behind her, Marie Anderson
clutched her black binder against her wiry frame as if to shelter herself from
the onslaught of cold stares and harsh voices that flew at her as she made her
way down the path at Brookfield University. They talked about how she still
lived with her mother, and how strange her mother was. They talked about their
strict beliefs and their rigid way of life. They talked so much that it was
hard to ignore the things that the students, and even the teachers said about her.

She was
that
girl, the kind that didn’t party with
the rest of them and couldn’t go out on Sundays. They all knew she was a
virgin, so they called her Virgin Marie. Everyone said it. They gawked at her
homemade long gray skirts that went down to her knees, and the way her glasses
made her look like an old woman. They laughed at her for being so clumsy,
stupid and ugly.

She stayed away from everyone as best as she could. She just
hugged her binder to her stomach and tried to ignore the world around her. She
didn’t feel comfortable there. There were always prying eyes, but what mattered
were her grades.

With nothing but school and church to occupy her time, she
was able to maintain a 4.2 GPA, which was higher than any the school had ever
seen due to her vast array of extracurricular activities. Her academic prowess
was unheard of, but she never learned to relate to anyone. Her peers didn’t
understand her, and she didn’t understand them. They were all from different
worlds.

It was a cold winter morning, with ice and salt covering the
pavement. The school was one of the few places in the city that could afford
the expense of using salt on the pavement. They didn’t care that the salt
degraded the sidewalk. They knew that lawsuits were more expensive.

It was the kind of place that catered to its students. They
passed people that never should’ve gotten ahead. Idiots graduated every day
when they could do little more than read simple sentences. It was the hunger
for money that kept the school going, and as far as Marie was concerned it was
greed and avarice that fueled the entire planet. There was greed for flesh,
greed for wealth and greed for violence.

She saw the demon lust in every man that passed her, and the
jealousy in women’s eyes. She saw the carnal passion that moved through lovers,
like hellfire engulfing them in flames. They knew better, every last one of
them knew what they were doing, but they were all driven by their flesh. It was
just like Mama said.

Marie sat down under her favorite tree and reached into the
tiny hemp purse at her side. She pulled out a tiny plastic tube with a red lid.
This was where she found her comfort and escaped the mundane. She opened her
binder to a blank piece of newsprint. She closed her eyes and took around in
the tube for the right one to call to her. It was there, that tiny piece of
burnt carbon that opened a door to another world.

Through her charcoal drawings could shape beautiful flowers
and faces. She could create forests and waterfalls, or massive structures. She
felt like she was creating life, and that that life was whatever she wanted it
to be rather than the harsh reality around her.

When the sun started to set, she started to make her way up
the sidewalk towards the tiny neighborhood streets that would take her home.
Her mother would want her to help with dinner so she decided to pick up the
pace. The houses that surrounded hers on Gary Lane were all tailored and
perfect with short green lawns and little flowers in front, but they were
sterile. They didn’t look like they were lived in. They simply looked like they
were maintained. The flower beds had never grown food. The lawn didn’t have the
little path leading through the grass, or the little homemade wreath on the
door with the blue and white fake roses. They never painted their house, the
paint was chipping, but her house was whitewashed every two years. Nobody care
about those kinds of things anymore.

She opened the door softly, so as not to disturb her mother.
She walked through the quiet parlor, with its antique wooden couches and
kerosene lamps to the living room, where her mother was sitting in the dark and
quietly.

“Ow, child you scared me.” She looked down to see that her
mother had pricked her finger. She was wiry, like her daughter, but her hair
was auburn and always kept in a tight bun.

“I’m sorry, Mama,” she set her bag near the hard couch and
walked over.

“So,” Phyllis began, “how was school?”

“Alright. I aced a calculus exam.”

“Have you been able to avoid temptation?” The woman’s
straight-lipped face slapped Marie with an accusatory glare.

Marie was filled with embarrassment. She looked away and
said, “Yes, mama.”

“Only liars avoid their mother’s eyes.” Her mother put down
her sewing and stood up to walk past her. “You’re not a liar, are you, Marie?”
She got out a sterile dishrag from the sink and started scrubbing a spot off of
the counter.

“No, Mama,” she had a confident voice and an innocent smile.

“If you lie to me, child, He will know.” Her mother’s soft
voice was stern and determined. Her oratory manner was a constant staple in
their house, especially after Marie’s father died when she was 9.

The house lost its vitality when Herman died. Now it was
nothing more than quiet sewing and dark rooms. There was dust gathering in the
parlor, and he mother became more and more insistent about the way things
should be. She was strict, but she knew the way the world was, better than
Marie knew her own body, and she was protecting her daughter.

Phyllis turned around as Marie looked longingly at the chair
behind her. It had been a hard day. The woman opened the refrigerator to assess
the situation. ‘We’ll need some eggs and some butter. I don’t want the
expensive kind—get spread.”

“Yes, Mama.” Her mother reached into the little Mason jar at
the top of the refrigerator and pulled out a five dollar bill. “Get nothing
else, now. I’m making chicken and potatoes tonight, but we’ll need the rest
tomorrow.” She handed the crisp bill to her daughter, along with the whistle on
the top of the fridge. “You take your whistle and you use it if you have any
trouble.”

“Yes, Mama.” Marie made her way out into the dark night. 

* * * * *

Phyllis hummed softly to the sound of her favorite choir on
her tiny record player. It had been her mother’s. June had never needed to have
the firm hand of a father the way that she did. She couldn’t think about that.
She felt the familiar stabbing feeling in her gut and she double over—nearly
collapsing onto the cutting board where she had been cutting the chicken leg
quarters.

He had been so strong. He could’ve held them up in a way
that she never could’ve. He could’ve guided Marie. She felt like she was
constantly trying to hold onto what little control she had. Women are flawed,
Phyllis knew that. They didn’t have the strength that men have, and only a man
can instruct a young woman in the true ways of chastity.

Phyllis knew that one day it would happen. Marie would find
a man who wanted to lead her away from home, but in this world, with the way
that things were, she could never be sure that her daughter would remain pure.
Temptation was always around the corner, and she had to fight righteously to be
sure that her daughter wasn’t getting caught up in it.