Doc Marshall

by Jessie Cooke

  Dallas smiled as he helped her out of the van. Her eyes met Coyote’s over Doc’s shoulder and she said, “Thank you for your help, Coyote.” Doc turned to him then. Dallas had always wondered if Doc noticed the way Coyote looked at her. At that moment, it seemed like he had.

  “Yeah, thanks,” he said. “Come on baby, let’s get you inside.” Dallas took Doc’s arm and at least for a while, everything was forgotten except for the baby “they were cooking,” as Doc put it. As soon as they got inside, she was put into a wheelchair and Doc answered questions and filled out paperwork. By the time he got upstairs they already had her in a gown and in a bed with a monitor strapped to her belly and the volume turned up loud.

  “What the hell is that?” Doc asked when he came into the room.

  She smiled. “It’s your baby’s heartbeat.”

  “Sounds like he’s swimming.”

  She laughed. “He is.” He reached for her hand and for just a second she thought about his San Antonio girlfriend. He squeezed her hand and while he went on about how happy she was making him, and how excited he was to meet the baby, she began to lay plans. As soon as she had her baby and she was well enough to travel…she and Abril Ortiz needed to have a face-to-face. It was bad enough to think about herself being disrespected, but she was not going to have her baby’s father running around, being a whore. Her baby was going to have respectable parents…even if it killed them both.

  22

  “He’s so pink,” Doc said, staring down at the tiny baby in his arms. Dallas chuckled. He was holding little Dax like a football and the two of them had been staring at each other for fifteen solid minutes. It was adorable.

  “Are you afraid his skin color will take away from his masculinity?”

  “I’m just wondering if he’s going to stay that color. He looks like a baby pig with blue eyes.”

  She laughed at that. “He’s perfect. Give me my baby.” Doc smiled at her and put the baby in her arms. He didn’t take his eyes off the little guy as he did.

  “I wonder if he has any idea that he’s royalty?” Doc said as the baby searched for his mother’s breast. Dallas rolled her eyes again.

  “I’m sure he can sense it, if he’s anywhere near as smart as his daddy.”

  “You’re being sarcastic, but look how far the club has come only in a few years…by the time this kid is old enough to ride, we’ll own Boston.”

  “Doc,” Dallas said, as the baby finally connected with the nipple he’d been so desperately searching for. “We need to talk.”

  He used his foot to pull a chair up next to the bed and sat down. “Okay. What’s up?”

  “This life, the outlaw biker life, it’s not an easy one, for any of us. I believe you want what is best for your son, but I’m not sure you even really know what that is.”

  “I’m not following you, Dal.”

  “I’m just…worried. I want him to have everything, and that includes respectable parents.”

  He narrowed his beautiful eyes on her face and said, “You want me to quit the club and get a real job, or what?”

  She sighed. “If I did, would you?”

  “Baby.” He reached for the hand that wasn’t holding the baby and she gave it to him. “You know this club is as much a part of me as…” He paused.

  “As I am?” she said. “As Dax is?”

  “No. Stop, please. You’re just a little overwhelmed with hormones or whatever right now. We should talk about this later.”

  “I want to talk about it now.”

  “I love you, Dallas, and I love our little pink kid, but if you want a final answer then it’s no. No, I won’t give up this club. I think you knew that before you asked.”

  She snorted. “That wasn’t even what I was asking, Doc. My point was that this life is going to be even harder for a child than it is for us. So, with that being said, I’d like to make sure that he always knows he comes first. He has to come first, Doc. Which means…if you can’t keep your dick in your pants for me, I’d like you to do it for him.”

  “You want to talk about sex? You just had my baby and you want to…hell, I’m not sure I even know what you’re talking about, Dallas.”

  “I’m talking about your whore in San Antonio,” she said, not mincing words. “I don’t want you to see her again…ever. I want you to keep your hands and your dick away from the girls that hang around the club. I want to know when you touch me that I’m the only woman you’re touching…and I want this baby to know that his parents love and respect each other. I want him to learn how to love a woman right.”

  “Okay, well, I think we have a little time there.” He chuckled.

  “No, Doc. Kids are like sponges. He’ll know if something is off. We need to make a pact now, that we won’t ever fight in front of him, or disparage each other…and no matter what, he’ll always know that loyalty to your family is the most important thing.”

  Doc made a face and said, “What the fuck did Coyote tell you on the way to the hospital?”

  “Seriously? That’s your response?”

  “All of a sudden you’re talking crazy and he’s the last one you talked to. You think I’m stupid, Dal? You think I don’t see how he looks at you?”

  “At least I’m not fucking him.” Doc fisted his hands at his sides and she was afraid for a second that she’d gone too far. She didn’t want to fight with him, not on the day of their baby’s birth of all days. But this conversation needed to happen. He had to know that she wouldn’t tolerate being at home taking care of his baby while he was running around the country fucking his foreign whores.

  “And you’d better not ever be,” he whispered.

  “Relax,” she said, probably too late. “Coyote didn’t tell me anything, but not for lack of me trying. He nearly swallowed his own tongue to keep from answering my questions. Your men are loyal, Doc. All I’m asking is that you’re as loyal to me as they are to you.”

  Doc stood up and paced over to the window. Dallas looked down at the baby she was nursing. She had a feeling of protectiveness unlike any she’d ever had before, and she knew she’d do anything for him, even if it meant losing the man she loved. When he turned back around to face her he said, “That woman in San Antonio never meant anything to me, Dal. You’re the only woman I’ve ever had feelings for. I waited for you for two years while you were in jail…”

  Dallas laughed. “Seriously? You waited for me? You were fucking her the whole time and maybe Jamie too. Besides the fact that I was only there because I refused to give them who they really wanted.” That was Doc, and they both knew it. She knew bringing that up now was dirty pool, but he was acting like he’d forgotten, and that wasn’t acceptable to her.

  “You told me…” He ran a hand through his hair like he always did when he was trying to calm himself down. With a sigh he said, “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. You want some kind of promise from me, Dal? Is that what you want? I won’t fuck anyone else, okay? I don’t want anyone else. Jesus, you just had my baby. What kind of asshole do you think I am?”

  Dallas suddenly had tears in her eyes. She wouldn’t admit it to Doc, but he’d been right about her hormones. They were all over the place. She also wouldn’t admit it to him, but she was much more jealous of the woman in San Antonio than she had been of Jamie or any of the club girls that she knew Doc had been with before her. That woman in Texas meant something to him. He could deny it until he was as blue in the face as his eyes were…but a woman knew these things. She also knew that Doc had ample opportunity to leave Abril in the past, and he hadn’t done it yet. “I love you,” she said, softly. She looked down at the baby in her arms and said, “I love him more than I ever thought I would. I want him to have parents he’s proud of, and can respect, that’s all. I want him to have everything.”

  Doc went back over to the bed, bent down, and kissed the side of her face. “I promise, baby. Our little prince is going to have everything. I’m going to keep hoping he doesn’t stay pink, but I pro
mise to love him anyway.” She laughed through the tears running down her face. Doc put his fingers underneath her chin and tipped her face up to look at him. She loved his face. She did love him. Sometimes she wished that she didn’t. “I’ll do better, Dal, I promise. I’m going to be a better father to him than mine ever was to me, and I’m going to be the man you both deserve. Okay?” She nodded and cried harder. The nurse walked in just at that moment and in a helpless voice Doc said, “I think she needs something…for her emotions.”

  The nurse smiled and said, “It’s normal for women who just gave birth to be emotional. I’m going to do her vaginal check now. Would you like to stay for that, or…?”

  Doc looked at Dallas, wide-eyed. She almost laughed at the panic on his face. “Go,” she said. “You’ve been here all day. Go get something to eat and get some rest.”

  “You sure, baby?” She nodded. Doc bent back down and kissed her softly on the lips. He bent down further and pressed his lips into the baby’s little towhead. “Hey, Dallas?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You did so good today. Thank you, for my little prince.”

  She started crying again. “Thank you,” she managed to whisper. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, baby.” He looked at the nurse on his way out the door and said, “Make sure you take good care of them.” The nurse was already lifting the covers off the lower half of Dallas’s body and she just nodded in his direction. Dallas looked back down at her baby…her blond, blue-eyed little man. Her forever link to her blond, blue-eyed big man. She hoped the woman in Texas knew she’d kill for either one of them…if she had to.

  Doc walked into the clubhouse an hour after leaving the hospital, into the midst of a party. They were throwing it for him, but in true Skulls fashion, they hadn’t waited for him to get started. He didn’t fault them for that; he knew they meant well. Hawk bought a box of cigars with blue bindings that said “It’s a boy,” and he gave them to Doc with a bottle of good brandy as soon as he walked in. Someone put a freshly poured drink in his hand and Hawk held his drink up and said, “A toast to the proud papa, his old lady, Dallas, and the new little Marshall. What’s his name again?”

  Doc smiled and said, “Dax, and y’all better remember it because that kid will be your boss someday.”

  Hawk laughed and said, “May they all live long and prosper.”

  Everyone shouted out their “Hear, hear” and once the toast was finished, they gave him a round of applause. Dallas could talk all she wanted about these people not being the “respectable types.” They were his people…his son’s people…and despite popular belief, most of the “respectable types” that Doc knew well in his life had been some of the biggest assholes he’d ever met…beginning with his own father. He shook off the memories of Landon, quickly. They came and went with anger, grief, and a bunch of emotions he hated acknowledging, much less dealing with. The smile on Doc’s face was real. He was a father, and everything he’d worked for and would work for in the future suddenly had even more purpose.

  He shot pool, played darts, danced with a few of the girls…innocently…and he drank, a lot. Dallas and the baby had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days, there were no pressing business matters, and he felt like having fun for a change. He’d just sat down at one of the tables with Badger and Tank to share a joint when he caught sight of Coyote out of the corner of his eye. Doc’s number one sergeant at arms had been conspicuously absent all evening and now he looked like he was trying to sneak out the front door.

  “Excuse me, boys,” Doc said, slurring his words only slightly. “I see someone I need to talk to.” Coyote slipped out the front door and by the time Doc caught up with him, he was throwing a leg over his bike. “Where you going?” Doc asked, startling the other man. Coyote’s eyes were shot through with blood like he’d had too much to drink to be climbing on the back of the bike…but that was nothing new. Coyote’s normal blood alcohol level was somewhere around the Massachusetts legal limit. Doc had found Coyote when he was only seventeen. He was socially awkward, and Doc ultimately found out that he couldn’t read or write. He recognized something in him though…intelligence, grit, determination, something…he knew that he could go far if he just had a little bit of help. So Doc had helped him. He’d tutored him a few nights a week, taught him simple math, how to read and write and how to do normal, everyday things. It was like he’d been living underneath a rock…a Neanderthal, or something.

  Doc was proud of what he accomplished by the time Coyote turned twenty-one. He had turned out to be as smart as a whip and picked things up quickly. But there was still something that ate away at him. Doc didn’t know what it was, and he left it alone because the last thing he wanted to be to his men was their priest or their confidant. Coyote medicated whatever ate at his soul with the alcohol…and Doc let him. As long as he did his job, Doc didn’t care what he did to his liver. But he did care about how everyone on the ranch could see the way Coyote looked at Dallas, and that made him look like a fool…so despite their history, Coyote would have to go.

  “Hey, Doc. Just needed some air. Congratulations on the little guy. How are they doing?”

  “They…” Doc said, walking toward him. “My family…are doing fine.” Coyote’s eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch and he slid his key in the ignition of his bike. Taking his skullcap out of his pocket, he pulled it on over his thick, unruly hair.

  “That’s good, Doc, I’m happy for you all.”

  “Are you? I mean, really? You happy for me, man?”

  Coyote looked confused. “Of course I am. Why would you ask me that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Doc said, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. “I just thought since you’re in love with my old lady…”

  Coyote opened his mouth just as Doc let out a big mouthful of smoke. He started coughing, choking on it. Doc calmly stood and watched until the other man, eyes filled with tears now, stopped coughing. “What the fuck, Doc? I’m not in love with Dallas.”

  Doc laughed. “I hope if the Feds ever kick down our doors, you’re not one of the guys they grab. You’re a fucking horrible liar.”

  “What’s this about, Doc? I swear to you, I haven’t been anything but appropriate toward Dallas. I have way too much respect for you and her both for that.”

  “Oh, I know. I’m not sure it’s about respect so much as knowing she’d turn you down and I’d kick your ass…but your limits are appreciated.”

  “Okay,” Coyote said with a sigh. “I think maybe we both need to continue this conversation when we don’t have so much alcohol in our systems.”

  “When would that be? When you’re dead? Your blood runs on alcohol.”

  “I’m not doing this, Doc.” Doc hadn’t been in a fistfight since he was in the army. He still had a short fuse, but he’d come a long way in learning how to control it. Tonight, however, be it the alcohol, the fact that his whole life was changing, or just the fact that the look in Coyote’s eyes earlier that morning when he dropped Dallas at the hospital just pissed him off…he didn’t know. He couldn’t think that clearly at the moment. He more or less saw himself doing what he was about to do, but he was helpless to stop it. He reached out with one hand and pulled the other man off his bike. Coyote went down hard on his knees in the dirt with Doc still holding firm to the front of his vest. Doc raised his other fist and Coyote didn’t even try to dodge it as it came toward his face. Doc heard the other man’s nose crunch and felt the warm spray of his blood when his knuckles connected with the cartilage of Coyote’s nose. He threw two more punches, and Coyote still didn’t make a move to fight back. By the time Hawk came out the front door of the club and rushed over toward them, the burst of anger and adrenaline that was driving Doc was gone and he was staring down at Coyote’s bloody, beaten face.

  “What the fuck?” Hawk was in Doc’s face for a second, before he bent down to check on Coyote. Coyote brushed him away with one big arm.

  �
��I’m fine,” he said, struggling to get to his feet. Hawk tried to help him but was pushed away again. The whole time Doc just stood there, watching him. Once Coyote was on his feet, holding onto the ape hangers on his bike to keep from hitting the dirt again, he looked at Doc and said, “We finished?”

  Doc nodded, slowly. “For now.”

  “Someone want to tell me what the fuck this is about?” Hawk watched in horror as Coyote climbed on the back of the bike again. “You can’t take off like this, where the fuck are you going?”

  “Last time I checked, Hawk, you weren’t my daddy. I’ve got some things to do.” With a shaking hand, Coyote turned the key in the ignition and the Harley roared to life. Hawk looked at Doc then and said:

  “You’re going to let him take off like this? His fucking nose is broken.” Doc didn’t say a word. He didn’t even look at Hawk’s face. Instead, he watched Coyote push the bike backwards with his feet and then with a pop of the clutch he was headed toward the front gates. Hawk waited for the sound of the Harley to fade and then in one more desperate attempt he said, “Doc…please tell me what the fuck is going on.”

  “I think I’m going to send Coyote out to California.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You know how we have talked about branching out? It’s time. We need someone out there who knows the territories. I want a West Coast chapter…who better than a California native to take care of that for us?”

  “Doc…You can’t send him out there alone. Starting a new chapter will bring every gang in a two-hundred-mile radius out of the woodwork to make sure it’s not going to infringe on any of their business. You may as well send him out there with a note pinned to his kutte that says ‘Shoot me.’”