CHAPTER ELEVEN
I love how you eat each thing on your plate, like all your fries, then your burger, never alternating, just one at a time. Except for Lefse. That you eat with everything.
~Text from Grant to Erik
Grant
It’s been a few months since Erik’s been home from the hospital, and he’s back to his normal self. Linnea still brings food over a couple times a month because she swears we’re gonna starve if she doesn’t, but we both know better than to argue with her. I thought our lives were gonna slow down a bit as empty nesters, but fuck if it’s not the exact opposite. Seems all four boys have been having woman troubles, work issues, or something to have them dropping in all the time. Kinsley is moving back to town next week, so she’s been here a lot lately, though her nose seems to be permanently stuck in her phone texting someone, and that someone is only a “friend” whenever I ask, but Erik seems to think she might be seeing someone. If he’s right, I’m gonna need to meet this fucker sooner rather than later.
Saxon has been working at the shop with Mick and me for a while now, and he seems to have settled a little bit. I’m hoping it means he and Samson have talked and worked things out. Those two have always been so close, yet they are the first to argue with each other. I blame them for almost all of my gray hairs.
Anyway, back to our not-so-quiet house. We haven’t shared our relationship to the world yet, but that’s due to Erik’s divorce being so close to finalized. He’s got it in his head that he doesn’t want to tarnish us in the eyes of everyone in our world by sharing it before that’s finalized. I know people won’t see it as that, but I’ll be damned if I won’t go along with it to please him. We’ve managed to make it through some big family events without anyone being the wiser, though I will admit, at Mick and Madison’s wedding, it was damn fucking hard not to take him out on the dance floor during one of the slow songs. Luckily, the tablecloths were long and I drove him crazy with my hands on his legs all night. I thought by the time we got home, he was gonna lose it. Hearing him beg to come was one of the hottest moments of my life.
He’s been working late this week. Something about this time of year being busier than normal for him. I’m just thankful that he’s off today, and I don’t have an appointment till later so I can spend some time with him. When he’s exhausted from all the numbers at work, he’s not one for conversation or anything more than dinner and sleep. He says he’s gonna cut back even more at work soon but hasn’t yet. I think his nerd side won’t let him because he actually likes his work and all that math. He may be a biker, but underneath it all, my man is a big math nerd who loves all the numbers and statistics.
I’ve made some baked French toast, bacon, and fruit salad. I’m just pouring some coffee from the pot, still brewing, when I hear him coming down the hall. I had poured the last of the first pot into his favorite mug. Holding it out to him, I get a slight smile in return. Have I mentioned that he’s not a morning person till he has at least one…no make that three cups of coffee? Just once or twice? Well, it bears repeating. I don’t know if he could get out more than a couple of grunts before those first few sips. I sit my cup down and walk over, hugging him from behind and kissing his neck, the spot that I know he loves. I know I’m the only one who’s ever kissed him there. Yes, I know that’s a caveman thought, but have I ever claimed not to be a caveman, especially when it comes to him? I think I’m pretty fucking Herculean to have restrained myself from going after Celeste when she pulled that shit or when I hear rumblings from people in our family starting to suggest Erik should start thinking about dating. I think motherfucking not.
He brings me out of my thoughts. “Looks like you made a special breakfast. What’s the occasion?” I kiss him once more on the neck before I answer. “No big reason. We’ve both been working a lot lately and this is the first morning in a while that we get to just spend time together.” He turns around in my arms and looks at me. “I know, and I actually talked to the guys at work about it. I reminded them that I’m really supposed to be part-time and working toward less than that, but I have been working more than forty hours a week again. They’ve agreed to start looking for someone to hire ‘cause they really do need the help. Plus, I miss not being able to work at the shop on occasion.” He gives me a quick peck on the lips. “But you making this kinda breakfast is spoiling me, and you didn’t need to go to all that trouble.” When is he gonna get it? “Babe. It’s not any trouble. We both gotta eat, and I like doin’ this shit for you. I like taking care of you this way. It soothes me, damn it.” He chuckles at me. “I think I’m figuring that out.” I must give him a look ‘cause he chuckles and shrugs his shoulders at me. He speaks barely above a whisper this time. “Thank you, Sir.”
Breakfast can wait. I push him up against the counter, grab the back of his neck, and kiss him, demanding entrance with my tongue. I still don’t think he totally gets what it does to me when he calls me that. It’s so fucking hot. I break the kiss and start kissing down his neck. Erik starts almost whimpering with need. Gods, this man. He stirs so much inside of me.
I move and turn him around, bending him over the counter. “I’m going to get you ready, and then I’m going to take you right here. Show you just how much you’re mine.”
Erik
I moan in pleasure when he says that. I speak without thinking. “Yes, please, Sir.” He opens a nearby drawer, realizing that he’s stashed lube all over the house. I knew I loved a smart man. He pulls down my pajama pants just enough to bare my ass. The anticipation is only turning me on more. Who knew I’d become such a needy bottom? I can’t help the sound that comes out of me when I feel his lubed-up finger make circles around my hole. The urge to beg him to just get inside of me is almost overwhelming, and I can’t help speaking up. “More, I need more!” Grant doesn’t answer me with words first but a smack to my ass. Fuck me. That’s so hot. I know I have to be dripping precum right now. I feel like I’m harder than I’ve ever been, but he makes me feel this way every time. He pulls my head back slightly by grabbing my hair. He kisses that same spot on my neck. “You're not the one in control here. I’m gonna give you what you need when I think you need it.” Knowing what gets him going the most, I respond to him, “Yes, Sir.” Hearing the growl come from his chest, I know I’m about to get what I want. Yes, my name is Erik, and I’m a bratty bottom. It only took me fifty- something years to realize it. No wonder people always talked about how great sex was. I totally get it now.
Grant doesn’t take any more time and slams right into me. “Fuck! How the hell are you always so tight?” He starts slamming into me with a speed that has my knees shaking within a couple of minutes, and I feel like I’m about to come. “Fuck, your ass is my favorite place to be. So. Fucking. Hot.” I can feel the tingly sensation almost overwhelming everything. “I need to come!”
He wraps an arm around me, grabs my cock, and starts slowly stroking it while still pounding into me. He kisses that damn spot on my neck and speaks with a forceful voice. “Come for me now!” I come, squirting all over his hand. I’m still shaking with the last of my orgasm when I feel him come inside me with a roar. “FFFUUUCCCKKK!”
Both of us breathing like we just ran a marathon, but he’s with it enough to hold me up as he slips out of me. I know we’ve made a mess, but I can’t be bothered to think about it at this moment. A lack of blood to my brain makes thinking not possible just yet. He has both arms around me, hugging me and holding me up ‘cause honestly, I doubt my legs would work right this second. He kisses my shoulder. “Let’s go take a shower, then we’ll eat. You need your energy because we’re gonna do that again tonight.” I chuckle and stand up a little straighter before I turn my head to look back at Grant. “You’re pretty damn sure of yourself. Twice in one day and on a day you have an appointment?” He pulls me toward our bathroom and glares back at me. “Fuck yes, I am. We may not be as young as we used to be, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to try and make up for lost time. We’ve only begun to explore each other, and I still haven’t tied you up yet. Your ass always distracts me from doing that. Now let me get you cleaned up and fed. I have to go to work in a bit, and I want to make sure you’re taken care of before I leave.” Gods, I love this man.
**********
It’s been a few hours since Grant left for work. He says he’s just got the one appointment today, but that always seems to change to more once he’s at the shop. The man loves what he does. It’s just his hands that aren’t letting him do it as often as he used to. Seems to be something that people don’t think about when they wonder why their tattoo artist stops working so often the older they get.
I’ve been a bum and am sitting on my butt on the couch and have been catching up on one of my guilty pleasures, The Great British Baking Show. You know you watch it too. Besides the hilarious contestants and hosts, Paul Hollywood is very easy on the eyes. He’s been a favorite of mine since I discovered this show in its second season. You try and tell me you couldn’t get lost in his blue eyes. Thought so. I start the show back up, in time to watch this episode’s technical bake. It’s almost time for the judging when my phone dings with an incoming text.
Jonah: There’s been some fucking emergency at the hospital, and Madison was attacked. She’s in surgery now delivering the baby, and Mick is there alone. Cops all over.
Me: On my way. Be there in 15.
Jonah: You go see the cops in the doctor’s office, and I’ll text you with what floor we’re on.
Me: On it.
I hurry to get up, grab my keys, and run out to my bike. Gotta fly like the wind, and the bike is the choice for today. What the fuck could’ve happened at the hospital?
One perk of living here my whole fucking life is I know all the back roads and turned what should be a fifteen-minute drive into a seven-minute drive. Also it helps that I know if something is going on at the hospital, ain’t no officers out patrolling, especially on the back roads.
I pull up and park, hop off my bike, and hurry to the doctors’ office entrance. I see cop cars all over the parking lot. What in the fuck happened? I walk through the doors and am immediately greeted by Sheriff Stone, which tells me this is serious. He greets me with a chin lift. “You know this is an active investigation, and I ain’t going to be able to tell you much.” I nod at him. “I know, but you gotta give me something. Madison’s my niece, and her husband, Mick, is my godson. They’re my family.” I see him sigh. “You know we all have a soft spot for her, especially now that she feeds us all for free at her sandwich shop. We ain’t going to drop the ball on this one. We all wanna see whoever did this punished, but ya gotta let us investigate.”
I must give him a look because he rolls his eyes at me before he gives in slightly. “I’ll let you know if we have any information I can share.” I nod and he continues speaking but totally changes the subject before he walks back to his investigators. “I hear congratulations are in order. I thought you were never gonna get rid of Celeste. You deserve to be free of her toxicity.”
We may never have been close since he was a year older in school, but we had something in common. He had been married to Celeste’s best friend for years, though he managed to get out of that hell much earlier than I did. His ex is just as pleasant a person as Celeste is. He tells me what floor they took Madison to and promises to keep me in the loop as much as he can. I know he’s gotta ride that line, but I think, given what happened to his daughter a few years back, he’s likely gonna bend a little bit. Well, I can fucking hope, damn it. I text Jonah what I found out, which was a whole fuck of nothing, and walk toward the elevators.
I get up to the floor and find Mick surrounded by our family. Romona is on one side of him, and I sit in the chair next to him. I don’t say anything because what the fuck is there to say? I’m here to support my godson and pray to the gods that my niece will make it through safely and their baby will too.
**********
Mick just headed back to see his daughter for the first time. I can’t fucking believe that they want me to be her godfather. Gonna have to do some serious shopping for her. Can’t have Grant outdo me with Grace.
Jason’s been sitting in the waiting room with all of us, supporting Romona. Since she went back with Linnea to watch Mick with the baby, Jonah gestures toward him with a nod. We both get up and go sit by Jason. Jason’s been a captain in the sheriff’s office for the last couple of decades. Jonah is the first to speak up. “You know we’ve never had a problem between our club and the sheriff’s office. We’ve done right by this community and its residents.” Jason nods his head. “If we find out who did this before you do, I’m gonna be obligated to keep that information to myself and handle things how I see fit. That going to cause a problem for you?” Jason leans back in his chair and looks like he’s thinking for a minute. “I don’t see that as any more a problem than your bonfire all those years ago. Maybe even a couple since then.” Holy Shit. He’s known about what those were really about and never said anything? Jonah’s glaring at him. “What do you know about that?” He gives Jonah a slight grin. “What I know is what my dad told me and my brother when we became officers. He said we should always tell the truth but needn’t always be telling it. He said to me that sometimes bad things happen to bad people. Sometimes, for the better good, the letter of the law is to be blind. Now, in this situation, there are a lot of cops involved, and I don’t know what I can do to stop it. However, I can tell they haven’t talked to your daughter’s doctor just yet. Imagine if she knew that piece about when to and when not to tell the truth.” He looks at both of us before standing and giving us a parting comment. “Now, I’m going to go downstairs and check with my brother and bring back some decent coffee for us. I’d wait till I was in the elevator before you find her and have a chat.”
I watch him walk over to the elevators and walk in. As soon as the doors close, I can’t help but speak. “Well fuck me.” I look over at Jonah. “No shit. Either we’re not as sly as we think, or he’s just a lot more observant than we gave him credit for, but holy shit. Guess it might not be such a bad thing to have him around at family dinners and shit since it would seem he knows most of our biggest secrets after all.”
Jackson and two of our newest brothers walk out of the elevator and head toward us. Jackson speaks up as soon as they’re standing in front of us. “Cops can’t tell us much of anything. Sounds like whoever it was has some serious IT people in their corner ‘cause the feeds that are in the area where Madison was were magically all turned off for five minutes before and after everything happened.”
Jonah, ever the one in charge, speaks up. “I think our best bet is to get to speak with that doctor lady before the cops do. We need to find out what she saw and if there’s anything we need to ask her to not divulge to the officers. I know she knows my boys and Shane pretty well. Do you think one of them is the best bet to speak to her?” Ben shockingly speaks up, saying he will go speak with her. It sounds like there’s something going on with him and the doctor. I zone out while they head over to the nurse’s station. The elevator opens again, and Grant walks in with Jon, Juan, Saxon, and Jeremiah. Grant sits next to me and the urge to grab his hand is almost overwhelming. I feel like I need his calming presence at this moment. Jonah fills them all in, and as I listen to him quietly rehash everything that we know, a finger brushes against my hand. He links his pinky with mine for a moment before letting go. Just that little touch helped more than he could possibly know.
Grant
When Mick left the shop to go meet Madison at her appointment, we had no fucking clue that some seriously fucked up shit was going down at the hospital. As soon as I got to the hospital, I knew I needed to find Erik. I know he’d be internally losing his shit. I mean, Mick is like another son to him, and he’s always been close to Madison, being her uncle and all.
As soon as I sit down next to him and get an update from Jonah, I touch him in the only way I know that won’t get attention. Not that I want to hide, but I respect Erik’s wishes, and this ain’t the fucking place for that kinda announcement anyway.
As soon as Jonah finishes catching us up, Mike and Ben come over to the group, and I can see they both look ready to explode with rage. Mike’s the one to speak up as he looks at Jonah and Jon. “You’re gonna wanna call church as soon as you fucking can. Our old club is involved.” Ben adds in. “Not the guys we were brothers to, but the new generation that fucking retired us. It was them and something about looking for some fucking box.” My eyes go straight to Erik. Could it be? He looks surprised and immediately full of guilt, as if this whole thing is his fault. Jonah and Jon start making plans, so I lean into Erik, so no one else can hear. “Even if this is about the box you have, you had no fucking way of knowing that club knew anything about it or that any of this would happen. So don’t you feel one ounce of guilt for one fucking second.” He looks at me, and I can tell that’s exactly what he was starting to do. “Yeah, but I kept it from everyone. They’re gonna be pissed about that, even if I had no way of knowing this would happen.” I must give him a glare. “They might be mad for a little bit, but they’re gonna see that you had no reason to share it and had no fucking clue anyone else knew about it.” He shrugs his shoulders and must decide to rip that Band-Aid off because he stands up and walks over to where Jonah and Jon are standing, quietly talking to each other. I don’t know exactly what he says, but I can see it on Jonah’s face the second he realizes what Erik’s saying. The rage that comes over his face makes me get up without thinking and go stand by Erik, willing to fight my best friend to protect my man. Jon, for once, is the voice of reason. He puts a hand on Jonah’s shoulder and speaks calmly and so others in the waiting room can’t overhear. “Pa. You know Uncle Erik wouldn’t have hidden shit if he at all thought this would happen. You know he’d protect both Madison and Mick with his life. Should he have shared everything that was in that box? Yes. Is his not sharing the box the cause of all this? No. You and I both know this.” I swear if he could, Jonah would have smoke coming out of his nose like those cartoon bulls. He gets in Erik’s face. “I know he didn’t fucking cause all of this, it’s just I’m fucking tired of everything he’s hidden all of these years.” He gets to where he’s almost nose to nose with Erik, and somehow, I think this has been years in the making. “We’re brothers. Even more than club brothers, we’re fucking family, and still you keep shit bottled up. One of these days, you’re going to realize that I’m here for you no matter what, and I don’t judge you.”
Ry, ever the one to use comedy to diffuse a situation, speaks up. “Don’t get too mad at Uncle Erik, Pa. I think he’s been spending too much time with Saxon and Juan. Their tendency to be a couple of dipshidiots has worn off on him.” Jon looks at Ry like he’s an idiot. “What in the ever-loving fuck is that?” Ry, rolling his eyes so far that I’m surprised they don’t get stuck that way, explains. “That’s when someone is a dipshit and an idiot all rolled into one. Ya gotta admit that fits both of them to a tee. “
Jon glares at him for a moment longer. “I swear you’re an idiot a lot of the time. Back to the matter at hand. Let’s plan to meet for church tonight at six.” He looks at Erik and continues, “Bring that box so we all can see everything in it. There might be something in it with a name that Mike, Ben, or Tripp could recognize, but we wouldn’t. We need to figure this shit out, because you better believe it’s not gonna go unanswered.” I couldn’t agree more. Time for some people to learn that we mean what we say. We’re fucking knights in shining armor till someone hurts our family, then we release the wrath of Valhalla on those who dare to do us harm.