Chapter Nine
King
December 25, 2024, Diamond Creek, Nebraska.
Christmas in the clubhouse was different this year. The excitement was heightened. The joy rang through the clubhouse like nothing I had ever experienced.
Since we’d moved here, we had always had a tree. When Cash claimed Rachel not long after we set up the chapter in Diamond Creek, she insisted on a tree every year. But this year we had three more old ladies and three little girls to experience the magic of Christmas and everything that came with it.
Hash had been up early making breakfast. Maureen holed up in the kitchen with him, making her famous cinnamon rolls. Jesus Christ, her cinnamon rolls were the fucking shit. If she kept showing up here multiple days a week to make them, we’d all have to hit the gym harder than we already did.
Declan usually did the morning rounds on Christmas and came to the clubhouse for dinner. This year, he was here bright and early with Maureen. I was happy my brother had found someone, but I was still pissed at him for all the secrets he’d kept.
I loved the son of a bitch though, and I was glad he was here.
The clubhouse walls were bursting with guests this morning. Mark and Abby, Ryder’s parents, had become fixtures here once I finally got that cut on his back. Charlie had taken to calling them Nana and Pop just like Chrissy. They loved it.
James and Evelyn Samson, Lily’s parents and Ace’s surrogate parents, always spent the holidays with us. Though they were both only about ten or so years older than me, James and Mark both had become men I could look up to. Men I could learn from if I ever had a chance to become a father.
I looked over at the women. A few huddled together on the couch. My eyes locking onto a certain blonde fucking bombshell who had gotten under my skin the first day I met her.
Grace Bishop was mine.
Only I could never have her. She was off-limits. There were rules in the biker world. You didn’t touch a president’s daughter. Whether he was in her life or not didn’t fucking matter.
Instead, I watched her. I made sure she stayed safe, and I tried to stay the fuck away from her. Not that I was very good at that part. But I kept my hands to myself.
Mostly.
Chrissy and Charlie came running into the main room; Tabby following behind them. Tabby had changed so much since Ryder and Ellie got married. She still didn’t talk, at least not to any of us. But she was no longer the scared little girl afraid of her own shadow. She moved about the clubhouse with confidence, and though she didn’t talk, we understood her enough.
They ran straight for Maureen’s dog. Fucking Banshee. That dog had become a permanent fixture here too. Anytime Maureen was here, that dog was here with her.
I guess I shouldn’t complain; he was well trained, and the girls loved him. He was great with them. When he saw them coming, he would roll over and give them his belly, letting us all believe he was submitting to them. But if anyone got too close to the girls too quickly, he was quick to flip himself over and snarl at us.
Except for the women. He loved them, too.
Fucking dog only tolerated the rest of us.
My phone pinged, and I looked down at it.
Braesal O’Malley
My father.
I read the text that said, Merry Christmas, son , and something stirred inside me.
I stared at my phone, not sure how I felt about his choice of words. On the one hand, he wasn’t my father. My father was Curran O’Rourke. He was the man who raised me until I was ten years old before a drunk driver had taken him away. Then Dec stepped up and filled that role while still trying to be my big brother.
On the other hand, it was nice being called son again. I fucking missed my parents. I may have only been a child when they died, but they were the goddamn best.
O’Malley was the fucking Mob boss who had held Blade hostage with a phone call every six months under the guise of checking up on him to make sure he kept his mouth shut about who killed his father.
Except Sal used it as an excuse to get to know his nephew.
My fucking cousin. More family I didn’t know I had. Family was important to the Irish. Even the Mob, I guess.
I sent a Merry Christmas back, leaving the dad off. Maybe one day I would see him that way, but that would be a long way off, if it ever happened.
“Papa King, can we open presents now?” Charlie asked.
Fucking Jackass.
Fury’s girls had asked Shane Keller if he was their grandfather now that their dad had married Keller’s daughter. Charlie overheard and asked if she had a grampa. Jack pointed at me, and now I had all three girls calling me Papa King.
Well, the two that spoke, anyway.
“Yea, sweetheart, we can open presents now.”
Charlie and Chrissy squealed, and Tabby jumped up and down. Everyone gathered around the tree, and we started handing out presents. If I had to guess, it would take a few hours to get through them all. Every brother had taken it upon themselves to spoil the three little girls with presents. That, combined with gifts we had gotten each other, and we would be here a while. I had a special gift for each of the girls I would give them this afternoon.
It was late in the afternoon when I pulled the girls aside to give them each one more present. I hauled Tabby up onto my lap, and Chrissy and Charlie sat on the couch next to me.
I handed each little girl a gift and watched as they opened them.
“A puppy!” Charlie cried. She hugged the soft, stuffed black and white dog to her chest. “Thank you, Papa King.”
I held back my groan at the ridiculous name.
“A kitty! Look, Charlie, our stuffies can be best friends like us,” Chrissy said, throwing her arm around Charlie. “Let’s go.” The two little girls took off to play with their new toys. They set the stuffed animals on the floor next to them, already quickly forgotten.
I wasn’t offended, though.
The truth was, I bought them for the girls because I didn’t want to draw attention to the present I bought for little Tabby. I held the box while she unwrapped it. Inside was a light brown stuffed teddy bear.
Tabby lifted the bear out of the box carefully. She pulled it tight to her chest and then looked up at me with a big smile.
“Sweetheart, I need you to take extra special care of this teddy bear. Can you do that?”
Tabby looked at her bear and then at me.
She nodded.
“This teddy is special, like you. He carries secrets that no one else can know about. Do you think you can keep him safe?”
She looked at me solemnly and I knew that if Ryder ever found out what I had given his little girl, he might actually kill me. I was taking a chance, but no one other than me would know about what was hidden inside the stuffing of this bear, so Tabby wasn’t in any danger.
“You can’t leave him alone, Tabby. He’ll get really scared if he isn’t with you. It’s your job to protect him and keep him safe. Like Mama and Daddy keep you safe.”
I was a fucking asshole, manipulating this little girl and playing on her emotions. She was only three fucking years old, but I knew she wouldn’t tell a soul.
Tabby pulled the bear tight against her chest again and nodded, telling me she would guard the furry toy without question. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and kissed my cheek, and I felt about two inches tall.
I told myself I didn’t have a choice. The information Sypher trusted me with needed to be hidden somewhere no one would ever find it. And God forgive me, I knew not one single person would ever think to look inside a little girl’s stuffed teddy bear.
It was common as fuck for little kids to have a security blanket or toy. No one would think anything of her carrying around the bear everywhere she went. Especially given the trauma that kept her from talking out loud.
She climbed off my lap and ran to her mother. When Ellie tried to hold the bear to look at it, Tabby hugged it tight and shook her head. When Ellie picked her up and set the little girl on her lap, Tabby looked over at me and I winked at her. She rewarded me with a proud smile, letting me know she understood how serious our talk was.
Despite the possible consequences when her father found out what I had done, I knew it was the right thing to do.
“What was all that?”
I looked up at Grace and my heart broke at how fucking beautiful she was.
“What?” I asked innocently.
Grace sat down next to me, and I looked around the room to see if anyone had noticed us sitting together. The guys gave me shit about Grace constantly, but they didn’t understand the repercussions I would face by making her mine.
“You would think you gave that little girl the world with the way she just smiled at you.”
“She’s a sweet little girl that was happy to get a gift.” I shrugged, refusing to look in her direction.
“What are you up to?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I turned to face her and immediately knew it was a mistake. I fisted my hands, hoping to prevent myself from reaching out and hauling her onto my lap.
“Are you coming over later?” she asked quietly, her gaze pinned to the tree. I heard the hope I would say yes in her voice, combined with the fear I would say no.
“It’s not a good idea.”
“That’s never stopped you before.”
“It’s becoming impossible to keep my hands off you.” I fisted my hands as they lay on my thighs.
“Then don’t,” she pleaded.
Her words cut through me, and I closed my eyes. It didn’t help. I could go blind tomorrow and I would still see the vision of Grace in my mind. She haunted my dreams as well as every fucking waking thought I had.
“Why do you do this every fucking time?” I growled low, trying to keep myself in check. Everyone in the clubhouse had seen us fight with each other. They had no idea that the anger was fueled by the sexual tension between us.
Hell, maybe they did.
Grace stood.
She looked down at me, her eyes glassy.
“If you knock on my door tonight, I won’t answer.” She turned and walked away. Grabbing her purse from the bar, she walked out the front door, and I knew just as much as she did that what she said was a fucking lie.
She knew I would knock on her door, just like I knew she would answer. We would argue like we did every time. Then, I would hold her like I never wanted to let her go.
When I first started showing up at Grace’s in the middle of the night, I slept on her couch. I just needed to be near her. Needed to know she was safe. Now I slept in her bed, holding her through the night.
It tortured us both, and I knew it made me an asshole, but I didn’t fucking care. The tenuous hold I had on my control was fading. If I didn’t do something about it soon, I would say fuck it and take what I wanted.
Consequences be damned.