Chapter 7 Griffin
Itried to steady my breathing as I stared up at the ceiling of my room. My head filled with Marty and the fact I’d turned down her invitation to go inside her place three days ago.
Three freaking days ago, I could have taken her up on her offer and got her out of my system. Because at the end of the day, no matter the shit that had floated in my head after meeting her, forever and always weren’t for a man like me.
I was thirty-five and never had a serious relationship.
I wasn’t that guy.
I wasn’t some Prince Charming or fucking knight in shining armor.
If that was the case, my armor had rusted up and lost a few chunks of metal to get me where I was.
My hands weren’t clean. Not since I was in high school and got in situation after situation that landed me into trouble.
The Army tried its damnedest to get me on the right path, but by the time I was out after the tours I’d done overseas, it wasn’t like I was going to sign up to be some kind of insurance salesman.
That’s when I’d joined the Steel Sinners.
Made my way with my brothers here, helping the club get to where we were now.
Not only that, but I also wasn’t some choir boy. I liked to go out and get my dick wet as much as the next guy. I worked hard for the club, and when I had my play time, I fucked. Hard.
One-night stands or weekend flings with tourists I met on the Strip or, hell, even at the club downstairs were the extent on my relationships with women.
The closest I’d ever been to a relationship was a friends-with-benefits situation I’d got myself into after I graduated high school with my girl best friend at the time.
It’d been fun, but when it had run its course, I never got myself into something like that again.
And as much of a tough-girl exterior as Marty had, I knew if I went there, she was someone I wouldn’t be able kick out of my bed after making her scream out my name and call me daddy. I’d want to keep her. Forever.
So, for the last three days, I’d been in my head. Dwelling and overthinking. Stewing and being a prick to whomever I came in contact with while I helped the prospects remodel that floor of rooms. By the second day, the guys knew to give me a wide berth when I went to check on their progress.
But that didn’t mean I’d stayed away.
I might not have talked to her again, and she might not have seen me, but that didn’t mean I didn’t watch her like some kind of stalker.
I snuck into the security offices, sat back, and watched her through the cameras as she walked the halls with her headphones in her ears, her head bouncing to the beat of whatever she was listening to.
Or I watched her from afar as she waited for the fucking bus to get home.
Those were the moments I wished I could kick my own ass.
If I claimed her as my old lady, as my woman, there was no way I’d let her endanger her life like that.
Waiting in the darkness for a bus to show up only to walk four blocks to get to her apartment while wearing those damn headphones.
The fact she didn’t notice me following her around, too distracted by whatever she listened to, proved she needed me.
Marty needed a daddy to watch over her and make sure she got home safe and sound.
A knock sounded at my door, and I yelled out for whoever was on the other side to come in. I was in the clubhouse part of the casino; usually, it was only the guys up here. I wasn’t even a little surprised to see Stone’s big Viking ass looming in the doorway of my room.
“Hey,” he said. I nodded my chin in his direction. “You good, man?”
“I should be asking you that,” I muttered, sitting up on my bed. Resting my elbows on my knees, I watched as he came in and took a seat on my recliner. “How’s that bug you had?”
“Gone, finally.” Stone grinned and then winced. “Whatever fucking flu shit that was kicked my ass.” He scratched his chest. “What’s up with you? Heard about what happened at the meeting. Discretion?”
“You said—” I started to go off on him, but Stone winced and put his hands up in surrender.
“I’m sorry. I fucked up.” I could tell by the look on his face he meant it.
“To be fair, you had a crazy high fever.”
“Still, I made you walk into something blind without much direction. If I’m honest, I don’t remember why I even said discretion to begin with.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I muttered. Silence fell between us as we watched whatever the hell was playing softly on the TV.
“The rooms look good,” Stone said carefully. “Pope was talking about maybe doing that to the other floor in two months or so.”
“Great,” I muttered.
“I also heard you talked to Marty?” Hearing her name coming so fucking casually from him had my hackles rising. I stood to my feet and crossed my arms over my bare chest.
“How do you know Marty?” I growled, stepping closer. Stone’s blue eyes widened before he broke out into a deep fit of laughter.
I glared at the man I considered my best friend as he wiped away tears before laughing all over again, so hard this time he bent at the waist and smacked his own thigh as if he couldn’t get himself to stop.
“Funny,” I muttered. To his credit, he was obviously trying to catch his breath, and when he finally did, he stared at me while fighting the urge to crack up all over again as he shook his head with a shit-eating grin.
“Out of everybody who works in that department, Bratty Marty? For real, man?”
Bratty Marty. The name didn’t suit her perfectly. My hands flexed and tightened at my sides.
“Don’t call her that.” I might one day, if I ever had the opportunity to have her laid out on my lap, her ass in the air, ready for a spanking, but he couldn’t.
“Shit.” He scratched his long russet-colored beard. “It’s like that, huh?”
“It’s like…” My voice drifted to nothing, and I shook my head. “It’s like nothing,” I muttered, the words tasting bitter on my tongue.
“Hmm…” He nodded, then his attention moved back to the TV and we sat there for a long while as we pretended to watch some game. “She’s a good one, you know,” he said, and I groaned.
“Stone,” I started to say, but again, he put his hands up to give him a chance to explain.
“Hella mouthy, so much fucking attitude it could give anyone a fucking headache.“ One I would happily take, part of me said, and the side of me that was still trying to fight what it felt when it came to her stayed silent.
“But she’s a good one. Pain in the ass, sure.
Late as fuck, like it’s her religion and it’s a sacrilege to be on time and she’s devout.
But she’s the one who starts collections when she hears someone in housekeeping is going through a tough time, the one who brings birthday cakes once a month to sing to the people having a birthday that month and …
” His voice drifted off to nothing. I knew what he was doing.
He wanted me to ask. If I broke and pestered him for more information, he’d make his point about me being into her.
“And?” I asked, unable to help myself as I glanced in his direction. His blue gaze met mine.
“She asked about you.” I blinked and fought the shit-eating grin that threatened to paste itself on my face. After I turned her down, she’d still asked about me. That had to mean something, right? Is she thinking about me?
“So,” Stone drawled out dramatically, snapping me out of my stupidly giddy thoughts, She asked about me. “Guess that alone, finding someone who might be slightly interested in your ass, is half the battle.”
“Fuck you.” I flipped him the bird and got up to get a beer, offering him one, too. What I didn’t do was ask him to share what she’d asked and what he said. If I did, I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
We drank and talked about a ride we were going on soon to California. About forty minutes later, his phone rang.
“Stone,” he answered as I glanced at him.
The second beer I’d just opened and was about to drink stopped midway to my mouth as something in the air changed.
Stone was usually a mellow guy. I set the bottle down on the coffee table as his features changed from calm cool and collected to almost menacing.
“Fuck. Yeah,” he muttered. “No, you did the right thing. Thanks, Marty. I’ll be right there.
” Marty or Mary? Who called him, and what the fuck was wrong?
“What’s up?” I asked. A knot of worry quickly formed in the back of my throat.
Shit, did he say Marty or Mary?
And if it was my spitfire, why was she calling Stone if something was the matter? She had my number. Because you’ve been avoiding her, dipshit, a voice in my head reminded me. “Fuck.” I wiped at my face as Stone stood.
“Mary’s not feeling good,” he muttered. I was still wracking my brain trying to figure out who had been the one to call and who was the one not feeling well. “I think her blood sugar dropped again. I’m gonna go down there and check on her.” I swallowed.
“Mary called you?” I asked, enunciating Mary’s name clearly, trying to figure out who called as subtly as possible.
“No, your girl did,” he shared with a shit-eating grin.
He started to walk toward the door. So many damn questions clogged my throat, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay away now.
“You coming, or what?” he asked over his shoulder, and my plans of sulking and overthinking before I jerked off to thoughts of Marty went out the window.
Less than ten minutes later, I was ready to kick myself in the fucking balls.
Marty was prettier, sexier, and so much feistier than I remembered. Everything I’d thought I remembered and so much more. Not that she spared me a second look after giving me a wide-eyed look when she spotted me behind Stone’s giant ass.
“You should go to the ER,” Marty repeated for the millionth time to her supervisor. My jaw clenched.
“Girl, who do you think you are talking to? I am old enough to be your mom. Relax. I’m okay. Once this juice sets in, I’ll be okay for the rest of my shift,” Mary tiredly answered.
“Bullshit,” Marty huffed under her breath. Stone shot me a look like really, this is what you wanna sign up for? I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure if I deserved her.
“Watch it,” Mary clipped, snapping me out of my head.
This was what it had been like since we’d walked in. Marty scolding Mary and Mary putting Marty in her place. Stone stood beside me and started to move.
“Okay, I’m sorry, Miss Mary, but I am going to have to agree with Marty.” His voice didn’t leave any leeway for arguments.
“What?” Mary scowled at the Viking-looking motherfucker kneeled in front of the older woman.
“I mean this with the most respect; you’re still a little pale, and it’s been a moment since you had some juice and a snack.
Usually when this happens, you would have been okay by now.
” Mary was about to argue, but he shook his head and gently took her hand in his.
“Why don’t you let me take you to urgent care? ”
“You?” She made a face. “Who is going to watch over the team if both of us are gone? Shit goes haywire at the drop of a dime here, and you know it,” she argued weakly.
“Marty can do it.” Stone shrugged. “And if anything comes up, Griff can pitch in,” he offered me up. I swallowed. I could feel Marty’s dark eyes on me, but I didn’t look at her. “Right, Griffin?” He was looking over his shoulder. I had no choice than to nod tersely.
No choice. Yeah, right. Eight hours of time guaranteed with Marty? That sounded fucking perfect to me. It would have been better if I could have had that time with her in one of the rooms upstairs.
But beggars couldn’t be choosers.