Chapter 6
Grim
If Grim wasn’t allowed any sexual touch, he’d at least get his fill of Andrey with casual contact. Given that, he was torn about the issue of the wheelchair as he carried Andrey toward the store with mobility products. Sure, he wanted to please Andrey with gifts, earn himself more favors, but on the other hand, once they made the purchase, Andrey wouldn’t need to be carried anymore, and he wouldn’t hold out his arms to Grim so helplessly. Grim loved when Andrey did that in the tub. Seeing him so vulnerable was a major turn-on.
Andrey wasn’t light, but Grim didn’t mind as long as Andrey had his arms wrapped around Grim’s neck and curled up so close that his breath tickled Grim’s skin. If only Grim could have his way, he’d take him back to a hotel and fuck all night. He could then go for a walk with Andrey piggybacking, and those delicious stumps would be digging into Grim’s thighs. He knew that with the right attitude, he’d get there eventually, but Andrey needed to learn to trust him first.
The store was quite large, and from the first step inside, Grim exhaled, watching the wide variety of products on sale. And there weren’t even that many people here at the moment. Spacious and airy, this shop definitely deserved a spot on Grim’s list of places he liked popping into while on the road. Whenever he experienced a pressing need to get his kicks, hospitals and centers where disabled people played sports were among Grim’s favorite places to visit. He especially liked wheelchair basketball. The sport itself was interesting to watch, but throughout the years, he had also met interesting people and even hooked up with some of them. Sadly, most of them weren’t amputees, but beggars couldn’t be choosers .
A sales assistant approached them in a matter of seconds, and as soon as he was told Andrey needed a wheelchair, the salesperson brought over one that he could use during shopping.
“Grim?” Andrey asked, and his deep, ragged breaths came to Grim’s attention. “Can I borrow your hoodie? There are cameras everywhere. I’m freaking out.”
Grim looked around, surprised, but he was already pulling off his cut to reach the hoodie underneath and accommodate Andrey’s needs. There was nothing more beautiful than a broken bird tweeting in desperation. Asking for Grim’s cock, then writhing under him as Grim sucked on the smooth scar tissue.
“Sure. Whatever you need,” he said and took Andrey’s arm, guiding it into the first sleeve.
Grim’s cock twitched when Andrey looked up at him with that distressed look on his face. “I’m sorry, I just … There’s all these people here, they all have phones, every phone has a camera, and you don’t know what some of the men at the base are capable of. Gary was nothing in comparison. They’re sick fucks, and they can track their victims, override cameras, gather data. I don’t want to be found.”
Grim exhaled and put Andrey’s other arm into the sleeve before pulling the hood over his head. The poor guy was really scared, and it was up to Grim to provide some relief. “Tell you what ... if I see anyone filming you with their phone, I’m gonna crush it.”
Andrey stalled. “You’d do that for me? You could get in trouble …”
Grim laughed and squatted in front of Andrey. “I won’t.”
“You can also touch my wrists,” Andrey said, and all of a sudden, all Grim wanted was to lick the sensitive skin over the blue veins. He massaged them with his thumbs instead, staring into Andrey’s eyes intently, overwhelmed by his sheer presence. This boy, who used to always greet Grim with a smile from the computer screen, was now looking at him only.
“That’s not why I’m helping you.”
“I know. I mean … I think.”
Grim smiled and kissed Andrey’s wrist briefly before getting back to his feet as the sales assistant approached them again. They went on to choose a wheelchair, but Grim got worried when Andrey’s choices turned out to be very budget-conscious. He couldn’t have the bird struggling with discomfort all the time, simply because he had no money to spend. That was where Grim was to come in. He wanted Andrey to have the best, most comfortable wheelchair they could purchase on the spot, and his savings would be more than enough. He was a Nomad who did lucrative jobs for the Coffin Nails but didn’t have much to spend his money on. This was exactly the time to splash out, so he encouraged Andrey to choose whatever he liked and assured him that it really wasn’t a problem. Once encouraged, the saleswoman came up with new options they could take into account.
Watching Andrey try out different wheelchairs while wearing Grim’s hoodie was both arousing and heart melting. He’d seen so many videos of Andrey that he could easily imagine the lean muscles in Andrey’s arms flexing when he transferred from a bench to yet another wheelchair.
He couldn’t wait to see the happiness in Andrey’s eyes when he could freely move again in a wheelchair that would be much better than the piece of crap he’d used back at the compound. There had been times in Grim’s life when he couldn’t have helped a person with mobility needs, no matter how much he wished to, but now that he had this boy at his side, he’d spare no expense to make his life brighter. It made him feel truly useful, a real protector in every sense of the word.
With some help from the saleswoman, Andrey chose a sleek black wheelchair and gloves to go with it, as he preferred one he could push himself instead of an electric one. Upon Grim’s insistence, they also purchased a comfortable cushion, a cupholder, and a bag.
Despite Grim’s misgivings about losing the chance to carry Andrey, he was proud when they left the shop. And since he always carried a bundle of cash on him, none of their shopping was out of his range.
“This is … It moves so smoothly.” Andrey wheeled his chair out of the store, looking back at Grim every now and then as they moved through the parking lot toward the small single-level mall a few rows of parked cars away. “It will take some time until I can repay you. I’m good with computers, but those fuckers can track everything anywhere. It’s not safe for me to be online. But I’ll think of something.”
Grim’s chest filled with pride. Pampering was something he’d always wanted to do for Coy. It’d been ages, and he still lived with the guilt of not being able to provide the help that Coy had needed. “No way. It’s a gift. You need those things, and all I need is some company. ”
“Because you travel a lot on your own?” Andrey turned around in the wheelchair and started rolling it backward, making Grim’s heart freeze for a moment. What if Andrey fell and hurt himself?
“I—yeah. I’m a Nomad. Do you know what that means?” he asked, watching Andrey’s stumps where they stuck out of the shorts.
Andrey shook his head but then looked over his shoulder. “Because I’m guessing it doesn’t mean you live in a forest, forage for food, and move south for the winter?”
Grim laughed, watching Andrey experiment. He couldn’t wait to see him move around freely, something that he hadn’t been allowed to do for such a long time. It only then occurred to him that he was the only one to meet the real Andrey, a man of flesh and blood, who had a sense of humor and could be a real pain in the ass sometimes. Andrey was like this only with him, and everyone else—Gary, the men at the compound, and the other viewers—could all go fuck themselves. Grim only needed to know Andrey’s real name to complete the picture. It was an itch he couldn’t scratch.
“Nah. That’s when a member of the motorcycle club doesn’t belong anywhere and travels unless he is called over for business.”
When they finally reached the long wall of the mall, Andrey turned his wheelchair and circled Grim like an excitable baby shark. “You should have a travel blog.”
Grim laughed, his eyes following the handsome face. “It would be called Bloody Trail Through America .”
And for the first time since Grim found Andrey under that desk, Andrey laughed loudly. The sound was as sincere as it was sometimes in Andrey’s more personal videos. “Too bad you didn’t take Gary’s photo for your blog.”
Grim exhaled, mesmerized. That was it. He would marry Andrey. He was pure perfection, even if he wasn’t willing to put out yet. “Damn shame. Maybe I could do a drawing instead.”
“I draw,” Andrey said, and Grim stopped in his tracks. He’d watched every single video he could get his hands on, and he’d never known this. This was so amazing he forgot to breathe.
“What do you draw?” he asked and walked next to Andrey’s wheelchair for several moments as they slowly approached the entrance. There was sweat beading on his back as he reached out for Andrey’s hand, for a moment forgetting the bird needed it to move around.
Andrey went silent and looked toward the mall, so Grim couldn’t see his face. “Nothing worth keeping. Things Gary would never let me show anyone.”
“We should go to the art store too then,” said Grim quickly and put his palm on Andrey’s shoulder. That still counted as “hand,” didn’t it?
Andrey looked up at him with half his face hidden in the shadow of the hood but didn’t shrug Grim’s hand off. “I really don’t want to thin out that wad of cash in your pocket too much.”
Grim smirked. “You don’t think that’s all I have, do you?”
Andrey pushed Grim’s hip. “Show-off.” He stopped rolling the wheelchair forward, freezing with his hands raised. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you. Sorry.”
Grim raised an eyebrow at him. “As long as you don’t try to bleed me with a fork, we’re good.”
Andrey took a deep breath and stopped close to the revolving doors leading into the mall. “Okay. I don’t want you to be angry with me. I’m still overwhelmed.”
Grim swallowed and arranged his hair when he spotted his reflection in the window. “You don’t have to worry about that. You’re not my prisoner, and I would never hurt someone like you in any way.”
“What if your club told you to?” Andrey looked up into a camera over the door and quickly pulled the hood farther over his head.
Grim’s gut tightened with anger at the thought of his club turning their backs on him. “Why would they? Do I need to know something?”
“If those people from the compound found out I’m alive, that I travel with a member of the Coffin Nails, they’d want to get to me. They could blackmail your club, kidnap their family members … and you’d have to give me back to them.” Every word was quieter than the last, and the paranoia in the convoluted threat was making Grim want to hug Andrey.
But he couldn’t do that here, so instead he stopped the wheelchair, propped his hands on the armrests, and looked straight into Andrey’s eyes. “They would not do that, because if I tell them that you’re mine, they’re gonna stand by me.” He took a deep breath, remembering things he wanted to forget. The betrayal of people he trusted and losing the one person who mattered the most. But his new family, the Coffin Nails, would never do that to him. “No one could make me give up on you. You are my responsibility, and if I’m ever gonna leave you, it’s gonna be because of a bullet in my heart. Do you understand me?”
Andrey’s pupils went a bit wider. “Why do you care so much?” he whispered. “I’m just a webcam guy you liked.”
Grim took a deep breath and looked away from the inquisitive gaze. He would not let a broken, helpless bird die in his hands ever again. “I need you, okay? I just do.”
Andrey nodded, never breaking eye contact, and leaned forward in the wheelchair, making Grim’s heart flutter in anticipation of a kiss he was sure wouldn’t come. But then Andrey’s sweet, hot lips were on his, and it was better than any hardcore porn vid could ever be. This was for him only. He moaned into the kiss, his thoughts drawn to the stumps that were so close to his knees, bare for anyone to see where they peeked out from the shorts. He wanted to pull off his shirt and cover them, keep them for his own pleasure.
Then, through the haze of pleasure and the sound of conversations and annoying music, a loud voice cut through Grim’s mind with a word that he knew all too well.
“Gross!”
Grim pulled away and looked into Andrey’s eyes, at his pretty, plump lips. The bird deserved better than being a victim of hate speech on his first day out of the damn cell of a room. His eyes moved up, to the door, where a man with a fat blond beard met his eyes while talking to a woman. “What? Am I supposed to ignore this because one of them is in a wheelchair? Soon enough, you’re gonna be sorry more people weren’t speaking up when fags get all those privileges they hadn’t earned!”
Grim’s blood simmered, but he clenched his teeth and briefly smiled at Andrey in hope of making him feel better. The man had other ideas.
“What, big guy? You wanna say something to me? I bet you got yourself a wheelchair fag so that he’s at the right height,” the man said and spread his arms.
Grim watched him with a steady face. The damn breeder felt invincible with all the cameras around and a security guard lazily watching the scene from a few yards away.
Grim stretched and slowly walked up to the man and his partner. He was breathing in and out as he approached, looking straight into the man’s narrow pig-like eyes. “Your girlfriend must be proud of you making fun of a disabled guy.”
The man’s eyes strayed to his companion’s flushed face, and it was the distraction Grim needed. He stood between the man and the camera and discreetly pinched his fingers on the wallet that stuck out of the man’s front pocket. Grim hadn’t started his career in crime with assassinations, and while his pickpocketing skills were a bit rusty, they still got the job done.
“You mean Stumpy over there? I think he’s doing fine,” the man said and laughed, crossing his arms on his chest, but his friend pulled on his elbow, taking him a step away from Grim.
“Let’s go, Pat, it’s not worth it,” the woman started, pulling on her man’s shoulder.
Grim smirked and gave the bastard a push once the wallet was safely stored in the inner pocket of his cut. “Enjoy your day,” said Grim, knowing there were only so many hours before he would claim his blood bounty. He couldn’t do it here without complicating his life, but the fucking homophobe would eventually pay up.
Andrey backed away from the mall’s entrance. “I’m sorry I kissed you. I’m confused, because I watched a lot of TV, and on most shows, everyone’s okay with being gay, I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”
Grim laughed, following the wheelchair. “Most movies aren’t set in rural Mississippi. Besides, don’t trust the movies. They’re full of bullshit.”
“Are there many more people like him?”
“People everywhere are the same. Some happen to be entitled pieces of shit like this one,” said Grim, petting the wallet through the leather.
Andrey looked down to his stumps, so Grim felt like he had the right to stare as well. “I need to get a blanket to cover those up.”
Grim nodded, stepping closer to look at the beautifully odd legs from above. “I’m sure they have some inside.”
“I … Can we go somewhere else?” Andrey said in a deflated tone, slouching in the wheelchair.
Anger rose in Grim’s chest as he looked at the curled-up shoulders of his bird. He’d been tossed around by the wind for so long, and now he had to endure abuse on top of that? Grim’s inner beast was shuddering with rage.
“Sure, there are plenty other places where we can find something for you. ”
“I’d rather do that.” Andrey pulled his shorts slightly lower to hide more of his legs, and Grim’s heart ached at the sight.
They went back to the truck, and Grim helped Andrey inside before storing the chair in the back, along with his bike. He slid into the driver’s seat and exhaled, watching Andrey, who seemed withdrawn again, nothing like the tweeting canary he’d been for a few moments. If they hadn’t been in a public place, the homophobic shithead would have lost much more than his wallet.
“I’m sorry you had to listen to him,” said Grim in the end, pulling out the wallet. He opened it to stare into the man’s dumb face in a photo on his driver’s licence.
“Maybe it would be better to just avoid people. At all,” Andrey said, not even looking Grim’s way.
Grim pulled the money out of the wallet and passed it to Andrey. “He’ll be embarrassed when he can’t pay for his woman’s dinner tonight.”
Andrey looked like he’d only just woken up as he stared at the money in his hand. “This belongs to him?”
Grim smirked. “Yes. I didn’t want to be arrested for assaulting him, but I enjoyed doing this much.”
Andrey’s face brightened slightly, and he put the money in his pocket. “Did you ever get in trouble because of being gay?”
Grim noticed Andrey hadn’t buckled up his seatbelt, and he leaned over, propping himself on one of those delicious thighs as he pulled on the belt. He fastened it and then took his time adjusting the fit. “Of course. But I was ready to go far to defend myself.” Really far. Once Grim had killed a man over the issue, there was no going back.
“Would you get me a gun?” Andrey’s gaze swept over Grim’s body in a way that gave him goose bumps. He swallowed hard, squeezing the steering wheel as he drove toward the exit from the parking lot.
“Just one question, but I want a sincere answer. You considering turning that gun on me?”
“No.” The answer was quick, confident, but not too hasty.
Grim nodded. “Will I get a kiss again?”
Andrey smirked. “Will I get that gun?”
Grim chuckled and grabbed Andrey’s hand over the transmission, his heart trembling. “Yes, you will. ”
Andrey squeezed Grim’s hand in return. “There’s something I really want to try, but I’ve never had the chance to. I’ve read about it online so many times.”
Grim’s chest sank as he exhaled, and his hand started sweating as he held on to Andrey. Oh, fuck . Did Andrey want to try dogging or something? Grim wasn’t sure how he felt about strangers watching them fuck at some parking lot in the woods. Or was it something else? Grim didn’t care as long as it involved his dick and Andrey’s stumps.
“Will you take me to McDonald’s? I want to know what the fuss is about.”
It wasn’t the answer Grim was hoping for, but seeing Andrey smile again soothed all the pent-up sexual frustration.
“You never had McDonald’s? They’re like ... everywhere.”
“Not in Vladivostok.”
Grim frowned. “So you’re not from Moscow?” Yet another lie about Andrey.
Andrey shook his head. “Are you gonna take me or not?”
Grim smirked and shifted his weight, leaning his head toward Andrey.
“Sure, why not, I’ll whore myself out for a Big Mac.” Andrey turned to Grim and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “You’ll get a better kiss if I get fries too.”