Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
Grizz
The clubhouse smells better than it ever has before. All sorts of food and sweets and fuck, I am starving and really need to eat.
The aluminum tins are lined up along the counter, still with foil on top. No one has made a move to eat yet, but fuck all of them. I’m hungry and I am going to eat.
I make my way over, grab a plate, fork, and some napkins, then manage to scoop food onto my plate while holding Dorothea in one arm.
“Where’s your baby backpack?” Snapper asks as he moves beside me, putting a slice of spiced ham onto his paper plate.
“It’s a carrier, not a backpack. And I forgot it.”
He stares at me like I’m diseased as I try to shake off a potato that’s stuck to the fork.
“Good Lord,” he mutters. “Give me the baby.”
He reaches out, taking her from my arm before I can say anything. My jaw drops just as the potato does… right onto the floor. It rolls away, but I can’t be bothered to worry about that.
Snapper is holding a baby.
Snapper… is holding a baby.
“Stop looking at me like that and get your food,” he says, looking at the baby curiously. There is no aggression in his voice, no snark like there normally is.
It takes me a moment, but I do as he says and make the rest of my plate, putting a little of everything on it. When I’m finished, I head to the table to put it down. There is a red table cloth over it with a plaid runner down the center, and the chairs have green coverings.
I turn to get Dorothea from Snapper, but he’s walking over to the table, holding her in one arm while carrying his plate of one slice of ham in the other.
“Sit and eat,” he demands, and though I never listen to shit he says, I do as he says right now. I’m so dumbfounded by seeing him with a baby, that I don’t know what else to do.
Snapper nearly had a conniption when I was at his house because of the germs. It’s no secret he’s a bit of a germaphobe and is very specific about things and the way they need to be.
A baby is… germy and unpredictable. Okay, so obviously Dorothea isn’t full of germs. She’s a clean baby, but she has been starting to drool a lot.
“If she sneezes, you better not drop her or something,” I say.
He scowls at me, then takes a seat across from me.
I start eating and don’t miss the looks he gets by everyone else who notices. Whispers start as they talk about it, heads whip in his direction, but he just ignores it and cuts into his ham with one hand then picks up his fork to stab the chunk.
More people grab food and sit at the table, including the girls.
I try not to take offense to Anastacia sitting with them at the other end and not me.
Of course Cora is by Shark, but Tommy is over here with me, so it’s not just Anastacia who made that choice.
I’m glad she has friends to sit with at all.
She needs women in her life, and they need some girl time to themselves.
Once Gunner is out of the picture completely, I’ll feel more comfortable with her going out to do that sort of stuff.
Not that I’ve stopped her—because I haven’t, but if she asked, I’m not sure I would say yes.
I know I can’t control her, but fuck, I wouldn’t want her going out alone.
She hardly leaves the house as is, and if she does, it’s always with me or Tommy.
She won’t even go out alone with Kelsey.
I hate that for her. I want her to have a normal life and not live in fear.
Maybe she doesn’t when she’s home, because of me, but I want her to do that on her own too.
I don’t want her to feel like she always needs me to protect her.
She shouldn’t need protection 24/7. I guess, soon enough she won’t.
Gunner needs to go. I can’t keep dragging this out. The sooner he’s gone, the sooner we can move on, which is what Anastacia said we needed to do in the first place.
“Interesting sight.” Lucian takes the seat beside me.
“You’re telling me,” I say with a shake of my head, as I scoop up some squash. The food is delicious, as it always is. Spam needs to open up a restaurant or some shit. Maybe he’ll go work at the diner.
“You think he wants one?” Lucian asks so only I can hear.
I bark out a laugh, covering my mouth so I don’t spit food everywhere.
“No fucking way.”
Lucian laughs quietly, then digs into his own food, eating like a proper guy.
Lucian isn’t one of us, he’s certainly more like one of the girls but without being a girl.
Not that he’s feminine, because he’s not, but his personality is more suited for them.
He does hang out with them a lot, and Anastacia has taken a liking to him, mostly because he’s taken care of her since she was saved.
I’m grateful for him. I’m not sure she would be alive if it weren’t for him and Snapper—Dorothea too.
I’m not so stupid to think Snapper doesn’t care about Dorothea or Anastacia.
I’m sure he does in his own way, he just doesn’t know how to show it.
Okay, maybe he’s figuring it out, because the way he’s looking at her?
It’s kind of cute. Lucian is good for him.
He’s bringing out the softer, more social side.
Eventually everyone is at the table eating, and we chat and get more plates of food for hours, until Spam starts consolidating the food to make space for dessert.
“That’s new,” Anastacia says, darting her eyes to Snapper who is now sitting on the couch with the baby.
“It’s fucking weird.”
“It’s sweet,” she says.
We get dessert and sit at the table again. Anastacia sits with me this time. She has her own plate of food, but I keep feeding her bites of mine because I like watching her mouth. We’re in our own world, not worried about anyone around us.
“Wow, you guys are kind of gross,” Rhino says with a laugh from across the table.
“You’re just jealous,” I say, cutting a bite of chocolate cake.
“Hm, I don’t think so,” he says with a cocky smirk. “I like being part of this club.”
“I’m still part of the club,” I say defensively. “And why are you being a dick?”
Rhino isn’t known for being the sweetest guy here, but he isn’t usually an asshole. Not unless it has to do with Coyote. He used to be funny and down to earth, but then his dad died and now he’s a dick more often.
“I’m just saying,” he says, reaching for his beer bottle to finish off the last mouthful. “You’re hardly around anymore.”
“I’m here every day.”
“Yeah, but then you’re out of here on the hour like you’re getting paid for it or some shit. You’re never at the bar with us anymore, never do anything with us after hours. You just run home to your girl.”
“You know what goes on at the bar, Rhino, and you know I’m not doing that shit anymore,” I say firmly.
He’s pissing me off now, and he needs to shut his fucking mouth.
He rolls his eyes. “Hanging out with us at the bar doesn’t mean you have to do that shit. You could just hang out with us. We’ve been planning all this stuff lately. Figuring out who’s taking what sorts of businesses. And you’re just at home, eating dinner and sitting around like a family man.”
“Grizz has been doing a lot for the club lately,” Anastacia adds in my defense. “He’s out late every night.”
My blood turns to ice.
Fuck.
Rhino turns to me, a slow smile forming on his face. I don’t know why he’s suddenly so pissed at me, and why he’s being such a dick. I didn’t do anything to him, so what the fuck?
“Is that so?” he asks. “Doing what, exactly? Because there ain’t no after hours business that’s taken place outside of the bar.”
Anastacia turns her attention on me, brow furrowed.
I should open my mouth and tell Rhino it’s something secret, something he doesn’t know about, something that Coyote asked me to do personally, anything!
But I can’t make my mouth move. I could so easily lie, make some shit up and deal with it later, but my mouth won’t work.
My brain misfires, refusing to work with my mouth.
I fucked up.
I know I fucked up, I knew it from the beginning, and now I can’t fix it. I can tell by the way she’s looking at me that there’s no way to fix this.
Anastacia’s gaze turns fiery, and she turns it back to Rhino.
“Grizz said he was out late dealing with club stuff every night,” she says, her voice cold.
Rhino purses his lips a moment, holding her gaze. “Well, sorry to tell you, sweetheart, but he’s a fucking liar.”
I don’t even think before I pull my fist back and slam it right into his nose.