Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Grizz
It’s Shark who finally gets me off Rhino, but not after I break his nose and bust his brow open. He’s lucky I don’t split his face in two.
“What the fuck!” Shark shouts in my face when he gets me to the other end of the room. My vision is blurry and I can’t hear out of my right ear. Well, nothing but a high-pitched ringing that better fucking go away. I’m sweating like crazy, and my hand is aching.
“He fucking started it!” I shout back, gesturing toward Rhino who is talking with Spam and Zero.
My heart is pounding. My head is pounding.
“By doing what?” Shark demands, sounding like he doesn’t believe me.
“By telling my girl I’m a fucking liar.”
He jerks his head back, eyes wide. “He what?”
“You fucking heard me.” I shove past him.
“Grizz!” Shark bellows.
I hold up my middle finger as I head over to the fridge to get a bottle of water.
I down the entire thing. It’s then I notice the room is empty.
Maybe they went into one of the offices or across the way to the bar, but it’s quiet in here, and a fucking mess.
The table and chairs are all knocked over.
Plates and food on the floor. Blood too—splattered all over the back of the couch that’s just past where the table was.
“You fucked up, man. Hitting him like that.”
“Fuck you,” I growl. “He fucked up by talking to my girl like that.”
“Well was he wrong?” he asks.
I narrow my eyes and step up to him so we’re chest to chest. “You wanna call me a liar too?”
“You are a fucking liar, and you know it,” he says firmly.
I clench my fist, ready to throw another punch and fuck him up the way I fucked up Rhino. But maybe because it’s him, or maybe because I’m already hurting, but I don’t. I shake my head and step back.
“Fuck you.”
“No, fuck you. I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it would come back to bite you in the ass. This is exactly why I said I didn’t want to know shit about it.”
“Fuck you,” I mutter again, because apparently that’s all I can say.
“Should he have outed you? Fuck no. But you’re not mad about him calling you a liar, you’re mad about Anastacia finding out about it.”
I pick up one of the chairs, right it, then sit down and just breathe.
He’s not wrong, and I know that, but I stand by what I did. Rhino deserved it. He should have shut his fucking mouth.
“Where is she?” I ask.
Silence.
I open my eyes, feeling one getting swollen. I can’t open it all the way.
“Where the fuck is she?” I ask again.
“She’s safe. That’s all that matters.”
“Snapper then.”
“She doesn’t want to see you.”
“I want to hear that from her.”
“Seriously, man? She fucking left!” He gestures to the door. “She asked Kolton to take her out of here and told him not to tell you where she was.”
“Because she thinks I cheated.”
“What?” he barks. “Fuck’s sake, Grizz.”
“She asked me about it a couple weeks ago. I told her it was club shit. Rhino made sure she knew there hasn’t been any club shit and I’m lying, so…”
“So she thinks you’re cheating. Fuck.”
He comes to stand in front of me, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Still your fault.”
“No shit!”
“Well, you know how to fix this.” He looks around the room. “I mean, she’s probably going to be mad about this whole scene that was made, especially on Christmas and in front of everyone, but you didn’t cheat on her.”
“I would never.”
“Then you need to tell her what you were actually up to.”
I get to my feet, my head spinning. “I will. After I kill that fucker.”
“Whoa, whoa.” His hands are on my shoulder, guiding me to sit back down. “After you get checked out.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, the fuck you’re not. Now sit still so I can get Lucian.” He walks away, his feet heavy on the floor until they stop. “I swear to fucking God, Grizz, if I come back and you’re gone, I will fucking murder you.”
I chuckle, which turns into a cough that hurts my ribs. Just to test him, I get up to get another bottle of water and down that all in one go before sitting in the chair again.
Shark comes back with Lucian behind him. He has his bag in his hand. Shark fixes a few more chairs, and Lucian sets his bag on one of them before digging through it and pulling out a light.
“Do you feel dizzy?”
“A little when I stand.”
“Headache?”
“Yeah. But I was punched in the head.”
“Nausea?”
“Nope.”
“Double vision?”
“No.”
He shines the flashlight in one eye, then the other. “Tell me your name, the date, and where we are.”
I give him the info he wants, then he asks more questions that I answer as best I can. I tell him about the ringing in my ear. He feels around my jaw, throat, ribs, and tells me nothing is broken, but I need stitches on my eyebrow.
I didn’t even realize I was bleeding.
The stitches suck, like they always do, but he’s quick which makes it a little easier.
“Make sure someone is with you. If you feel worse, call me immediately. Stay awake for a while.” He steps back, putting his things away and closing up his bag. “Stand up for me?”
I get up, and he closes his bag before turning to face me. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know that girl loves you and you love her too. Fix this.”
“I plan on it.”
“Good. Now go.” He dismisses me with a wave of my hand.
I should be offended that everyone is on her side, but I can’t. Because they’re all fucking right.
I probably shouldn’t be driving, but Lucian didn’t tell me not to. Shark bitched about it though. I feel fine, I’m just a little sore. It’s not the worst fight I’ve been in, or the worst injuries I’ve had. Seriously, I’ll be fucking fine.
And I’ll be even better after I take out all this anger I have bottled up. Tonight, Gunner is going to die. Tonight, I’m going to end this. Tonight, we are going to move on from all this bullshit. I’ll come clean and tell her everything.
It’s barely been that long and I already miss her and my baby.
I’m mad, but I’m not really worried. I know I’ll get her back and I know she’s safe with Snapper.
This is all just a big misunderstanding.
Sure, she’s going to be mad at me for lying, but once she realizes why I was lying, she’ll be okay with it. Or at least get over it.
I did not cheat on her. I would never cheat on her.
But I did lie, and that’s fucked. I shouldn’t have. But maybe she’ll understand when she realizes why.
It’s almost impossible to get to the cabin in all this damn snow, but I’ve already worn a trail into the ground, and most of the snow is still up in the trees. I’ll be fucked if it falls on me though. I’d likely die. That would really fucking suck.
I make it to the cabin and knock on the door to alert him that I’m here, like I always do. The idea behind it was like those dogs with the dinner bell. The bell rang, they got food. There’s a knock on the door, Gunner gets beat.
I wasn’t here the last three days, and it’s possible he froze to death already, but I left the heater running, so he should be good.
Though, with all the snow and cloudiness we’ve had, it may have died.
The solar panels are old as fuck and don’t charge great to begin with, never mind in conditions like this.
I would be disappointed if he died, but I guess it would be done.
Flicking on the light, my gaze goes to the mattress in the corner. He’s covered by all the blankets I left for him, lying still.
“Fuck,” I mutter, walking over and nudging him with my foot. My brow furrows because that shit don’t feel right.
Using my boot, I kick the blankets off. For the second time tonight, I see fucking red.
The bed is empty. Just a pile of blankets covered in piss stains and blood.
I pull my phone from my pocket and bust through the door, racing back to my car.
I try to call Snapper on the way, but there’s no fucking service this far out.
I put my car in reverse, back up onto the street, slipping on some ice, and then righting myself to go down the road.
When I get bars, I call Snapper. He doesn’t answer.
“Fucking piece of shit!”
I call Tommy next. I have no idea how long Gunner has been free, but he’s gone to my house once, he’ll fucking do it again.
“Come on, come on. Answer the fucking phone!” I slam my first on the steering wheel as I press on the gas.
“Hi, you’ve reached Thomas B—”
“Fuck!” I jab the end button with my thumb, then pull up Shark’s info and call him. “Doesn’t anyone know how to answer the goddamn phone?”
“What’s up?” he says.
“We have a big fucking problem.”
“What problem?” he says, sounding concerned.
“Gunner is gone.”
“What the fuck you mean he’s gone?”
“I mean he’s gone! I went to the cabin, and he wasn’t there. He got out. I don’t know where the fuck he is, or where he will go, or how long he’s been out, but he was at my house once, he’ll go again. He’s going to be looking for Anastacia.”
“Fucking—”
“Call Snapper. He isn’t answering me, and—” The phone beeps with a call. I glance at it. “Tommy is calling, I have to go.” I end his call, taking the other one. “Tommy, fuck, where are you?”
“Just about home, why?”
“No! Do not go home.”
“What the fuck? Why?”
“I can’t explain it, just do not go home. Can you get to Snapper’s?” He’s quiet for a moment. “Tommy!”
“I was going there after we stopped home…”
“Just go right there!”
“I don’t know. He said not to go home,” Tommy says to someone else in the car.
“We need to get Anastacia’s things,” someone who sounds like Lucian says.
“You can’t go home!” I shout.
They’re still talking on the other side, but this time it’s more muffled. My heart is beating so fast I don’t know how I haven’t passed out. I’m driving as fast as I can on these roads, but I can barely see and the roads are slippery as fuck.
“Tommy!” I shout into the phone.
“Where are you, Grizz?” he asks calmly.
“Cherry Road, heading home,” I say quickly.
It’s quiet for a moment, then, “Look, we have to get Anastacia some things—”
“Tommy, fuck—”
“Whatever is going on, we’ll be fine. I have my gun.”
“You don’t understand!”
“We’ll meet you at the house when we get back. We can talk then.”
“Tommy!”
“We’ll talk soon.”
The call ends, and I whip it across the car. It bounces off the other door, then bounces off the seat and lands on the floor. I press my foot on the gas and pray I’ll get home in one piece—and that my family is alive when I get there.