CHAPTER 11 - GRIZZ
I've been aggressively cleaning the bar top for the past several hours.
Victoria obnoxiously started banging on the door to The Gallows this morning, and I received a frantic call from Brynn.
Thankfully, the cameras showed us who it was, but it was strange that she didn't arrange a time to meet.
Instead, she declared it was appropriate for her to show up for their tour of Hallowed Springs when it suited her.
It took me all of three minutes to race down here and make sure everything was alright.
Victoria, unmoving when I tried to open the door.
Her perfume rubbing off on me as I brush past, the strong, powdery floral scent still cloying in my nose hours later.
It was just after eight in the morning, and she looked like she had spent hours on her hair and makeup.
Even the gentle breeze couldn't move a strand on her head.
From the day Hades offered me a place to stay following my release from prison, she always seemed to be in the background.
The guys say it's because she thinks she's better than us.
Karen keeping an eye on the plebs to make sure they fall in line, and for the most part, we do our thing, and she does hers.
She made a scene when Sarah first got the job with us—Sat at the bar of her first shift, watching everything that happened.
Unfortunately, this ended up making Sarah so nervous that she accidentally spilled a jug of beer on me.
Was it annoying, yes, but I wasn't going to berate the poor girl when I could understand why she was on edge.
After a quick look over the application she handed in, showing zero work history and her mother as a character reference, we all agreed that we would do our best to support her in coming into her own and stepping out from under her mother's thumb. It was only reinforced that first night when Mac overheard Victoria giving Sarah a talking down. Apparently, she would never amount to anything and was an embarrassment to the family name. Expecting to be fired, I’ll never forget the teary smile she gave when I told her she was expected to be back on shift the following night.
Since then, Victoria has tried and failed to insert herself as a regular at the bar, and Sarah has become her own person.
Which is why when I saw a spark of the old Victoria banging on the front door this morning, my hackles rose.
The sun is about to dip below the mountain ridge, and that will be the moment I go looking for them.
I'm not that person, I'm not possessive…
Well shit, maybe I'm a little possessive, but it's only with Brynn. Then you add the need to protect Jovie on top of it, and the fact that both of my girls are out with someone I’ve always felt a little dicey of, well, all it does is get me agitated as fuck.
“Grizzzzz.” Jovie's voice sings out as the front door opens and she comes running toward me.
Deep breath.
In four counts.
“Hey, baby girl,” I whisper, lifting her high into my arms, cuddling her as she clings to me.
“I had the best day,” she mumbles into the crook of my neck.
Keeping my arms wrapped tightly around her, she pulls away from me, resting her elbows on my chest, tenderly holding my face.
“Grizz, I saw a ghost. A real-life ghost!
We drove to the Devil Pools, and mom slipped over, but I swear something pushed her.
It was like one minute the thing was there and the next it wasn't.”
The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. “What do you mean you saw someone push her?” Looking past an excited Jovie, no one has followed her into the bar. The space between us and the door remains empty. “Jovie, where's your mom?” My brow is furrowed, willing the door to move.
“Mom's coming, she's just slow because of her leg, but Grizz, the ghost was like a shadow. Suddenly, it was behind mom, and then she slipped and it ran back into the trees. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I wanna go back tomorrow…”
Jovie's voice fades away as the door finally moves, slowly creeping open as a defeated looking Brynn gingerly steps inside, Victoria holding a shopping bag and waving at us from behind her.
“Oh my god, what happened?” Sarah gasps.
I close the distance, stopping in front of Brynn, who looks at Jovie still in my arms, lovingly smiling at her daughter.
“What happened?” I grit out, trying to control my anger.
“Victoria—”
“Victoria did this?” I growl.
“No, you meat head. Let me finish my sentence before you start going all caveman.” Her shoulders sag, and I can see whatever her day entailed has exhausted her.
“We found an amazing cardigan for Jovie. I insisted on getting it for her,” Victoria interjects, pulling out some sort of fluffy orange mess from her shopping bag.
“Mom, what happened?” Sarah questions, her eyes wide, looking at Brynn.
“Sarah, not right now, can't you see I'm sharing a moment—”
Fuck this.
Ignoring whatever Victoria was going to say, I move Joive so I'm holding her with one arm, reaching the other around Brynn's waist and lifting her up.
There’s too many people.
There’s too much noise. All I can hear is a buzzing sound in my ears growing louder as the minutes pass.
Not knowing how Brynn got hurt. My breath catches, and no, shadow ghosts are not a reasonable explanation.
Jovie squeals in my ear as I carry them both back behind the bar.
I'm not going to risk the stairs to the apartment until I know if we need to make the two hour drive to the closest hospital.
“Start talking.” I snap, putting Brynn down but keeping a hold of Jovie. I'm not angry at her. I'm angry at myself. They left for a fun day of sightseeing. Sightseeing that should have been done with me. Instead, Brynn leaves with the devil and ends up hurt.
“Cool your jets, Grizz,” she says, her eyes dimming, the spark fading into a tired glaze. “I've had a long day and I'm sore, but Jovie had a great time seeing the Devil Pools, and she even made a candle at one of the market stalls in the town center.”
I look at the excited kid still holding onto me. “That true, Jon Bon, you make a candle?”
“Yes!” She says excitedly. “It's a Christmas candle, the lady said we put it above a fireplace, but we don't have one, so Mom said we can put it on the windowsill and it does the same thing.”
I see Victoria and Sarah walk toward us, Sarah looking a little paler than usual.
“This looks cozy,” Victoria states, lips pursed.
“Mom,” Sarah wobbles.
“I've always said Grizz needs a strong woman by his side, one more suited to his stature.” She looks to Sarah, narrowing her eyes before returning to a wide smile.
“I mean no offense, Brynn. Today was wonderful.” You can smell the insincerity rolling off her.
The backward compliment, a signature move of hers.
Wait… Is she? Is she wanting Sarah and me to..? Get fucked. There's nothing wrong with the girl, but I have as much attraction to her as I do a rock on the mountainside. None.
If I'm correct, it would explain a few things, but that's never going to happen. Especially when there's a green-eyed woman who's awakened something in me I thought had long died.
“Anyway, I can feel a migraine coming on, so I'll be off now.
Nothing like popping a couple of sleeping pills to stop it before it's even started.” Flicking her hair, it's loosened a little since this morning, Victoria barely noticing that she almost swiped Sarah in the face as she spins on her heel and heads for the door.
“Why don't you go take a break?” I nod at Sarah. “The bar will survive a few minutes, and I'll get Jovie and Brynn settled down here.”
“You sure? I could use a breather,” she says, rubbing her hands down her thighs. Whispering, “Brynn, I'm really sorry you got hurt today,” before hurrying away from us and out to the loading dock.
Placing Jovie on the floor, “Go and tell the kitchen what you want for dinner, and order enough for the three of us. Your mom here has some explaining to do.”
Pulling out a chair for Brynn to sit on, I watch Jovie skip to the hole in the wall where we place orders, returning my attention to Brynn when I see Kevin pop into view, no doubt hearing about the ghost she saw today.
“I'm trying to be patient, baby, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened today.”
“You're overreacting.” She rolls her eyes at me.
Something I'm going to have to correct at a later date, preferably one where she's screaming out my name after being stuffed full of my cock.
“We got to the Devil Pools late morning. Victoria had to make a phone call, so she stayed in the car while Jovie and I went ahead. There were some slippery rocks by one of the pools, and I fell over. Nothing sinister and no ghosts.”
“Mmmmm,” I growl. Not happy that she got hurt at all, but I guess I can't pick a fight with nature.
“Victoria found us, maybe ten minutes later, and she helped me back to the car. I was the one who insisted we keep looking around for the day. Jovie was so excited, and I didn't want to ruin it for her, so I just pushed through,” she sighs, closing her eyes and slumping her shoulders.
“Where exactly are you hurt?” Looking her over, I can see an old dirt smear on her hip and thigh. Between the bruise she will have from the fall and the remnants of the stinging nettle rash on her hand, I'm going to have to bubble wrap her so she stops getting hurt when I'm not around.
“Just my leg, but don’t make a big deal about it in front of Jovie. I don’t want her to feel bad about spending the day out.” She says, nodding her head at a smiling Jovie walking back to us.
“Kevin said he's going to make us his Christmas pizza for dinner, but then he asked if I like fish, so I don't really know what we're having.” Taking a seat next to Brynn, she pulls out a candle from the shopping bag Victoria must have left before talking a mile a minute about everything they did that day.
“Actually, Mom. Can I go and try on my new cardigan and put the candle up? That black dress I have, I think it will look cool together.”
“If you're not back in five minutes, I'm going to unleash the hound on you,” Brynn says, nodding at me. Am I the hound? Did she just call me a dog? Oh baby, paybacks gonna be a bitch.
“I'm going to get your mom a couple of painkillers for her leg. Timer starts now, kid, five minutes… and maybe I’ll check on our mystery fish pizza.” Watching Jovie push open the staff only door, disappearing as it swings shut.
Surely he just meant anchovies, not that a kid would be happy about eating them anyway. Pulling out the first aid kit from under the bar, I walk to the kitchen window, ducking my head inside it.
“Hey, Kev, you seriously putting fish on a pizza?” I call out. Laughter rings out as the kitchen staff keep preparing meals.
“Don't worry about it. I promise the kid will like it.”
I get the faint hint of burning coming from the kitchen, not an uncommon smell depending on what they're cooking.
Ducking my head back, I expect the smell to fade, but the acrid smell only gets stronger.
Standing at least a foot taller than most people, no one else seems to notice the burnt air.
Looking back at the kitchen and over the floor, everyone is completely oblivious, and I shake off the feeling that I'm missing something. My senses clearly thrown off kilter.
Just as I'm about to round the end of the bar, the staff door flings open, Sarah spilling onto the floor in front of me, coughing and spluttering.
“Fire! I couldn't… I couldn't put it out!”