CHAPTER 21 - GRIZZ
We arrived at The Gallows for lunch. I messaged Brynn already, so she knew we were coming.
I can't be separated from her for too long, or else I start getting twitchy.
Even Jovie noticed my leg bouncing while I stared at the clock in the cabin, counting down until we could leave.
I don't know how to describe it other than seeing Bynn, touching her, knowing she's mine, calms me.
She's a bucket of cold water being thrown onto my burning embers.
Our prospect, Michael, moves about the loading dock when we walk through. The soot long cleaned, and the burnt wall in the middle of being repaired.
Nothing unusual happening.
Nothing out of place.
That is, until I walk onto the main floor, my breath catching when my eyes lock on Brynns, only to be distracted by the person serving a beer behind her.
Sarah.
I explicitly told her not to come back, and she decided to do what she wanted anyway.
“Oh no, you don't, big guy,” Brynn soothes, placing a hand on my chest to hold me in place.
“I told her to stay away,” I growl, keeping my eyes on Sarah who hasn't noticed I’m here.
“I was there, remember. Look, I think we were wrong, Victoria…
she came in all high and mighty when she dropped Sarah off.
I don't know but something felt off about it all. I feel sorry for her, Grizz. Imagine your only support being that intense.” Her eyes are wide as she looks up at me, pleading her case for her friend.
Stepping into me, placing both hands on my waist, she goes up on her tiptoes, and I lean down, kissing her plump lips, feeling her smile.
“Grizz, I didn't want a kiss,” she mumbles into my mouth.
“You wound me, baby.” The tension easing from my shoulders.
Pulling back, I try to steal another kiss when she whispers, “Victoria implied it wasn't safe to leave Jovie with you.”
White noise consumes my ears, each beat of my heart pushing blood behind my eyes.
“What did she say?” I growl so quietly I'm surprised Brynn even heard me.
“It’s what she didn't say that was the message. It was about all of you, really. The whole M.C. Them. ‘You’re leaving her alone with them now.’ Sarah stood up to her, she defended you, and I just think we need to give her a break, is all. She apologised and I accepted it.”
I'm glad Sarah finally stood up to Victoria.
I'm not exactly thrilled that it was about Jovie being unsafe around me.
I know what I look like. I'm not stupid enough to not see the occasional person stare or cross the road to avoid me.
But to even hint that Jovie wouldn't be safe around me, around us. It cuts deep.
“You don’t… you don't believe her, though?” This is not a question I want to ask, especially in the bar, but I need to be sure.
“Grizz,” she rolls her eyes. “Do you really think I'd leave the person I love more than myself with you, if I didn't trust you completely. If I didn't trust the guys.” Wrapping my arms around her ass, I pick her up, her hands cradling my face as she laughs. “Put me down, you big lug. I’m at work and my boss might catch us.” I can feel my cock thicken at her suggestion.
Role play is definitely something I want to explore with her, but maybe not right now when the lunch rush is starting.
Even though I know in my core she trusts me, that there is no way she would leave Jovie with anyone she wasn't one hundred percent sure of. She says the few sentences I need to hear to calm any doubt that'll creep in later.
The crash of a glass breaking somewhere behind us echoes across the room, and a loud cheer erupts from the scattered crowd. In the few minutes since we arrived, a steady stream of people have come in from the street, stomping the snow off their boots, eager to have a warm meal and socialise.
Glancing to where the glass smashed, Sarah is crouched behind the bar, looking a little pale as she cleans up the pieces.
Broken glass is a part of life in the bar world, so I'm not angry about the accident, but I still feel unsettled about having her back until we've spoken properly about the CCTV footage of the fire.
“I hate to break things up,” Jovie says, coming to stand next to us. “But, I don't think I should be seeing this.” She points her finger, waving it at us, her nose scrunched. Clearly unimpressed with this public display of affection.
“How are you sounding like a teenager already?” Brynn sighs as I lower her to the ground. “I’m not ready for all of that, let alone when you start dating!”
“Ew, mom.”
“You're not dating until you're thirty, it's the law,” I say, crossing my arms, glaring at her.
“Mom's already told me. Don't worry, I’m well aware of the boyfriend rule.” She mumbles, walking back to the table she was sitting at.
“I'd better go actually work. I swear half the town just walked through the door.”
Smacking her ass as she walks away, I look over the floor and note several grumpy faces scowling at me. Happy that my public claim of Brynn told the men to back off, and the woman, hoping for a chance, that I was taken.
“Alright, Jon Bon,” I say, slapping the town Christmas festival flyer on the table. “There's something happening almost every night. Pick a couple things you want to see, and we’ll make it happen.”
Jovie snatches the paper, burying herself in reading each event the town is hosting in the lead up to Christmas Day.
Gingerbread houses, make your own tree decorations, and even something called Santa’s Naughty Sleigh Ride are on offer, except I'll need to check the fine print of the last one.
Pulling out the chair next to me, I prop my feet up and lean back in my seat.
Waiting for the perfect opportunity to take Sarah aside.
Kevin delivered his fish pizza for our lunch and despite wanting to hate it, or at least the idea of it.
It was fucking delicious. White sauce with red onion and garlic, topped with smoked salmon, capers and dill.
Brynn and I devoured it while Jovie looked at us like we were mad.
Thankfully, Kev had a cheeseburger on standby for her.
The lunch rush has finally died down and I place our dirty dishes in the kitchen before asking Sarah to step out back with me. The name of the bar could not be more fitting because right now, she looks like she's being walked to the gallows as she steps ahead of me.
“Thank you for having Brynn's back earlier, she told me what happened.” Trying to break the ice with her so she doesn't look so nervous. Her feet shuffle on the floor and she doesn’t look in my direction.
I take my finger, lifting her chin up so I can see her expressions better, read her, but she snaps her eyes closed, taking in a stuttered breath.
She looks on the verge of crying but I won't apologise for how angry I was the other night, or for wanting her to take time out while we sorted things. “We’ve seen the footage. The night of the fire, you came out here and talked with someone. Who was it?”
Her eyes fly wide open, pupils dilating as she reaches for my hand, holding it tightly.
“I promise it was just me, I was venting over everything that happened. It sounds stupid if I say it out loud. Sometimes I repeat situations like that so I can actually say the things I want to. In the moment I freeze, so it gives me a chance to get out what I wish I had said.”
Squeezing her hand in understanding, “It doesn't sound stupid. In fact, I think I know what you're talking about. I still think about some arguments I've had years later, wishing I could say something better than what I did.”
Her mouth tucks into a small smile, slightly curling at the corners. “You don’t think it's silly?”
“I mean, it's still fucking weird, Sarah, but you’re like a sister to me. I want to believe you.” Brynn encouraged me to think differently about the situation.
There's no other footage, nothing to suggest another person was there.
She could have been rehashing the argument like she said, and in all of the years she's been at the bar, strange things only happen when Victoria is around.
I'll talk with the guys about chatting with Victoria and see what she did after she left.
Someone started that fire… I just need to find out who.
Giving me a quick hug, she takes a stilted breath, walking back into the bar.
I see Michael by the driveway, stationed to watch out for anything while we're open.
His knuckles are white, his brow furrowed as he takes a drag from his cigarette.
He must have seen me talking with Sarah, and he looks pissed.
If the shoe were on the other foot, I'm not sure I wouldn't be either… unless?
“Grizz!” Jovie yells, startling me from my thoughts as she runs toward me, smiling, throwing herself in my arms.
“Lucky my reflexes are good, kid. You’re pretty fast when you’re determined.” I chuckle.
“I want to see the Krampus parade. Please!
Mom said I had to ask you, and you said I get to pick, and I pick Krampus.
Please, I really want to see what they look like.
The flyer says naughty children shouldn't go, or you could be snatched and eaten, but that's just pretend. You won't let him hurt me, right?”
She wraps her arms around my neck, holding me close as I whisper in her ear, “You’re safe with me, kid. You're always safe with me.”