Chapter 8 #3
Either Grumpy was blind—Kelly winced at her poor choice of words—or he was better at ignoring people than she was. Because Kelly was getting ready to stand up on the table and demand the others stop looking.
Even their waitress was hesitant to touch Grumpy’s glass to refill his water, as if his skin grafts were contagious!
Grumpy put his hand on her left thigh. “Stop. We’re just going to eat and go.”
“It’s not right,” Kelly seethed. “How can you stand them looking at you like this?”
“Baby, this is going to be the rest of my life. My scars and grafts might heal, but this is what I am going to look like until they put me in the ground.”
That did not lighten Kelly’s mood. “Don’t talk like that. I almost lost you once. Don’t make me think about your funeral or having to live without you.”
He squeezed her leg gently in apology. “People are curious and people stare. There’s a sick fascination with gore, and right now, I’m the scariest thing around. Just ignore them.”
Kelly was trying, but the urge to bitch slap them was more powerful. “How can you stand it?” she repeated, glaring right back at a man across the room.
“Because their opinions don’t matter. I don’t give a fuck what they think.”
He made it seem so simple.
“I can shoot them for you,” Jackson offered.
Kelly turned her glare on him. “I don’t think that’s what Ghost had in mind when he said ‘anything’.”
Jackson shrugged. “As long as you bail me out, I’m good with living on the run.”
“No,” Kelly insisted. “There will be no shooting or bitch slapping.”
Jackson raised a brunette eyebrow. “Who said anything about bitch slapping?”
“That last part was to me,” she confessed, making both men chuckle.
Thankfully, the waitress came out soon after with their food.
Grumpy’s options were limited, though he’d claimed he was prepared to eat microwaved mashed potatoes the whole way to Texas.
For his sake, Kelly was grateful the restaurant had other options.
Grumpy settled on the chicken and dumplings with extra broth with fried apples he could mash and macaroni and cheese as his two sides.
Kelly got the pot pie with two sides of mashed potatoes, intending to give them to Grumpy to increase his calorie intake or save them for a snack for him for later.
They had an electric cooler in the car for just that occasion.
Dinner was quieter, with Kelly and Grumpy offering each other bites of their food.
Wanting to take the attention off Grumpy while he ate, Kelly asked Jackson about his time in the service, and learned that he’d been in the Navy.
He’d worked on the USS Gerald R. Ford as an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Handler, or ABH.
When Kelly explained that she had no idea what that meant, he told her that he was one of the yellow shirts on top of the carrier that she’d seen on TV shows and in movies, the ones that guided the planes on and off the flight deck.
He served two separate contracts, totaling eight years.
It explained his readiness and not blinking at Ghost’s or Grumpy’s orders.
Dessert came around. Kelly just ordered some coffee while Grumpy and Jackson each got a chocolate lava cake.
“We could stop here for the night, but I don’t know the cancellation policy of the hotel Keys booked for us,” Kelly said as the men ate. “We’re only about a half hour away, so I say we keep going.”
“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Grumpy confirmed.
Kelly nodded. “I am if you are. It’s not that late, and I’m used to closing the diner.” When Grumpy scowled at that, she frowned, too. “What?”
“I don’t want you working that late again.”
“Pirate or Scar are always there, and they walk me to my car each night once it’s closed,” Kelly informed him, not sure if he was aware.
“I know,” he said, digging into his cake like the dessert had offended him. “But I still don’t like it.”
“Well, unfortunately, you not liking something isn’t an excuse I can tell creditors when they come to collect on my unpaid bills.” She meant it to be sarcastic, but there was truth to that statement.
Once they were done and Kelly had her to-go boxes, they headed out into the store area to shop.
Jackson took care of the bill with Grumpy’s credit card.
Apparently, Keys had added it to Jackson’s digital wallet—which was scary that that was even possible.
It was another reason Kelly preferred cash.
She was a small-town girl and only had one credit card with a very small line of credit.
Why risk getting in trouble with the banks and interest if she didn’t need to?
Kelly found some novelty candy that she picked up for the club kids, and took a picture of a frog dish that looked far too risqué for a kid-friendly establishment that she put in the ol’ ladies’ chat.
Though Angel and Cage were both members of the club, Kelly loved that Cage was considered an honorary ol’ lady and that the women treated him like he was one of them instead of an interloper.
It didn’t make Angel any less feminine or Cage any less masculine, but it proved that family, love, and loyalty meant more to the VDMC than stereotypical gender norms. Cage’s cut even proclaimed him to be “Property of Angel”.
That thought made Kelly realize that neither Grumpy nor Jackson were wearing their cuts.
She wondered if that was because they were out of Mount Grove and the club’s territory or if it had to do with being in the car for Grumpy.
That was a rule, right? Not wearing the cut in the car?
She was pretty sure she remembered that being mentioned at some point.
Since they were only going a half an hour, Grumpy said he was fine to not be packed in by all his pillows, but Kelly insisted.
After seven hours in the car, even with their stops, she knew he had to be hurting.
Once they got to the hotel, she needed to look at the instructions Tessa had texted her to ensure that she helped Grumpy get ready for bed appropriately.
“You don’t have to, you know.”
Kelly’s eyes flitted between Grumpy and the ramp to the highway at his words. “Don’t have to what?”
“All of it. Worry about money, creditors, and such. I’m not rich or anything, but I do well. I own my house, and once I get back to work, I’ll have a steady income again.”
Kelly’s heart raced, and she struggled with not hoping she was jumping to conclusions at his words. “What are you saying, Grumpy?”
“It doesn’t matter to me which house we live in.
Only reason I’m suggesting mine is because it’s bigger and newer, but if you prefer your home, I’m fine with that, too.
I know we didn’t go about this the conventional way, but fuck convention.
I don’t want to be neighbors anymore, Kells, and if selling my house is the way to make that happen, then I’ll put it on the market tomorrow. ”
Kelly swallowed hard. She had to fight the desire to look at him, reminding herself that they couldn’t move in together if she killed them on the road to Texas. “You want to move in with me?”
“Yes.”
Goosebumps raised all along her body as she tried to contain herself.
But as excited as she was at the prospect of living with the man she’d loved from afar for the past decade, there was one thing that she had to make clear.
“I can’t leave my mom, Grumpy. I know it’s not the greatest situation, and it’s not exactly ‘sexy’ to live with your mom, but I can’t leave her. She’s family, and she needs me.”
“Kells, I know.”
She blinked, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “You do?”
“Of course, I do. Why do you think I reminded you that my house is bigger? I have three bedrooms compared to your two. But I also know that that’s your mom’s house. She raised you there, has memories of your dad there. If you would prefer to keep your house over mine, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Kelly felt her eyes tear up. “Fuck you for saying this while I’m driving and can’t hug you or kiss you.”
“Is that a ‘yes’?”
She hastily wiped at her eyes, but the damn tears kept coming. “Yes!” she cried out, louder than intended. “I agree that your house is better, especially with three adults, but you’re also right that my mom’s got a lot of memories in our house. I don’t know which she’d prefer.”
“It’s not a decision we have to make now,” Grumpy told her. “As long as I know you want to live together, we can figure out where when we get back.”
Kelly nodded, still wiping at her eyes. “Probably should mention it to Mom, though, when I call her tonight. Just so it’s not a big surprise, and she has time to think about what she wants to do, too.”
“Sure.”
“Have you heard from your mom?” Kelly was pretty sure of the answer, but she also knew asking would get her mind off the overwhelmingly cheerful emotions swarming her body now that she knew she was going to be living with Grumpy.
Grumpy’s voice turned harsh when he answered. “Wouldn’t know. I blocked her.”
“Margery is the last person I want to see or talk to,” Kelly pointed out, “but she is still your mom. Do you at least know she made it home okay?”
“Your tender heart is one of the things I love about you, Kell Bell.”
Kelly wasn’t sure how to take that response. “I don’t know what that means in answer to my question, but I’m assuming it means ‘no’?”
“She kept my daughter from me. She may have even set things in motion that separated my ex-wife and me to begin with, which in turn, also took my daughter from me. I put up with a lot of shit from that woman over the years, but that I will not forgive or forget.”
Kelly blindly stretched over to grab Grumpy’s hand. “I understand, and I don’t judge. I just want to make sure that you don’t have any regrets about how you left things with her.”
“My only regret is that I put up with her bullshit for so long.” Squeezing his hand before returning hers to the wheel, Kelly nodded, completely understanding that. “Do you mind if we stop talking for a bit? After dinner, my jaw’s really sore.”