Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
GRIMM
My phone rings, waking me from a dead sleep. I jerk upright and reach for the damn thing at the same time I look to my side to see a naked Apricot sleeping soundly. I swear the woman could sleep through sirens going off without waking her.
I glance at the screen, not recognizing the number. I answer and lift to my ear, throwing the covers off me. “Yeah.”
“Grimm?” The unknown caller’s voice sounds familiar, but I can’t put my finger on who it is.
“Yeah,” I mutter, reaching down to grab a pair of sweats I’d left there. "Who’s this?" I demand, keeping my voice down.
“It’s Tripp. We need to talk.”
Fucking hell, I should have known.
“What do we gotta talk about?” I grind out, tightening my grip on my phone. This fucker calls me in the middle of the night saying we need to talk, fuck that.
“Meet me at the old factory by the cemetery.” Tripp disconnects before I have a chance to tell him to fuck off.
“Shit,” I breathe, my eyes going to Apricot.
I want nothing more than to rejoin her in bed, but I need to handle this.
The last thing I need is for Tripp to show up here.
My woman will question it and then start asking about my past. Thankfully she’s dropped the subject, and since that one time she called me Blaine, she hasn’t used that name again.
Quickly changing from the sweatpants to a pair of jeans, I throw a tee on and grab my cut.
I shove my feet into my boots, and without making much noise, I leave the room.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I stride toward the door, opening and closing it, making sure it’s locked, securing Apricot safely in the house.
As much as I like it here, I’m thinking it’s time to take her to my place, but we’ll see. Maybe this weekend.
I stalk toward my bike and straddle her, pulling her upright and kicking the stand-up. I start my bike and take a moment to text Viking and Ice, letting them know I’m heading to meet Tripp.
The last thing I need is for this bullshit to be a setup and for my brothers not to be to have my back.
Upon pulling up next to the old factory, I note Tripp right off leaning against a burgundy Mustang. I stop right next to him and shut my bike off. I don’t bother climbing off the back. I don’t intend to be here longer than I have to.
“What the fuck was so important you had to meet me in the middle of the night at some old factory?” I demand.
“Two of us, we got a lot in common with our past,” he starts, but I interrupt him.
“Cut the bullshit and just tell me.”
Sighing, Tripp lowers his head and stares at his feet, his arms crossed in front of him.
“I don’t have all night, Tripp,” I mutter impatiently.
“Your parents are dead,” Tripp says suddenly, shocking me but not surprising.
“They’ve been dead to me for a lotta years. If you remember correctly, I wasn’t at home if I didn’t have to be.” I bite out harshly. The past is just that, the past. I don’t need or want to think of anything that pertains to it.
“Yeah, that’s why we’re here, and you aren’t getting the call later from the city morgue. They overdosed, but the kicker is, they left a baby behind."
I blink at him, not sure I heard him correctly.
“You got a baby brother. Name’s Justice, he can’t be more than four months old. Sutherland is looking into the hospital for his birth records that the social worker didn’t have on him yet. You being next of kin, you got the option of taking the kid or putting him in the system.”
It takes me a moment to process this whole crazy situation. My parents, who were neglectful junkies, had another kid. A kid who’s young enough to be my own kid.
Fuck.
I’m thirty years older than this kid. My mom had to be in her mid to late forties, and I didn’t think you could have a kid that late in life. She had me when she was fifteen.
Now both my folks are dead, and I’m left with a baby brother. There’s no way I would put him in the system. That shit ain’t about to happen.
“Where is he?” I roll my shoulders, trying to alleviate some of the tension building.
“He’s at the station with a social worker right now,” Tripp answers.
“Right, so why couldn’t we meet at the station and had to do it out here?” He still hadn’t answered me.
“The thing about your parents’ overdose, it seems they’d gotten themselves clean.
They were going to meetings. The social worker, Genesis, who’s watching the boy right now, knew them.
She was their case worker. Just took over for the previous one after Justice was born.
Genesis told me and Sutherland that she never thought they’d go back to drugs.
Evidently, they talked about you a lot. Anyway, according to Genesis and the previous social worker, they’d been clean for five years. ”
They’d been clean?
Jesus.
“Something happened to either make them shoot up or it was forced on them,” Tripp finally states, getting to it.
“You think someone could have done this?” Tripp nods, and I continue. “If that’s the case, then who would do it? And why bring me into it besides the fact I have a brother?”
“Cause my theory isn’t something I can do legally and get away with it. You and I both know there’s no getting away from the past, and you know exactly what I mean.”
“You want me to confront those bastards,” I state what he’s not saying.
“Yeah.” He jerks his chin up.
“Point ain’t in charge of them anymore. Gave control over to his cousin, Tweak, about a year ago,” I inform him and grimace.
Tweak had never liked me. Hated the fact Tweak was overlooking him and taking me under his wing, grooming me.
When Tweak took over things with that gang got worse.
I’d heard about it, and we’ve had our run-ins with them as they’ve tried to push for our territory. That ain’t happening.
“If it was Tweak, he could have gone after you already, why wait?” Tripp asks.
“Don’t know, but I’ll find out if they’re involved and let you know. Now, I’ve got to go get my little brother.”
“We’ll need to set up an in-home visit to make sure everything is in order, but both Detective Sutherland and Detective Sanchez have given high recommendations that you are suitable to take care of Justice,” Genesis, the social worker who Tripp told me about, explains.
I nod, holding a sleeping Justice in my arms. He’s small, smaller than I thought. “Does he need anything special? Formula? Diapers? Medicine?”
“He was born prematurely, but he’s healthy,” she says and goes on to tell me what formula he takes and how much he eats per day.
“Grimm,” Scorpion calls my name from behind me, and I whirl around to see him and Sabrina making their way to me. Their eyes on the little boy. “You wanna tell me why we’re in a police station at four in the morning and you’re holding a kid?”
When I first got to the station, I knew I needed a way to get the kid home and considering my cage is at my place, I called Scorpion. I also wanted Sabrina with him since she’s a nurse, and I can get her to look Justice over to make sure everything was solid with him.
“Long story short, this is Justice, my little brother, and my parents are dead,” I state bluntly.
“Oh my God,” Sabrina gasps, her hands covering her mouth, eyes wide.
“Fuck,” Scorpion mutters under his breath.
“That about sums it up,” I grunt and meet Sabrina’s gaze. “I wanted to see if you’d check him over for me. Genesis here says he’s healthy, but I don’t know her. I know you and can believe you.” I look at the woman and continue, “No offense to you, but I don’t trust anyone I don’t know.”
“None taken.” She smiles. “And for the record, I understand and would be the same way. Now, I’ll leave you to it. Also, between us, that home visit won’t be necessary after what I just witnessed.” With that said, the woman steps around us and walks to the door.
I don’t question what she means by that. I didn’t think she could do something like that legally. Aren’t they required to check in? I inwardly shake my head and refocus on Justice, Scorpion, and Sabrina.
“Let’s get this little guy to the clubhouse, I’ll look him over there,” Sabrina says softly, eyes on Justice. “Does Apricot know yet?”
“No, I got the call and didn’t want to wake her.” I grimace, thinking of what I’m gonna tell her. This whole situation is fucked up. I meet Scorpion’s gaze. “I’ll go over the rest later. Viking called church this morning, so I’ll explain all at once.”
Scorpion doesn’t respond with words. Instead, he jerks his chin up and wraps an arm around Sabrina. I turn away from them, gather the small number of items for Justice, and put him in the carrier.
Later today I’ll get him a better one than this, it’s nothing like what Fawn and Viking have for Rocco. With the kid being as small as he is, he needs the protection and considering he’s my responsibility now, I got to make sure he stays safe.
I just hope that when Apricot finds out, she’s not gonna be pissed. I want to think that she won’t be, but this changes things for us. And it ain’t a small thing, it’s big. It also reminds me, she and I gotta talk, ‘cause again we didn’t use protection.
Fuck.
When did my life go haywire?