Page 17 of The Secrets We Keep (Sovereign Sons MC: North Carolina #1)

GRAYSON

I’m numb as I leave the suite and walk through the clubhouse, oblivious to everything and everyone around me.

I go straight to the bar, reaching over the wooden surface and pulling a bottle of whiskey from behind.

I pop the top off and press the bottle to my lips, letting the warm amber liquid pour down my throat.

The burn from the whiskey draws me back to reality, at least partially.

The sound from the bar filters in, my eyes see people again.

A few of the members are giving me wary looks. I can’t blame them after the shit that just went down. Hell, I’m worried about myself. I would have never guessed that today would have ended up like this.

I have a son. I have a son with Sophie; a son I didn’t know about. My anger spikes and I take another swig of whiskey before plopping my ass in one of the barstools. Two people sit down beside me, and I don’t even have to look to know that it’s Rowan and Axel .

Rowan’s hand clamps over my shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. “So, it’s true?”

I take a deep breath and nod. “It’s true.”

“Damn,” Rowan groans. “Are you okay?”

“I really don’t know right now,” I tell him honestly.

“That’s fair,” Axel murmurs. “It’s a lot to take in.”

I think back on Sophie’s words, contemplating if John could really do something like she said he did. I know that John could be a piece of shit when he wanted to get his way. What was stopping him from doing that to his own daughter?

“She said that John told her to leave town, that he threatened her, the baby, and me,” I tell the guys as I sit back in my seat. Both of their eyes flare in surprise for a moment and then they share a look. “What was that look?”

Rowan grimaces. “It’s just that you sometimes had rose colored glasses when it came to John.”

“What? No, I didn’t,” I bark.

“You did,” Axel says. “Not before Sophie left, but after. I think her leaving fucked you up more than you wanted to admit, and John hated her. He was eager to trash talk her when she left. He manipulated you, brother.”

I take another pull of whiskey as I think about his words. John was right there when I found out that Sophie left town. He was the first one to talk about it with me. He was happy to tell me how awful Sophie was and that it would end up being what’s best for me.

“Well, fuck,” I mutter.

Axel slaps me on the back. “It’ll all work itself out.”

“After this bottle,” I grumble.

The guys just laugh and grab a bottle for themselves.

****

I’m fucking drunk.

My fingers are tingling, and my face is numb. The worst part is none of this helped me get over what I found out. None of it changes the situation.

I push myself from the barstool and grab hold of the bar top to gain my balance. When the room stops swirling so much, I stagger out of the main area and toward my suite, desperate to see Sophie.

I’m almost on the stairs when an arm wraps around me, helping to hold me up. I smile at the feminine arm thinking that Sophie came to find me, but when I look up and find Candy smiling at me, the smile falls off my face.

“Let me help you to your room,” she murmurs as she turns me toward the guest room I’ve been staying in.

“No,” I grumble, unable to put up much of a fight since I’m so drunk. “My room.”

Candy shushes me and continues toward the guest bedroom. She opens the door and leads me to the bed, depositing me there before kneeling in front of me. I try to sit up, but my head swims. Candy unbuckles my belt and unzips my jeans pulling them from my hips and taking my briefs with them.

“Candy no,” I mumble, smacking her hand out of the way.

“It’s okay,” she replies huskily. “I just want to suck your dick, baby.”

“I believe my son said no,” my dad’s voice fills the small room.

I roll my head to the right and find him standing in the doorway to the room, his eyes angry and trained on Candy.

She stumbles to her feet and looks down at the floor. “I was just helping him to bed,” she says innocently.

My dad steps further into the room, advancing on her. He’s still intimidating, even in his fifties. “I saw you guide him this way and have been standing by the door. I heard what you said, and I heard him tell you no. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Candy winces but before she can speak in her own defense, my dad starts again.

“Get the fuck out of this clubhouse. Grayson can decide your punishment in the morning, when he’s not fucking trashed and you’re not trying to take advantage of him.

” Candy scoffs and my dad steps closer. “I said. Get. The. Fuck. Out.” He barks.

Candy jumps and rushes from the room leaving me with me cock out. My dad shakes his head in disappointment and walks over to the bed. He helps me get my clothes back on and sits me up. He leaves me just for a few minutes to get water and coffee for me, hoping to sober me up a bit.

“Your brother messaged me saying that you probably needed to talk to me,” he says in explanation for being at the clubhouse this late.

It’s only then that I realize I drank the entire day away.

It’s dark out. “I’m glad I came, otherwise you’d be having something big to explain to Sophie.

You really need to kick Candy out of here.

She’s been pushing you since you became president and she’s not taking the hint. Everyone sees it.”

“I know,” I grumble. “I didn’t want that, though.”

“I know. This is why you can’t let alcohol rule your life, son. It causes fucked up things to happen, things that can be avoided when you’re sober. Things that would devastate your woman.”

My dad was never a partier when it came to the club. He would drink a few beers, but he never got drunk. Club sluts are notorious for pushing up on drunk club members, and my dad never wanted to disrespect my mother. He was probably one of the only faithful club members of his generation .

“So, what happened that Ro thought you needed me?”

I sigh and take a drink of the coffee he brought me.

“Eric attacked Sophie while she was at work, he poured fresh coffee on her arm and shoved her to the ground. Rowan and I went to the hospital to check on her and I brought her back to the clubhouse. Eric was here laughing it up with everyone. I confronted him and the other two assholes from Tennessee and then spent the evening with Sophie and Asher. We had church this morning to dish out the punishment for the guys. When I told Eric that he wasn’t welcome in Silver Springs ever again, he flew off the handle,” I continue as I swipe my hand over my face and take another few drinks of my coffee.

“He made a comment about me being so stupid that I don’t even realize that my kid is right in front of me. ”

My dad whistles through his teeth and sits beside me on the bed. “What the fuck? Asher?”

I nod. “The guys in church all got quiet and when I asked them why they told me that they thought I saw how much he looks like me. I crashed out. I confronted Sophie and she told me it’s true. Asher is my son,” I croak.

My dad wraps an arm around me and pulls me into his side. “That’s huge news,” he says softly.

“She said that John forced her out of town. That he threatened her, the baby and me if she didn’t go.”

My dad hums. “Listen Gray, John could be an asshole. He treated Sophie like shit, even before she left. He blamed her for her mother dying. He was obsessed with Sophie’s mom.

He also was dead set on having a son. He wanted someone to leave his legacy to.

He couldn’t leave it to Sophie. She wouldn’t have wanted it, anyways. ”

“She could have told me. I would have left with her.”

“Hey, I’m sure she knew you would, but she had to have been terrified.

She was eighteen and pregnant, her own father was threatening her.

Do you think she wanted to even chance it?

John had a far reach in this club. He knew members from every charter.

It didn’t matter where you went in the states, he would have been able to keep tabs on you,” he says as he gives my shoulder a squeeze.

“John had wanted you to take over this club from when you were little. He tried to knock up multiple club sluts to have an heir for the club, but it never happened. He must have been shooting blanks. He was desperate to pass this club onto someone, and he chose you. It sounds like he was willing to do anything necessary to keep you and Sophie and Asher would have pulled you away.”

My mind whirls with all this information. Most of it isn’t really new information to me, besides John trying to knock up club sluts. My dad is right, though. John would have been able to keep tabs on me anywhere I went, which I’m sure he did to Sophie and Asher. Asher. My son .

“I can’t believe I missed out on the first six years of my son’s life,” I croak.

“Let’s just make sure we don’t miss out on any more of Asher’s life. Or Sophie’s. Make this right, son.”