Page 38

Grandfather Of The Year

G rizz

I stretched, sitting on my bike, basking in the calm for a second as I sat outside of our diner.

I had made my rounds, checking in on the club businesses, but they had been functioning like normal.

Our cartel problems hadn’t spilled into our income, and if there was a silver lining in all of this, that was it.

I couldn’t imagine fighting the cartel penniless.

I chastised myself for the thought. There was more than one silver lining, and most of them involved Meredith.

I wasn’t the only one who told her I was proud.

She’d fought to the surface, and there was a newfound sense of peace resonating from within.

I could only imagine it was from solidifying her place in the club, even though I hadn’t told her about the vote.

My phone dinged with an incoming text. Laughing, I dug it out of my back pocket, expecting to see my wife’s name on the screen.

Her sense of timing was impeccable, and it wasn’t unusual for her to call late in the afternoon.

She had nothing better to be doing, and I didn’t mind chatting for a few minutes.

If I was busy, she’d understand, letting me go with the unspoken demand to come home as soon as possible.

My smile fell as Sabre’s name flashed across the screen. Clicking open the message, I braced myself for some new project. Sure enough, he’d sent a picture of five large boxes sitting in the middle of the main room. Instead of answering, I called him, heading back to the clubhouse.

“Do you want me to round up some brothers and get started on this shit?” he answered, not even bothering to saying hello.

“What is that shit?“ I hadn’t been able to tell from the picture, but they were going to be my problem.

“There’s a changing table, a crib, and some dresser fucking thing. Where the fuck is she going to put this shit?”

I laughed. “It doesn’t matter as long as my girls are happy. If it’s too crowded, I’ll steal your bed when you go back to the house.”

“Fuck you. They’re currently shooting daggers in my direction. I think Meredith wants to start by herself. I caught her trying to lift one box and drag it upstairs. The little one took her mother’s side.”

“Do me a favor and have the boxes for the crib brought up. I’ll grab the tools from the garage before I head inside, and she can help me.” The phone clicked off in my hand. He didn’t bother to say goodbye.

***

“Locate the bag labeled four. Carefully open the bag and remove all screws. Align part A with part B, as shown in the diagram. Using the screws from bag four, secure part A to part B. Tighten screws until snug.” Meredith was cute, supervising me as she sat on the bed with Pumpkin in her lap.

However, I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was four steps ahead, and I hadn’t been listening for a while.

“Take off your shirt and pull your head out of your ass.”

I hummed in agreement, letting the words wash over me.

I didn’t want to hurt her, but I’d built a shit ton of crap by hand.

This was a piece of cake, and I didn’t need her reading the instructions to me.

Reaching for part C, I wondered why I had to take my shirt off to put a crib together. Fuck, that was when I knew she had me.

The key to winning this game was to not turn around.

Stripping off my shirt, I threw it over my shoulder, hoping it landed somewhere near them.

I could almost imagine the look on Meredith’s face as she brought it up to her nose.

I heard a squeak as I reached for the screwdriver.

Exaggerating the movement, I let my muscles pop in my shoulders as I continued putting the crib together, like nothing was going on.

“Pumpkin, boys are bad,” Meredith said.

I laid on the floor, my six-pack on display, as I attached another piece to the bottom of the crib.

“You can look, but no touching. Yeah, definitely no touching, no matter how much you want to.”

I was already in trouble, and I figured if I let the laugh loose that was bubbling in my chest, it wouldn’t go over well. She’d stop talking to punish me, and I was having too much fun listening to this nonsense.

“Your daddy is one of the best men I know, so maybe they’re not all bad.”

Laying on the floor, I needed a minute to recover.

I had laughed at all the times the brothers had called Sabre “Daddy.” Hell, I had even gotten my own licks in there every now and again, but this was different.

I was Pumpkin’s daddy, and it knocked me on my ass every time I heard it.

I didn’t have any experience to know if I would feel differently later on, but I hoped not.

Pumpkin was special, and I was excited to see what she would accomplish–as long as she didn’t grow too fast.

“I love you,” I said to Meredith, sitting up. My knees felt like Jell-O, and I wasn’t sure I could stand without giving away how this was affecting me.

“If you didn’t want me to help, you should have just said something,” she huffed.

I stood up from my spot on the floor, not moving for a second as I checked for stability. “This was fun, but you have to remember, I’ve been building shit for forever. I don’t need instructions.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Sure thing.”

“I love you,” I said again, leaning over her until she rocked backwards to look up at me.

“You’ve always been it for me, even when I wanted to deny it.

” I pecked her lips, withdrawing when she tried to deepen it.

“Your mommy is a smart woman. She picked us, and we won’t let her down.

” I dug my fists into the mattress, leaning over Meredith to kiss Pumpkin’s forehead.

They were my family, and I would give them everything, even if they didn’t ask for it.

That was when the thought hit me.

Diego Lopez was an immediate threat to my family’s happiness.

***

We’d been kicking ideas around since the barn on how to eliminate Diego, but no one had anything solid. Anytime we thought we were close, there was always that one piece that made the whole thing fail. The battle was coming, but how or when was still a mystery.

There was one man who might have some answers. Gerry was busy playing both sides of the fence, and it was only a matter of time before he showed up injured or, worse, dead.

Sneaking out of my bedroom, I clutched the door handle, making sure the lock didn’t make noise as it clicked into place.

I’d waited until my girls were sound asleep.

I didn’t want to have to explain why I was creeping out in the middle of the night.

The story wouldn’t go over very well, and I didn’t have the energy to fight my wife over her father.

If she caught me, at least she wouldn’t think I was cheating.

A voice scared me shitless as I entered the main room.

“You had the same idea I did,” Sabre said, standing from his barstool.

I grabbed my chest, making sure I wasn’t having a heart attack. “We have to go on the offense, or we’ve already lost.”

He nodded before following me out the front door. We took the porch steps, turning toward the line of bikes, but there was a shadow sitting halfway down. Pretty was waiting for us, eating a snack cake.

“What are you doing up?” Sabre asked him.

“Are you eating your feelings?” I chimed in. It was funny when Pretty waxed poetic about the potato salad, but things had changed, and I was getting concerned.

“I’m a growing boy, and you two are going to need me to deal with the front desk clerk.”

He was right, and neither one of us said anything.

“Where’s your bodyguard?” If Pretty was somewhere, Wreck was nearby. I didn’t mean to stroke any flames, but they’d been out of sync since Christmas.

“I don’t keep tabs on him.” Pretty swiped his hands down the legs of his jeans, white powder floating in the air.

There was no point in arguing as we rolled out. It didn’t take long before we were pulling into the parking lot of the high-end hotel the cartel was putting Gerry up in. There were cameras around the property, so we didn’t hide, but we didn’t advertise our business either.

“I’m up.” Pretty took off his helmet. He swaggered up to the double doors of the hotel and hit the intercom button. We were too far to hear what was being said, but the front desk clerk buzzed him in.

“I don’t know how he does that,” Sabre commented, removing his helmet and hanging it from his handlebars.

“He’s always been like that. Just be glad he’s on our side.” Pretty got a bad rap, but if we took a vote, he was probably the most loved brother.

We waited, checking our phones every now and again for the time. Fifteen minutes later, Pretty walked out, standing between the front doors. He waved us forward.

“Don’t say a word,” he mumbled when we were close enough to hear him. Pretty marched us toward the elevators, waving at the front desk clerk and blowing her a kiss. I was going to be sick. She honestly thought she had a chance as she waved back, blushing.

The elevator door closed before Pretty spoke. “Gerry’s on the fourth floor. He should be by himself, but he’s had company every night since he’s been here. No one questioned their ages. I’m just saying.”

Ding. The elevator doors opened to the fourth floor.

Pretty walked down the hallway, palming the keycard to Gerry’s room. He stopped in front of the last door on the right, sliding the key into the reader. The light turned green as the door popped open. Pretty took a step back so that he was the last one to enter the room.

Gerry was sound asleep, laying on his back in the middle of the bed. His mouth was wide open, and he snored loudly.

I put my knee on the side of the bed, waiting. I didn’t need Gerry to wake up, see my bulk over him, and scream. When he didn’t make a move, I inched my way onto the mattress, holding my hands over his mouth. Sabre was on the other side, and I watched him hold up his fingers.

One.

Two.