Page 36 of Grumpy

When he’d first gotten home from rehab, he’d stayed in the den. Though he lived alone, there was a purpose to every room in his three bedroom house. His den was more of a TV room than a sunroom or reading room. He didn’t splurge often, but he had when it came to his lounge chair that went in his den. The salesman had joked that it was comfortable enough to sleep in—and he had not lied. But Grumpy also knew that he couldn’t spend the rest of his life avoiding the upper floor of his house. So one night, against his mother’s strong objections, he decided to trek up the stairs.

It had been trying, his atrophied muscles screaming like climbing his house stairs was akin to climbing Mount Everest, but he’d done it.

Scotty patiently walked in front of him. Step by very slow step, they got themselves down to the first floor. Where the entire club waited in his living room. Some of the fuckers had even taken their boots off and had their feet up on his coffee table.

“Get your feet off my furniture,” he snapped, curbing his language in front of Scotty. He was the only club kid present—and possibly the only person who could have gotten Grumpy out of bed at this hour.

The sun was just now coming up.

Ghost crooked his finger at Scotty. The teen bounded over to him with a large goofy smile on his face, looking up at his ginger uncle expectantly. Ghost pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and handed Scotty a hundred dollar bill. “This should cover us for a while. Go watch TV in Uncle Grumpy’s den, yeah?”

Excited, Scotty looked to his dad for permission. Lucky nodded once. Scotty then proceeded to walk around the room, delivering a nose-kiss to every single person in it. He saved Aunt Angel for last, depositing Ghost’s hundred into her hands for her swear jar. Then he bounded into the den, knowing where Grumpy kept his remote and fleece blankets.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Ghost glared at the room. “I am fucking sick and tired of all these fucking secrets. Anyone else have some big reveal they want to get off their chest or do I need to make some big fucking, heart-filled speech about how we’re family and the club is supposed to be about trust?”

No one spoke up. Ghost turned his glare on Grumpy.

Grumpy shrugged, kicking Scooby off the couch so he could sit. “Steel knew.” He didn’t say it as an insult to his new president or to compare the two. Ghost was his own man, and had proven that on more than one occasion. He had no idea what Steel had told Ghost, what secrets he’d passed on or not. And Ghost had enough on his plate when he took up the gavel that he didn’t need Grumpy’s sob story of a past to deal with, too.

From the look that Lucky and Bulldog exchanged, neither the VP nor the SAA had known.

Something flared in Ghost’s green eyes, but the man quelled it quickly. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“What would it have solved if you’d known?” Grumpy asked in return.

“Well, it would have stopped me having to leave my pregnant wife at the ass-crack of dawn!” Ghost shouted.

Grumpy did not respond that that had been the man’s own choice. Not Grumpy’s.

Ghost rolled his neck, cracking it. “Anyone else get sympathy hormones the closer to your wife’s labor date?” The biological fathers in the room all nodded. Ghost let out a long breath like he was relieved to hear he wasn’t going crazy, though the dark circles under his eyes were still extremely prominent. He turned back to Grumpy. “You’re taking a prospect with you. It’s not up for discussion,” Ghost snapped when Grumpy made to argue. “I don’t give a damn if he rides in the trunk or on his bike behind you. He’s going in case you need something and Kelly isn’t strong enough to lift your surly ass. Or would you rather your ol’ lady break her back trying to help you?”

Grumpy clamped his mouth closed at that remark.

The look Ghost gave him told Grumpy the man knew exactly what he was doing. “You’re also taking a club SUV. Again, not up for discussion,” Ghost snapped. “If your pride would stop trying to interrupt me, I’d get through this a hell of a lot faster.” Grumpy sat extremely still, waiting for his president to continue. “Thank you,” Ghost said, his voice laced with sarcasm. “The seats are going to be more comfortable, not to mention the ride’s going to be a lot smoother. And it’ll be safer overall.”

Despite that he’d taken his time with his morning exercises to annoy the men who’d broken into his house at the “ass-crack of dawn”, Grumpy had to work his jaw before he could respond. “Thank you.”

Ghost nodded once. “I understand why you want to do this alone. I also understand why you want Kelly to be the one who goes with you. But we’d go, all of us, if you asked us to.”

Grumpy did know that, and despite his surly ass, it was one of the reasons he loved his club. “I know, but I need to do this on my own.” Everyone knew that Kelly was included in that statement. It settled something in Grumpy. Their relationship was still extremely new, and though they’d each confessed their feelings, there was still so much that they didn’t know about each other, so much that they had to decide on for their future. But Grumpy didn’t give a damn about any of it, not really. Because he was now a “we”. His future, his life, would forever be linked to hers—and that felt incredible.

Bear walked up to Grumpy and deposited a duffel bag on his lap. “Tessa packed this for you. Just in case.”

Grumpy slid the zipper only partly open before he saw the bottles of aloe, lotion, and antihistamine, along with extra compression garments and wound care supplies. He didn’t need to open it the rest of the way to know that Tessa likely packed him a portable pharmacy for his trip. Looking up, Grumpy lifted his chin in thanks.

“Sophia and Tally already worked Kelly out of the schedule for the next two weeks,” Pirate added. “They let her know last night. If it turns out you need longer than that, we’ll tackle that then.”

Grumpy hadn’t looked at his phone since getting up. There was a good chance Kelly had already texted him that information and he just hadn’t gotten to it yet. But he still nodded his thanks to Pirate, too.

“I’ll have an SUV dropped off so you can start packing,” Ghost informed him, “but don’t you dare leave town without stopping by the clubhouse to tell the ol’ ladies farewell. I do not want to piss off my very pregnant wife who also controls my sex life.”

“Dude!” Ranger whined.

“Your sister is already pregnant by me,” Ghost chastised. “Get over it.”

Lucky looked to Grumpy as the club started filing out of his front door. “I’m leaving Scotty here to help you, too.”

Grumpy’s eyes narrowed on the man, because both of them knew damn well Scotty was only here to ensure that Grumpy returned him to the clubhouse and did not escape the farewell bash the ol’ ladies were no doubt throwing for him. Fucker.