Page 45 of Truck

“Yeah, I wanted a word with Truck. I cannot stay too long as I left Ayla with Finger, and of course, Tracker.” Cilla walks toward me and I turn and walk through to the office with Cilla behind me.

“Hello, Cilla,” Rum gives a huge smile, which Cilla returns.

“Hi Rum. I need to talk about Rory and the ghost thing. She’s scared I think that her husband will haunt her, but that’s not the case. He heard what she said at the clubhouse yesterday, and it upset him somewhat, but he knows her well enough that he told me it’s fear that has her running. I would like to speak with her, or you need to sit her down and speak to her, Truck. It’s got to be spoken about, or she’ll run from you,” Cilla is giving me a look that tells me she knows more than she’s saying.

“I’ll speak with Rory. Leave it with me, and if she wants to speak with you, I’ll arrange it.”

“Okay, Truck. I didn’t want to push my nose in, but she reacted badly and it worried me.” Turning to the desk, she says, “I’ve got to go, Rum. I need to be there when Grady is picked up from school. I told Rory that he could come with me to the clubhouse while she’s at work, and Coin said he’d go over any homework he may have.”

“Why are you having Grady?” Rum asks, and that’s when I realize I haven’t told him about Jill’s mother.

“Jill’s mother died yesterday. Rory said she’d keep Grady with her while Jill got everything sorted out. Jill is struggling with the financial side of things, but the home told her yesterday that her mother had paid for a funeral, so that eased her worries. She still has to bring up Grady. He’s only eleven, so a long time before he is not going to need her help. Rory said her mother had signed the papers for Jill to be his legal guardian, so he’d not be taken from her. All-in-all, Jill has some responsibility on her shoulders,” I look at Rum and can see he understands that Jill is between a rock and a hard place.

“We can all help if needed, Truck. I live on my own. I don’t have anyone to consider but myself. If you need me to have Grady for any reason, then I’m available. If you need help with anything I’m your man,” Rum turns in his seat and gives me the most serious look I’ve ever seen on his face.

“Thanks, Rum. I’ll tell Rory, and if she needs you, I’m sure she will shout out. You know she sees you as family, don’t you? Before you know it, she’ll call you, Dad,” I say this with laughter in my tone.

Rum surprises me with his answer. “I’d be okay with that, Truck.”

Standing outside school with Rory, I fill her in on Rum’s declaration that he’d be okay with her calling him Dad. Instead of laughing it off as I thought she might, she got tears in her eyes and let me know in no uncertain terms that she’d be happy to call him that.

“Rory! Rory!”

We both turn and see Grady running towards us. He throws his arms around Rory when he reaches us and laughs right before giving a boy who is walking past a nasty look. “This is my big sister.” The boy rolls his eyes while continuing to walk.

Not sure I like that response from the kid, so I quickly snarl. “What’s your issue? It’s his sister. You got a problem with that?”

Shaking his head, he scuttles away like the little shit he is. Turning back to Rory and Grady, I’m shocked to see Rory giving me a nasty look, and Grady grinning so broadly he’s showing all his teeth. “What?” I ask Rory in a What the heck, tone.

“You didn’t need to speak to him, Truck.”

“Yeah, I did. Grady is one of us now, and he’s your unofficial brother, so he’s your brother, end of story. It’s nothing to do with the snot-nosed shit, anyway.”

Grady giggles at my reply, and Rory gives him a stern look right before she tells him not to encourage my inappropriate behavior. I have Grady laughing again when I cross my eyes and stick out my tongue when Rory turns her back to me.

Climbing into my truck, Rory asks if Grady would be okay staying with me until she leaves work, rather than sitting at the diner all evening. She explained I’ll take him to the clubhouse and he’ll eat with me.

“I have a room, so if you get tired, I can always take you there and you can sleep until it’s time to pick Rory up from work. Or we can head to your place, Rory, and you can come back to your place after work. Either way suits me,” I suggest.

“Oh, how about you eat at the clubhouse? Do you have homework Grady?” Rory obviously only just thought about homework as she threw that last question out.

“I have some math homework. I did my other during lunch,” Grady replies.

Nodding, I quickly add, “That’s okay because Coin can help you with that. He’s the accountant, money man, or as his official title states, ‘Treasurer,’ so he knows figures.”

“Okay with that, Grady?” Rory asks.

Grady grins. “Yeah. I’m going to the motorcycle gang's place.”

“We are not a gang, Grady. We are a motorcycle club,” I educate, but I can see it’s not registering with him as he’s grinning like a fool, and Rory is scowling at me because of it.

After kissing Rory thoroughly when I dropped her at home to get her car, much to Grady’s disgust, I head to the clubhouse. I educate Grady on the way that kissing is something he will like when he gets older, but his childlike response of No I won’t, goes over my head. We all know he’ll like much more than kissing, whether it’s with a girl or a boy. But he’ll learn in time.

At the clubhouse, Grady talks to everyone. He’s not a little shy, and all the brothers speak to him as though they’ve known him all his life. He soaks up the attention. “Come on, Grady. Time for homework, then we’ll eat.”

I leave him working in the office with Coin overlooking his homework, and I head back to the common room, but get called into Pres’s office as I pass by his door.

“What’s up, Pres?” I ask as I step inside.