Page 32 of Grumpy

Grumpy continued to guide her forward. She thought they were coming here to speak with Keys, but now she was realizing that Keys might be across the street at his new building. And suddenly Kelly found herself questioning why they were here at the clubhouse, especially if it was empty.

On their right, a woman stepped out of the swinging door Kelly knew led to the clubhouse’s commercial-sized kitchen. More than once Kelly had helped Jenna over the years when they were cooking and packing meals for the community members who had no family on Thanksgiving or Christmas and were unable to leave their homes.

She hadn’t been back here since Ghost had taken over as president almost two years ago.

The woman paused, a steaming cup partway to her mouth. She was young, maybe twenty, twenty-one. She had a fashionable beanie on her head that prevented Kelly from seeing her hair color and a lean stature Kelly’s hips envied.

“Oh, hello.” Her blue eyes danced to Grumpy. “Are you here to see Demo?”

Grumpy seemed like he wanted to just keep walking forward, but instead he paused, took a deep breath, and said, “Yeah.”

The woman waved them forward. “Come on back, but excuse the mess. We’re sorting through paperwork now that the bar is back open.”

Kelly had not gone to Demon on the Rocks’ Grand Re-Opening. It had happened about two weeks ago, but she’d taken a shift at the diner so other waitresses could go. She knew without asking that Grumpy wasn’t going to be there, and she had no reason to go if he wasn’t.

“I’m Kelly,” she introduced herself when Grumpy didn’t. “I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“Rhea,” the younger woman said, transferring her mug to her other hand so she could shake Kelly’s. “I’m Demo’s assistant.”

Kelly was surprised by this, but not put off by it. While Rhea was a beautiful, young woman, Kelly knew these men. Loyalty was in their blood. Beyond that, she’d been there when Demo and Paige had declared their love for each other in the diner three years ago. If anything, they were more in love today than they were back then.

“Good to meet you. I work at the diner with Sophia and Tally.”

“Ah,” Rhea smiled brightly, “I thought the name sounded familiar. I helped Demo with the paperwork for your promotion when Sophia took control. I used to work at the Red Lobster in Cottonville. Scotty and Lucky were on a Daddy-Son date when they met me and brought me here. The club’s sponsoring my college tuition while I work on my MBA.”

Though the clubhouse was two stories, the second floor only covered part of the first floor, giving the front room an extra tall ceiling. The stairs were directly across the main room from the front doors, and under them, were two offices. Ghost, the club’s president, had one, and Demo, the club’s treasurer, had the other. The times Kelly had been in the clubhouse, both offices were closed up and locked. Now, both were open, though it didn’t look like Ghost was in the building.

The mess Rhea had mentioned was mighty. Kelly’s eyebrows raised at the piles of paperwork around. Some were a single piece while others were stacked four or five high. As light as a ballerina, Rhea tip-toed around the paperwork until she reached a blank spot in the floor that was clearly where she’d been working from.

Demo sat behind his desk, typing faster than Kelly thought a seven-fingered man could type. Honestly, it was impressive. Before Rhea could announce that he had visitors, Demo lifted his head and smiled. “’bout damn time.”

He rolled his large office chair back until he reached what looked to be an old waist-high dresser lining the wall. On top were countless pictures of Demo, Paige, and their two boys, Nelly Bean and Mikey, including one where the two boys excitedly held up a picture of a sonogram. It was hard to believe both boys were now in school, with Nelly Bean only just entering kindergarten. Kelly remembered the first time she’d served Paige and her boys at the diner, the happy daughter-in-law and grandsons of the town’s new sheriff. She also remembered the day Paige’s husband, Richard, had abandoned them, leaving Paige and their boys practically penniless. Though an acupuncturist, Paige had started selling pictures of her feet online to help make ends meet—but some days, it still wasn’t enough.

Then Steel had sent Demo to Paige’s acupuncture clinic to have his shoulder worked on after he’d been shot trying to prevent Jasmine from being kidnapped, and the rest, as they say, was history.

Demo pulled open the drawer and grabbed out a rectangular, white gift box, like something stores used to offer at Christmas time. It took him a second to maneuver the mess on the floor, which turned out to be much harder to do in biker boots than it had been for Rhea in her high-top sneakers.

Kelly bumped into Grumpy as she tried to move backward out of Demo’s way. The three of them ended up in the hallway under the staircase.

Though Demo’s smile was for Kelly, he handed the box to Grumpy. “Congrats, man. I’m really happy for you.”

Grumpy took the box. “Wait,” he said when Demo stepped away as if to go back into his office. “Tell her what this means.”

Demo’s eyebrows lifted. “Don’t you…?” His eyes flicked back and forth between Kelly and Grumpy.

“Just do it.”

Kelly frowned at Grumpy’s tone. While she knew his road name was a poke at his sullen personality, it was rare that she actually thought of him as grumpy. He was soft-spoken, and though he frowned a lot, he was also kind. He wasn’t some asshole who was cruel to others.

Demo, though, must have seen or understood something that Kelly didn’t, because he didn’t scold Grumpy for his attitude. Instead, he nodded like he was answering something unspoken between the men.

Looking down at Kelly, the younger man said, “Grumpy’s claiming you. He’s making you his ol’ lady. It’s unbreakable, stronger than marriage, because there is no do-over, no going back on that vow and filing for divorce. You’re his, even beyond death, and if he betrays you, he betrays his colors, and that means he answers to us. Because that cut,” he tipped his chin towards the box he’d handed Grumpy, “isn’t just his declaration to you, but ours.”

Demo squared his shoulders, drawing attention to his own black leather cut. He wore a red hoodie under it that proclaimed him the proud uncle of a gay nephew. Someone had added on an S at the end of “nephew” that clearly hadn’t been manufactured. It looked silly, but was also quirky. “We protect our own, Kelly. Regardless of your relationship with Grumpy, you’re ours now. You need something, anything, you can ask any one of us and we’ll drop what we’re doing to come help you. Your mom, your grandma, they’re ours now, too. It’s not just about protection, either. We’re family. Every one of us. We might be loud, rambunctious, and bad for the condom business,” he added with a tilted smile, “but we’re family. And at the end of the day, there’s no strength greater than that.”

He gave her a pointed look, gave Grumpy a chin lift, and then slipped back into his office. Kelly had a feeling he would have closed the door to offer them privacy if the paperwork on the floor hadn’t blocked it.

Slowly, she turned to face Grumpy. She felt shaky, wobbly on her feet. “I’m not sure I understand.” She was trying to remember her earlier concerns, what she’d word vomited to Grumpy in the car. Clearly from the way he’d brought her here, he believed that Demo’s explanation answered or contradicted her concerns.