Climbing Out

by Lila Rose

  “Even if this scares you?” she uttered.

  It was my turn for my eyes to widen.

  How in the fuck had she known?

  She sighed and laid her head on my chest. “It scares me too, Grady,” she whispered.

  Well damn.

  Deanna

  Stretching in the morning after a good and proper tongue lashing felt great. I reached over to the side Griz...Grady occupied last night with a smile on my lips, only to find it empty.

  It was then I heard voices and the TV coming from downstairs, because my bedroom door was open. I realised then that Blue, Stoke and Killer must have fixed my bedroom door, as well as moving Grady and Swan in last night. That was nice of them.

  Oh, hell, when did I ever fuckin' think nice things? It was happenin' already. I was—and felt—less bitchy. I wondered what would happen to me if I truly got fucked by Grady.

  A laugh escaped me. I couldn't wait to find out.

  After stretching again, I then ripped the sheet from my naked body and got out of bed. I headed straight for my en-suite and started the shower.

  Though, maybe I shouldn't have had a shower first. Maybe I should have gone downstairs to see Grady instead, because now, as I washed my blonde hair, I had more time to second guess...everything.

  What would happen if things had changed for him? What if he didn't really mean what he said last night? No, it wasn't a dream. He had said he wanted something to start between us.

  But then, what happens if this—us—did start...seeing each other? There was Swan to consider in this. It wouldn't be just a relationship with Grady, but his daughter as well.

  I wasn't good enough to be around her.

  Was I even good enough for him?

  Fuck. Now I felt like shit, and mean. Maybe I shouldn't have started anything last night.

  Crap. I just didn't know.

  There was only one way to decide—go down and face the music. I’d learn how he would be with me and see if he wanted me around his daughter.

  I turned off the water and got out of the shower. After quickly drying myself, I dressed in black slacks and a white shirt; I had to get to work at the library in two hours. With wet hair hanging loose and bare feet, I made my way downstairs.

  Walking into the lounge, I found Swan sitting on the carpeted floor playing with two dolls and some blocks, while some cartoon played on the TV.

  What was I supposed to do, keep walkin' or talk to her?

  I need to grow some balls. So I walked over to her and sat down beside her.

  “Morning, Swan.”

  She looked up at me and smiled shyly, and then went back to her toys.

  “Do you wanna build something with me?”

  She shook her head and pointed to something on the other side of her—books. I reached over and picked one up. “Do you want me to read this to you?”

  She nodded. I could do that. I read Spot Bakes a Cake, and then we moved on to another Spot adventure. But when I started Whose Nose, that was when Swan moved to sit on my lap, and my heart constricted when she rested her head against my chest.

  After her last three books—all Hairy Maclary ones, which I loved—she looked up at me, smiled and uttered in such a soft sweet voice, “Ta.”

  I helped her hop off my lap and back onto the floor, and then said, “I love reading, Swan. So maybe later, when I get back home from work, we can read some more?” She beamed up at me; I guess that was my answer.

  Standing up, I turned to go and find Grady, only to see him standing in the kitchen-lounge doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his black-teed chest.

  Fuck, he was hot.

  With a chin lift, he turned and walked back into the kitchen. I followed.

  He was on the other side of the island bench, and once I walked in and over to stand on the opposite side, he said, “I was gonna come wake you. I'm glad I didn't have to...because what I saw in there—you with my daughter, reading to her—means more to me than you'll ever know.”

  “Um.”

  “Get your arse around here,” he ordered on a growl.

  I got around there, and when I did, he pulled me against him and attacked my mouth like a starved man. I wrapped my arms around his neck and went on my tippy-toes to show him what he just said meant more to me than he would ever know.

  He pulled away and looked down at me. “Fuck. You look hot, darlin', looking all professional.”

  I grinned up at him and said, “You look hot yourself, biker-man. So hot, I'm wet already.”

  He closed his eyes and groaned. “Shit, Dee. I want my fingers in you so much right now, just so I can taste you again.”

  “It'll have to be later, babe. Now that Swan's awake, we have to be careful.”

  He tilted his head back and let out a roar of laughter. I hit his chest. I didn't know what in the fuck he was laughing at, but I knew it was at my expense.

  I tried to move out of his embrace, but he held strong, and after he'd calmed enough, he looked down at me with amused eyes. Though, they also held a sweet heat that had my hoo-ha convulsing.

  “Darlin’, you saying that, wanting to protect my daughter makes me fuckin’ happy.” He grinned. “Makes me realise I was being a stupid dick being worried about our age difference. But most of all, what you just said turned me the hell on, and now I've got to have a taste before I take Swan over to Wildcat's.” With that, I found his hand down my pants and in my underwear. I gasped at the abruptness, and then whimpered when his eyes took on a wicked gleam as his fingers ran along my folds and then inserted into my already wet pussy.

  “Hell, darlin’, I wish I had time to wet my dick with this,” he pumped his fingers in and out, causing me to moan, “with your sweet pussy, but I don’t, so this will have to hold me off.” He removed his fingers, and my eyes grew as I watched him raise his hand to his mouth to lick and suck my juices off. A growl escaped his chest. He closed his eyes in what looked like ecstasy.

  “Jesus, Grady,” I hissed and whimpered. I was so turned on I needed a release, or I’d be one cranky bitch all day. “Please tell me you have time to fuck me. Tell me you’ll go drop Swan off now, come back here and fuck me hard and good.”

  He smiled down at me and shook his head. “Sorry, princess, I’ve got shit I have to do, but at least I know you’ll be ready for me tonight.” He stepped back, slapped my arse and walked out of the room chuckling.

  “You leave me like this and you won’t see anything tonight,” I yelled to him.

  “Yeah, right, we’ll see,” he yelled back.

  Yes, we would see.

  Griz

  Fuck, it was so hard to walk out the door with Swan and not go back to screw my woman like she wanted. Hell—like I wanted. But as I said, I had shit to do, so after dropping off Swan at Wildcat's, I headed to the compound. Upon walking through the front door, down the hall and into Talon’s office, I knew he knew I’d be coming, because not only was Talon there, but Blue, Killer, Stoke and Pick were there also.

  “I guess you already know what I want,” I said.

  “I do, brother, ‘cause I’d want the same goddamn thing.” Talon nodded. “The brothers here all agree; we’re going with you in case it gets ugly.”

  I looked to the group of men around me, fuckin’ proud and happy I had these men, these brothers, in my life. “All right, let’s do this. Let’s go see our old member for some answers.”

  We all loaded onto our Harleys and left the compound to head across Ballarat to Lal Lal, where we knew Maxwell resided. He lived on a dead-end street, but a street that was busy with houses and families. Though, no matter where he lived and who saw us approaching, I still had to find the truth, and he’d better fuckin’ give it to me, or he’d soon be a dead motherfucker.

  No sooner than we stopped out the front of his run-down brick home, the door was opened and Maxwell ran out to meet us on his front lawn.

  “I heard; I heard. It wasn’t me. I had nothin’ to do with your woman’
s death.” He held his hands up and out in front of him, shaking them from side to side.

  “Funny, Max, how in the fuck do you know what we were coming here for?” I asked.

  “People talk, brother. I heard. She had a party and we fucked, but that was it. I left and she was fine.”

  Talon stepped forward. “This is not something we need to fuckin’ talk about out in public. In the house, now,” he ordered, and when that happened, people knew to follow. Maxwell turned and led us up the concrete path to his house. Stoke, Pick and Killer stayed out front, while Blue, Talon and I entered. The stench of pot, mildew and pussy filled our noses.

  “Damn, Maxwell, clean up the fuckin’ place; it stinks in here,” Blue said with his upper lip raised in a grimace.

  Max laughed. “Yeah. Just been a busy time for me, brothers. Busy time. Got new whores I been testin' out; they’re in some of the rooms. I’d be happy if you guys wanted to have a go at them.”

  I looked at my brothers, his no longer since he left the club, and saw they both held the look of disgust I knew I had.

  Blue whispered something to Talon, who nodded in return, and then I watched Blue walk to the front door. In the next second, Pick was in the house and heading down the corridor to the left. He was paying the whores a visit with, no doubt, a little warning.

  Talon walked over to the kitchen table, and in one sweep of his arms, everything on it fell to the floor in a loud clatter. He leaned his arse against it and said with a chin lift, “Max, come and have a seat. Griz has some questions, but I have something to say first.” Talon waited until Maxwell was seated in the seat closest to him. He waited until Maxwell looked up at him, and then he took a breath, glared and said, “You no longer have the right to call us brothers. You left the club to deal with your whores and, I guess, run your fuckin’ life down the shit hole, but that was your choice. So you live by it.”

  “All right, sure. Okay, bro—sir...um, Talon.”

  We all laughed at how pathetic he was.

  Pick cleared his throat behind all of us. We turned, he gave a chin lift and then he left the house. It was the all-clear for us to do what we had to, meaning—the whores were too high to know what was going on.

  I walked over to the table and stood just in front of Maxwell.

  “Tell me, Max; why in the fuck would you have a party at my ex’s while my daughter was in the same damned house?” I bellowed in his face.

  “Look, man, I-I...shit! She...she needed some extra money. So, you know, I paid her for the night to fuck some customers, and then before we left...I had a go with her.”

  “You pimped her out while my child was there?” I roared. Someone grabbed me from behind, because they knew I was ready to jump this fucker and rip his worthless head off.

  “Why’d she need money, Max? Griz was giving her enough to help with the cost of their kid,” Talon asked.

  “Um, shit. Ah...your woman—”

  “She ain’t my woman, but she was still the fuckin’ mother of my child, so talk, dickface,” I growled. Blue let go of me and stepped back. He took out his phone, flipped it open and hit record. It was the same process we took every time we questioned anyone for anything.

  “All right, okay. You see, she—ah, she got to like...a bit of crack.”

  I grabbed him by his dirty white tee and pulled him up so our faces were only inches apart and his feet dangled off the ground.

  “You meanin’ to tell me you sold crack to my ex?”

  “Fuck no, man. I don’t deal with that shit—I promise, but...my new partner does.”

  I threw him back into his chair and turned my back on him. “Tell me who.”

  “I can’t, Griz. I can’t; he’ll kill me. He’s one mean motherfucker.”

  Blue snorted. “And we won’t kill you if you don’t tell us?”

  “Hell, please don’t do this.”

  “Enough,” Talon growled. “Max, they’re selling crack in our territory. They will be dealt with, so just give us his name,” Talon barked.

  “Whatever you do, he’ll want payback.”

  “We’ll see,” Blue said.

  “Shit. All right, but it didn’t come from me. Can you promise me that?”

  “Sure, Max. Sure.” Talon smirked.

  Fuckin' dipshit. Did he not see Blue recording this?

  “His name’s Ryan Little, and he lives over in Delecombe.”

  “Thanks, mate. We’ll figure out the rest.” Talon stood tall and pulled his gun—with a silencer—from his back holster and pointed it at Maxwell's head.

  Max raised his hands and cried, “Wait, wait! Please, please don’t kill me. I told you who it was. I told you!”

  Talon lowered his gun and sighed. “I guess that’s true.” He nodded to himself. In the next second, he fired his gun and hit Max in the left knee. As Maxwell screamed, Talon picked up a cloth from the floor and stuffed it into his mouth. “That’s for lettin' this shit happen in the first place. No one brings crack into my territory. Pass the word on.” He stood tall, turned and walked toward the front door, but I hadn’t moved. “Griz, brother,” Talon called. “Do what you want.” He glanced over his shoulder and walked out of the house with Blue following.

  In his haste to get away, Maxwell fell to the floor shaking and holding his knee, still moaning in pain from the gunshot wound. I raised my foot and planted it in the side of his head. He fell to his side, whimpering like some lost little kid.

  “You really should have never crossed me and my family, even if she was my ex. But what broke the respect I still had for you, was the fact you were stupid enough to do shit around my child. That—I can never forgive.”

  It was my turn to remove my gun, which was also prepared with a silencer on the end, from my side holster. I aimed at Maxwell and fired a round into his other knee, and then another into his left arm. As I watched him roll around in pain, I smiled. At least the fucker, who played with not only the brotherhood, but my family, now knew not to.

  I leaned over and hissed, “Keep the fuck outta trouble, Maxwell, or we will be back, and you know what will happen then. If I see your face again, there'll be a bullet between your eyes.”

  Before parting, I fired another shot into his stomach. Hopefully he'd die before his whores found him.

  Deanna

  After being at work for an hour, I was, for once, enjoying the silence. I loved working here. I loved the smell of the books and watching what people chose to read. But on some days, the silence did get to me...only not today.

  In the last twenty-four hours, I'd had my fill of noise, tension and company—well, except maybe Grady and Swan's.

  Oh, well, would you fuckin' look at that? I counted Swan in the mix of things.

  Strange.

  The library doors opened and a regular came in. I was sure she was here every day—at least, every day I worked she was. Someone always accompanied her in, holding her arm and then seating her at a table with some audiobooks to listen to. It had taken me my second day of seeing her a month ago to realise she was blind, and the person who helped her in here had to be her sister. They looked alike in many ways. Both were slim, tall and red-haired, only the blind one's hair was shorter, styled in a pixy cut, where her sister had long hair, which was usually plaited down her back.

  The only thing that annoyed the hell outta me was the way the one who wasn't blind would speak to her sister. It was like she was the dirt under her fingernail she wanted to get rid of. It took all my strength to not say anything.

  What also annoyed me was the fact it was obvious the bitch sister had advised the other on what to wear. Where the bitch looked immaculate—perfect hair, light green eyes, flawless make-up and designer clothes—the blind one always wore tracksuit pants, baggy tees or hooded jumpers. Her hair was always scruffy-looking, like she'd just gotten out of bed.

  The bitch left with a glare, and like every day I saw it, I wanted to go over and find out what in the hell was going on, but I had enough of my ow
n shit to deal with, rather than adding someone else's to the mix.

  One day I would, or I'd never forgive myself.

  It was after lunch, and I was working the floor, replacing the returned books to their shelves when the front automatic doors swished open, and in walked Julian. He always looked good; today he wore a red polo shirt with dark blue jeans and black leather boots. I watched him scan the front desk and then the floor. When he spotted me, a smile lit his face and he bounced on over.

  “Hello, bitch-face,” he said stopping in front of me.

  I sent an eye roll his way and turned back to the shelf. “Afternoon, cum-sucker. What brings you here?”

  He giggled, but then it abruptly stopped. I looked at him to see he was studying me.

  Oh, crap, what's going to come out of his mouth now?

  He gasped. “No way.”

  “What?”

  “O-M-G, no way.” He pulled his phone from his back pocket and dialled a number. “Hey, sugarplum, you know how I was going to the library to see how our Deanna was after last night and being blindsided by what she was going home to?” He waited for an answer. “Yes, well, I'm here and guess what I see...our woman’s glowing like she got some nom-nom last night!” he squealed.

  “Julian,” I growled.

  “I know,” he screeched. “Hang on; I'll put you on speaker.” He clicked a button and held out his phone. “Deanna Drake,” Zara's excited voice called out. “Tell me now what went on last night, and tell me why you haven't called me already to tell me what happened last night. Hun, I should have been the first one to be told. Holy cow, babe! Finally—you and Griz! This is soooo awesome. Oh, wow. I can't believe this. I'm so excited for you. Was it good? Did he treat you right?”

  “Up-the-duff, if you'd let her actually speak, you'll hear what she has to say,” Julian said.