“You just can’t go around making me offers like that anymore,” I replied, taking back my seat. The hairs on the back of my neck were still on end. The past five days with Jamie back had been good. No way in hell would I ruin things by having Cass touch me now. I didn’t need experience to tell me Jamie wouldn’t take kindly to me fucking someone else.
Jamie worked so hard at the hospital I barely got the chance to talk to him. We’d seen each other only once briefly over the past five days, and I couldn’t get him fucking me out of my mind. I was tired of jerking off to the memory, and my ass clenched in anticipation of my boy entering me.
I didn’t want to fuck Cass or anyone else in our clubhouse. Booker and I sat in a corner, playing gin rummy and avoiding everything else taking place around us. It was common enough for the guys to engage in foreplay right here in the open rec room. For penetrative sex, though, they knew to take it to one of the back rooms.
Put a bunch of gay bikers with no high moral ground together, though, and they would find creative ways to have sex without penetration. Over by the dartboard on the wall, three bikers had somehow incorporated the game with stripping and were down to very little. I was pretty certain the twins seated by themselves were eye-fucking each other, but as always, I could only speculate; there was no proof of their intimacy. I didn’t care either way once they fulfilled their obligation to the club, and so far, they’d been on par with everything.
“I think what Grimm is trying to say, Cass,” Booker said, interrupting my thoughts, “is that he’s already spoken for. He’s no longer a free agent who can accept blow jobs when they’re thrown at him. I, on the other hand—”
“Am currently occupied,” I finished for him, then gave Cass a sympathetic smile. He looked ready to cry at the rejection. “Look, sweetie, why don’t you go to bed and skip tonight?”
He nodded, but the look of confusion hadn’t left his face. “Okay.”
Booker grumbled something under his breath as we both watched Cass strut away. As he walked on by, several guys groped his ass cheeks. Pretty quickly, his frown turned into a bright smile as one biker hauled him onto his lap. He went willingly, completely forgetting the offer he’d just extended to me a mere minute ago.
“Hey, I get why you turned him down,” Booker complained. “But you can’t turn him down for me too. I could totally hit that ass tonight.”
“But what’s the challenge in that?” I asked him. “Besides, we both know the reason you’re so quick to accept Cass’s offer.” I tapped on my watch.
He scowled at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That any minute now Zak’s going to walk in, and you love getting under his skin. Seriously, Booker, this thing between you two is getting quite stale. Even the guys are starting to pull out of the bet of whether or not you’ll end up fucking.”
“What the fuck do you mean? There’s a bet going on about us?”
“A bet going on about who?” Zak asked, appearing by our table, just like I had predicted. He claimed the chair beside Booker, making a show of bumping him aside. They wanted each other so badly it was painful to watch at times.
I’d have loved to see when they finally gave in to each other, but I had my hands full with Jamie, my little jealous spitball of fire. I knew better than to get even remotely close to another guy.
Jamie wasn’t one of those guys who would disappear after a cheating scandal. He would create a ruckus I wasn’t sure I would survive. Plus, I kind of wanted him around a little longer. It was so long since I’d been steady with anyone, and these five days, even without seeing him, had been bliss.
“It’s nothing,” Booker replied.
“Hah.” Zak snorted. “You’re talking about the bet the guys have about Booker and me giving in to the hots we have for each other so I could finally fuck him senseless?”
Booker shoved at the arm Zak had placed around his shoulder. “In your dreams, asshole. I’d be the one fucking you.”
“Then come on,” Zak replied, and even though I couldn’t see the other end of the table, from the way Booker stiffened, I could imagine where Zak’s hand was. “I’m not opposed to that.”
Booker grabbed Zak by the back of his head and pulled him so close I held my breath, thinking they were going to kiss. I wasn’t the only one taking notice. The last time I had checked, there were a couple of thousand dollars in the betting pool for them sleeping together.
“You’re playing with fire, Zakary,” Booker warned, releasing Zak and getting to his feet. “I’m going for a drive.”
“Want some company?” Zak hollered after him, but Booker’s response was flipping him the bird without even looking over his shoulder.
I chuckled at Zak’s frown. “You know you’re going at Booker all wrong. He’s not used to being pursued relentlessly.”
“I’m not pursuing him,” Zak replied, his cheeks red. “I just like to watch him squirm.”
“Yeah, whatever.” I pulled up my chair closer to his table. “Was there any trouble tonight? You’re later than usual.”
“Some,” Zak answered, then rushed to add, “Not the kind you’re thinking of. They had a flat, and seriously, man, you need to teach your boy to change a tire because I had to blow my cover.”
“He knows I had you tailing him?”
“I guess. I don’t know. I made up some bullshit about just passing by and noticing they needed help. I’m not sure he believed me.”
I groaned, prepared for Jamie to call me any minute now. “Of course he won’t believe you. He’s smart, Zak.”
“Well, can’t be that smart if a guy like him is hanging around us, can he?”
I rose to my feet and knocked him upside the head, hard enough to hurt but not to do any damage. “Thanks a lot. Now I gotta kiss his ass for him not to be pissed I had someone watching him all this time without telling him.”
Zak scrubbed at his head sullenly. “Jesus, man, he’s like half your size. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of…” He trailed off at the glare I leveled at him. “Okay, I’ll shut my trap now. Between Booker blowing me off and you being pissed at me, I need a drink.”
I didn’t wait for him to get his drink. I wasn’t pissed at him either. More concerned that Jamie would pitch a bitch fit about me tailing him, but what the hell other option did I have? He was valuable. Not only was he a doctor in training, but he was also affiliated to the club through me.
An outsider might not have known this right now, but I couldn’t hide him for long. Soon word would get around that I had someone important in my life. I had to be prepared for anything, and I would be damned if Jamie became a casualty in this game I’d found myself in.
I was halfway between the clubhouse and the great house, as Jamie and Joel had dubbed it, when my phone rang. Jamie. Shit. I contemplated letting it go unanswered. Then I scowled as I remembered Zak intimating that I was afraid of Jamie. That was ridiculous. I wasn’t afraid of him, but he could be so much, and right now, all I was thinking of was him being inside me again. I didn’t want to ruin that.
“Jamie, how—”
“You were having me followed?”
“For your safety,” I answered, letting myself into the house. I locked the front door, my hands moving more out of habit than concentration.
“You could have at least told me,” he said. “Imagine my surprise when Zak pulled up tonight to help us change a flat.”
“And wouldn’t you say that it’s a good thing, then, that I had him following you?” I came to a stop at the foot of the stairs. “Jamie, the day you wormed your way into my bed, you gave me certain privileges. One such privilege is to see to your welfare, whether you like it or not. Is that clear?” He didn’t answer, but I heard his breathing on the other end. “Answer me, Jamie. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Daddy Grimm,” he answered on a sigh. “You know when you boss me around, you only make me want you more?”
“I’m not bossing you around. I’m keeping you safe, which reminds me that
you and I need to go over the rules. I’m not going to assume that you know them. When’re your next two days off?”
“Not until next weekend. Dr. Collier’s been tough on me, and I’m determined to keep up with him. I’m just getting off a twenty-four-hour shift, so I’m pretty much going to curl up in bed and crash before my next shift starts.”
I tried not to feel disappointed that I’d go another day without seeing him, but his internship was demanding, and I understood that.
“I’m proud of how hard you’re working, Jamie,” I told him, meaning every single word.
“Ugh. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to drop.” He sighed. “But I won’t give Dr. Collier the satisfaction. I’ll earn his respect or die trying by the time my residency is up.”
I chuckled at the determination in his tone. “I’m sure if anyone can change his mind, you can. I’ll let you go to sleep.”
“Just sliding under the sheets,” he said, purring, and I imagined him hugging his pillow to his chest. “I wish you were here lying next to me.”
My heart lurched in my chest. “So do I, Jamie. So do I.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so busy at the hospital. I promise I’ll make it up to you the next time I see you.”
“I’ll hold you to that. Now close your eyes and go to sleep.”
“Will you tell me a bedtime story?”
I glanced around me like there were a dozen of eyes waiting to judge me. “You’re no longer thirteen, and even that was too old to read you a bedtime story.”
“The last time you read to me I was seventeen. Don’t you remember?”
How could I forget? He’d been staying with us that night because his dad had been out of town for some conference or another. That night when I’d come in thinking him asleep, he’d been curled up on the couch in the living room, crying with a letter clenched between his fingers.
“My mother doesn’t want me,” he’d said, showing me the letter.
Apparently, he’d been in touch with her, trying to get to know her. The bitch had written back to him that she had a new family and didn’t want him to disrupt the new life she had created for herself.
It had taken a lot out of me to soothe Jamie that night, eventually sitting beside him in bed and reading a bedtime story to him. He’d fallen asleep with his head in my lap, and I would never forget how young and vulnerable he’d looked.
It was the night I admitted that unless I got him out of town, he would somehow end up being mine, even though I’d turned him away so many times.
“I remember,” I said, sitting on the second to last step at the foot of the stairs. “What story do you want to hear? Snow White?” His favorite.
“Yes, please. No one tells the gay version quite like you.”
I laughed softly and started. “Once upon a time, there was a boy named Snow Wyatt…”
Chapter Fifteen
Jamie
One minute I was dreaming about thick muscles and a hairy chest, and the next I couldn’t breathe. My eyes flew open at the same time I railed up from the bed, grabbing the offensive thing that was blocking my nostrils. Panic gave an extra thud to my heart as I tried to scream, but the hand tightened over my mouth, leaving the sound muffled.
Whoever was in my bedroom, in my bed with me, was lying so I couldn’t see their face. Hot breath hit the side of my face. “Shh, it’s me.”
It took a while for Grimm’s voice to register, and then the tension rolled away, leaving me pliant. Only then did he remove his hand from my mouth, and I gasped in a deep breath.
“Were you trying to kill me?” I rasped, speaking low so my voice wouldn’t carry from the bedroom and wake up my father.
“Sorry. I didn’t want to startle you into alerting your father I was here,” he replied and kissed my cheek.
“How did you get in?” I turned on my side and stared at him in awe. Now that I wasn’t panicking that some ax murderer had found his way into my home, I was quite relieved to find Grimm in my bed. He was larger than the bed frame, and one glance revealed his feet hanging over the edge, but he still looked as though he belonged right there.
“Way too easily,” he answered on a scowl. “I can’t believe your father has such little security in his home. He’s supposed to be the chief of police.”
“Well, we’ve never had trouble before.” I yawned and cuddled closer to him.
“We’re going to have to work on that. I can’t have you staying here with such shitty security. I need to know you’re safe when I’m in bed.”
I shuffled even closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “You can solve that by having me in your bed all the time. That way when I get home from the hospital, I’ll still see you, even before I go to bed.”
He merely smiled at me. “You and the chief made up yet?”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “No, I’ve been giving him the silent treatment.”
Grimm groaned. “The silent treatment doesn’t get anything solved, Half-Way.”
“Doesn’t it? Because I think he’s finally realizing that he’s been interfering in my life way more than he should.”
“As a father—”
“I know, I know, you get him. Well, I don’t.”
He sighed and removed my hand from around his shoulder as he settled back into the bed with me. He pulled me forward until I rested against him, my leg thrown over his waist and my head pillowed by his shoulder. He felt better than any bed.
“We’ll talk about it more when you wake up. Go back to sleep.”
“I will if you tell me what you’re doing sneaking into my bedroom. You missed me, didn’t you?”
“If I admit it, will you go back to bed?”
“Hell yeah. Better yet, I’ll go into hibernation if you propose.”
Grimm buried his nose into my hair, stifling his laugh, but I felt his chest shaking. “Goddamn, boy, why does being around you have this effect on me?”
“What effect?” I so wanted to hear how this emotionally closed-off man felt about me.
He didn’t speak at first, using his free hand to trace the outline of my face. When he finally spoke, his voice was low. “You make me want to stay alive, to survive this life for us.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he placed a finger against my lips. “Go to sleep, Jamie. I’ll be here when you wake up. I already locked the door from the inside.”
I nodded, and Grimm kissed my forehead, his lips lingering. I sighed, closing my eyes and wrapping my arm around him. I wasn’t used to sleeping in bed with anyone, but I fell asleep quickly, lulled into blissful nothingness by Grimm’s presence.
“Jamie!”
My eyes flew open for the second time since I’d gone to bed. Beneath me, Grimm stirred, having fallen asleep as well. I stretched and smiled, pleased to find him in my bed. It’s not a dream. Grimm’s actually here.
“Jamie, will you let me in?”
“Shit!” I sat up in bed, clutching the sheet to my chest as I glanced around in panic. “Grimm, you’ve got to hide.”
He groaned. “I’m too old for this.”
“Too bad you didn’t think about that when you snuck into my bed,” I whispered, hopping out of bed and pointing at my closet. It was big enough to hold him. When I was in high school, Dad had caved in and had someone adjust it to a walk-in closet. “Quick, get in the closet.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “Really? How cliché?”
“Well, you don’t fit under the bed!”
Thud. Thud. The knocking on the door grew more insistent. “Jamie, is everything okay in there?”
“Uh, just give me a minute, Dad,” I replied as Grimm headed for my closet. “You caught me at a bad time.”
“You know I’ve seen you naked before, right?”
“When I was like nine,” I called back, worried, even though Grimm was reluctantly locked away in my closet. I hurried over to the door and unlocked it, then stood directly in the way to block his entrance to the room.<
br />
Dad was already dressed for work. He frowned as he peered over the top of my head into my bedroom. I glanced behind me nervously. “What are you looking for?”
He shrugged. “To see if you have Grimm in your bed and that’s why you took so long to open the door.”
At a loss for words, I could only mutter a sound that came out as a groan. Did he actually know Grimm was here?
“Look, I know you’d never have him here when I’m not home,” he stated. “At least I hope not. Jamie, the past few days have been hell, and I can’t apologize for taking you to the airport. I did my best to get you to use your common sense and see how wrong Grimm is for you. Look at you! You’re young, attractive, and smart. Do you know how many men would love a shot with you? Men who can offer you a life outside of motorcycle gangs, drugs, and a rap sheet a mile long.”
I clung to the door. “Dad, we’ve had this conversation many times, and it’s not doing anything to change my mind. The heart dictates what it wants, not me.”
Dad crossed his arms over his chest, staring at me, eyes full of worry. “I don’t know how else to put this than to say I don’t want you to be hurt. You’re the only one I’ve got in my life, Jamie. We don’t always see eye to eye, but I love you, son, and I want the best for you.”
Shit. When he got all sappy on me, which was a rarity, how could I keep up my pissed-off exterior? Then he left me feeling guilty that I had him so worried. It was like a tug-of-war. Tugged one way by my love for him and to make him happy. Tugged the other way by my heart being completely owned by Grimm—something that would never change.
“I love you too, Dad,” I said but didn’t address the rest. I didn’t see a reason to confirm what we both already knew anyway. I was lost in Grimm and his world, and I had no desire to be found.
“Just so you know, kiddo, I may not be able to save you.”
“That’s the thing, Dad. I don’t need to be saved.”
“Well, let’s hope you’re right. I’m off to the police station.”
He walked back to the stairs. I closed the door and sighed with relief. “The coast is clear.”
Biker Daddy (The Grimm Tales of Smoky Vale Book 1) Page 12