“How are you?” he asked, taking the chair that stood next to the bed.
I reached for his hand and grasped it. “I’m fine. I promise you, I’m fine.”
He squeezed my hand and leaned forward, burying his face into my neck. “You’re not fine. I almost lost you.” A shuddering breath rippled through him, and wetness coated the side of my face.
I wrapped my free hand not hooked up to the IV around his shoulder and clung to him. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I fought back, Grimm. I fought back just as you taught me to.”
He raised his head, making no attempt to hide his tears. I loved him more in that moment than I ever did before. I’d never seen Grimm cry before. He was not that kind of man. Allowing himself to unravel before me was one of the greatest signs of how much this man and I shared. How much trust existed between us.
He removed my arm from his neck and caught my hand, bringing it up to his face. The stubble of his beard pricked at my skin. That was the touch I would have missed if I’d died. To never be able to feel him against my skin again. I gripped his hand, savoring the contact. We stayed still; words were too vain for the moment. Seconds ticked by, followed by minutes. Grimm struggled with his emotions, evident by the way he planted a kiss on the back of my hand, the shadows in his eyes.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he admitted eventually. “In that moment, Jamie, I felt my entire world crashing down and realized you’ve been a part of my life for so long. I don’t know how to live without you, but how can I live with myself every day I put you in harm’s way?”
“No, you don’t understand.”
He shook his head. “I understand too well. Your father was right, Jamie. I don’t deserve to bring you into my fucked-up world.”
“No!” I dug my nails into the palm of his hand. “My father was wrong, Grimm. He was wrong. That man didn’t attack me because of you. He attacked me because of my dad.”
Grimm’s brows furrowed into a frown. “What?”
“Yes,” I replied and even managed a dry laugh. “Can you believe it? All this time we thought these attempts were about you, but they weren’t. My father pissed off some people who wanted to see me dead because of it. That’s what the man said as he tried to drown me—that maybe now my father will stop pursuing their case.”
Grimm released my hand and ran his over his face, then into his hair, and laced his fingers at the back of his head as he stared at me. “This was all because of Mason?”
“Yes, I’m thinking it’s to do with some case he’s working on. I don’t know the full details, though, because he didn’t say.”
“And you’re sure he wasn’t referring to me?”
“Positive, Daddy Grimm. This has nothing to do with you at all.”
He released his fingers, his hands forming fists. “It has everything to do with me now, Jamie. If they think they are going to threaten you and I do nothing about it, they have another think coming. When I’m finished with the Di Oros, anyone who dares to look your way after this will remember them as an example.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the vehemence in Grimm’s tone. Nothing I said would be able to dissuade him from his mission. I knew better than to try to talk him out of it, which I didn’t even want. Whoever these Di Oros were deserved everything and more that was coming to them. It made no sense to plead their case.
This was the Reapers’ way. They paid you back for every deed carried out against one of their own. They made their mark, and they made an example out of you. They reminded everyone that as peaceably as they mostly lived, they were not to be fucked with. They reminded everyone of that when it was necessary.
“Try not to get caught?”
That made him smile at least. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “I’ll try my best.” He sat back, his expression serious once more. “The police are going to be here any minute now to question you about what happened.”
“You want me to lie to them?”
“No, I don’t want you caught up in what’s about to go down. More than likely, Di Oro will be brought in for questioning before he’s either detained or released. If he’s detained, it won’t be long before his lawyer gets him out on bail. We’re going to follow that bastard and make him pay.”
A knock sounded at the door, then cracked open. I’d expected to see the police officers Grimm had mentioned, but it was only Zak who poked his head in.
“Hey,” Zak said with a smile. “We were wondering if the mushy stuff was over and we could barge in now.”
Grimm shook his head. “Fine, but the doc said we can’t stay too long.”
“Hear that, guys?” Zak announced, poking his head back outside the door. “Grimm says we can see him now.”
“Not everyone!” Grimm said, but it was already too late.
One by one, all the patched members I’d met at the clubhouse filed into the room, their sheer size taking up all the space. Even Clem was there, though he stayed at the back. Cass carried a handful of “get well” balloons, and a scowling Mort stood beside him with a huge teddy bear clutched to his chest.
One person was notably missing. My dad. I refused to let it get me down, though, and I smiled, welcoming the family I might not have been born into but that had accepted me as one of their own.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Grimm
“Good news,” Dr. Collier announced, smiling at Jamie. “You’ve checked out okay. Tomorrow morning after making my rounds, I’ll sign your release form, so you’ll be able to sleep in your own bed.”
Jamie groaned. He had been hoping he would have been released the evening after he had been attacked. I was just grateful that he got to come home breathing at all. What was one more day of waiting when he was alive? A little banged up and sore, but he was going to be okay.
“Why not release me tonight?” he asked the doctor. “I know how to monitor and take care of myself.”
“You aren’t necessarily known for your best judgment when it comes to yourself,” Dr. Collier remarked. “Tomorrow you can go home. Now, if you both excuse me, I have some other patients to see.”
Jamie grumbled something under his breath, but I was too busy watching the doctor to catch it. Jamie had described him as impossible to work with; he had been nothing but kind to us since Jamie was admitted. Whatever had worked to change his mind about us, I hoped would also allow him to change his mind about Jamie’s internship.
“Where are you going?” Jamie asked when I rose to my feet.
“I just remembered I need to talk to the doctor about something,” I told him. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right back.”
“Grimm, don’t threaten the doctor,” Jamie called after me as I strode toward the door.
“I won’t,” I lied, slipping through the door and checking the corridor to see which direction the doctor went. I caught sight of him ahead, looking at his phone. “Hey, Doc, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Dr. Collier glanced up from his phone and slid the device into the pocket of his tailored pants. “Mr. Buckley, what can I do for you?”
“Grimm,” I told him. “My friends call me Grimm.”
There. I was trying to be nice first. I didn’t want to intimidate the man, especially after the help he’d offered Jamie and me, but I had promised my boy I would give him back his internship, and I intended to keep my word.
“I’m not sure if we’re exactly friends,” he stated, holding the medical chart to his chest. “How about I call you Graeme? That’s your given name, right?”
I grimaced. “I’d rather you not.”
“We might have to agree to disagree on that one, then.”
I cocked my head to one side and observed the doctor. He was tougher than he looked. At first glance, he seemed like one of those uptight intellectuals who thought their fancy degree made them better than everyone else.
His eyes gave him away, though. There was pain behind them. Unlike the many staff members who had shied away from me or
any of my other brothers who popped by to check on Jamie, he looked me straight in the eye and maintained his ground.
He wasn’t afraid of me. I couldn’t decide if I would be better off offended or impressed. I was a little bit of both.
“There’s something important I want to talk to you about,” I told him. “Is there somewhere private where we can talk?”
His eyebrows raised as he assessed me. “Am I going to end up in a body bag?”
I choked on a surprised spurt of laughter. Humor. The untouchable doctor had a sense of humor after all.
“My boy likes you,” I replied. “I wouldn’t harm a hair on your head, or I’d never hear the end of it from him. He looks up to you, sees you as a mentor, and that’s why I need to talk to you.”
“I guess I can spare a few minutes.” He double-checked his watch. “We can go to my office.”
I had no idea doctors had offices, but apparently this one did. I followed him, pretending I didn’t see the curious glances thrown our direction. If he noticed, he didn’t comment on it. I was uneasy in this setting and couldn’t wait to have Jamie back home in my comfort zone.
The doctor’s office turned out to be a cubbyhole with a desk full of files. The desk made me smile as it showed the doctor might not always be as impeccable as he wanted everyone to think.
“You can have a seat.”
After assessing the chair he’d indicated, I decided it would be less hazardous to keep standing. How on earth would he take me seriously if I was sprawled on my ass on the floor? The flimsy chair didn’t seem capable of supporting my weight.
“I want to talk about Jamie’s internship,” I said, getting straight to the point.
“I figured it would be something like that,” he responded. “What specifically do you want to discuss?”
“That he can continue his internship.”
He took up a pen and clicked the top of it several times. “Let me guess. You’re here to threaten me until I agree to grant him back his internship?”
“It should never have been taken from him in the first place,” I stated. “He’s worked damn hard, and I don’t think you or anyone else here can overlook that.”
“What we can’t overlook, Mr. Buckley, is that he fell asleep during his shift, forgetting to administer a patient’s medication. That could have been a matter of life and death.”
“But you know that’s not the norm for him,” I shot back. “He had a personal crisis going on. He’s a medical intern and will make mistakes. That’s why you’re here—to help minimize them. You are going to get him back on staff.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. It’s out of my control right now. The matter has already been brought before the board.”
“Then get them to change their minds.”
“They have the evidence. I doubt they will change their minds.”
I stepped forward and leaned into him, invading his space, even across the desk. “You listen to me, Doc. I met a little boy, a sad, lonely, little boy who came into my life when he was shy of twelve. He became best friends with my son. Now as far back as I can remember, this little boy always said he wanted to become a doctor. That boy was the top of his class, got an internship at Mass Gen but chose here instead. He’s staying on staff, and that’s not a request.”
“I can’t—”
“Not a word I understand, Dr. Collier.” I refused to accept anything other than a positive word for him where Jamie’s internship was concerned. “You will make this happen.”
He sighed, leaning back in his chair. “The board will make a formal decision in a couple of days. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Not good enough, Doc.”
His face turned red, and his mouth pursed into a point of disapproval. “You know, I was beginning to think better of you.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think about me, Doc. What’s important to me is making sure that man in there gets to finish his internship and follow his dreams. You know damn well that he’s a fine doctor in the making. Why deprive him of that and the patients who can use his care? Aren’t you already short-staffed as it is?”
There, I hadn’t just approached him with empty threats. I showed him the practicality of keeping on Jamie as well. Yesterday he’d been visited by patients who’d heard he was at the hospital—patients he had cared for. That they’d left their sick bed to check up on him said a lot about the impact he had on the place.
He nodded. “I should get back to work.”
Taking that as my cue to go, I took the pen he had in his hand and tore a piece of paper from the pink sticky notepad on his desk. I scribbled my cell phone number on it and placed the pen back onto the desk. “Here’s my number. You can call to tell me the good news after you’ve convinced the board. Also, feel free to use it if you need anything I can help you with. I owe you one for taking care of Jamie while he’s here.”
Later that evening, I left Jamie asleep and paid his father an overdue visit. I wasn’t pissed that he was the true reason behind the attempts on Jamie’s life. I wasn’t even pissed that he hated me being with his son. What made me so fucking angry was him not returning my calls about Jamie being in the hospital and not once visiting his son. Jamie hadn’t asked for him, but I knew him all too well, and he hurt.
I had eyes all over the city, ensuring everything was going according to my plans. The Di Oro brothers had both been brought in for questioning with one brother being detained and the other released. I liked them believing we were letting the law handle their crimes. They hadn’t been in the city long enough to know that the Grimm Reapers had its own court of judge, jury, and executioner.
With an innocent bystander dead, Jamie in the hospital, and Booker having been shot, there was no fucking way the brothers would escape this with a prison sentence. That was being kind to them, and the Reapers weren’t kind to their enemies. We rained down on their fucking heads until nothing was left but their ashes.
A call to Zak, who had been put on Dehaney’s tail, confirmed that the chief was, in fact, home. It took me ten minutes to arrive. I ignored the politeness of the doorbell and sent my fist crashing into the door, letting out some of the frustration on the object. It prevented me from punching Dehaney square in the face when he opened the door.
“You son of a bitch!” I spat at him.
“You of all people know how accurate that is,” he replied, stepping aside. “I’m assuming you’ll want to do this inside rather than outside where there might be witnesses.”
“You didn’t get my fucking calls?” I asked, entering the house and slamming the door behind me. I was temporarily stumped when Uncle Ben appeared.
“Mason, what’s he doing here?” the police officer asked.
“You were just leaving,” Dehaney told him.
Uncle Ben’s face turned red. It was clear he had a lot he wanted to say to Dehaney, and I wondered what I had interrupted. Zak hadn’t informed me that Dehaney wasn’t alone. Not that it would have made a bit of a difference.
“We weren’t done talking,” Uncle Ben returned, squaring his shoulders. “You can’t keep finding excuses not to discuss this, Mace.”
“You’re wrong. We are done,” Dehaney retorted. “I have more important matters to deal with.”
“Mace, it’s not your fault what happened to Jamie, and don’t let him tell you otherwise. You were just doing your job and—”
“Benjamin!” Dehaney snapped. “Leave, now.”
Uncle Ben stiffened, face hardening, then shuffled toward the door. He paused in front of Dehaney and spat, “Fuck you, Mason. You never appreciated a single thing I did for you, so fuck you. I’m done. We’re done, so the next time you’re looking for just a fuck, maybe you should try Grindr.”
He stalked out of the house and slammed the door shut so hard it rattled, vibrating for several seconds. I rounded on Dehaney, but he looked so fucking defeated that he stole my thunder.
“I need a drink.”
/> I followed him to the kitchen and watched him. What was going through his mind? I’d had every intention of ripping into him when I got here, but the slump of his shoulders reminded me that some things were better left in the past. He’d made his choice believing it was for the best. We all had.
“Your son’s in the hospital, and you’re fucking drinking?”
“When you’re the reason he’s there, doesn’t it seem appropriate?”
“You cut that shit out, Mason.” I grabbed the bottle of whiskey he had taken down and moved over to the sink and upended the contents. “Is this what your job has turned you into? A fucking drunk? I thought you left the old life behind so you could do better than the rest of us.”
He placed both hands on the table in front of him and grunted. “This was the right thing to do,” he said, but I didn’t get the idea he was speaking to me. “It was the right thing to do. I’m a cop. He’s supposed to be safe.”
“The world is not a safe place,” I replied, finally understanding what was going through his mind. “We’ve both been trying too hard to protect him.”
“But instead of protecting him, I put him in danger. All the shit I gave you about being the biggest threat to him and never once thinking how my own investigations could harm him.”
Fuck him. I wanted to still be pissed at him for all the hell he’d put us through, but old feelings died hard, and ours clearly hadn’t died, even though we’d tried to bury them. I placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
“He doesn’t blame you for what happened.”
“How can he not?”
“Because his heart is unbelievably pure,” I replied. “We both know he won’t hold grudges. He’s too good for us, too good for this world, but we both love him all the same, and he loves us in return.”
Dehaney shook his head. “I can’t face him. I just can’t.”
“It would mean the world to him if you do. He’s being discharged tomorrow, and how about you go with me to get him?”
Biker Daddy (The Grimm Tales of Smoky Vale Book 1) Page 28