Biker Daddy (The Grimm Tales of Smoky Vale Book 1)

by Gianni Holmes

  Grimm!

  My heart leaped with joy, but I didn’t give myself the time to bask in the relief of knowing Grimm was here. I did my part by launching myself at Di Oro despite the shackle on my foot, but Slim grabbed me by the hair, producing a fresh screech from me. A loud explosion blasted around us, and the windows erupted, raining a shower of shredded glass onto the floor.

  Slim yanked me off Di Oro. “Not so fast!”

  “Let me go!” I screamed at him, jamming my elbow into his rib cage. He stumbled backward, and I inhaled deeply as dotted lights swam before my eyes. I wasn’t healed enough from almost drowning, and Slim slapping me around earlier hadn’t helped either.

  “Jamie!” Grimm bellowed my name; thundering footsteps followed.

  “Grimm!” I yelled back, running toward the sound. The chain yanked me back violently, dumping me onto the hard ground. I grunted as Slim pulled me roughly to my feet.

  A group of bikers rushed inside, and I blinked at the number of them. There were some unfamiliar ones, but at the front of them all stood Grimm and my dad. Tears pricked my eyes as I drank in the sight of them both coming together to rescue me. They didn’t even get along, but they had put their differences aside to come for me.

  I started to cry, tears blurring my vision. “Dad!”

  “Jamie, it’s going to be okay, son.”

  “Let him go, Slim!” Grimm demanded, raising his gun. “There’s no way you’re going to get out of here alive, but let him go and I’ll make it quick.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Di Oro snapped, rising to his feet and removing his gun from his waist. He cocked it, aiming for me. “He’s our ticket out of here. Hand him over, and we have no chance of leaving this place alive.”

  “You really think we’re going to let you walk out of here alive?” Grimm asked on a shallow laugh. “You piece of shit, you signed away your rights to live when you touched what’s mine!” His voice thundered, sending a shiver down my spine. “I don’t make deals when it comes to my family. You will fucking die today, Di Oro.”

  “Then I’ll just have to take him with me, won’t I?” Di Oro said.

  I glimpsed the guy who had threatened Grimm and me in the supermarket and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what he was doing here. I thought he was Grimm’s enemy.

  Booker pushed his way through the bikers, who were poised in a semicircle, ready to attack. He held his knife to the throat of a man who bore a striking resemblance to the Di Oro who had attacked me.

  “Hand him over now,” Booker stated, nudging his knife into the man’s throat.

  “Do it!” the brother urged from lips caked with blood.

  “Shut up!” Di Oro shouted at him. “This is your damn fault. I told you the authorities were sniffing around and that we should cut our losses and get the hell out of here, but you had to go take a shot at the chief’s son.”

  “I’m giving you two seconds to let him go before my man here cuts his head off,” Grimm announced. “Why the fuck did you think you could enter a man’s turf and try to claim it as yours?”

  “Can I start counting now?” Booker asked Grimm.

  I’d never seen him like this before, hungry for blood. I realized they all were, and the scent of violence that permeated the air made my legs weak. I tried to get a glimpse of Fable but from the angle at which Slim held me, I couldn’t make him out.

  “You have my blessing,” Grimm responded, never once taking his eyes off me.

  “One,” Booker started.

  “Wait!” Di Oro shouted at Booker in an attempt to save his brother’s life. “We’ll do a trade.”

  “Two.” Booker’s knife sliced through the man’s neck from ear to ear. He made it look so effortless, not even a flicker of doubt or hesitation crossing his face.

  Di Oro struggled against him, eyes wide with panic as Booker sawed through flesh, cartilage, and bone. I sucked in a deep breath, then gasped in fright at the sight of the dying man, the blood spurting from his throat, coating Booker’s hand.

  Booker released him, his eyes trained on the surviving Di Oro, who watched his brother die. I couldn’t take my eyes off the man on the ground, gurgling his own blood, hands clutching his neck in a futile attempt to stem the flow of blood.

  “Biiiig mis-take,” he gasped, a red stream flowing from his mouth. His body twitched once more, then went still.

  “Fuck you!” Di Oro cried out, staring at his brother’s body. “Fuck you! You’re all fucking dead!”

  “Slim, put the gun down,” Clem said, stepping forward from the throng of bikers. “I told you not to do this.”

  “You brought them here,” Slim shouted at him, his body shaking with tremors. “You acted like you gave a fuck about me, and you brought them here so you could watch my execution?”

  The gun shifted from me as he shot Clem in the chest. Clem’s mouth fell open. He gazed down at the red that coated his shirt, the wet spot getting bigger.

  Another gun went off, several bullets rippling into Slim’s body at the same time, pushing him back.

  A chilling scream that sounded strangely like mine rented the air, but I never felt my lips open. Slim released me, dragged down by the weight of death, slumping to the ground at almost the same time as Clem did.

  “I’m not going to be the only one to lose today!” Di Oro shouted.

  “Jamie, move!” Grimm shouted at me as Di Oro turned his attention to me.

  Rooted to the spot, I couldn’t carry out his instructions. My brain had ceased to function. A blur of movement caught my eye, but it was too fast for me to process what was happening. Something solid hit into me at the same time a barrage of bullets rained. I gasped, going down with whatever had knocked me off my feet.

  “Jamie!” Grimm yelled again, his voice laced with terror.

  My heart hammered into my chest. I blinked and found myself staring into eyes so like my own.

  “Dad?”

  He gasped, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. A tear slipped from the corner of his eye, followed by another and another.

  “Jamie, I’m so sorry.” His lips trembled, and he grunted in pain.

  “Dad?” I gasped, stunned. “Oh my God, Dad.”

  “Jamie.” He coughed, his blood hitting my chin. “I’m so sorry. I was so wrong to try and stop you from loving him.”

  “Jamie.” Grimm dropped to his knees beside us. “Are you hit?”

  I shook my head. “No, but Dad. I think he’s been shot. Is it over? We need to get him to the hospital.”

  Grimm reached for my father and eased his body off me. My father screeched in pain as I scrambled to my knees to check him out.

  “Grimm, where is he hit?”

  “Jamie, I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  “No, Grimm, let me see.”

  Dad placed his hand on my wrist. “Jamie, don’t. It’s too late.”

  “No, it’s not too late,” I said on a gasp. “I-I can save you. D-dad, I’ve trained for this. I can-I can save you.”

  “I’m so proud of you.” Dad grimaced. “If I made you think otherwise, I’m sorry. I wish there was more time—”

  “Dad, please. I need you. I need you.”

  He smiled at me, his lips trembling. “You need him more than you need me,” he said, his eyes on Grimm. “He’s always been the better man in your life.”

  “He needs us both,” Grimm said roughly, his eyes also filled with tears. “You can’t leave us like this. Come on, fight dammit!”

  Dad’s body went still, a soft gasping breath leaving him, and then nothing. His eyes bore into mine, but he couldn’t see me. He couldn’t see me.

  “No, no, no, Dad!”

  “Jamie.” Grimm’s arms came around me, but I batted at him, oblivious to the shouts and everything else that had erupted around me.

  “We have to stop the flow of blood,” I said, rolling Dad over onto his front so I could find the bullet hole. I gasped, shrinking back at the damage. Not one. Bullet hol
es riddled his back. The floor was already pooled with his blood. There was so much of it I didn’t even know where to begin.

  “Jamie.” Grimm’s arms wrapped around me again, pulling me away. “It’s all right. He’s gone. He’s gone.”

  “No!” I pounded on his arms with my fists. “Let me go, Grimm! I can save him! I can save him!”

  He gripped my face between his hands. “Jamie! Half-Way! You listen to me. He’s gone. I’m so sorry, but he’s gone.”

  Someone removed the restraint from my foot. That same someone patted my shoulder. I glanced up wide-eyed from shock and found Booker looking on in sympathy. I returned my attention to my father’s body, completely lifeless. And I never told him I loved him. That I was wrong for not trying harder to mend the rift between us.

  “Do you want me to take care of him?” Booker asked, pointing with his thumb to the man sitting on the floor, clutching his shoulder.

  Di Oro. He’d taken my father away from me. He was the bad guy and should be the one dead, not my Dad. Him.

  “I’ll handle it,” Grimm said, rising to his feet, pulling me along with him. I clung to his side, dazed, vaguely hearing his words. “The police will be here soon. We have to clear out, take the bodies of our men. Everything else stays. Di Oro is coming with us.”

  “You’re so fucking dead,” Di Oro spat, but his voice trembled.

  “Why is he still fucking talking?” Grimm snarled. Gunner walked up to the man and, with two hits in the head with his gun, knocked him out cold.

  “Problem solved,” he muttered. “Though I don’t know why we’re keeping him alive still.”

  “Because someone needs to pay for all that happened today,” Grimm replied. “And that someone needs more than just a bullet between the eyes. Now, let’s go.”

  “Wait!”

  Grimm turned toward Booker’s voice. Grief-stricken, I could only stare at Booker, who poked Fable with his foot. The boy had curled up on the floor, his hands wrapped tightly around himself.

  “What are we going to do about this one?” the enforcer asked, cocking his gun. “He’s seen everything and is now a liability. We have no choice but to get rid of him.”

  I clutched Grimm’s shirt in earnest, shaking my head. “Please, no. He can’t kill him. He’s the mayor’s son, and he helped me.”

  “That makes it even worse,” Booker replied, gun pointed at Fable. “He’s not exactly a fan of ours.” He jerked Fable to his feet, and the boy shook so hard that if Booker hadn’t held him by the arm, he would have collapsed onto the ground.

  “Please, Daddy Grimm,” I implored Grimm, seeing the conflict behind his eyes. He agreed with Booker that Fable was better off dead than alive. “You can’t kill him.” I couldn’t let him after everything Fable had told me. “He doesn’t deserve to die after all he’s been through.” I might not have been able to save my father, or maybe because of it, I was adamant that I would not fail Fable.

  “Grimm?” Booker asked, ignoring me.

  “We’ll take him with us for now,” Grimm answered, frowning down at me. “We’ll decide what to do after. Let’s go!”

  Grimm started to move off, but I resisted. “What about Dad? We can’t leave him here like this.” Looking at his body all bloody and beaten hurt so badly. There was no way I could leave him behind.

  “Jamie.” Grimm took hold of my shoulders. “We can’t take him with us. We would have to explain why we have his body, and we can’t dispose of him like we will the rest. It will be too obvious that something is wrong when he shows up missing. People will ask questions. It’s better this way.”

  “No, Grimm, please. I can’t leave him like this!”

  “Hey, Grimm, we got to go now!” Gunner called, he and his men falling back. “My contact in the SVPD just called. The police have been notified, and we have less than ten minutes to clear out.”

  I shook my head, pushing away from Grimm. “Then go if you have to, but I can’t leave him behind.”

  “Dammit, Jamie, I can’t leave you. They’ll force you to talk.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Then they’ll lock you up for obstructing justice. Your father died so you could live, and I’ll be damned if I let you spend your life in prison.”

  Grimm’s arm swept me off my feet. I gasped for breath as I landed over his hard shoulder, driving the air out of my lungs.

  “I’m sorry, Jamie, but I can’t leave you here.”

  Grimm moved swiftly, and from my view, I saw my father’s body lying lifeless on the ground. Everything was in slow motion as I watched the distance widening between us. To never be able to see him again.

  “No!” I shouted, hitting Grimm’s back with my fists. “Please, no! Grimm, please let me stay with him! Let me stay with him! I can’t leave him.”

  He ignored my cries, his long strides tearing us apart. It was the first time since meeting Graeme Buckley that I hated him.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Grimm

  “Two of our men are dead, Grimm,” Zak spat, slamming his cup onto the table. “I should have been there instead of babysitting. This place is locked up tighter than the White House, and your son would have been okay alone. Maybe then Jamie’s father would still be alive. Our men wouldn’t be dead.”

  I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. Since getting back to the compound, everyone was glum, but only Zak said what was on his mind. While I appreciated his hindsight, it wouldn’t do me much good right now, and I was a minute away from telling him to shut up and make himself useful.

  “Zak.” Booker placed a hand on his lover’s—ex-lover’s?—arm. “Go find out if Jamie needs anything.”

  “Fine, but the next time you’re going somewhere dangerous, I’m coming. I’m done doing babysitting duty.”

  “Zak! Shut up and go!” Booker growled at him.

  The biker rose to his feet, mumbling beneath his breath as he stalked out of the mess hall. I dropped my eyes to the mug of beer I still hadn’t touched. “Thanks.”

  “Not necessary. I know how frustrating he can be, even though he means well. How are you holding up?”

  I traced the rim of the mug with my index finger. “We’ve lost two of our brothers, another is fighting for his life as we speak, and Jamie has not said a word to me since we got here. How do you think I’m holding up, Booker?”

  “Yeah, stupid question.”

  Silence stretched between us until I got tired of it. “How’s he doing?”

  Jamie hadn’t wanted me in the room while he took care of Whip, and he’d thrown out Noose, who had gotten in the way. Booker and Zak were the only two people he’d allowed in the room to assist him. He hadn’t even wanted Joel close to him, but he’d finally capitulated when Joel wouldn’t let his best friend shut him out.

  “Tired but won’t admit it,” Booker replied, removing a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lighting up. He took a long drag and released the smoke, then handed me one, but I shook my head. I didn’t need nicotine to calm me down. We’d lost a lot tonight, but knowing what decision was ahead of me kept me focused.

  “I couldn’t let him stay with the body, Booker.”

  “You did what you had to do. He’ll come around.”

  “I-I don’t know, man. You didn’t see the look of contempt in his eyes when we finally arrived here.”

  “No way. Jamie could never hate you. The kid’s been in love with you forever. Just give him some time, and he’ll come around.”

  I shrugged, hoping he was right. “And what about our visitor? How is he settling in?”

  “He hasn’t spoken a word since I locked him inside my room. He’s terrified, probably thinks he’s going to die.”

  “Still think I should kill him?”

  It was his turn to shrug. “It would be the best thing to do. If we let that kid go, Grimm, he will bring us all down, and I’m not prepared for that to happen.”

  “But we can’t keep him here forever.”

  I sc
rubbed my face with my palm, my mind crowded by all the thoughts and everything that needed my attention. We had two men to take care of. One would be scattered here on the compound, and the other’s ashes brought to his family. Nothing would ever be able to replace their loved one, but we took care of the family members left behind by any fallen Reaper.

  That was the Reapers’ way.

  Jamie walked right by the mess hall, his head held straight, even though he knew where I was sitting. Right behind him, Joel passed by as well, then glanced left.

  “I’ll be right there, Jamie,” Joel called after his back, but Jamie didn’t even respond. My son approached me, his face tired and worried. His eyes were puffy and red like he had been crying.

  “How’s Whip?” I asked him.

  “Stable,” he replied, then reached for my mug. “You’re not going to drink that, are you?” Before I could answer, he lifted the mug to his lips and drank it all, then placed it back on the table. “I’m sorry, but I needed that.”

  “And how’s Jamie?” I pushed. “Did he say anything about what happened?”

  Joel shook his head. “We share everything, Dad. Everything, and he won’t even tell me what happened. I don’t know what to do.”

  “He’s grieving,” I answered, my heart heavy. “And I forced him to abandon his father’s body along with the cold-hearted men who murdered him. He probably blames me for everything.”

  “I think he blames himself,” Joel replied on a sigh. “I’m going to try and talk to him again.”

  “Fine. I’ll be there in a bit.”

  I watched Joel go, relieved that he had come despite my warnings to stay away. If Jamie didn’t want to talk to me, maybe he would confide in my son. As much as it hurt that he didn’t want anything to do with me at this time, I needed to know he had someone he could rely on, and Joel loved him. Maybe not in the way Jamie would ever love him back.

  That had been another reason I hadn’t wanted to be involved with Jamie. He was my son’s first boy crush, and I had no idea if that had waned over the years. At times I thought Joel was over it, but times like now, I felt guilty for coming between a possible romance that could have grown.