Babe I'm Gonna Leave You // Led Zeppelin

Grinder

What the fuck?

This little blonde bombshell has me in her grip like a vice. My neck is yanked down a foot and her lips are attacking mine.

Totally fucking unexpected.

But then my brain shuts off as my body takes over. Rather than thinking 'what the fuck', my body is saying 'fuck yeah.' Without thinking, my arms wrap around her tiny body and pull her close. I angle my head just enough to really connect my lips to hers. She's eager, pretty much clawing at my back. My tongue finds its way into her mouth for some exploration, which the little bombshell seems to appreciate by the moan vibrating against me.

And that's when I taste tequila.

Right. She's drunk. Of course she is. Why else would a suburban soccer mom like her come to my place to pop her virgin ink cherry. Alcohol.

Damn it she's probably married, and her meat head husband will come looking for me. Won't like what he finds, that's for sure.

I step back and give the lady a hard glare. "You can pay up with Butch." I don't bother with much else before heading down the hallway to my office. I don't even get one foot inside the doorway before Butch is calling me over to the front desk.

"You want me to have her come in for a spot check since she's a first timer?"

I stomp my boots all the way there. Don't know why I keep this clown around. He's been a Reaper since Duke took over, so I feel like I owe the guy some loyalty. Plus, he lets me try new tattoo techniques without giving me shit for how they come out, but damn does he give me a headache daily.

"That's protocol, so yes." I answer Butch without giving the lady and her posse a glance. I'm sure they're having a good laugh already. I feel myself heating up with the thought. "Just read that paper I gave you and come back in a week to check the healing."

That's all I've got. I can't stand out here any longer.

"Okay, thank you." The lady squeaks the words and I cringe. She sounds equally embarrassed and I wonder if its due to how I've reacted. I don't have the energy to give her any kind of reassurance that I'm fine because I'm fucking not.

I don't lose my head like that, with anyone. Last time I even came close almost cost me my best friend. I want nothing to do with that bullshit ever again. Women have a way of twisting things around, turning a guy inside out and leaving them withering in their wake. No fucking thanks. A night to mess around is fine, but not with some woman whose husband will come looking for me afterward.

I make it five steps into my office this time. The bell on the door chimes as the ladies leave and not half a second later, I hear Butch bitching.

"Who boy, that was some kiss! Grinder, ya' still got it, man. That was a show for damn sure!"

I groan, rub my hand over my face and slam my office door. Exactly what I don't need, gossip girl crawling up my ass over this. He's gonna give me hell for the next month. If I'm lucky something will happen to take his focus off of the groping that just occurred in my tattoo parlor.

Then the phone rings. At almost midnight, this phone should not be ringing. I wonder if the lady's husband is already smoking me out. With GPS installed on phones and in cars now-a-days it isn't outside the realm of possibilities. Other Reapers have been known to wreck homes and get caught, but I'm not one of them. The only home I ever tried to wreck was the one I called my own. I learned real quick what a deal with the devil that would have been and locked it up before it got anywhere.

I answer the phone thinking the devil on the other end can't be as bad as whatever I've already battled. But I would be dead wrong. As the saying goes, speak of the devil and the devil appears.

"Grinder? That you?"

I know the voice immediately. Almost intimately. Fuck. Fuck me. I debate hanging up. But I know this lady is crazy as the day is long, so I grit my teeth and speak.

"Maria. What the hell are you doing on the other end of my phone?" My ass slides into my chair while my free hand comes up to grip the hair on top of my head. I don't want to do this. I don't want to talk to her or find out what kind of crazy shit she's gotten herself into now.

"It's Brax."

My breathing stutters for a second because that is literally the only person she could be calling about that I would have any interest in hearing.

"Talk."

"He's in the hospital and I want you to go see him."

"What happened?" I keep my voice steady but I'm sick to my stomach to hear something is wrong with the closest person to a son I've ever had. I haven't seen or heard from him in twelve years, but I feel it as strongly as I did the day they left.

"He crashed his motorcycle, so I've been told."

"Well, is he okay?" I stand up to start pacing.

"I guess so. No one has called to say any different."

"Maria, what the hell? Haven't you been to see him?"

"No. Of course not. I don't go to hospitals, you know that. And there are other problems. But I don't want to say them over the phone. You know the government listens."

Oh my god, this again. She's been a paranoid woman since the day we met, wondering if I was going to rob her restaurant. At the time I thought she was joking around, but that's something she would never do. Maria followed every conspiracy theory known to man. Guess that hasn't changed.

I grind my teeth, knowing that I'm about to sell my soul just to find out if the kid is okay. I'd sell it in a heartbeat, but only for Brax. Even if he's ghosted me for over a decade.

"When and where," I say through my teeth, still grinding the tension into my jaw.

"Tomorrow morning. Taco joint."

I shake my head. "You want me to show my face in the neighborhood after all these years, you're crazier than I thought. No fucking way. I'm staying out of your territory. Pick somewhere else or I'll make you come here."

I clench my fist. I don't want Maria coming here any more than I want to go to her place, but at least my life wouldn't be in danger in my own shop.

"Still such a sucker, huh Grinder? You never did like confrontation. Fine, fine. Mission Avenue, that little shop on the corner. It's right by the little preschool, remember? No homies with guns on that street so you should be fine."

The sarcasm in her voice brings back too many memories to count. I don't want to count them let alone allow them to filter into my consciousness.

"You haven't changed either, Maria. Fine. See you tomorrow at ten. I'll wait fifteen minutes. If you don't show, forget it." I'm bluffing and if she knows me at all she knows it. I'll wait because it's about Brax. She knows that too.

"Good. The boys will still be sleeping so no one will ask me where I'm going."

That's how she says goodbye because the line clicks off as soon as she finishes speaking.

I tried not to hate her. For sixteen years I tried to give her space to be who she is. The woman had it rough before she jumped on Duke's bike and took up with us. I find it hard to believe she came from a crazier family than the one that took her on the road, but she did. Hence the reason I have no desire to show up in their territory, me, the last second of what had been the most feared club on the road. The Bitter Reapers were absolute hell on wheels for near ten years. But around the time Brax turned six, Duke and Maria were finally ready to settle down. I was finally able to open my shop. Growing roots in one spot was what I had needed for too long. I had hoped it would calm the Reapers, and it did. For everyone except Duke and Maria. The Duke I grew up with, the guy who went by Beau and wanted to build things, to fix things, to be part of a family--he never came back.

And now their son is injured. Though I have no idea how badly. It isn't in me to stay out of it if he's hurting. So I bite the proverbial bullet and plan my day around the most fucked up meeting I could be having with the craziest woman I ever loved.

***

"You're late," Maria says. The scowl on her face is exactly how I picture her when her name flashes in my mind. I think it might be a permanent feature.

"Nah. I'm right on time. You're early. Still too paranoid for a watch?" I scoff. She thought some kind of poison from the metal in the watch would give her cancer, so she refused to wear one. "Don't you have a phone that tells time?"

"No cell phones. None of that bullshit." Maria waves me off as if I should know better. And I should when it comes to her.

I take a seat at the little sidewalk table where she's sitting with her take out cup of coffee. Her black hair is piled up on her head in a messy twist and her eye makeup looks a bit raccoonish, making me wonder what she got up to last night after she hung up on me. The first time I ever laid eyes on Maria, she was young, already hardened from life in the neighborhood, but she was sparking with an energy that grabbed me. I wanted to find out more. I wanted to get real close. Then Duke showed up and she only had eyes for him.

If I had seen the true crazy from that day it might have saved me from years of longing and heartache. But I always knew what a fool I was, and hanging on to hope where this woman is concerned was the most foolish thing I've done in this god forsaken life.

"Tell me about Brax." He's the reason I'm here and the only topic I'm interested in now.

Maria leans back in the chair, looking more defeated than I've ever seen her. "He gave up. Too much loss for the boy and he's never been one to pull himself up."

"Bullshit. He's tough, always has been. Give him a little credit. Now tell me what happened."

Maria glares at me. The way she's treated Brax is the only subject I allowed myself to battle her over. Looks like nothing's changed there either.

"He got in with the Kings, betraying his own kin. Then he betrayed them too. You can't play with fire like that without getting burned. He got burned bad, and now he's done for."

"The Kings? Why in hell would he consort with them?"

Maria waves her hand in my face to shut me up. "No matter. It's over now. He might as well be dead so its better that he doesn't come back home. He needs to stay gone and you need to make that happen." She reaches into her oversized purse and pulls out a brown paper bag.

"Don't trust the menu here?"

"No, stupid." She plunks the thing down in front of me. "Give this to Brax. He can't be followed with that one. No GPS." She smirks.

I reach into the bag and pull out a cheap cell phone with zero data. "Okay." I draw out the word. "What am I supposed to tell him?" As crazy as I know Maria is, I'm starting to believe that staying as far from her as Brax can will be in his own best interest. I've always thought that, but if the Kings are on his trail, it will not end well.

"Tell him the Kings have a hit on him. And so do the Menace."

My gaze snaps up to hers. "What? Your brothers' gang is after their own nephew?"

Maria narrows her gaze, glaring at me. "It's for his own good, Grinder. Never you mind what the Menace has going down. Just keep him gone. You got me?"

I nod. What else is there to say. I learned so many years ago that you can't reason with crazy. I did my best, in that wise old uncle kind of way, to bring that lesson to Brax. I hope it wasn't too subtle. I hope he learned that there are some people who will never be right in the mind no matter how you argue them to clarity. Clarity will never come.

Maria doesn't say another word as she stands and dumps her coffee cup in the trash. She gives me a little nod and turns to leave. The only acknowledgement I've ever received from her after everything I did for her son, everything I'm about to do, is a half nod and silence. I must have been crazy to put my life on hold for her and the son that I wished was mine.

Like I said, you can't reason with crazy. Even your own.

Hooo boy! You got a double shot, Grinder and Julia plus Grinder and Maria. Maria is a hot mess and there is nothing anyone can do about it. I can't tell you how much crazier she is than even I realized! Writing her answered so many questions from inevitable and why she did the things she did. And Grinder... dang I had no idea. I honestly love this guy!

Thanks so much for jumping on this story! I hope I can do Grinder and Julia justice. Remember that this is a novella so there will be somewhere between 10 and 15 chapters. But there will be music! This one is Grinder and Maria...he had to leave his emotions for her behind, especially once he realized how nuts she is.

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