“What have we got in here?” I peek into the bag he brought with him on my way to the kitchen.
“You said you were craving M&M’s, so I stopped by every grocery store in a five-mile radius and cleared the shelves. Don’t want ya havin’ an M&M emergency in the middle of the night and driving yourself to get some,” he explains, glancing over at Vike to watch his reaction.
“That’s sweet of you, but I can’t eat all these; I’ll be the size of a house,” I laugh, trying to break the tension. Both of these men are important to me, and I want them in my little girl's life.
“Nonsense, if M&M’s are what my niece wants, it’s M&M’s she’ll get. It don’t matter how big you get, all it means is you're growing her big and strong.” He grabs my hip and drags me toward him so he can stroke my belly again, and Vike gets up from the couch. Heading straight for the door, he picks up his keys and slams the door loudly as he exits.
“What's gotten into Grumpy?” Greaser laughs while I debate whether I should go after him.
“Today would have been Saul’s birthday,” I explain as I serve him up a plate. It’s best I leave Vike to cool down. Greaser may piss him off, but I can’t deny Greaser the chance to be part of this journey. My little girl is all he and his mother have left of Griller.
“Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Greaser stands up, placing himself behind me and resting both his hands on my hips. He kisses the top of my head as he gently rocks my body with his. “Today must have been tough on you.” Slowly, those hands move up to massage my shoulders; they’re brutish and a little too firm, but I withstand them, knowing that he’s only trying to comfort me.
“It’s tough on everyone. I took Rory to the park, told him all about what his daddy was like when he was a little boy.” I smile to myself, remembering how intrigued he was as he listened.
“And that's exactly what I’m gonna do for her.” His hands go softer when he lowers them to rest each side of my bump. “I got plenty of Griller stories to tell her. And...” When he spins mearound, he’s got a huge smile on his face. “Raze signed a lease on that old garage I went to look at. The club is gonna restore it, and I’m gonna run the place.”
“Greaser, that's amazing.” I’m so excited for him.
“I want to support you, Alicia. I want you to quit that part-time job you got so you can focus on being a mom.”
“I can’t expect you to do that.” I’m shocked and a little overwhelmed by his generosity.
“You're not expecting it, Alicia. This is my way of ensuring my niece gets the best. It’s what Griller would have wanted.” Slowly, his head starts leaning closer to mine, and I quickly slide out of the way, picking up the plate from the counter and carrying it to the table.
“You should eat.” I smile at him awkwardly, noticing the disappointment on his face, as he strokes his hand over his mouth and shakes his head.
“You’re pretty when you blush,” he tells me, brushing past me on his way to the table, taking his seat, and getting stuck into his meatloaf.
“Whoa, who the fuck pissed you off?” I spin around and see Ruckus standing in the middle of the gym floor, wearing just his sweatpants and holding his gun.
“Who d’ya think?” Turning back around, I land another heavy blow of my fist into the punching bag.
“I thought someone had broken in,” Ruck explains, disarming his gun and taking a seat on the weight bench that's beside me.
“I know the door code, and couldn’t think of anywhere else to go,” I explain, imagining Greaser's face in front of me as I lay another combo.
“So, what did he do, now?” Ruck rolls his eyes, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
“I was just about to talk to her, ready to open up and tell her how I feel. Thenheshows up, lets himself in, and brings her every available packet of M&M’s in fuckin’ Long Beach!” I slam my fist into the bag and almost shake it off the hook.
“All this over M&M’s?” Ruck laughs like he ain’t got a care in the fuckin’ world. I guess he doesn’t, when the girl he loves is upstairs in their apartment, sleeping by his side every night and worshipping the ground he walks on.
“It ain’t about the M&M’s, Ruck, it’s everything. Whenever I turn my head, he’s there. I have no idea what she’s been craving because she hardly speaks to me anymore. Tonight, it felt like we’d got back to being us again, thenboom,he shows his ugly face and ruins it all.
“Freya tells me she’s asked you to be her birthing partner,” Ruck points out, ignoring everything I just said.
“Yeah,” I confirm, dropping my fists and letting the bag swing.
“Don’t you think that tells you everything? She wants you there for one of the toughest, most intimate, and important experiences of her life.You, Vike…not him.”
“Yeah, but?—”
“There ain’t abutabout it. The girl wants you,” he interrupts me.
“Now stop wasting your time here, go home and tell her that she’s got ya.” He shakes his head as he gets up and heads towards the stairs that lead to his apartment. Lifting my t-shirt and cut up from the floor where I threw ’em, I take his advice and head back to my bike.
There's no sign of Greaser’s bike when I pull up on the drive, which I’m thankful for; resisting the urge to punch him gets harder each time I see him. Opening the door, I find Alicia lying asleep on the couch, a bag of M&M’s resting between her belly and her tits, and his dirty fuckin’ fingerprints all over the tight white top she’s wearing. Carefully, I creep inside, silently placing my keys in the bowl and closing the door behind me.
