Give Me Grace(176)

Jesus.

I tossed my keys in, grabbed a beer from Fox’s six-pack, and disappeared before she decided my balls had to go in the damned bowl too.

Fox walked with me into the living area, beers in hand. I don’t know why I brought him. He’d been the paramedic on Casey’s car accident, but he hadn’t been real impressed when I told him it was our MC who was behind it.

“You were the fuckhead who rammed their car?” he’d asked, looking at me with a pissed expression.

“No, it wasn’t me.” He’d relaxed, until I added, “It was Cowboy.”

“Cowboy? What the fuck?”

I had to explain then because Cowboy was a peaceful brother and not much into violence, or ramming cars for that matter. “He wasn’t supposed to ram the fuckin’ car. He was supposed to warn Casey off from buttin’ into our business and got some dickwad to do it for him. The dickwad didn’t realise Grace was driving and it turned into a giant shit sandwich.”

Fox might’ve been pissed, but he’d had my back swiping the pint of blood I needed to stage Grace’s hit. He’d nicked it from the clinic the morning of her check-up. Casey hadn’t appreciated it when I explained the details. And he really hadn’t liked hearing how I broke into this very loft either and swiped his gun while they were at some party. What could I say? I was fuckin’ good with locks and alarm systems.

“Would you just relax, mate?” Fox bitched beside me. “You’re makin’ me itchy.”

“Fuck off then,” I replied because I was itchy. I didn’t want to be here.

A space cleared on the couch so I sat down and finished my beer while the party went on around me. I was about to stand up and look for Grace when some little dude slid on to the couch beside me. I didn’t think he meant to sit so close, so I shifted a little to the right. He shifted with me. I looked at him and realised he was looking at me. The guy had dark girly shit smudged under his eyes and his lips looked suspiciously glossy.

“You a pansy?”

His eyes widened. And this was why I never liked uptight parties. You couldn’t say shit without someone getting offended. Then the little guy surprised me by shrugging. “Yeah, I’m a pansy. Of the badass variety,” he added.

“You’re a badass pansy?”

“That’s right.” He held out a hand. I shifted my beer from my right hand to my left and shook it. “My name’s Tim. I’m Casey’s personal assistant. We’re tight.”

My brows winged up.

“Not that tight,” he added hastily. “Unfortunately,” I thought I heard him mumble. “And you’re his brother Kelly.”

I let go of his hand. “I am,” I confirmed and downed the rest of my beer.

“I can tell because you look a lot like him.” Tim ran fingers through his tousled dark hair while he gave me a speculative look. “You ride a Harley?”

“I do,” I told him.

“Damn,” he muttered. “Hearing there were two of you gave my dick a stroke. But knowing you ride with some thousand pound vibrating machine between your legs, well that’s …” he trailed off, staring unfocused into the distance.

I eyed him warily. “You okay?”

Tim jolted and looked at me. “Never better. Can I get you another drink?”

My eyes fell to his glass of purple liquid with fruit in it and I winced. “Yeah, no.” I started edging off the couch. “Thanks. I’m just gonna go get a beer.” His face fell and for some reason I felt bad. “I’ll be back later, yeah? Just gotta go find Grace.”

“Oh.” He smiled at me but it was a sad kinda smile. “Maybe try her room? I don’t think she’s feeling the best tonight.”

I grabbed another beer from the kitchen and turned, bumping into a huge blond guy. “Shit.” I held up the bottle before it tipped liquid everywhere. The guy turned and I got a look at his face. Double shit, I thought. I gave him a chin lift. “Travis.”

He nodded once, his green eyes flat. “Kelly. Thought you’d be a no-show.”

“Yeah? I guess you thought wrong.”

“Quinn,” he said to the sweet looking female he had hauled to his side. She was tiny, the top of her head only reaching his shoulder. She stared up at me with wide, chocolate-coloured eyes. “This is Kelly, Casey’s brother.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Quinn politely held out her hand and I took it, my huge palm swallowing her tiny one as I clasped my fingers around it. “Casey’s told me a lot about you.”

“He has?” I asked with surprise as I let her hand go. I guess Casey was a lot more open about shit than I was.