Nasty Bastard (Grim Bastards MC Book 4) (2 page)

“I know.” He nods, swallowing the last of his beer. “But being a Bastard doesn’t stop when you walk out the clubhouse door. You’re gonna take that shit home with you, every fucking night. You gotta make sure that the woman you choose to stand by your side wants to live the life with you.”

I still have no damn idea what the hell he is talking about. Gidget, like me, was born into the life. Her dad, Stone, is an officer and one of my dad’s best friends. She knows the life and loves it just as much as I do.

“Gidget understands. She loves the Grim Bastards,” I reply, wondering where the hell he is going with this.

“I know she does, but she’s only seventeen, Layton.” He sets his empty bottle down and motions for a prospect to bring him another. “What she wants now and what she wants ten years from now could be completely fucking different.”

I shake my head, refusing to listen to him. “All Gidget’s ever wanted was to be an old lady, just like her mom.”

Dad shakes his head. “That’s not true. She wants to go to college. That’s all she’s talked about since she started high school. You can’t take that away from her.”

“Yeah, she does, and it’s gonna happen. She’s gonna go to community college in Nashville, and then she plans on working at the hospital in town. She can do that and be an old lady at the same time.”

Dad looks over my shoulder and says, “How’s she gonna feel when the people she works with look down their noses at her, or when her own patients don’t want her touching them because she’s part of a biker club.”

I would like to deny his words, say that shit would never happen, but I can’t. I’ve lived in this town my whole life; everyone knows that my dad is the Grim Bastards’ VP. More than once, I’ve been treated differently because of it. More often than not, people show me respect, but there have been times I’ve been looked at as if I was nothing more than a piece of trash. It hurts, but I got used to it as time passed.

My eyes lock on his as I say, “She’s dealt with it before.”

He nods his head “Yes, she has. Don’t you think she deserves a chance to see what all’s out there, see how the other side lives, before she decides to spend the rest of her life on the back of your bike.”

Suddenly, what he’s really talking about becomes clear in my mind. “Gidget’s nothing like Mom.”

Even though they might not get along that great, Mom loves Dad. She also loves the club. Just like Gidget and I, she was born into it. Her dad, my grandfather, was one of the founding members. Still, I’ve heard her and Dad fighting about the club a hell of a lot over the years. She claims that he cares more about the club than he does her. Once, she even said she wished he would just give up his cut. Mom didn’t mean it, though. No fucking way would she ask him to do something like that. Would she?

“Not right now,” he says, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Twenty years from now, she might be.”

A prospect sets Dad’s beer down and another in front of me. I look at my dad, silently asking for permission. As soon as he nods, I pop the top and bring it to my lips to take a drink. We both sit quietly as we finish them. Dad’s words replay over and over in my head, and I can’t help but worry. I love my mom, love her with all my fucking heart, but I don’t want an old lady that doesn’t love the club as much as me.

“Just think about what I’ve said,” Dad tells me, as he stands up from the table. “Don’t plan out the rest of your life before you’ve even had a chance to start living.”

“I’ll think about it, Dad.” I nod my head in agreement, knowing he is wrong about my girl.

There is no way she would ever want anything but the life we have planned. Gidget loves me just as much as I love her. That is never gonna change. Nothing is ever gonna come between us, no fucking way.

Gidget
Seventeen Years Old

Layton slides in deep, moaning into my ear, before sinking his teeth into my neck. The mixture of pain and pleasure let me know I’ll be wearing his mark for all to see, but I don’t care. I love having his mark on my body. My nails dig into Layton’s shoulder as another wave of pleasure rushes through me.

When his teeth finally leave my neck, he kisses a path up to my ear and whispers, “I love you, baby.”

I wrap my arms around his body, trying to hold him as close to me as possible. “I love you, too, Layton.”

“Are you okay?” he asks, as he pushes himself up on his forearms and looks down at me with his dark chocolate eyes. “It didn’t hurt you too bad, did it?”

I shake my head and smile at him but don’t reply. Right now, I’m not sure how to answer him. We just had sex for the first time. Yes, it hurt like hell, but it was also the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced. I don’t regret giving him my virginity, not at all. It was meant to be his. I’m surprised we’ve waited as long as we have, but he’s been very patient, waiting until I was ready.

“Good, I didn’t want to hurt you.” Layton leans up and gives me a kiss on the tip of my nose before rolling off me. “Gotta go take care of the condom.”

He climbs from the bed and walks to the bathroom, not at all shy about the fact he is completely naked. My eyes stay locked on him until he shuts the door. Then, I look around the room. This is the first time I’ve been in his room at the clubhouse. He only got it a few weeks ago, when he finally got his prospect cut.

Most prospects don’t get a room at the clubhouse, but Layton is different. He’s a legacy; his dad and grandpa both are Grim Bastards. Like me, Layton grew up at the clubhouse. As a girl, I have always known there wasn’t a place for me in the club, but Layton was born knowing he would one day wear a Grim Bastards cut.

My eyes move over the room, the bare walls and old furniture, before landing on his beat up dresser. A smile crosses my lips when I see a picture of us at prom sitting on top of it. I wore a baby blue princess dress and had all my hair piled on top of my head. I looked almost identical to every other girl there, but Smoke still had the look of a biker.

He wore black slacks and a black button up with no tie or jacket, just a simple leather vest. His dark brown hair fell in waves to his shoulders, one side shoved behind his ear. He looked absolutely gorgeous. I want him wearing the same thing, only a Grim Bastards cut, on the day we get married.

The sound of water running draws my attention back to the bathroom door. A second later, it stops and the door opens. Layton walks out, staring straight at me. A smile is covering his face as he walks back to the bed, carrying a wash cloth in his hand.

“I’m gonna get you cleaned up,” he says, sitting down on the bed.

His hand goes to my leg, pulling it to the side just enough to run the washcloth over my most sensitive spot. Shyness overwhelms me, and my legs instinctively lock together. He shakes his head at me and pulls them apart again to finish the job. When he’s done, he tosses the washcloth toward the bathroom and lies down beside me.

“I can’t believe you’re still so damn shy.” He laughs, pulling me to his side and wrapping his arms around me again.

I lay my head on his chest and listen to the steady beat of his heart. “I can’t help it. It’s something ingrained in all girls.”

He lets out another laugh but doesn’t reply, so I say what’s on my mind. “Mom asked me if we’ve set a date yet. I think she wants to start dress shopping.”

“I told you, I’m good with the week after graduation,” he says, running a hand up and down my back. “I don’t see any reason to wait.”

Layton asked me to marry him when I was a junior and he was a senior. Of course, I said yes, but he wouldn’t let me tell anyone until he was able to give me a ring. Layton surprised me with one a few weeks ago, so we finally made it official. I knew he would be my husband the first time he stole a kiss. Granted, we were only eight and nine at the time, but I just knew he would be mine someday.

“You graduate in three weeks, Gidget. I figure you’re gonna need a little time to make plans and shit,” Layton says, as he pulls me over him, draping my body over his.

“We have plenty of time to set a date. I still have to decide about college and everything. There’s no reason to rush.” Lifting my head, I place my chin on his chest and say, “As for making plans, I’ve had my wedding planned out in my head since I was eight years old. It’s gonna be beautiful.”

As if he didn’t hear the last thing I said, he focuses on the first. “What the hell do you mean, decide about college? You’ve always said you were gonna go to community college in Nashville. You said one school was the same as any other as far as you were concerned, and you could get your RN license from just about anywhere.”

I turn my head and lie back on his chest. I was hoping this conversation would come at a later time, not right after we had sex for the first time, but I guess the time is now. I just have to figure out a way to tell him, without making him angry.

“Aunt Tracia came down last week,” I start, trying to pick my words carefully. “She wanted to talk to me about college.”

His arms tighten around me. “Did she decide not to pay for it?”

My mom’s sister Tracia is cool as hell, my favorite aunt by far, but she is a bit stuck up at times. She went to the University of Kentucky to become an English professor. It was her dream, but she never finished her degree. Instead, she met my Uncle Greg during her third year at college and got married, when she was twenty-one. My mom, on the other hand, stayed in Trenton and married my dad.

Tracia and Greg live in Lexington, where he owns a horse breeding farm that has supplied one Derby winner and three Belmont champions. So, while my mom lives in a rundown shack, Aunt Tracia lives in a house that most people would call a mansion. Where Mom has to work two jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, Tracia spends her days by the pool and going shopping for the perfect dress with her snooty friends. Still, they are as close as two sisters can be.

Because of their relationship, Aunt Tracia has offered to pay for my brother and me to go to college. Crank never even considered college. Like Layton, he was born to be a brother, but I’ve always known that I wanted more out of life than working for minimum wage. By middle school, I knew I wanted to be a nurse.

From the beginning, Aunt Tracia made it clear there were rules to follow if I wanted her to pay for my college tution. None of them seemed that hard: keep a B average, no trouble with the law, and treat my mother with the respect she deserves. All of that I could handle with ease, but after she found out Layton and I were planning on getting married soon, she added a new stipulation that I just can’t follow.

“Not exactly,” I reply, digging my teeth into my bottom lip. “She just isn’t willing to pay for community college.”

Layton’s body goes taut beside me, his dark eyes locking onto mine. “What the fuck does that mean? Is she gonna pay for your school or what?”

Looking away from him, I tell him the whole story. “She wants me going to a University, not some community college. If I don’t do what she wants, she isn’t going to pay a penny toward my tution.”

“Okay, that’s not the end of the world,” he says, sounding a bit calmer. “You can apply to Vandy. If you don’t get in, try Austin Peay. It’s only an hour away, so the commute wouldn’t be so bad.”

Looking back at him, I reach up and push a deep brown lock out of his eyes. “I’ll never get into Vandy; the selection process is brutal. Even if it wasn’t, there will be no space for me. It’s too late in the year to apply. Austin Peay is an option, but Aunt Tracia is really pushing for the University of Kentucky. She went there, and Uncle Greg sits on the alumni board, so they could get me in even though it’s so late.”

There’s no damn way I’m telling him the full truth. If he finds out that Aunt Tracia said UK or nothing, he’ll blow. I can’t even blame him. Since I was just a little girl, she has been pushing and pushing for me to go to college. Now, at the last minute, she is putting restrictions that she knows I can’t meet. Either she doesn’t want to pay for my college, or she’s doing her best to get me away from Layton. I hate to even think it, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the money she’s worried about.

“I know you want to go to college. Marrying me ain’t gonna stop you from being a nurse. You can still go to community college, and we’ll figure out a way to pay for it.” His arms tighten even more as he closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. “There’s student aid and shit. You can apply for that, and what it doesn’t pay for, I’ll find a way to cover.”

Tears start to prickle my eyes, so I bury my head against his chest. “It’s too late. The deadline has already passed for most scholarships and grants. The only thing available now is loans. I don’t want to start our marriage out owing a ton of money.”

“Do you want to go to the University of Kentucky?” he asks, placing a kiss on the top of my head. “I mean, if we weren’t getting married, would you go?”

I think about it for a split second, then answer him honestly. “It’s a really great school, so I’d be a fool to say no. But we are getting married, so what I would’ve done doesn’t matter at this point.”

We both stay quiet for a few minutes, me held securely in his arms. All of our options run through my head. I could always go to work and save the money, but it will take forever for me to save up enough to pay for even one semester. Still, that seems like the only choice I have right now.

“Molly’s been asking me to hire on full time,” I say, thinking of my mom’s boss. “I could save up the money.”

She owns the local restaurant, The Dairy Dip. It’s just a burger joint, but the locals love it. I’ve worked a few shifts for my mom from time to time. The pay is shitty, but the tips are okay. If I went full time there, I might could save up enough to take a few classes each semester.

“Don’t worry about it, Layton. We’ll figure something out.” I place a soft kiss against his bare chest. “I’ll get my degree. It’ll just take a little longer. Until then, I can work for Molly and save up.”

Layton doesn’t respond for the longest time, and when he does, he rips my world apart. “That shit’s not happening.”

With those words, he pushes me away from him and climbs from the bed. As quickly as possible, he pulls on his jeans and grabs his shirt. No shoes, no cut, he stomps to the door and slings it open, then turns back to look at me.