She doesn’t like being shut down, if the door slamming behind her is any indication. She’ll get over it, and I’m sure she’s not going to have a problem finding someone else’s dick to sit on. Hell, last night, I watched her take on two guys and I wasn’t the only one watching. Not really my dick’s type. I like them easy, but not her kind of easy. I’ve had enough of girls like her to last a lifetime.
Rushing, I jump in the shower washing all the paint residue off my body. Once I’m dressed, I head out, going back to the front. One of the guys sees me and leads me outside to the side yard where they have tables set up.
“Come sit over here by me, Gunner!” Marcus yells.
As soon as I sit down, one of his club girls puts a plate in front of me.
“You don’t have to feed me, Marcus. I’m just grateful you’re letting me use the garage and the shower.”
“Bullshit. You’re here, you eat. Besides, how would it look if I didn’t feed one of Gabriel’s men.”
“I doubt he’d care.”
“Why would you say that? Of course, he cares. He already called me to thank me personally for helping you out.”
I’m surprised, but I don’t acknowledge what Marcus said. Instead, I fill my mouth with food. I can feel Marcus’s eyes on me though.
“You worked under Lee, didn’t you?” he asks, digging. Now it makes sense. Is Gabriel trying to find out more about me?
“Why ask? I’m sure you already know.”
“I’m just wondering why you’re so shocked that Gabriel or any of the family wouldn’t be concerned how I’m treating you.”
“Who said I was shocked?”
“I do,” he says confidently with a hint of arrogance. My eyes lift towards him slowly, seeing his smile. Marcus pushes my look away and reaches for the loaf of hot French bread.
“Did Lee not care?”
I almost choke on my chuckle. “Lee didn’t care about shit.”
He didn’t, either. Lee was…fuck he was nice enough to bail me out of a spot by giving me a roof over my head, but that was it. He couldn’t care less what I did or how. The only thing Lee cared about was how I was going to repay him. The older I got, the more he demanded. Then the fucker grew lazy. Lee finally realized I picked up on everything quickly and before long, I was handling everything outside of reporting to Catherine.
“I heard you lived with him, in his home,” Marcus says, fishing, to get more out of me. It’s in the file, so no reason to hide it.
“I guess. If that’s what you call it.”
“What do you mean?”
Looking across from me and down the table, I notice no one else paying attention, so I give Marcus the same story I’m sure he already knows. Only because he’ll need to report something to Gabriel.
“I never stayed at Lee’s house. He never did either really. His bar had an addition built on. It was his apartment. Most of the time he was too drunk to make it home. I had the storage room.”
“Storage room?”
Here we fucking go. My fork drops and I glare at Marcus. “Yeah, a storage room. How much more information is it going to cost me to eat my dinner in peace? You want to know how big it was? How about how hard it was to sleep when the bar was packed? Or how much it cost me to eat three square meals a day?”
That last part slipped out. I catch myself and shut up, continuing to glare at Marcus. He doesn’t take the aggression in my tone easily. A man like Marcus doesn’t put up with attitude, period. He stares back at me while stretching back in his chair, figuring out how to handle me.
Finally, he says, “Eat, Gunner, while it’s hot. No man goes to bed hungry under my watch nor under the Sterns.”
Griffin runs up to the table, having finished his food and asks Marcus, “Can I help Gunner with his car tomorrow? I don’t have any school.”
Marcus laughs at him and wraps an arm around his neck, pulling the kid into a headlock. “Gunner doesn’t want any help.”
It’s true, I refused when Marcus told me one or two of the guys could help me. Although Griffin won’t be looking to get something out of me, like the rest.
“He can help.”
“Really?” Griffin pulls away from Marcus jumping with excitement.
“Yeah. Why not? You can be my assistant.”
“Cool! I gotta tell the boys.”
He runs off and Marcus focuses back on me. “You don’t have to do that.”
Shrugging, I tell him, “It’ll give the kid something to do.”
The table starts to thin out as everyone moves on to drinking around a bonfire. The rest lingering, Marcus juts out his jaw signaling for them to go. The table clears as the rest abandon their spots quickly.
“You have things to take care of in the morning?” he asks me.
“No, I’ll be here first thing in the morning.”
He nods his head and says, “I don’t know your history, Gunner and I get the picture you want to keep it that way. I’ll respect it because a lot of my crew are the same. We all have demons, or we wouldn’t be here.” He pauses tilting his beer bottle then says, “But we need to be able to trust each other. You understand?”
Swallowing the last of my beer, I tell him, “It’s what I’ve been told.”
“Can I trust you around my crew? Can I trust you around my grandson?”
I’m about to answer him, but he stops me with his fist, hitting the table hard. “You look straight at me when you answer something like that, boy.”
My eyes meet his head on. “You can trust me.” He tries to read my expression, so I add, “At least with your grandson.”
He chuckles and slams his hand back on the table. “I like you, Gunner. My grandson is the only thing that matters. He is this crew.” He stands up, telling me, “Sleep in the room you showered in. There’s no reason for you to have to get a ride to only come back in the morning.”
Standing, I reach for another beer off to the side in an ice chest. “You sure?”
“I’m sure or I wouldn’t have said so.”
Opening the bottle, I put it to my lips and Marcus says, “The Stern’s won’t take you at your word. They will demand proof of your trust for you to be placed higher up in the family. Watch yourself, boy.”
He slaps me on my shoulder. “I kind of hope you decide to give the fuck up on them. You’d fit in here with my mutts much better.”
Marcus walks away as I take a seat on top of the table and watch over his people. They’re a crazy bunch but much like the Sterns, they’re a family. He’s wrong though, I don’t think I’ll fit in here or with the Sterns.
9
Gabriel
My phone rings, waking me. I glance over to Fallon sleeping peacefully before answering.
“What did you find out?”
“Not much, Brother,” Marcus tells me and goes on to explain that Gunner went to bed about a half an hour ago.
“Not much, Marcus, is not nothing.”
Marcus exhales sighing loudly. “He is definitely tight lipped. The only shit he gave me is the stuff we already knew, except…”