Page 16 of Griz's Edge

“Is it the woman from the diner?” Surge asks.

“What woman?” Lucky asks, cocking a brow. “Didn’t know you were seeing anyone?”

“Her name is Marley,” I mutter.

“Marley Keys?’ Markus asks, brows drawing together.

“Yeah, why? You know her?”

I watch him closely, tension slowly growing inside me.

“She’s the one who served you the papers. She’s a process server for the courthouse.”

“I know. She freelances, and she also does skip traces. Keys looked into her for me,” I tell him and glance over to Blow, then Nines. “I wasn’t going to do anything stupid without knowing anything about her first.

“She must’ve made an impression on ya, Griz,” Blow states more in question than in statement, but it was a loud statement all the same.

“You could say that.”

Marley did more than make an impression. She seared that impression in my head in a way there’s no getting her out.

“You think it’s a good idea to get mixed up with her?” Markus asks cautiously.

“You know something I don’t?” I ask in return.

“Don’t really know her. Seen her around the courthouse when I’m there. One of the deputies has been hitting on her. Trying to get her to go on a date with him, but she’s been politely rebuffing him. She’s a pretty thing. Clerks there like her. She’s also Mag Ryan’s granddaughter.”

Now, that was something I hadn’t known. Mag Ryan is the owner of the farm just down the road from the clubhouse. Her land buts up against the woods that sit between the clubhouse and Mag’s farm.

“You talking about little Marley Keys?” Sniper asks, coming to join the group.

“Yeah, why, you know her?” Nines asks.

“Ain’t seen that girl since she was a little girl. Her momma and daddy are from the area,” Sniper explains, taking a seatacross from me at the round table we’re all surrounding. “Why y’all talking about Marley Keys?”

“Griz’s is seein’ her,” Surge answers with a chuckle.

Sniper slowly brings his gaze to me with a questioning look. “You seein’ Marley Keys?”

“When the hell did I have to start reporting who I fuck?” I was starting to get pissed. “Yeah, I fucked up once.” I jerk up out of my seat and glare at them all. “I know I fucked up bringing this bullshit with Hattie to the club. I carry that fuck up with me. I own it.”

“Brother, no one’s blaming you for that shit,” Blow states getting to his feet.

Sniper also gets to his feet. “I only asked if you were seeing Marley because I knew her dad, Michael Keys.”

Letting out a harsh breath, I retake my seat. “Why the fuck does that matter?”

“It doesn’t, but you should know her daddy, last I heard, was a Seal.” Sniper keeps his gaze locked solely on me. “Remember him, and he’d been a damn good man. Took his woman away from here right after he finished his training. Rain visits Mag Ryan’s at least once a month. According to Rain, her daughter wanted her to move closer to her, but she refused to leave the land she’s lived all her life on.”

We all know the woman. She’s not scared to speak her mind or tell you what to do. Her husband died some years back, and she’s been alone since. Her farm butts against the back of the land that our clubhouse sits on. On the other side of her land sits the farmhouse we own.

“That woman would shoot anyone who dared take her away from that land.” Blow snorts, shaking his head.

The tension was still surrounding me, but the more they talk, the more it eases. The fact I blew up so easily shows just howmuch I’m still sitting on the edge where that shit is concerned. Because of Hattie, I could’ve lost everything that mattered to me.

Maybe I should cool things down and back off of Marley. She’s too much of a damn temptation. I can’t afford to fuck things up with the club. I’m the damn Road Captain of this club, and I know, just like every other member of this club knows, the club comes first. Always.

CHAPTER SEVEN

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