Grunt Read online

  "Trudy. I don't feel so good. Help me."

  "Who are you?" I asked the large man.

  "Don't play around, help me up. I need to get in the shower."

  "What's your name?"

  "You know my name, goofball. We’ve been together how long now?" His words were slurred as if he was sleepy, or maybe drunk. "Grayson Mitchell Parker, and you're Trudy Michelle Parker. Even our names fit."

  "I'm not Trudy, big guy, but you do need some help. Let me get my phone and I'll call for an ambulance."

  The man's eyes shot open and he turned his head to look my way.

  "Baby, you can't call them. They'll report me to the police. Get Bird to call Doc. He can give me a shot or something. Make me better. My leg hurts something fierce."

  "So, you are Bird's friend?” I leaned down closer and touched the edge of the bandage on his arm. His skin was hot to the touch, and I knew he needed medical attention. "Do you know Summer?"

  "Summer's his girl. She's a doll. Let me live here while I thought about you. I've been trying to figure out what you want me to do, Trudy. How am I supposed to live this way forever?”

  "How are you supposed to live what way?"

  "So lonely. It still hurts most of the time, but sometimes I can forget for a little bit. I can't forget the kids, Trudy. I can't forget what you did. I don't want to forget." The man took a deep breath and then let out a sigh. "Why did all of you die? Why couldn't I come with you?"

  "Oh, sweetheart." I reached out and brushed my hand across his forehead. "Oh, my goodness, you're breaking my heart, big man."

  "You broke mine to pieces when you left me. All to pieces. And, I can't find them anymore. They're gone now just like you and my babies."

  I realized that there were tears streaming down my face. Heartbreak and sadness came off him in waves and it enveloped me.

  "Grayson, I need you to work with me here, honey." I made a choice to help this man. Maybe I couldn't heal his heart, but I could at least get him through this illness. "We're going to get up and move into the shower. I think you need to cool off just a little bit."

  "I always tried to get you to shower with me, but you never would! And now that I'm feeling like shit, here we are."

  I couldn't help but laugh. What was this woman thinking? Shower time was fun time, everyone knew that!

  "Well, this is not the good kind of shower, Grayson. This is to get you cleaned up and soak those bandages off your wounds so I can see under them."

  "Did you love me, Trudy? The way I love you?"

  I didn't know how to answer that question, but they had children together, surely she had loved him with all her heart.

  "Of course, Grayson."

  "Then why wouldn't you ever say it to me?"

  "Shit. I don't know." She never told him she loved him. How could that be? They were married and had children for God's sake.

  I pulled on his good arm until he stood up and then I directed him out of the smaller bathroom and through my room to the master bath.

  "You can sit down in my shower, Grayson. There's a bench in there that will hold you up while I look at your wounds. I'm going to sit you down and go get some supplies, okay?"

  "Okay, baby. I'll wait for you." Grayson laughed darkly. "I've always waited for you."

  "Yeah, big guy. I'm sensing that."

  ~*~

  “Cheese and rice, you’re a big man!”

  “Big all over, baby.”

  “Shut up, Grayson, and help me get you under the covers. You’re going to sleep in my bed tonight. I want to monitor your temperature.”

  “I’ll let you monitor something, hot stuff.”

  “Are you always this cheesy, or is it me?” I grunted as I pulled him to his side so I could get the blanket out from under him. “Because you can quit that shit any time now.”

  “I don’t feel good. I feel like shit.”

  “Well, you’re sick, so there’s one reason. From the amount of beer bottles in my trash, and not the fucking recycle bin, I’m guessing you’ve had too much beer and not enough water.” Once I had the blanket out from under him, I rolled him back over with another grunt. “Have you eaten anything since you were shot?”

  “I decided to take a trip down memory lane. That goes good with beer.”

  “No, that makes it worse, numbnuts. Everyone knows that.” I pulled the covers over him and tucked them at his chin.

  As I bent over him, his hand came up and wrapped around the back of my neck. He pulled me onto his chest and pushed my face down into his neck. My arms were trapped between us, and I wiggled around to try and get them free.

  “Just give me this, Trudy. Let me have this time with my dream, since you didn’t let me have it when you were here.” Grayson let out a sigh and his voice got lower as he drifted off. “I just wanted the kids to have a happy home.”

  His hold on my neck loosened as sleep took him under, and I was able to move my arms to his sides so that I could push my body up. I lifted my head and stopped when I was face to face with him.

  I studied him for a minute, while his face was peaceful with fevered sleep.

  His lashes were thick and fanned across his cheeks. Every woman on the planet wished for lashes like that. Hell, I paid good money for a tiny little bit of some miracle shit in a tube to try and get lashes that weren’t even close to his.

  Lines at the sides of his eyes showed that he spent plenty of time squinting or laughing. From the sadness I saw in him today, I assumed it was from the sun in his eyes, not because he was a jovial kind of guy.

  His cheeks were smooth down to the beginning of his short beard. The silver and white hair on his face complimented his tan skin nicely, and best of all, it didn’t cover up his full lips. Sinful lips. The kind that a woman just knew would melt her knees when they kissed her.

  His mouth was open just a bit, and I could see his straight white teeth. If I really tried to imagine it, I could see a smile across his face. His beautiful lips spread wide in a bright smile, his perfect teeth showing behind them. His eyes would crinkle at the sides and dance with joy as his deep voice boomed out a laugh.

  I wonder what it would take to get this man to smile. What could make him laugh so hard tears came to his eyes? Good tears. Not the kind of tears he tried to hide just a bit ago in the shower. Tears for the dead wife who had never loved him. The kids who never got a chance to grow up. The tears for all he had lost, for all they had missed.

  I pushed my way off the bed and reached again to straighten the blanket across him. With one hand on his chest, I rested the other one on his forehead. I brushed his dark hair back from his face, letting my palm scrape against the short hair on the side of his head above his ear. At my touch, he turned his head so that his face was against my palm.

  His gorgeous lips puckered, and he kissed the inside of my wrist. He smiled softly and sighed in his fevered sleep.

  I moved my hand away and leaned down to touch my lips to his for a second.

  I pulled back and whispered, “Stop remembering and find your new happiness, Grayson. You’re the only one that can give that to yourself, sweetheart.”

  2.

  “Do you ever look at your kids and wonder, what part of the gene pool did that little nugget of goodness spring from?”

  Shannon to Summer

  GRUNT

  I moved my head around on the pillow to help the crick in my neck, and then blew out my breath when hair tickled my nose.

  “Well, fuck.” I moaned to myself as I rolled the other direction. As soon as my weight landed on my arm, I had to hold back a yell.

  “Don’t put pressure on it. I just got your fever to break a few hours ago. I don’t need you to fuck up all my hard work.”

  I turned my head to stare at the woman with her head halfway on my pillow. I blinked my eyes a few times to adjust to the sunlight streaming through the room and reached up to run my hand over my face.

  I felt like I had been on a week-long bender. Once
the marching band in my head took a break, I was going to hunt down the dog that took a shit in my mouth. I looked down and realized that I was naked, sitting there on the side of a stranger’s bed.

  What day is it, who is that woman and what the fuck have I done, were just a few of the questions racing around in my head.

  “You okay?” The woman asked me softly. “Are you going to be sick?”

  I turned to stare at her.

  “That bucket is still down there in the floor just in case you can’t make it to the bathroom again.”

  Awesome. The fact that I had at some point needed a bucket to puke in, let me know that I had taken quite a swan dive off the wagon this time.

  “Let me grab you some clothes out of the guest room so you can go to the bathroom without flashing your junk at me again. You and my grandsons are the weirdest people I know. Keeping you dressed is just as difficult as keeping the three-year old’s clothes on him. At least I can threaten to whoop him. When I told you I was going to spank you, the way you laughed made me realize that might not be quite the punishment I intended it to be.”

  What. The. Hell.

  “Did you lose your voice all the sudden? You were quite the Chatty Cathy all day yesterday and now all you do is grunt at me.” The woman reached up and ran her hand through her hair, pushing it back from her face. I was stunned at how beautiful she was, no makeup, hair a mess, and freckles dusting across her nose, and still fucking gorgeous. “What? Did I drool or something?”

  She wiped her face with her hands and shrugged her shoulders.

  “Alrighty then. I’ll be back.” She said the last words in a bad imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger and then flounced out of the room.

  I stood up slowly, using the bed to steady myself. I instantly got lightheaded and put my hand out to lean against the wall just a few feet away. I looked down and remembered I was buck naked, right about the time I heard her come back into the room.

  “I just got you a towel for now, your pants aren't dry yet. I started a pot of coffee. Let’s have a mug or two then I’ll check your wounds and help you into the shower. I need to wake your ass up so you join the land of the living again. It’s really creeping me out that you’re so quiet.” She squinted up at me as she wrapped a towel around my waist. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Who the fuck are you?” I asked her quietly.

  Her head snapped back as if I had just slapped her.

  “Wow. You’re using my fucking pillow, in my bed, in my bedroom of my fucking house, and you want to wake up talking to me like you don’t know who the fuck I am? Really, you dick? How about I’m the woman who bathed your ass, cleaned your wounds and nursed you for the last thirty-six hours? That work for you, asshole?” The woman adjusted my towel so that it would stay on my waist, and then walked out of the room muttering under her breath.

  “Well, fuck." I knew deep down that I should know her name, but all I could think to call her was Trudy. That couldn't be right. Even chewing my ass out, she was being nicer than Trudy had ever been.

  ~*~

  I walked into the kitchen to see her leaned back against the cabinet, sipping her coffee.

  "I'm sorry I pissed you off. Also, sorry I don't remember your name."

  "You often wake up in a strange bed, naked as the day you were born, and don't remember how you got there?"

  "Not in a long time, actually."

  "Well, that’s refreshing. You broke that streak this morning I guess." She slid a cup of coffee across the bar between us and turned to the stove. "Drink your coffee, I'll check your bandages and you can leave."

  "I said I was sorry, and I meant it."

  "Okay. Apology accepted. Drink your fucking coffee."

  "My name is Grunt."

  "No shit?" The beauty laughed loudly, her hair flying around her face as she shook with laughter. "Imagine that!"

  "And you are?"

  "I guess I am the hired help since you don't seem to think it's important to remember my name."

  "Alright, Sour Patch, I get it. I fucked up." I lifted my hands at my sides, palms up. "I woke up and had no idea what fucking day it is, let alone your name, where I was or why in the hell I felt like I had drunk a gallon of whiskey and then been run over by a garbage truck."

  "You really don't remember yesterday?"

  "Since I remember going to bed feeling like shit on Monday and then waking up next to you ten minutes ago, I am assuming it's Wednesday?"

  "Yes. It's Wednesday. She looked over at the microwave. Almost noon."

  "I missed a day and a half?"

  "Oh, isn’t that convenient? That's not all you missed, darlin'.” The woman glared at me. “If you're lying to me, I'll make sure to give you something that makes your dick shrivel and your hair fall out. Get me?"

  I stared at her for a second in shock before I asked, "Are you a witch or something?"

  She laughed loudly again, this time her cheeks got pink and her eyes watered. She reached up and ran her hand over her eyes to wipe the tears away as she caught her breath.

  "Yeah. I'm a witch. I brewed up a potion that made you lose your memory and made me lose my fucking mind." She picked her mug up and turned to add a splash of coffee to it from the carafe. "I'm going to go outside and sit on my porch and think about the decisions I have made in life. Call me when you're ready for me to change your bandages."

  The minx stomped off, again muttering to herself. All I could pick up of her diatribe was; fucking idiot, stupid man, whore, three orgasms and blowjob.

  I stood there, my mug just a few inches from my lips and had an honest to God, no doubt about it, flashback. That prickly woman was above me, riding my cock and holding one breast to my mouth as I sucked on her dark nipple. She was moaning my name, my real name, and touching herself with one hand until she threw her head back and screamed out her orgasm.

  My mouth was gaping open in shock, my eyes wide as I stared at the patio door she had walked out of. To make matters worse, now my dick was hard enough to pound nails. I stood in the kitchen, sipping my coffee and trying to do long division in my head until my dick went back down.

  When I was finally decent again, I walked quickly over to the glass door and flung it to the side so I could finish my conversation with her. I had so many more questions now, and I still didn’t even know her fucking name.

  Sour Patch was sitting with her legs curled under her, sipping her coffee. Next to her on the chair was a tiny little black and white goat. Another one, this one mostly brown with a few white spots, was standing at her feet as she scratched its head.

  “I’m trying to talk to you here, Sour Patch!” She jumped and so did both goats. The one on the deck keeled over onto its side, its legs stretched out stiffly.

  “Feel better? Now you’ve killed my daughter’s goat.”

  “Holy shit! I didn’t mean to… What the fuck…. Oh, shit…” I fell to my knees beside the cute little thing right about the time he started moving again. I heard a noise come from beside me and realized that Sour Patch was laughing so fucking hard she couldn’t breathe.

  She held one hand to her stomach, and the other hand to her throat as she gasped for air. After a second, she put one hand up as if she was telling me to hold on, but she just kept on guffawing.

  The goat stretched and then stood up and licked my hand. I rubbed its furry little head and then the little bastard stuck his tongue out and blew me a raspberry, spitting all over my face.

  Sour Patch’s laughter had died down, but when he spit at me, she started right back up.

  “It just never gets old!” She yelled between belly laughs. “Oh, shit. You should have seen your face.”

  It took me a second with the pain in my leg, but I stood up and readjusted the towel around my waist. Luckily my hard on had disappeared before I killed the family pet. Now, it was still down because I was thinking about killing the family lunatic.

  She finally wound down again and wiped the tears off h
er face. I glared at her until she looked up at me.

  “You think that’s funny?” I growled at her. “How is that fucking funny?”

  “You’ll think it’s funny too when you watch the playback on video.” She pointed to the corner of the house, and I saw a camera mounted there. “I have a whole collection of people thinking they killed her. The kids and I watch it all the time.”

  “You need to put up a goddamn warning sign.” Unfortunately, I had raised my voice again and the poor little thing fell over once more. “Damn it!”

  Another round of laughter started so I turned around to walk back into the house. Screw this shit, I was done with psycho bitch out there. She woke up nice and sweet, then she jumped my ass and laughed at me. A person needed a seat belt to survive the fucking roller coaster ride she put you on.

  I had another flash of her naked, this time with my cock in her mouth. My dick went hard again instantly, and I slapped the wall as I walked toward the bedroom. “Damn it!”

  ~*~

  SHANNON

  After my laughter died down, I thought about it, and realized that Grayson had already dealt with a lot in the last few days, and my picking at him was just making it worse.

  I giggled for another few minutes but sobered when I remembered that he had no recollection of what we had done together yesterday as he laid in bed. Yes, it culminated in us having mind blowing sex, but the day hadn’t started out that way.

  He and I talked for hours as I lay beside him yesterday. We discussed my children, my first husband and second husband, his wife and children, my love of dogs and his love of anything with an engine, especially ones with only two wheels.