Grin and Bear It Read online

  Evernight Publishing ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2015 Jenika Snow

  ISBN: 978-1-77233-535-4

  Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To all the readers that have rooted and shown their support for the Grizzlies!

  GRIN AND BEAR IT

  The Grizzly MC, 11

  Jenika Snow

  Copyright © 2015

  Author’s Note

  This novella is a look into the lives of the next generation of the Grizzly MC. Although it is written so it can be read as a standalone, it is highly suggested that you read the previous Grizzly MC books in this series, as well as Reckless, the first book in The Sons series, to better know the characters, their lives, and the world they live in.

  Prologue

  “You’re cheating, you motherfucker,” Mason said, teasing, and grinned over at Link. Link grinned back and flipped him off.

  “Don’t blame your piss-poor poker skills on me cheating.” Link grabbed his shot glass and tossed it back. “Do another shot with me, man,” Link said after he finished his liquor.

  “Nah. I’m sober and need to head home soon. I got shit to do for the club tomorrow.” Mason rubbed his face with a hand, felt damn tired, but was also having a good time.

  Link flipped him off again, but was smiling. They were partying at one of the bars the Grizzlies owned in Steel Corner. The place was closed off to the public because of the hour, and a few of The Brothers of Menace MC kids and The Grizzly kids were all getting trashed.

  Shouting from the guys off to the side playing darts had Mason looking over his shoulder and seeing Jakob and a few of the other Grizzlies standing around drinking. He stared at Jakob, the bear shifter he’d practically grown up with, and thought of as a brother. They were both Grizzly members, both brothers in arms, and although they’d been friends for a long fucking time, an altercation weeks ago had caused this rift between them.

  “Hey, I know you probably don’t want to talk about it,” Link said.

  Mason turned back around and faced the Brothers of Menace member. “Whatever you’re about to say is probably better left unsaid.” He grabbed the water he’d been nursing for the last hour and finished it off. He wouldn’t mind getting shitfaced, but he’d been getting drunk and high enough lately, and the feeling of just being … normal, held an appeal at least for tonight.

  Link grabbed his beer he’d been drinking in between taking shots, and finished it off. He lifted his hand for the barmaid to get him another, and looked over at Mason. “You know what I’m going to ask?”

  “Come on, man,” Mason said, lifting his eyebrow as he stared at Link. “I’m not a mind reader, but I know damn well you’re going to ask what the deal was with me and Jakob.” Lincoln “Link” Roberts was a Brothers of Menace member, and Kink’s son. Link might not be a Grizzly, but this kind of shit spread like wildfire, especially through the MCs. Rumors had a tendency to also get warped in the process, and Mason was sure that’s what had happened with the deal between him and Jakob.

  Link didn’t respond right away. There was another round of laughter and swearing from Jakob and the other guys playing darts, and then the barmaid gave Link another beer. When they were alone again Mason exhaled and leaned back in his chair, scrubbing a hand over his hair.

  “I just want to know what’s fact and what’s bullshit.” Link took a drink of his beer and set it back on the table. “I mean you know the shit going around about why you guys fought, right?”

  “I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks, and what you’ve heard is probably bullshit anyway. It is what it is.” Mason was about done with this scene and this conversation, because talking about it was just pissing him off even more.

  “So it was about you making a move on Jakob?”

  Mason straightened, surprised that the rumor had twisted that much. “What?”

  Link nodded. “One of the things going around is that you want Jakob, but when you came on to him he turned you down.” Link looked so serious. “You got pissed and that’s how the fight started.”

  Mason grunted and relaxed against the back of the chair again. “Listen, ain’t nothing wrong with a man wanting another man, but I don’t fly that way, brother. I like pussy too much.”

  Link shrugged, picked up his beer again and took a swig. He set his bottle down, and when they stared at each other for a few seconds, neither speaking, Mason cursed internally. He might as well clear the air, because he knew Link would just keep speculating.

  “Listen, I was drunk the night all this shit started.” Mason had his hand in a tight fist on the table, knowing that although what had happened wasn’t the biggest fucking deal in the world because it had been a huge mistake, it also had been some bad shit. “I fucked a girl he wanted, and that’s why we fought.”

  Link lifted a brow. “You knew before you fucked her that Jakob wanted her?” Link asked, sounding a little shocked.

  Mason exhaled. “I’m a motherfucking bastard, I know, but I was wasted, man, and when I went to my room to crash she followed. It was dark. I couldn’t even see the chick well enough to know it was the same one Jakob was hard up for.” He leaned forward and scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling the day-old stubble on his cheeks.

  “Damn, man.”

  Mason nodded. “Jakob walked in on us, and that’s when I saw, after he turned on the light, that I’d just had my dick in the sweet-butt he’d been jonesing for.”

  “Fuck,” Link said.

  “Like I said, I’m a motherfucker, but I honestly didn’t know who I was in bed with. All I knew was that it was a chick from the party, and she wanted my cock.” Damn, that made Mason sound like a dirty bastard. “Jakob left when he caught us, and the next day was when the fight broke out. He was drunk, as was I, and shit hasn’t been the same since.”

  “Have you tried telling him that it was a mistake, a fucked as hell mistake, but one nonetheless?”

  Mason looked at him like he was fucking crazy. “Yeah, man, of course I tried telling him right after the fact, but he was too pissed, and rightly so.” Mason had pushed all this shit behind him because he didn’t want to dwell on it. He’d screwed up big-time, and a man he considered family hated him for it. “I just stopped talking to him about it, or trying to, after the second time he let into me. I can’t blame him for hating me. Hell, I hate myself most of the time.” And he felt like a bigger asshole for even saying that out loud, admitting that to Link. “I don’t know if he wanted her as something more than a piece of pussy, because hell, he could have tapped that, and maybe did, but he fucking hated me.” Mason paused a moment. “He still does.”

  “Man, don’t talk like that.”

  Mason shook his head before Link could continue. “No, I do, Link. I fucking hate myself a lot of the time because of the shit I do. I could have avoided this if I paid a little more attention. But it’s not just the Jakob shit. I’m a bastard. I start in on members of both MCs, thinking it’s funny when it’s not. I just almost went at it with your brother because I was drunk and high, and giving him crap over that girl he’s into.” Mason was a punk, drank and smoked more than he should, and because h
e’d lived that kind of life, one that was on the edge and didn’t give a fuck about anyone but himself, he was a lowdown prick.

  He had no siblings, and being an only child to Court and Lilly shouldn’t have made him feel lonely. He had a family, blood and extended family within the club that had always been there. His old man and mom loved him, and had raised him to be the man he wasn’t acting like.

  “You need to talk to Jakob again, straighten this out,” Link said.

  Before Mason could have responded, even if he would have, the sound of footsteps moving closer to them had his bear coming alert. He scented Jakob, knew that the other guy was drunk, that he was probably high, too.

  “Talk to who, me?” Jakob said in a deep, slurred voice.

  Mason tensed, knowing what was going to come even if he ignored this shit. But he was not about to go at it with the other bear shifter. He stood, turned and faced Jakob, and saw that his instincts and senses had been right. The man was drunker than shit and high as well. His eyes were bloodshot, and he reeked of alcohol. “I’m not doing this with you now, Jakob.”

  “No?” Jakob asked.

  “No.” Mason grabbed his jacket he’d slung over the chair he’d been sitting in, fished his keys out of the front pocket of his jeans, and went to move past Jakob. But the MC member obviously wanted to start a fight, and Mason wasn’t going to go there. He’d tried to apologize, tried to sit down more than once. Jakob wasn’t having that, and Mason didn’t want to make the already bad blood between them worse.

  But before he could move past Jakob the other bear grabbed his arm, spun him around, and the two faced off.

  “You running your mouth about what a backstabbing motherfucker you are?”

  “You’re drunk,” Mason said, pulled his arm free, and took a step back. His bear was right there, rising up on instinct, ready to protect himself at all costs. Yes, this was a man he considered a brother, but he was also a threat right now.

  “I’m not going to do this, not only because I care about you, know I fucked up, and want to make amends, but also because I’d tear you up right now.” His bear flashed across his face, and he felt the beast rise up and growl and snap, a warning, a threat. “I’d fuck you up because you’re drunk, Jakob, and would be sloppy in a fight.”

  And before Mason could leave, Jakob reared his arm back and punched him in the side of his jaw. Mason’s head cocked back, blood erupted in his mouth as his teeth cut into his inner cheek, and pain consumed him.

  Chairs scraped along the floor as everyone came forward. The front door opened, and he scented Marcus step inside.

  “What the fuck…” Marcus said and trailed off, obviously seeing the shit going down.

  Cain and Bodhi pulled Jakob back; Gabriel and Maverick went to stand beside Mason, and the whole room grew still. The rest of the club members and even some prospects were watching with worry but also with anticipation. Mason stared at Jakob, saw the other man’s jaw clenched tight. His bear was trying to push forward, but Jakob was keeping it back with what little control he had.

  Mason turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood and spittle, stared at everyone, and cursed internally. Fuck all of this. He turned and left, and walked by Marcus, who tried to stop him.

  “Mason, man,” Marcus said, but Mason just wanted out of there.

  He left the bar, got on his bike, and then he was shooting off down the road, just wanting everything to disappear, for the world to just swallow him up.

  He increased his speed, took the corners sharp, and didn’t give a fuck if he broke any laws in the process. He was going faster and faster, the world around him a blur. Mason entered the square of town, slowing slightly, only because he knew that if he did get pulled over right now he wouldn’t be able to get this steam out of him. The intersection in town came up.

  Just as he went to turn to head down the back roads, the sound of tires squealing had him looking over to the side. And then he saw it, a pickup truck barreling toward him from the other direction, an arm out the passenger side window, and the glint of a gun catching the light.

  The truck picked up speed, coming right at him, only a couple of feet from him now. He heard the gun go off a second before he felt the searing pain of the bullet slamming into his chest.

  His bear roared out in anger and agony.

  The truck slammed into his Harley at the same time he flew off his bike from the impact of the bullet. The sound of tires squealing again filled his head, pain encompassed his body, and then the world went dark.

  Chapter One

  Recovery: weeks later

  Rage.

  Anger.

  Retribution.

  Vengeance.

  Those four things Mason repeated in his head over and over again, never losing sight of the fact when he got out of this fucking hellhole and wasn’t in a damn wheelchair any longer he’d find the men that did this to him and make them pay.

  He didn’t need his club to exact his revenge, didn’t need the MC having his back to hunt down the motherfuckers that had shot at him, made him this cripple. Even if the MC demanded to know who had done this to him, wanted to find out and take them out, this was Mason’s fight. He wanted to find them, and he was going to exact vengeance. He felt weak, pissed off, and hated his life, but what kept him going was the image that played over and over in his head: blood covering him, bodies dead at his feet, and the rush of release he got because he took out the ones that put him in the hospital in the first place.

  He sat in the chair in front of the window, the rain making all the shit outside blurry. But Mason was feeling volatile right now, just thinking about when he could get out of here.

  Staring at his legs now, he tore away the blanket the nurse had covered him with when he’d first been put in the chair.

  “Fuck this,” he said out loud.

  “Good morning, Mason.”

  The sound of the voice behind him had Mason tensing and stopping from making a move out of the wheelchair. He clenched his jaw and swore, not caring if she’d heard him curse. She’d certainly heard him say worse than that. He didn’t respond to her greeting, though.

  “Are we doing the silent treatment again today?” she said in an amused, slightly teasing voice.

  He turned the wheelchair around and stared at her. She was clearing off the dry erase board and writing her name on it, like he didn’t know who she was.

  Ryeissa, RN

  She turned and smiled at him, but he sat there and glared. He wasn’t really pissed at her, or anyone aside from those motherfuckers that had put him in this situation. But because of the problems he now faced, the fact he didn’t even know if he’d walk again, he hated everyone, was enraged at the world, and he didn’t know if he’d ever feel any different.

  Her long, blonde hair was in a loose braid over her shoulder. Her eyes were blue and bright, and the fact she was an RN but looked so young was a little bit of a surprise the first time he’d seen her. And her body … fucking hell, she had thick, womanly thighs, an ass that was big and juicy, and had tits big enough that if they were in his hands they’d be overflowing. And that was saying something since Mason had pretty large fucking hands. But she was built so damn luscious, like her body was made to take a good, hard fucking, the kind he liked to give.

  “Come on, Mason. We do this every time I come in and work. You really going to ignore me?”

  He scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling the several days’ worth of beard covering his cheeks and chin. He’d shaved last week, not really caring, but his mom had insisted that he clean up. But he hadn’t done it since then, didn’t care if he resembled a mountain man, or if it looked like he just didn’t give a shit … he didn’t.

  “I’m not really in the talkative mood,” he replied to her, and wheeled himself over to the bed. She moved toward him, but he held a hand out and shook his head. “I got this.” He hated having them help, but at times they insisted. It was easier just letting them because then they’
d get the fuck out of the room and leave him alone.

  She stayed back, and he maneuvered himself so he was now sitting on the edge of the bed. He felt sensation in his legs, but they were both pretty fucked up, and he knew he’d need physical therapy if he had any chance of getting back to his former self.

  “Well, you know the drill, Mason.”

  Yeah, he did. He rested his hands on his thighs and let her do her thing with listening to his heart and all that. The seconds ticked by, and he couldn’t help but stare at her. The way her blonde hair brushed along his cheek as she leaned in closer and moved her stethoscope to his back. She smelled good, really damn good, like cupcakes or something equally sweet. He found himself inhaling deeply, taking in the scent of her. His bear rose up, the bastard having been thirsty for blood, but right now groaning deep inside because he knew she’d be soft.

  He felt like a pervert for lowering his gaze to her scrub top, the blue V-neck material gaping open and showing off this little white undershirt she wore. Damn, her breasts were big and round. For the first time since he’d woken up in the hospital his cock stirred and started getting hard.

  He cleared his throat just as she pulled away, and he lay back on the bed, pulling the blanket over him to hide his growing dick. She went to the end of the bed and started checking his feet, feeling for his pulses.

  “What kind of name is Ryeissa?” he asked with a deep voice thick with his rising arousal.

  She lifted her head an inch, her blonde eyebrow rising. “It’s my name.” She smirked. “What kind of name is Mason?” she asked back, a teasing note in her voice.

  No matter how rude and distant he’d been whenever she’d worked as his nurse she only showed him kindness and friendly banter back. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be a dick.”