Page 34 of Grumpy

Grumpy nodded once, recalling Tanya’s obsession with social media and her annoyance when a post didn’t get as many likes or clicks as she wanted. Grumpy had never understood the obsession with posting his life online like that, and he was proud of Maddie for following suit. Especially for a single woman living in a large city like Austin.

“I do have news on Tanya Pierce, by the way.” Keys’ voice turned almost sympathetic, but there was something slightly off in the tone, like he wasn’t completely sure why he should be sympathetic. “She remarried three years after your divorce, but just like when she was married to you, she didn’t change her last name.”

Grumpy wasn’t surprised by this. She wanted to have the same last name as her daughter, though they had been discussing changing both their names to “Bell” if the adoption went through. Grumpy had understood, but also hadn’t liked the fact that Tanya and Maddie had her deadbeat ex’s last name instead of his.

Glancing around, Grumpy realized that there were no other chairs in the room except for a child-sized one in the corner with a play table and a slew of dinosaur toys. Reaching forward, he flicked Keys’ ear. “Get up, dipshit.”

Keys jumped, not following Grumpy’s train of thought until he picked up the kid’s chair and brought it over to Keys. Keys’ face flamed as he swapped seats, freeing up his large gaming chair and folding his tall, lean body onto his son’s itty bitty one.

Grumpy gestured for Kelly to sit in Keys’ gaming chair. She shook her head like he was ridiculous, but still kissed his cheek in thanks and accepted the seat. Grumpy’s back started to pull from the long walk down to Keys’ computer room, but there was no way in fuck he was sitting while Kelly stood. He was also not fitting his large ass in Oscar’s chair as Keys was doing.

He’d be fine, though a part of him resented the fact that he couldn’t sit with Kelly on his lap. Maybe after he got the compression wraps off.

Keys’ new chair now brought his head to roughly the same height as his keyboard. “As I was saying, I have some news about Tanya Pierce. She passed away in February.”

Grumpy started, not prepared for that news. He didn’t love Tanya anymore—those feelings had been shattered a decade ago—but he also didn’t hate her. Other than the fact that she was Maddie’s mother, Tanya didn’t mean anything to Grumpy anymore.

But that didn’t mean he wanted her dead.

Kelly reached over to grip his hand as Grumpy forced out, “What happened?”

“Brain aneurysm.” Keys looked over his shoulder and up at Grumpy. “No one saw it coming, according to the obit.”

Grumpy nodded once and let out a long breath. “What about Maddie? What happened with her birth father and her stepfather?”

“As far as I can tell, Tanya’s new husband took everything and left Maddie with nothing. Her mom hadn’t had a will, so legally, he got everything fair and square. It wasn’t much, but it was the house, her accounts, her cage, and such.”

Lava boiled in his gut. “He didn’t leave Maddie anything?”

Keys shook his head. “No, but she wasn’t left destitute. Thanks to the full-ride scholarship she received and a trust given to her on her eighteenth birthday, she’s doing well. Not great, but she’s more stable than a lot of college students her age with no parental support.”

Relief cooled the fire at the knowledge that his money was helping to provide for her. “Where is she now?”

“She’s in her senior year of college. Her grades have dropped slightly this year, but not too badly. Plus, her mom just died and she also took a full-time job as an assistant at a radio show. It doesn’t have anything to do with her major, which is pre-law, but she got the job right around the time of her mom’s funeral, so I think it probably isn’t career oriented.” Keys pulled up the website of the radio show on one of his monitors, but Grumpy didn’t need the visual effect.

Keys moved to slide over to another monitor, seemingly to forget that his little chair no longer had wheels, and literally threw himself out of the seat from the momentum of the move. Even Rose paused what she was doing to stare. Keys hopped up, brushed himself off, and proceeded to bend over the desk instead of sit again.

Because the monitor was on his right side, Grumpy saw a chat box appear on one of Keys’ monitors asking if he was good. He felt fucking old looking at the message, because his first wonder was if this was how kids today dated? Through screens? Rose was literally ten feet from Keys, and she had to ask him via a chat box if he was okay. Grumpy did not understand it.

Keys replied back in the affirmative before closing the chat box. Kelly slipped down into the kiddie chair before swiveling the large office chair to face Grumpy. He sat, his back grateful for the reprieve.

“I spoke with your doctors,” Keys informed Grumpy as if there hadn’t been a pause in the conversation. “Based on their recommendations, I’ve mapped out your trip, booked your hotel rooms, and even pointed out several stops you can make along the way that will appease that weird-ass history obsession you have.”

Grumpy started to raise an eyebrow at his club brother’s choice of words, but the pull on his face made him regret the move. “Way to take the spontaneity out of the adventure.”

Keys’ face fell. Standing, he turned with wide eyes behind his glasses. “Shoot. I didn’t think about that.”

“He’s kidding,” Kelly said from her low seat, a chuckle in her voice. “Thank you, Keys. Is there anything else we should know before heading out?”

Keys glanced down, then back to Grumpy, and then back down at Kelly. “Um, not unless you want me to hack into her computer and do a comprehensive deep dive into her everyday life. Once you get down there, I can⁠—”

“No,” Grumpy snapped shortly. “I want Mads to tell me about her life, not read it in a dossier.”

Keys looked confused by this, but shrugged. “Okay.” He reached over and grabbed out a tablet from a stack of them by a monitor. He typed on it for a minute before he handed it over to Grumpy.

“What’s this?” Grumpy asked without taking it.

“Your itinerary.” There was a small pout to Keys’ face, like he was concerned Grumpy had already forgotten the conversation they’d just had.