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I watch him with her and my heart clenches. This is what I didn’t have with my family when I was hurt. I didn’t even give them the chance. I took that from them.
Ryan is the next to come through the curtains.
“I’d like to talk to Erika alone, please,” he says. Everyone looks at each other, but I notice that Leif hasn’t realized it’s me.
“I’m not leaving,” Leif says, and I’m getting ready to slip out to leave them be.
“Leify, I’ll be okay. It’s the rules that he has to talk to me alone.”
“Unless your spouse is present,” I interject, loving that I dropped that bomb in the room. That’s when Leif finally turns to look at me. He recognizes me, and I know the moment he’s about to say something, but I shake my head imperceptibly.
“She’s not married.”
On that note, I walk out and leave them be.
I hide from Leif, and I know he’s looking for me because I watch him from a distance. It’s a habit I’ve gotten into lately. When I’m watching Erika at the tattoo parlor, I watch him too.
It doesn’t take more than an hour before we are heading out. Leif got a call and took off. I decide to give Erika a ride home. I have the dogs in the back seat behind their cage. Riggs whines for her, so she reaches through to touch him.
“Want to stop for dinner? Your doctor friend thought food would be good for you.” I look over at her, not giving away that I know Ryan, and see that she’s shaking. She’s close to panicking again. I need to get her out of her head.
“Food sounds good.” She looks at me.
“Want to talk about it?” I throw her a bone to share.
“I can’t. I’m still processing everything.”
“But you said it was just dehydration?” I know she’s not telling me everything. I wonder if my brother knocked her up.
“It is. I’m just tired. I thought you were talking about your brother.” She tries to cover with that lie, but I know it for what it is.
“What do you want to eat?” I ask her as I look around at where we are.
“How about burgers?”
“Sounds good.” I pull into the little diner I found not too long ago with Franci.
We order, and when our food comes, I gather my burger, ready to take a bite.
“You’re just like your brother.” She chuckles.
“How so, and which one?” I raise my brow.
“I never met your oldest brother. You avoid answering questions just like Grayson does.” She laughs now, and just as I’m about to answer her, the bell goes off and we both turn to look at the door. We are at the bar, and I hated that she wanted to sit here because it puts my back to a glass window and potentially someone sitting in the booth behind us. I know the guy as soon as I see him enter. I need to get a hold of Gray and let him know. Things just went from bad to worse.
“Why do you call him Grayson?” I ask her to change the subject. Everyone calls my brother Gray, not Grayson.
“That’s his name,” she scoffs as she answers me.
“Everyone calls him Gray, even our father does.” I clarify for her.
“His name is Grayson, and I like to call him that. It fits him.”
I smile at her and nod my head. She’s right. It is his name.
“He didn’t mean to keep the truth from you.” I tell her what we’ve both been avoiding. I need to help push this along so my brother can get here and take care of this asshole.
“I shouldn’t have run without letting him explain,” she confesses.
