AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She passes her son off to Cross and grabs me so hard, I think she might actually leave a bruise.
“Hi,” I laugh and pat her back. “Surprise.”
“Best surprise ever,” she squeals, and I now understand where Kerrigan gets the ear-piercing sound from. “I can’t believe you’re here. I thought you couldn’t come. How long are you home for? How did you get here?” Then she looks between me and Ares. “And why are you here with him?”
“Slow down and let her breathe, blondie,” Ares laughs.
Oh shit. The death stare she gives Ares could make a lesser man run for his life. But not Ares. He laughs at her. “Calm down, Everly. I ran into Ares at the airport and hitched a ride. I wanted to surprise you.”
Okay. Not a complete lie.
“I can’t believe you’re here.” She steps back and holds my arms out to look at me. “Shit, Grace. Did you lose more weight? Come on. We just made pancakes. Eat something.”
“Daddy made chocolate-chip pancakes cause he said they make Mommy nicer,” Kerrigan tells us matter-of-factly. “I helped cut up the strawberries.”
Ares kisses the top of her head, then puts her down and takes her hand in his. “Sounds like we got here just in time. Lead the way, princess.”
Kerrigan beams, and my ovaries ache.
Sexy Ares is so fine, but Uncle Ares... well he’s just a whole other level of hot.
And he’s mine.
We walk into the kitchen, where it looks like more flour made it onto the floor than in a bowl. Everly pours her and me coffeeand makes me a plate of pancakes like I’m one of her kids. “Come on. Let’s sit outside. I want to hear everything.”
I follow her onto her porch and steal the maple syrup off the table as I go. “I just talked to you yesterday. Not much has changed since then.”
Lie number two.
Everything’s changed.
“Bullshit. You’re here instead of telling me to back off.” She sips her coffee and steals a strawberry off my plate. “Now spill it, sissy.”
“Okay, but you’ve got to let me deal with Mom and Dad.”
Her face falls. “Oh shit. You’re pregnant. Fuck, Grace. Please tell me Ares is not the father and that’s not why you got here together. I’ll kill him.”
“Bite your tongue. I’m not pregnant,” I snap and throw a strawberry at her face. At least that’s not a lie. “I’m taking a few weeks off to rehab my foot. If I don’t do it now, it won’t ever heal properly. I’m going to see if Brynlee will work with me.”
“A few weeks? I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
She didn’t realize because I didn’t tell her.
“Yeah... I’m going to sit out this next show cycle. I’m scared if I don’t, I’ll never dance again.”
“Gracie...” She grabs my hand and squeezes. “You can’t not dance. You were born for it.”
I don’t bother correcting her.
I don’t tell her I’m not sure if I even want to dance anymore.
I don’t tell her how miserable I’ve been or how much I’ve hated these past few months.
I just rest my hand on hers and smile.
“What time are we meeting everyone at the beach?”
GRACE
