Cole’s gaze snapped to Grace. “Grace?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
I turned to her. “It is a big fucking deal, and I’m not leaving until I know your pop has my back on this.”
“I don’t have to have your back to protect my daughter,” Cole growled.
I rounded on him in irritation. “I don’t have time for this shit. You don’t want to have my back in looking out for Grace? Fine. Just make sure it’s done. And, for the record—it is a big deal,” I repeated. “Now, doubt you’ll give us a minute of privacy with that vein in your temple popping like that, so I’ll say what I have to with you standing here,” I decreed, turning toward Grace. “If I didn’t have to leave, you know I wouldn’t, right?” At her nod, I continued. “Wish like hell you were coming with me, but I understand you need more time to work through things. Just know I’ll be here as you do.” I stooped low so I could look her in the eye. “My sweet ladybug.” I grinned, cupping her face in my hand, feeling as though I held the world in my palm. “You don’t quite get it yet, do you? But you will.” I gave her a soft kiss, not daring to do more for fear I’d give her father a heart attack. “I’ll call you tomorrow. And I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Ruston, I….” She trailed off, her eyes bright with torment and unshed tears.
“It’s okay,” I assured her. It was the only lie, I vowed on the spot, that I’d ever tell her.
I turned to her parents. “Look out for her, please.” And at her father’s curt nod, I strode to my bike and started up the engine, leaving Hawthorne, Nevada, behind, along with my heart.
Chapter 10
GRACE
Icollapsed into bed after another miserable day at work. Thankfully I hadn’t seen Elliot, but his mother had made sure to be a royal pain in my ass. It was as though she was doing everything she could to force me to quit, and I was increasingly wondering if I was crazy not to do just that.
It had been two weeks since Ruston had left. Two weeks where I’d been going through the motions as I tried to make sense of the jumbled mess that was my emotions.
I missed him, yes, of course that was much of it. But it was more too.
“Grace Jackson!” my mother’s voice called as I roused from an unexpected sleep. I’d been doing that the last few days, sleep a welcome escape from the turbulence inside my head.
“How did you get in here?” I mumbled as she appeared in the doorway.
“Well, hello to you too. And I have my key,” she reminded me as she held up her key chain with a satisfied smirk. “Oh, dear lord, do you not have makeup on?” she exclaimed as she plopped down on my side on the bed. “This does not bode well for your state of mind.”
“I have makeup on,” I defended weakly. Though the truth was, I couldn’t even remember.
She lay down next to me on her side, a position familiar from my childhood. “Gracie, what’s happened?” she asked softly, reaching over to stroke her fingers through my hair.
“He happened,” I sighed. “And maybe him happening made a part of me happen too,” I admitted.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m still trying to figure it out,” I replied honestly. “But what I do know is that from the moment I set eyes on him, I knew with certainty that he was mine. I’m used to belonging. I’ve been a part of the club my entire life, of our close family, but I’m not used to someone belonging to me,” I told her, my eyes filling with tears. “And he did—he does, and maybe with that, it gave me a part of myself I didn’t know I was missing.”
“Grace, we don’t have to be enough,” she murmured softly, in her uncanny way cutting to the heart of things. “You can want something else, something different—something more.”
“I think I do,” I admitted, the tears escaping and cascading down my cheeks. “But it breaks my heart.”
“Why?” She smiled softly. “You’re not losing us. You never could.”
“Pop is so mad,” I lamented.
“Oh, baby,” she sighed. “He’s just sad. Because he knows one day he’ll have to let you go. And Gracie, we both know he’ll never be ready.”
I let out a sob as she pulled me close. “Just be happy, Grace. You haven’t been for a while. You’re working at that salon you’re far too good for and trying to support a club when you were born to help lead one.”
“You kickin’ me out?” I quipped through tears.
She wiped her own wet eyes. “No, honey, I’m pulling you closer.” She clasped my hand in hers. “You can never lose any of us—we are a part of you. But you need to do what you have to, Grace, not what you think you should do. Have you talked to Ruston?”
I nodded. He’d made sure to call every night, and though he assured me everything was fine, I could sense there was more going on with the club than he was sharing. “I know it wasn’t easy for him to leave—harder still that I wasn’t ready to go with him.”
