“It’s a lot to ask,” she acknowledged. “But you also knew it would come to this the moment you set eyes on that man.”
And I had. He was a leader—an alpha—and I’d never ask him to change that. To leave what he’d built. So, that meant I either went to him or let him go. It was a hell of a lot to contemplate.
“Maybe you can take this one step at a time,” she put in, as though reading my thoughts.
I nodded, an idea already formulating. But I had something I needed to take care of first.
“What do I do about Pop?” I asked quietly.
She snorted. “We both know your father is stubborn as a bull. Especially when he’s hurting. You keeping secrets is new and”—she cut me off before I tried to interject—“I understand why you did it. But he was caught off guard by how clearly serious Ruston is about you. Being a prez of a club in Colorado, he quickly put together the pieces of what that means.”
“I haven’t even put the pieces together yet,” I muttered.
She smiled knowingly. “You keep telling yourself that. Now, as for your dad—you’ll have to come to him on this one. I’ll soften him up as much as I can.”
I groaned. “Gross.”
She smacked my arm. “I mean I’ll talk to him. But the other method does work much better,” she mused.
“Okay, good talk, Mom.” I cut her off. My parents had never been shy about the fact that their lust for each other had not diminished over the years—something I tried hard not to think about.
She smiled, rising. “You know where to find him. And honey, like I said—do what’s right for you. He’ll come around. He loves you too much not to.”
“I hope so,” I sighed.
“That Ruston, he’s a handsome one,” she added with a wink. “And clearly crazy about you, which means he’s smart. Love you, my Gracie girl,” she added in parting.
“Love you too,” I replied as she left the room, letting herself out.
Before bed, I returned Ruston’s call.
“Ladybug,” he greeted tenderly. After my mom had left, I’d roused myself from bed, making a simple dinner, cleaning up the house and then watching some TV before turning in for the night.
“Hi.” I couldn’t help the dopey grin that spread across my face at just the sound of his voice. Ending my day with him on the line was the next best thing to being beside him.
“Work go okay?” he wanted to know. “That asshole keeping his distance?”
“Work was fine,” I assured him, only partially lying. “And Elliot’s been making himself scarce. I think having a scary-looking biker tailing me at all hours sent the message loud and clear.”
Though my pop might have resisted Ruston, he hadn’t delayed in making sure I had a twenty-four-hour shadow from a member of the Knights.
“Fucking hope so,” he muttered. “Wish it was me at your back, but the Knights are the next best thing.”
“How was your day?” I asked. Though always sweet, our phone conversations were often too short for my liking, with Ruston asking the questions and not sharing much in return.
“Fine,” he replied, his standard response for the past week.
“You sound tired,” I hedged, hoping he’d elaborate. I couldn’t tell if he was just trying to protect me from whatever was going on. When we’d been together, he’d been refreshingly open about his life and the club. That seemed to have dried up with our distance.
“Been sleepin’ at the compound. The bed’s shit,” he shared just as I heard a male voice in the background.
“Cason needs a word, baby. Call you back?”
“I need to get some sleep,” I replied, already feeling like this long-distance business was total shit.
“Okay, baby, call you tomorrow. Sleep well.”
I hung up knowing something had to give, and since whatever Ruston was dealing with required him to be in Colorado, that something likely had to start with me.
