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Grant pulled me tighter against him. “I can’t imagine anyone ignoring you. Tell me about it, about your childhood.”
“Don’t you need to get more sleep?”
“Not as much as I need to get to know you better. I know your body quite well now, but I want to know more. I want to know everything.”
“I’m the youngest of three. The oldest is my brother Tom. He’s perfect. Perfect grades, perfect athlete, perfectly straight. My sister Nancy is next, and she’s a hell of a lot of trouble, but she knows how to get attention, and she’s the only girl. My mother fawns over her no matter what she does. I’m five years younger than her and gay with no exceptional talents.”
“That’s just not true.” Grant kissed the top of my head.
“You don’t think so? I just fell asleep with your dick in my ass.”
Grant nipped my neck. “The talent part. Have they tasted your cooking?”
“I wasn’t usually allowed in the kitchen. My parents always acted like the older two had drained all their energy. I was left to take care of myself for the most part. They rarely ever saw me, literally or figuratively.”
He nuzzled my neck where he’d bitten me before. “I’m sorry. No one should be ignored like that. I see you. I saw you from the moment I walked into the bar.”
I knew he meant more than literally laying eyes on me. He had truly seen me and known what I craved from the start.
“There wasn’t money left for me when I graduated, so I didn’t get my college tuition paid for like my siblings. My parents wanted to downsize, so once I graduated from high school, there was no room for me at their house either. I got a shitty apartment and worked in restaurants and bars while trying to get a culinary certificate from a community college.”
“So you already enjoyed cooking?”
“I did. The only other thing I really wanted to do was work with animals, but cooking seemed like a much more practical option. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to cook for a living, though. The problem was, I had no solid plan. That’s part of how Trey was able to lure me in so easily. He gave me a role to fulfill, and I did.”
I wanted to know more, but talking about that bastard was only going to upset him. “Did you teach yourself to cook?”
“No, my grandmother taught me during the summers I spent with her and my grandfather on their farm.”
“That was where you learned to ride a horse too, right?”
“Yeah, those summers were…” I squeezed my eyes shut against the tears that threatened to fall. I missed my grandparents so much. “They were magical. I never wanted to go back home.”
Grant snorted. “I can see why.”
“I got to spend time with my grandma in the kitchen. She made cooking and baking seem so effortless. I loved working side by side with her at the counter as much as I loved working with the animals with my grandfather.”
“How old were you when you stopped going?”
“My grandparents died in a car accident when I was twelve. My parents sold their farm. I never got to see it again, and ever since, I’ve wanted a horse so badly, but no matter how many times I wished for one or tried to save for it, that dream never came true.”
“Come here.” He tugged on my shoulder encouraging me to turn over. When I did, he pulled me to his chest, and I let the tears fall. “I’m so sorry.”
“Their farm was the only place that ever felt like home to me. They were my real family.”
17
GRANT
Iknew right then that I would do anything I could to make Jacob feel like this was his home. I might not know how to have a real relationship, but I knew how to create a family out of the shitty remains bad parents left behind. The relationship part… Maybe I could figure that out. I wasn’t sure I had a choice.
I was going to give Jacob the family he needed. There was no way in hell he was going back to the people that had hurt him, not his family, not Trey, not anyone who failed to appreciate him. If anyone even thought about hurting him, making him feel invisible, or dismissing how incredible he was, they would have to go through me to do it. And no one got through me.
Rogue always knew who needed comfort and friendship. I still wasn’t sure how he’d met Jacob. I had a feeling I didn’t want to know. He’d admitted to being involved in some way with the Russos, but clearly, he didn’t mind pissing off Trey. Was it possible that was who was coming for us? If so, they might be after Rogue as much as Jacob. I needed to keep Rogue far away from the next attack, not that I knew when or where it was coming.
I rocked Jacob against me, letting him cry until there were no more tears, only sniffles. He pulled away enough to look up at me and wipe his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I… haven’t cried in years, and now I’ve cried on you twice in one night.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You can cry on me whenever you need to.” I hated thinking about how long he’d bottled up his fear and grief.
