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“And believe it or not, you got me through them all. You’re not as bad a guy as you think you are, Brax,” I tell him, placing a kiss on his cheek before I stand up. Tears roll down my cheeks as I start to walk away and I get about three paces before his voice stops me.
“I’ll do it,” he says, his eyes finally looking up at mine when I turn around. They are tired and red rimmed. But focused, the way they always are when he looks at me.
“Do what?” I shake my head in confusion. He gets up and comes at me, taking both my hands in his. I don’t think I’ve ever seen how fear looks on him before, but the way he’s looking at me right now resembles it a whole lot.
“Whatever it is I need to do so we can be together. I’m done fighting it, Gracie, I’m exhausted from it. I want you, more than vengeance, more than this club. So just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it.”
“Brax, I don’t want you to give anything up for me, I just want us to work together and try. You belong here. These are your people. You have a family.”
“But you said you couldn’t live here, that you wanted more?” He looks back at me like he doesn’t understand.
“I said I wanted to make a difference, and I was wrong when I said I can’t do that here. Maddy saved my life. Ella’s the happiest person I know and she’s been through hell. It’s not gonna be easy. I don’t know this life but I wanna find a middle ground.”
“You ain’t gonna get a fairytale with me.”
“I don’t want a fairytale, I want compromise, and fights and make up sex that nearly kills us. Brax, I want there to be an us.”
“You're insane.” He lifts up his lips a little.
“I don't know how we make it happen. But when you took me home, it felt like you’d cut a chunk out of my heart and kept it. And I don’t know how we’re gonna figure it out but what I do know, is that I want that piece of my heart to belong to you.”
“I don’t deserve it,” he says sadly.
“I’m not asking you if you deserve it. I’m asking you if you're gonna take it.”
He looks at me with a furrowed brow. His lips straight and serious.
“Yeah, Gracie, I’m gonna take it.”
“Now, if only we had a place that was close to the compound but gave us some privacy. I got a feeling we’re gonna keep the neighbors up with our fighting.”
“And the making up,” he reminds me with a smirk.
“That too,” I laugh.
“Wait… Are you talking about my cabin? He looks back at me like I’ve lost my mind. “You want to live in my cabin, up on the mountain?” he laughs at me.
“What’s so funny about that?”
“Gracie, you own a fucking eight-bedroom home.”
“Oh, so you want to move into my place?” I look at him sarcastically.
“Now I never said that.”
“I did a lot of thinking while I was back home and I want to train to be a counselor, to help the kids who have suffered. I thought about turning the house into some kind of rehabilitation center. I think Mom would have liked that.”
“I think you're right and you’d make a great councilor,” Brax agrees. “I just thought you wanted to travel, and test what you wanted out of life?” He questions me more, like he’s struggling to believe what I’m saying.
“Yeah, well maybe I found what I want.” I smile, as it finally settles in for him. Brax only had love for a short time in his life and he might be dangerous to anyone who crosses him, but deep inside he’s still the little boy whose heart broke when he lost his mom.
“And you’re sure?” he checks again.
“Christ, Brax, I’m sure, now are you gonna take me back to your cabin or are we gonna stay down here and plan out the rest of our lives?” I giggle.
“We’re keeping the dog,” he looks down at Duke, clearly testing my ability to negotiate.
“Of course, we’re keeping the dog.”
