Chasing You

  Great. Just fucking great.

  Pulling out my phone, I hit Derrick’s number.

  “What’s up?”

  “I just had an interesting run in with Joshua Black. I want a tag on him twenty-four seven.”

  “All right. Want to tell me what in the hell happened?”

  Sighing heavily, I pushed my fingers through my hair and cursed. “Can I fill you in later? I have serious damage control to do with my future father–in-law.”

  “Oh hell. Yeah, no worries. Call me later. Meanwhile, I’ll get on it.”

  “Thanks, Winn. I owe you.”

  Hitting End, I looked around for the little fucker. If he walked up to me I’d bash his fucking head in.

  Before I had a chance to head back into the restaurant, Meagan and her father came walking out. Meagan was clearly pissed off and Brad didn’t look any happier.

  “My father is being an asshole.”

  “Meagan!” Brad and I both said at once.

  Brad glared as Meagan stepped between us. “Dad, you promised me you would wait until we got back to the apartment.”

  “You were a stripper? A male fucking stripper?”

  My hands clenched and unclenched as my anger grew.

  “Dad!”

  “Yes, I was. I worked my way through college being a male stripper. That says nothing about who I am, though.”

  Brad let out a contempt laugh. “The hell it doesn’t.” Turning to Meagan he pointed to me. “You really want to marry a guy who’s slept with lord knows how many women? Seriously, Meagan, where is your head at?”

  Now it was Meagan’s turn to get angry. “How dare you judge him, Dad! You don’t know anything about Gray, except for spending a few hours with him talking and shooting guns. So he worked at a strip club; why do you think that automatically makes him a manwhore? Tell me, Dad, how many women have you slept with? Have you ever looked twice at a woman after you married Mom?”

  Brad immediately looked away as Meagan took a step back and covered her mouth. Turning back to Meagan, Brad shook his head. “It’s not what you’re thinking, Meagan.”

  “Oh my God. Is that why she left you before I was born? Because you cheated on her?”

  Shit. This was turning south and fast.

  “Can we all just go ahead and get back into the car and head back to your apartment? It feels like the temperature is dropping out here and this is not the place to have this conversation,” I said while trying to prompt Meagan back to the car.

  Meagan glared at her father as she made her way over to her car. I was taken aback when she handed me the keys and got in on the passenger side. No one said a word as I drove us back to Meagan’s apartment. I could see she was trying hard to keep her tears at bay.

  Damn it all to hell. I should have suggested another restaurant.

  Not even letting me get the car fully parked, Meagan jumped out of the car and slammed the door shut.

  I slowly got out of the car and followed her while Brad followed behind me.

  “Meagan,” I started to say when she held her hand up to stop me. When she opened the door to her apartment, she rushed in and went straight to her room where she slammed the door so hard a picture came off the wall.

  Spinning around, I looked at Brad. I was done being nice. “Listen, whatever you may or may not think I was like at one point in my life, you know nothing about me. I did what I had to do so that my mother didn’t have to worry about how in the hell she was going to afford for me to go to college.”

  “And stripping was the best you could come up with?”

  “No, I worked plenty of other places. It was when I finally opened my eyes to see the struggles my mother was going through that I decided I needed to do something else. A friend of mine was working at the club and told me about it. I checked it and decided it was worth it.”

  Brad drew his mouth into a straight line, stopping himself from saying anything.

  “It’s not like what you’re thinking. I didn’t sleep around with women. I went in, I did my job and I left. I never did anything illegal and I certainly didn’t fuck a different girl every night. I did a few private parties and yeah, I messed around with a girl or two that caught my eye. When you can stand here and tell me you led a perfect life, I’ll let you judge mine.”

  Brad looked away for a brief second as the reality of my words sunk in before turning back to look at me.

  “I was able to pay for all of my college, no loans needed. I paid off the debt my mother had, bought her a car and a house. I’ve got a pretty large nest egg in the bank as well. All with the money I earned stripping.”

  “Does your mother know what you did?”

  “Of course she does. She wasn’t happy about it, but it was my life, my decision.”

  Brad turned and walked over to the sofa where he sat down and buried his face in his hands and let out a frustrated grunt.

  “Son-of-a-bitch, I messed up again.”

  I wanted more than anything to agree with him, but I kept my mouth shut as I made my way to Meagan’s room. Knocking lightly, I said, “Meg, baby it’s me.”

  I could hear her crying on the other side of the door and the way it made me feel shocked me. That sound was something I never wanted to hear, and I’d do anything to make that happy. “Come in,” she softly spoke.

  Slowly turning the knob, I walked in and about dropped to the floor when I saw her bloodshot eyes and mascara running down her face. Shutting the door, I quickly walked over to her and fell to my knees.

  “No, don’t cry, Meg.”

  Cupping her face in my hands, I kissed all over her face as she sobbed harder.

  “I’m. So. Sorry,” she whispered between sobs.

  My eyes searched her face as I smiled at her. “I love you.” Pressing my lips to hers, I pulled her down to the floor with me. Her arms wrapped around my neck as she pulled me closer to her. I would have given anything to not have her father on the other side of her bedroom door.

  “I love you,” I whispered against her lips.

  “Gray.”

  Pulling back, I looked into her eyes. “You need to talk to your father.”

  Meagan shook her head. “I don’t have anything to say to him.”

  My finger came up to her chin as I made her look into my eyes. “Meg, your father has paid for his past mistakes and your parents moved on. You can’t blame him for being upset because he found out about my past job. If I was your father, I’d flip a fucking lid as well.”

  She shook her head as her eyes fell to my lips. I knew what she wanted. What she needed. I felt the same way. Getting lost in each other was what we did, but not now. Now we both had to face this head on.

  “I’d give anything to be with you, Meg, but baby, we need to go out there and talk to him.”

  The moment her teeth sunk down into that plump bottom lip, I moaned and adjusted my growing dick.

  “Gray,” she whispered.

  I quickly stood and backed away from her. “No way, Meg. Your father is right there,” I whispered as she stood up and made her way to me.

  My hand came up to stop her. “No!”

  “Please, Gray. I just need to feel you.”

  I looked away. Don’t look in her eyes! Stay strong!

  My body shivered the moment her hands touched my chest.

  “Just for a second. I need to feel you for one second.”

  God why can’t I resist this girl?

  My hand landed on her hip to stop her.

  “We need to go out there now, Meg.”

  The knock on the door had Meagan stepping away from me as she pouted.

  “Meagan? Pumpkin, please come out and let me talk to you.”

  Giving her a wink, I walked up to her and kissed her on the forehead. “Let’s go talk to your dad, together.”

  Meagan laced her fingers in mine as we headed to the door. We could face anything, as long as we were together.

  Meagan

  MY BODY ACHED as I ro
lled over and stretched. The sun was pouring into my bedroom lighting up the whole room and telling me I had slept in much longer than I wanted to.

  Feeling to my right, the space was empty. I sat up and rolled my neck a few times before swinging my feet out and stumbling out of bed.

  We had stayed up late last night talking to my father and then watching a movie. Dad had given up on the movie only twenty minutes into it, but Grayson and I watched it till the end.

  Today was the last full day to spend with my dad. I was so glad we talked last night and got everything out in the open. I wasn’t sure if my father was going to be able to move past the whole Grayson being an ex stripper thing, but he did and they actually laughed and joked around a good part of the evening.

  “Gray?” I called out as I walked into my bathroom.

  Quickly changing into some sweat pants and a T-shirt, I threw my hair up into a ponytail and brushed my teeth. Five minutes later I was walking into the kitchen where my father was already sitting at the kitchen island with the newspaper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

  “Dad, you’re the only person I know who still reads an actual newspaper.”

  With a chuckle, my father laughed. “Not true. Gunner and Jeff still read a newspaper.”

  With a roll of my eyes, I sighed and reached for my favorite coffee mug. “I wish Mom could have come with you.”

  “I know, but her sinus infection was just too bad. Plus I think she knew I wanted to spend some time with you.”

  Lifting my cup to my lips, I blew on my hot coffee. “I miss her.”

  “She’s mentioned coming up here next month so the two of y’all can spend a girls weekend together.”

  My heart felt light as the idea of spending the weekend with just my mother filled me with excitement. “I love that idea!”

  My father chuckled. “I thought you would.”

  After taking a sip of coffee, I glanced around. “Where’s Grayson?”

  “He got a call, said it was an emergency and he had to go into the office.”

  A shiver ran through my body. I prayed they hadn’t found another girl killed. “I hope it wasn’t anything serious.”

  “I think he mentioned it was a suicide. At least that’s what I thought I heard him say to the person over the phone.”

  I covered my mouth to hide my yawn. “Oh no. Well I hope not. I wouldn’t think they would call him for a suicide unless it was a murder suicide. I could be wrong though.”

  “Sounds like Gray is pretty good at his job.”

  I sat across from my father and smiled. The slight chill in the air had me wishing I had put on my fuzzy socks. I was ready for spring. March in Texas is shorts weather, so still bundling up was weird to me.

  My father’s cell phone rang as he jumped up and quickly made his way to where it sat on the coffee table.

  “Hello?”

  His eyes immediately came up to mine with a look of concern. Setting my coffee mug down, I stood up.

  Something was wrong.

  “Taylor?” I asked as my father smiled weakly and shook his head.

  “Okay. I understand. Okay.”

  He hit End as he placed his phone in his back pocket.

  The entire time he walked back into the kitchen he avoided eye contact with me.

  “Dad, is everything okay? You’re scaring me.”

  Looking up, his eyes answered for me. “Meagan, that was Gray.”

  My breath caught has he lifted his arms. “No, he’s fine sweetheart, but he needs us to come down to the police station right away.”

  My brow wrinkled as my throat constricted. “W-why?”

  “I don’t know. He just asked me to drive you down to the station as soon as I could.”

  Without even thinking, I grabbed my purse and keys and walked to the door with my father closely behind me.

  “He didn’t say what was wrong?”

  “No, baby. I’m sorry.”

  Something was off. Why would Gray call my father who now wouldn’t even look me in the eye as he talked to me? We made our way out to my car as I pulled the jacket I had grabbed on the way out over my shoulders.

  “I’ll drive, just tell me where to go.”

  I grabbed onto his arm and pulled him to a stop. “Dad, what aren’t you telling me?”

  His smile was soft and gentle, just like his eyes were. “Baby, I don’t have anything to tell you. Let’s get down there and see what Grayson wants.”

  Trying to smile, I forced a grin out and nodded my head.

  Then entire time in the car, I clasped my hands together. My gut was telling me there was something terribly wrong, and I knew my father was trying to protect me from something. That or he really didn’t know.

  After parking, my father took my hand and we walked into the police station together. Glancing around, I saw a large group of kids, high school age, all standing off to the side.

  “Meagan.”

  Grayson’s voice caused my head to snap in his direction. He quickly wrapped his arm around my waist and led me away from everyone. “Brad, want to follow me please?”

  “Sure,” my father said with a cracked voice.

  “Grayson, you’re really scaring me, please tell me what’s wrong.”

  He didn’t look at me; he only kept his eyes trained straight ahead. We walked up to what looked like an investigation room. Grayson opened the door and led us inside.

  He shut the door and looked between the both of us before his eyes landed on mine.

  Was that . . . tears in his eyes?

  Pressing my lips together and moving them back and forth, my heart began to pound in my chest. Something bad happened. Oh God. Melissa!

  “Gray!” I shouted.

  He jumped as he took another step closer to me and placed his hands on my upper arms.

  “Um . . . Meagan . . . I don’t even know how to tell you this, baby. I wish to God I didn’t have to.”

  My breathing hitched as I tried to figure out what he was about to tell me.

  Closing his eyes, he slowly shook his head before looking back into my eyes. Heaviness grew in my chest as my chin trembled.

  “Just tell me, Gray. Please.”

  “Mitchell shot himself this morning in his bedroom.”

  My hands covered my mouth as I sucked in a breath. “Oh my God. Is he okay? Is he going to be all right? Was it an accident?”

  Grayson shook his head as he blinked back tears. He went to speak, but his voice cracked. My heart felt like it had ceased to beat as I stood there and waited for his answer. Everything seemed to stop and move in slow motion as I heard each breath I took.

  “Meg, he died instantly.”

  My brain tried to comprehend what Grayson had said. “W-what?” I choked out as my hands came up to his arms where I held on for dear life. This was impossible. It’s a mistake. It’s not Mitchell! “No. Grayson, no! You have to be wrong. I just saw him yesterday and he was fine! He told me he was happy. Everything was good!” My entire body shook as I replayed our meeting yesterday in my head. Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook my head. Forcing them open, I pleaded, “Please . . . Gray . . . no. He would have told me if things where that bad.” Hitting Grayson against the chest as hard as I could, I cried out, “He’s not gone! You’re wrong. You’re wrong!”

  “God, baby, I wish I was wrong. I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry.”

  The soreness in my lungs burned as I tried to understand what was happening. “I . . . I don’t understand why.” My fingers pushed though my hair as I cradled my head and tried to make sense of all of this. My arms dropped and I looked at Grayson. “Mitchell.” Pushing Grayson away from me, I covered my mouth as my shoulders quaked. “No!” I screamed as I stumbled back against the door.

  “Meagan,” Grayson called out as he reached for me.

  Tears streamed down my face as I saw Mitchell’s smile flash across my mind. How did I miss this? How could I have let him down like this?

  My body
trembled as Grayson placed his hands on my face. I was barley able to speak as I whispered, “Please tell me you’re wrong. Please, Gray. Please.”

  Grayson pulled me into his arms as he held me tightly. “I’m so sorry, Meg.”

  My legs gave out as I screamed out Mitchell’s name and collapsed to the ground as Grayson went down with me. Pulling me onto his lap, Grayson held onto me tightly.

  The room slowly faded away as I heard Grayson and my father calling out my name.

  I failed him.

  I. Failed. Him.

  “Gray, why don’t you go get something to eat?”

  My father’s voice sounded so far away as I fought to open my eyes.

  “I’m not hungry, Brad, but thank you.”

  Turning my head, I saw my father and Grayson both sitting in chairs. Grayson’s head was buried in his hands as my father stared out the window.

  It was then I realized what had happened.

  Mitchell.

  Tears spilled from my eyes as I looked up at the ceiling and then around Grayson’s bedroom confused. “What happened?” I asked as Grayson jumped up and was by my side in an instant.

  “You passed out. We brought you back to my place.”

  My father stood on the other side of me and smiled sweetly as he took my hand in his. “Hey, pumpkin.”

  “Dad,” I whispered with a smile.

  Turning back to Grayson, I knew I had to ask the one thing I was praying had been a dream. “Mitchell?”

  Grayson’s chin trembled as he looked at my father. My heart dropped, knowing it wasn’t a bad dream.

  “Why?” I asked with a quaking voice. “Why?”

  Sitting up some, I looked between my father and Grayson. “Is his mother okay? What about his brothers?”

  Clearing his throat to speak, my father squeezed my hand. “She’s doing the best anyone can expect and Melissa has been with Mitchell’s brothers.”

  I attempted to swallow but my throat was so dry. Gripping my father’s hand, I looked into his eyes. “Daddy,” was all I could manage to get out.

  My father kissed my forehead and mumbled against my skin, “I love you, pumpkin.” Pulling back, he gave me a weak smile. “Let me go see what I can find out about how Mrs. Haus is doing.”

  I watched as my father quickly walked out of the bedroom.