Marek

  And just like that, Marek's body loosens and he drops his eyes to me. I can still see the heat bubbling deep within, now tempered a bit with frustration that he can't beat the shit out of Owen.

  He takes in a breath and nods. I let my hands drop away from him, and turn to face Owen.

  But it's Marek who does the talking. His voice is surprisingly cool and collected when he says, "Get off my property. And if I catch you anywhere near Gracen or Lilly again, trust me when I say you'll regret it."

  Owen doesn't say a word, but turns his smirk my way. He points is finger right at me, which can be taken in no way other than a threat. "You're a bad daughter, Gracen. Tell Mommy and Daddy I said hello."

  "Go fuck yourself, Owen," I snarl back at him, letting my anger finally win out over the pressing guilt weighing down on me.

  I should have left well enough alone, because Owen gives a delighted laugh, lowering his hand. He shakes his head, amused over the little bit of fight he sees within me. "Can't believe you're letting your parents down like that, Gracen. No loyalty whatsoever."

  "What the fuck is he talking about?" Marek asks in a low voice.

  I ignore Marek.

  I ignore Owen.

  I turn my back on both of them and march into the house. I'm filled with anger and disgust and downright helplessness. It makes me want to throw up, so I hightail it up the stairs to my bathroom.

  Leaning over my sink, I splash cold water on my face, taking deep breaths. Not only was that about the most unpleasant confrontation I've ever had in my life, but now I've got to figure some things out where my parents are concerned. I know about the only thing left to do is to call them and tell them that I couldn't save their house.

  Not that they really knew I was trying to save it, but maybe we can discuss it and come up with another solution. Maybe they can go to the bank and work out a monthly payment that's acceptable and I could afford. I make decent money as a nurse, and I've got no real expenses while living here at Marek's.

  I bend over, cup another handful of water, and dunk my face into it. As the water dribbles away, I straighten up, only to find Marek standing behind me. His reflection in the mirror puts me on edge.

  "What was Owen talking about?" His voice is hard, giving me some inkling that he's not going to accept a bullshit story.

  "It's nothing," I say as I grab the towel to wipe my face off. When I turn to face Marek, I add, "Just some personal financial stuff you don't have to worry about."

  A muscle ticks in Marek's jaw and he crosses his arms over his chest.

  God, what a chest, I think, and my face goes warm remembering how I slept on top of it last night.

  "Try again," Marek says through gritted teeth. "That guy has something over you and your parents, and he's clearly batshit crazy coming all the way down here to taunt you with it. Now, you may not think it's any of my business, but Lilly lives in this house and I want to know what's going on."

  His proclamation that he's now Lilly's chief protector is both warming and humiliating to me. I love how much he innately loves her, but it's also a clear reminder that I'm lacking in my abilities to provide and protect as well as he can.

  "It's nothing I can't handle--"

  "Gracen," Marek says in a low voice. "The truth."

  My mouth opens and closes as if it wants to let the words pour out, but they just don't come. I'm too humiliated to admit to him how stupid I was to agree to marry someone essentially for money. It wouldn't be my money, but Owen would handle my parents' debt.

  "Last chance," Marek says ominously.

  I swallow hard, but I can't bring myself to admit what a dumbass I am.

  "Stubborn as ever," Marek mutters softly, and spins away from me. As he heads out of my bedroom, I hear him say, "I'm sure your parents can tell me what's going on."

  It takes several seconds for his words to penetrate, but then I'm flying down the stairs to catch up with him. I find him in his bedroom, flipping through his contacts. It doesn't surprise me at all he'd still have my parents' cell phone numbers.

  "Marek, don't," I hiss at him as I make a grab for his phone. He turns away from me, stabbing his finger on the screen.

  He puts the phone to his ear, dodges a second attempt by me to get the phone, and then I'm frozen when he says, "Sheryl, hey, it's Marek."

  I imagine my mom has to be shocked as hell to be getting a call from him. Whatever my mom is saying on the other line causes a fond smile to tip the corners of Marek's mouth up.

  His voice is tender when he says, "Yeah, it's good to hear your voice too."

  My chest squeezes hard, and then I feel a warm, gooey sensation flood through me. Marek loved my parents as I loved his. He still cares for them, and that touches me deeply.

  "Listen...is Tim around? I need you to put this on speaker so he can listen in."

  My jaw drops and I make another futile grab for the phone, to do what with it I don't know. Maybe drop it down the garbage disposal to prevent this call from going a step further.

  Marek taps his speakerphone button and then I hear my mom's voice, "Okay, Marek. Tim's standing here with me too. Are Gracen and Lilly okay?"

  Marek gives a slight wince from the worry in my mom's tone. He quickly assures her, though. "They're both fine. Gracen is standing here with me now, also on speakerphone. Lilly's with my parents."

  "Hey, honey," Tim Moore says to his daughter. I'm close to my mom, but I'm also a daddy's girl. He would have been right beside Marek on that porch, beating Owen to a pulp for the things he said.

  "Hey, Dad," I say softly, my throat threatening to close off.

  Marek, not one to beat around the bush says, "Owen Waller was just here at my house. Long story short, he said some shitty things to Gracen and I punched him. He's gone now, but he said something before he left that has me worried."

  My eyes plead with Marek not to go into this with my parents. I'm not prepared just yet for everyone to know just how far I'd sunk with Owen.

  He stares at me, acknowledging my silent request, but his lips are pressed into a grim line. He leans over the phone and says, "Before he left, he'd said Gracen was a bad daughter. And then it was creepy as hell when he said, 'Tell Mommy and Daddy I said hello.' Now I know Gracen is the furthest thing from a bad daughter, but she won't tell me what the hell is going on. I need to know, because I want to know how to handle this douche if he shows back up."

  My parents are silent, and I imagine it's because they have no clue what's going on. They were absolutely kept in the dark by me and had no clue I was marrying Owen in a desperate attempt to save their house.

  Marek's eyes stay pinned on me expectantly, and the silence coming through the phone from my parents is brutal.

  It makes me take a deep breath and admit to all three of them, "I was marrying Owen because he was going to pay off your note that was in default with the bank."

  Marek blinks at me in surprise and confusion.

  I rush to fill more of the silence. "Obviously, since I'm not marrying him now, he's going to push it through. I'm so sorry I couldn't stop it. I tried but...well...I just can't marry him."

  "Gracen Calliope Moore," my mom shrieks into the phone, and I wince as Marek holds the phone farther away from him and toward me. I take a step backward. "How could you agree to do something so stupid? You marry for love, not for money."

  My face burns so hot that I feel sweat pop out on my forehead and upper lip. "It didn't start out that way," I feel the need to defend myself.

  But then my words stutter as even I know how lame that sounds. I knew from the get-go that Owen was a horrible person and I'd never love him. Rather than cut it off, I let him suck me into this notion that he could at least be a savior to me and my parents.

  "I just can't believe this," my mom says in bewilderment. "I'm so disappointed in you, Gracen."

  My shoulders slump and my gaze drops to the floor. My parents' approval means the world to me, and while I knew they would be
pissed, I'm not prepared to handle their shame in me.

  "Let's not go there, Sheryl," Marek says tightly into the phone, and my head pops up in disbelief he'd defend me. I know he has got to think I'm a dipshit too. His eyes come to me, but he's asking my parents, "What are the terms of the note? I'll help you out with it."

  I expect silence from my parents. They're prideful and won't want his help. Instead, my dad chuckles into the phone. "We don't need help with the note. It will be paid off soon."

  "What?" I say through lips numb with shock over this revelation. My father's been out of work for a long time.

  "Well, your mom and I found out several months ago that we have natural gas on our property. We've been working with an attorney to explore avenues. We looked at letting them put a well on the property and leasing rights, but ultimately we just decided to sell the place to a gas company, which will include payment of the second mortgage."

  "You're selling the house?" My voice is thick because my mouth is so dry.

  "There's apparently a lot of gas," my dad says with another chuckle, but then his voice turns somber. "I'm regretting not telling you this now. We were going to keep it as a surprise and help you and Lilly get set up in a home of your own."

  I stumble a few feet backward, my legs hitting the edge of Marek's bed. I sit down heavily on the mattress, staring at the floor.

  "Owen knew about it," my mom says, and my head snaps back up to look at the phone with surprise. "He's been trying to buy this place from your dad and me for months now. I find it horrendous that he stopped asking once you agreed to marry him, I guess figuring he'd get it through inheritance."

  "But how did he know?" Marek asks.

  "Because we provided a letter of intent to the bank, showing them the proof of the gas and that we were in the process of leasing or selling. It's why the bank extended the note for us the first time. But after you left for North Carolina, Owen started hounding us again."

  "And we would have sold to him too," my mom adds. "But he just wasn't offering enough. The gas company offered more than triple what he did."

  And I feel officially broken. I put myself through hell dating Owen and then agreeing to marry him. I went through a painful and humiliating process of planning a sham wedding all for money, and I worried myself sick over my parents' debt.

  This entire time...

  For months they knew everything would be okay and I had no clue.

  "Listen," I hear Marek say softly, but my gaze is pinned back on the carpet. "I think Gracen's had enough. How about I have her call you later, okay?"

  My parents give farewells, but I've already disconnected mentally. I'm beyond ecstatic that my parents don't have any financial woes, but I'm so disappointed in myself that I just need some time to process. I push off Marek's bed and walk out of his room.

  He doesn't follow me.

  Chapter 19

  Marek

  The light coming out from under Gracen's bedroom door tells me she's probably still awake. I had come upstairs with no other agenda than to check on Lilly. My parents dropped her off after watching her all day and she's been asleep for a few hours, but I still love opening the door and looking in on her. Her face is so different when she's asleep. So utterly relaxed and peaceful. I could stare at it for hours.

  I had not intended to disturb Gracen. She's been withdrawn all day following that run-in with Owen, and she's not exactly happy with me that I called her parents and forced a confrontation.

  But I'm glad I did. Now I know the truth of what's going on, and more important, Gracen can let go of that unnecessary burden she's been carrying around.

  Christ, I can't believe she'd ever let herself get into that situation with Owen. But I also understand it. Gracen's the type who would run into a burning building to save a kitten, so it's no surprise she'd sacrifice herself to save her parents' house.

  It was stupid, but she feels foolish enough about it that she doesn't need me or anyone else reiterating it to her. After we put Lilly down, she escaped into her room and shut the door behind her without another word to me. I went back down to my room and got packed up for our first preseason game, which will be New York. I have to be out of here in the morning before the sun comes up, but that took about five minutes, and then I was twiddling my thumbs.

  Thinking of Gracen and that shit she got herself embroiled in.

  Mostly thinking of last night, though, and the fact that we had sex.

  Four times before the sun came up.

  If you count oral, and I most certainly do.

  So fucking stupid, yet I don't have an ounce of regret. It was better than I ever remembered, and that's saying something, since Gracen was the best I've ever had. I know that has to do with the depth of feelings I had for her back when we were together, and I'm wondering what it means that it feels better now, when love isn't even involved anymore.

  But something's involved. Maybe it's that she gave birth to my daughter, or maybe it's because I've matured.

  Who knows?

  My knuckles are rapping on her door softly before I can even talk myself out of it, and I don't wait for her to invite me in. I want to make sure she's okay.

  I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I also want to gauge whether there's any of that chemical spark remaining between us, or if it was truly purged from our systems last night.

  Correction, if it was purged from her system last night. I know without a doubt that I want her tonight, and the night after, and the night after that.

  When I step in, I find her sitting on her bed cross-legged and bent over a magazine she has opened on the mattress before her. Her head raises and she looks at me warily.

  "You need to let it go," I tell her as I step in and close the door behind me.

  Gracen blinks in surprise that I'm calling her on the carpet, and her cheeks turn a cute shade of pink.

  "I know you," I remind her as I come to sit on the edge of the bed. "I know how that brain of yours is working. But it's over and done. All is well. So let it go."

  Her eyes flit back and forth between mine, perhaps trying to discern if there's some lie in what I just said. I just hold her gaze until she finally lets out a huge breath of frustration.

  She falls back onto the pillows propped up against the headboard with misery coating her face. "I feel so stupid. So very fucking stupid. If I'd just talked to my parents rather than trying to handle it all on my own."

  I chuckle and shrug. "Hindsight's twenty-twenty. But your heart was in the right place, Gracen. That's all that matters."

  She stretches out and crosses one bare leg over another. I try to ignore it, but her shorts are, well, really short. I remember too well how those legs felt wrapped around me last night.

  Lacing her fingers together and resting them on her belly, she says, "You're right. And thanks for saying that. I just talked to my parents again not long ago and they laid it on a little thick, giving me hell and all."

  I smile and nod. While I know Sheryl and Tim were appalled over the lengths to which Gracen felt she had to go, I know they'd try to bring some humor into the situation. Tim especially. I bet he ribbed her mercilessly.

  There's one other serious thing I want to talk about, and after we have that discussion, I'm going to kiss her and see what happens. My hand slides into my pocket and I finger the condom I slipped in a bit ago.

  "Listen," I say as I turn slightly to face her on the bed. I place a palm on the mattress and lean toward her. "Last night..."

  She tilts her head slightly, curiously waiting for whatever I want to say.

  "We didn't use protection." My voice is gentle but blunt. We should have talked about this before, and that's my fault. I was too eager to have her. "I just wanted you to know...I don't go around having unprotected sex. You're safe. But I have to know, Gracie...with Owen. I mean, he was a whore in high school..."

  "He still is," she says calmly with a disgusted shake of her head. My stomach drops no
t only for what that might mean for me, but for what it meant for her feelings. Did she feel betrayed? Did he break her heart?

  "But you don't have to worry about it," she goes on to say. "Owen and I never had sex."

  Relief and shock overwhelm me for a moment as I try to process what she just said. "Come again?"

  "We never went there," she says with her chin raised a bit. "I kept putting him off. Telling him we'd wait for our wedding night, and well...he didn't care. He had his piece on the side."

  "I'm sorry," I tell her, although I'm not. I'm fucking overjoyed she didn't have sex with him. I'm not a fool to think she was celibate the years we were apart, but fuck if I want the image of her and Owen together in my mind.

  "Don't be," she says with a shrug. "And you've got absolutely nothing to worry about with me. I've always been safe."

  Fuck, I want to kiss her.

  My fingertip slides over the smooth foil wrapper. If she tells me she's on the pill, I'm tossing this fucker into the garbage. "Um...what about pregnancy? We already know my swimmers like your eggs."

  I expect her to laugh at my attempt to lighten the mood, but the normal shine in her eyes goes flat as she frowns. Her gaze drops to her hands, which I notice tighten to the point her knuckles are white.

  My stomach clenches.

  "Gracen?" I ask, feeling completely uneasy over what she might tell me, and I'm thinking a potential pregnancy isn't the worst of it.

  She sucks in a breath, and when she looks back to me, she has a forced smile. Her voice is overly bright. "You don't have to worry about that either."

  That's an answer, but I can tell it's not the full answer based on her demeanor.

  "You're on the pill?" I press her.

  Her expression looks like a deer in the headlights. Her lips part, but she doesn't say a word.

  I'm filled with dread and my voice is way too tight. "Why don't we have to worry about pregnancy?"

  My stomach cramps viciously when Gracen's face goes hard and flat. She lifts her chin, but can't hide the tremble in her voice. "Because I can't have any more children."

  "What?" I ask in disbelief, but my words come out so softly I barely hear them.

  "I had a placental abruption about a week before Lilly's due date. They had to take her by emergency C-section. When they couldn't get the bleeding under control, they had to do a hysterectomy to save my life."