Letting Go

  I took a step forward and wrapped my arm around her waist then hauled her against my chest. Nipping at the sensitive spot on her neck, I whispered, “Just think of how much worse it would’ve been if she came in a few minutes later and heard you screaming.”

  Grey scoffed and pushed against my stomach, but I just laughed and kept her close against me.

  “She thinks we were sleeping.” Grey shot me a look and I sucked in air through my teeth as we walked out of the bathroom. “Or at least that’s what she wants to pretend we were doing.”

  “Yeah. That sounds more believable,” she whispered, and then called out brightly, “Hey, Charlie!”

  Charlie’s eyes widened, and she looked over at me for a second before smiling awkwardly at Grey. “Hi. Good morning . . .” She trailed off, her greeting sounding more like a question, and that’s when it hit me. This was the first time Charlie and Grey were seeing each other since we’d found out about Charlie’s feelings for Ben.

  If it hadn’t been for the unwelcome surprise of Charlie showing up at the same moment Grey had settled herself on me, I would’ve remembered this sooner, and I would’ve worried about how Grey would react to seeing Charlie. Whether Grey remembered everything given her embarrassment, she wasn’t showing that anything had ever happened; and it was obvious that Charlie had expected her to be colder toward her.

  “How are you?” Grey asked as she walked out of my arms and pulled Charlie in for a hug.

  “I’m fine, I just—uh—sorry for waking you up.”

  “It’s fine. Do you want anything to drink?”

  Charlie watched Grey walk toward the kitchen and looked back at me. “Did you decide not to tell her?” she asked softly so her voice wouldn’t carry.

  I shrugged and shook my head. “No, she knows.”

  “Babe?”

  I looked up at Grey, who was waiting expectantly. “I’m good.”

  “Water is fine,” Charlie said without looking at her, then lowered her voice again. “Was she okay with it?”

  “I don’t know, she was upset that you’d been acting like you were fine, but she wasn’t mad that you liked him. She just thought it looked bad on her that she was moving on with her life. But she got past that, she’s a lot better now.”

  Charlie nodded absentmindedly and turned to look at Grey just as she came back with water for her and Charlie.

  “If you want to hang out with your brother today, I can go home or go hang out with Graham,” she offered, but Charlie waved her off.

  “No, I’m glad you’re here, and I can’t stay long, I just wanted to come say hi before running back home. Mom’s leaving for somewhere, so I’m gonna watch Keith.”

  My eyes narrowed. “Again?”

  “Don’t start, Jag,” Charlie pleaded softly.

  I bit back the response I wanted to make and asked instead, “Where’s Mom going this time?”

  “I’m not sure, but she said she’d be gone for a couple days, so I’m guessing she’ll be home in a week or so.”

  My face went blank. “Charlie, we’ve talked about this—”

  “And I’ve asked you to stop bothering me about it!” she shot back, cutting me off. “I have nothing else going on right now except for a couple online classes. I’d be watching Keith anyway.”

  “He’s not your responsibility.”

  “And I wasn’t yours! But you took care of me anyway!”

  “Hey, Charlie,” Grey said suddenly, her soft voice enough to stop what was sure to be another argument. “How is your mom doing?”

  “She’s fine, I guess. I mean she’s the same as she always is, the sky is made of love and all that, so she’s good.”

  Grey kept a smile plastered on her face, but I could see the eagerness as she waited for something else—like Charlie’s answer hadn’t been what she’d been looking for. After a few seconds of awkward silence between the three of us, Grey asked, “Was she able to find a job?”

  I forced out a quick laugh, and Charlie’s face lit up with a weary smile. “Find a job? Mom? Uh . . . no. Definitely not.”

  Grey’s smile faltered, and my eyebrows pinched together. “Wait, why are you asking if she found a job?”

  “She said she was trying to get one.”

  “Said? When did you talk to her?”

  Both girls looked at me in surprise at my harsh tone, and Grey’s head shook back and forth quickly. “I don’t—a week or so ago? Maybe?”

  I tried to calm down and sound bored, but I was too afraid that instead of going to my sister—like I’d always feared—my mom had gone to Grey. “Where did you see her?”

  “In town. I ran into her and we talked for a few minutes. She told me she was trying to find a job—that’s it!”

  “What is wrong with you?” Charlie asked, and by her expression, I knew I still needed to calm down.

  “Nothing.”

  Her eyebrows rose as she continued to stare at me. “I don’t believe you, but whatever. You’re in a bad mood today anyway.” Finishing the rest of her water, she turned toward the kitchen. “I need to leave, I told Mom I’d be back before eleven.”

  “Charlie,” I groaned. “Come on, stay for a little while. I’ll make lunch.”

  Grey laughed and Charlie looked terrified. “You’ll . . . make . . . sweet Lord, someone save me.”

  “I’ll pick up food. Sound better?”

  Charlie’s expression turned teasing, and she nodded once as we walked to the door. “It does, but for Grey’s benefit. Because I really do have to go.”

  After hugging Grey, Charlie skipped over to me and threw her arms around my neck.

  “If Mom’s leaving, you could always bring Keith over here if you didn’t want to stay there alone.”

  “Or you could always just come see us?” she countered, and kissed my cheek.

  “All right, I’ll think about it.”

  With a little wave, Charlie ran through the rain to her car and got in as quickly as possible. As soon as she drove away, and Grey and I were back in the warehouse with the door shut, Grey turned on me.

  “Why did you react that way about me talking to your mom?”

  I wanted to tell her, but at the same time I didn’t. We’d just gone over my keeping things from her, but I’d told her then that I would continue to do whatever I had to in order to protect her. And letting her know about Mom would only worry her and make her ask too many questions. If Charlie could stay in the dark on this, then Grey could too. They needed to. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Grey made a face. “Yes you do. You went from fine to freaking out in half a second. Talk to me.”

  “I’m sorry if that’s how I came across, but I’m fine.”

  She continued to watch me closely with those honey-gold eyes until I ran my hands over her arms and then pulled her into my chest.

  “How about we get ready and go out on the lake?”

  Grey laughed until she realized I was serious, and then pointed to the door behind her. “It’s pouring outside.”

  “Then how about we order in some food, and spend the rest of the day in bed?”

  She smiled against my kiss and pushed me back enough to look at me. “You really want to do that after your sister just walked in on us? Kinda killed the mood for me.”

  My face fell and I dropped my arms as I took a step away from her. “Thanks for killing it again.” Turning away, I walked quickly toward the stairs and up to the loft.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get ready,” I called back. “We’re leaving and spending time in public until I can stop thinking about my sister walking in on us.”

  I heard her soft laugh from below, and the sound made me feel worse than I already did. I’d wanted to get her mind off my mom, knowing that this wasn’t something she needed to worry about, and knowing she’d continue bringing up the subject until I told her what she wanted to hear. And while I was glad she had dropped it for now, I hated that I’d forced the change in
conversation for my benefit.

  Instead of protecting her like I’d promised I always would, I felt like I’d tricked her.

  Chapter 14

  Jagger

  August 29, 2014

  PLACING A HAND on either side of Grey, I leaned down and pressed my lips to first her throat, then her jaw and cheek, and finally her mouth. She smiled against the kiss, and the tips of her fingers traced along my jaw before I moved back.

  “Morning,” she mumbled sleepily.

  “Good morning, sweetheart.”

  Her eyes finally opened, and her brow furrowed when she got a good look at me. “Why are you dressed?”

  “I’m gonna go pick up something for breakfast. Unless you want me to cook . . .” I trailed off, and laughed at her horrified expression.

  “No! Go get something.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Kissing her softly once more, I stood up and started walking backward toward the stairs. “I’ll be back soon, I just didn’t want you to wake up while I was gone.”

  Her face softened into a dreamy smile, and I had to fight with myself when all I wanted was to crawl back in bed beside her. “Thank you. Be safe and come back to me soon.”

  “Always.”

  Turning around, I jogged down the steps before I could talk myself into staying and walked outside—my steps immediately halting when I looked up.

  “What . . . the . . . fuck.”

  I looked quickly around the alley where our cars were parked before jogging to the corner to look down that side of the building. When I didn’t find anything, I walked back to Grey’s car. A low growl built up in my chest when I saw what was on the paper, and my arm automatically reached out to rip off the one closest to me before I stopped myself. Pulling out my phone, I called the police and told them what was going on before looking at my own car.

  Covering my car were thousands of pieces of paper, all with pictures of Grey and me together. Across the pictures were the words “whore” or “backstabber.” It was the same on Grey’s car, except the papers had pictures of her and Ben, with the words “What about forever?” The other papers were copies of Ben’s vows. Over. And over.

  I wanted to keep Grey out of this, but I knew I couldn’t. Taking pictures of every angle of both cars, I finally walked back inside, standing just at the doorway.

  “Grey?”

  “What’d you get?” I heard the bed shift a few seconds before she appeared at the railing. “Are you coming inside?” she asked on a laugh that died as soon as she saw my expression. “Jagger?”

  “I need you to put some clothes on and come outside, babe. The police are on their way.”

  “What?” Her soft voice barely reached me, and I hated the way her face fell.

  I swallowed thickly and looked behind me toward the cars before looking back at her. “I’m here for you, Grey, and we’ll find whoever is doing this. I swear to God.”

  A pained exhale came from the loft as she shook her head back and forth and took slow steps away. She hadn’t even seen the cars, but she knew what was happening. I hated this for her, and silently vowed to do everything to find this person and make them pay.

  The cops showed up before Grey made it outside, and I was in the middle of talking with the officer who’d helped us last time when I noticed his eyes trail to something behind me. Turning around, I saw Grey standing in front of her car with a mix of pain and fear covering her face. I walked over to her and pulled her into my arms as I backed us away from the cars and toward the officer.

  “It’ll be okay,” I whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry.”

  She just nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving the cars. Not even a minute later, she gasped and gripped at my arm. “Jagger.”

  “What?” I looked around quickly, first to her and then around the alley to see if she’d seen someone who shouldn’t be here. My eyes barely glanced at where another two officers were taking the pieces of paper off the cars, then darted quickly back. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groaned.

  The officers started removing the paper faster when they saw what Grey and I had seen, and soon both cars were paper free. Now you could see that someone had painted in white letters on all the windows of both cars. Mine had the words that had been typed over every picture covering my windows. Grey’s were covered with Ben’s vows. I pulled out my phone and took more pictures while the officers took pictures with their cameras, and stared at the writing. It was nondescript. It didn’t look masculine or feminine. Every letter was capitalized, but that was it. Nothing else could be said about it.

  We stood out there until the officers were gone, and when I got Grey back inside, she surprised me by looking pissed.

  “You need security cameras, or something.”

  “What?”

  She pointed at the front door. “You need cameras out there so we know if the person comes back, and can maybe figure out who it is. You changed the lock, but they obviously know I’m here with you most of the time. So changing the locks isn’t going to stop them from doing something to the outside or, obviously, our cars.”

  “Okay, you’re right. I’ll call someone today and we’ll get some cameras set up as soon as they can come out. I’ll get an alarm too, just in case. It’ll make me feel better if you’re here without me.”

  Grey nodded and looked around at the large space. “This needs to stop, Jag,” she mumbled.

  “I know.” Pulling her into my arms, I pressed my lips to her forehead, and left them there for a few seconds. “I need to go get the cars washed to get all that shit off them. Do you—”

  “I’m coming with you,” she said in a rush, and her body began shaking. “I’m not staying here alone after that.”

  “All right, then let’s go. We’ll take one car at a time. If you’re coming with me, I’m keeping you next to me.”

  She sighed slowly and tightened her arms around me for a moment. “Thank you.”

  Grey

  August 29, 2014

  JAGGER WALKED ME out to my car later that afternoon, and just before I opened the door, I turned and wrapped my arms around him—pressing my face against his chest. It had been a long day with the cars and police, calling a security company to set up an appointment for someone to come out, and sitting around on the floor of the kitchen as we snacked on food and went over everyone we could think of in Thatch who would and could do what this person had been doing to us.

  The list hadn’t been long.

  And even though I knew I needed to go back to my parents’ house to get ready to go to work, the last thing I wanted to do was leave Jagger at that moment. Part of it was because I was worried about what someone could do, and being away from Jagger would have my mind constantly going in that direction. But it was also because I knew when I went to sleep tonight, it wouldn’t be in his arms.

  “You’re going to be fine,” he mumbled against the top of my head. “If anything happens, I’ll be there in a second, okay?”

  “I know you will.” I reluctantly unwrapped my arms from his waist and turned to open the driver’s door. Jagger’s voice stopped me from closing it once I’d gotten in.

  “Grey?”

  “Hmm?”

  Jagger stood there looking unsure for a few moments, then he gripped the top of my car and leaned in so his face was inches from mine. “What if you didn’t go to your parents’ tonight?”

  “Whoever’s doing this to us already knows where my parents live. They know where I am, they know my car. No matter where I sleep, if they want to do something, they’ll find a way to do it wherever I am.”

  “No, uh . . .” He trailed off, and looked away from me again. “I meant what if you come here, and stay here.” Just as I started to tell him that I had been staying there, he cut me off. “You’ve been sleeping here most nights anyway, why don’t you just stay? Grab whatever you need from your parents’ house and come stay here with me.”

  I tried unsuccessfully to bite back a smile, and acted
like I was considering what he’d asked me. “You know, it only takes a few minutes to get to my parents’, if something happens I’ll be able to hang on for the amount of time it’ll take you to get to me,” I teased, and his green eyes narrowed at my nonchalant tone.

  “I don’t want you here just so I can be with you as soon as something happens. I want you here because I don’t like watching you leave. Even if I know I’ll see you again tomorrow, tomorrow’s never soon enough when it comes to you.”

  “You really want me here? In your space . . . girly-ing up your warehouse?”

  He laughed and rolled his eyes. “If it means you’ll be here, you can do whatever you want with the place. And if you want, I’ll talk to your parents or I’ll be there with you when you tell them.”

  Cupping the back of his neck, I pulled him down so I could kiss him. “I think I better talk to my parents alone. I’ll never forget how this conversation went last time, so it’s probably best if you’re not within seeing range of my dad.”

  “If that’s what you want, but I need to know that you want to be here. I don’t want you staying here just because it’s what I want or asked—”

  “Jagger, stop. I want to be here, trust me. I’ll talk to my parents tomorrow, and regardless of what happens, I’ll see you after that, okay?”

  “Okay.” He stepped back, and his lopsided smile quickly took over his face. “Have fun at work tonight, and call me if anything happens.”

  “I will.”

  “And call me if you change your mind about wanting me there when you talk to them.”

  “I will!” I said on a laugh, and pushed on his stomach so he would take another step back. “Now go back inside or I’ll think of a reason to call in to work and tell them I’m not coming in, and it’ll be all your fault.”

  He raised one dark brow in an obvious challenge, but stepped away and put his hand on the door. “Come back to me, Grey LaRue. Tomorrow is already too far away.”

  “I’m calling in,” I breathed, my heart warming with his words.

  Before I could say anything more or try to get out of my car, he shut the door and gave me a wicked smile as he backed up toward the warehouse and walked inside.