Storm the Night: An Iron Guardians MC Romance Novella

Chapter 12

We walked into the bar to see some guy in Mika’s face yelling at her. I scanned the room and finally found Calliope. Lily had her arms wrapped around her. Something happened. When I went to say something to Country, he had already introduced his fist to that guy’s face.

I quickly went to Calliope. “Hey, are you ok?” I asked her. She just shook her head no and looked like she was on the verge of falling apart again. “This was too soon. It’s ok. Come on. I’ll take you home.” She said something to Mika and Lily and then we left.

It was quiet the whole way home which as I mentioned before, wasn’t far from the house. Once inside, I had her sit on the couch while I got her some water.

“Tell me what happened, Grace.” She looked up at me as I handed her the glass of water.

“I was just um…I was just dancing, and we were having a great time. I was lost in the music and suddenly there were flashbacks that were going off in my head. They were of different times when Colin hit me or yelled at me. The final one was that night, when he smashed my head into the window. That’s when I felt hands grab my hips and it freaked me out. I started screaming. And well, you know what happened after that. Now, I’m just embarrassed.” She started crying again.

“Hey. Hey, sweetheart. It’s ok. You went through some crazy shit. Not just that night but for years. It’s going to take a lot of time to overcome that. I think you’ve been in survival mode for so long that now all these emotions are hitting you.” She just nodded and wiped her face with the tissue. “I’ll never tell you what to do but think about talking to someone. It might help. I did.”

Her eyes went wide. “You talked to a therapist.”

I nodded at her. “I had to. After the first time my mom tried to kill herself, I was really messed up about it. Took it on myself, blamed myself. Like, there was something I should’ve done to help her more before that. Talking to someone has helped me work through that and process it. I think it’s why I handled tonight’s situation with her so differently. I handled it a lot better than I did before.”

“You’re remarkable, Ryder. I’ve never met anyone like you.” She smiled through her puffy eyes and cheeks from crying and wiping her face. She looked like a little kid.

“It’s ok to cry, Grace. It’s ok to be scared and have moments like you did tonight. But you can’t stay in those moments. You deserve better than that.”

“Thank you. I’ll look into it tomorrow. I think I just want to go to bed.”

“Of course.” I stood up to take her empty glass to the kitchen.

“Wait!” She said.

Turning around, “Yeah?”

“Can…um…can I lay out here on the couch?” She was serious. She was asking me if she could do something so simple that I wouldn’t think twice about doing.

I walked over to her and kneeled down in front of her. “Listen to me. You do not need to ask me for permission for anything. This is your house as much as it is mine. You wanna sleep all week on this couch, it’s yours. You wanna sleep in the bathtub, be my guest.” We laughed. “You wanna sit and eat dinner on top of the kitchen counter, let’s do it.” She was smiling even bigger. “Anything you want. Life isn’t meant to have so many rules. You’re supposed to enjoy it. Do what you want, Grace.”

“Will you stay out here with me for a bit? Just until I fall asleep?”

“I’ll stay as long you want me to.”

She smiled and nodded. I stood and went to the kitchen, and she went to her room to get all of her things to lay on the couch.

*

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months and Grace and I fell into a comfortable roommate situation. She had many nights on the couch and I sat next to her until she fell asleep before going to my room. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t developing feelings for her, but I knew that was the last thing she needed. It was hard to be around her day in and day out.

As time passed, she’d gained a little more confidence in herself but when divorce day, or as we”d been calling it, d-day, arrived, you could tell she was nervous again.

I was waiting for her to come out of the bathroom so we could head off to court. She had already signed the divorce decree and sent it back to the lawyer. We hadn’t heard anything, and so assumed dickhead signed it too. That court hearing was for the judge to sign it and make it final. Grace was going to walk away finally free from him.

The bathroom door opened, and she came out looking breathtaking as always. “You ok?” I asked her.

She smiled. “Yeah. I mean, kinda.” She shrugged. “I’m nervous. I know he’ll be there, and I haven’t seen him in months. I’m really nervous.”

“What are you most nervous about?” I asked her the question in hopes whatever she said, I could help reassure her that she was safe and everything was going to be ok.

“What if he does something? Like what if he’s angry and tries something? I know he’s going to be angry.” She looked down at her hands and her fingers were twisted together as she rubbed them forcefully.

Taking a couple steps toward her, I reached for her hands, wrapping mine around hers to stop her from rubbing them. She wasn’t looking up at me though, so I gently grabbed her chin to tilt it up to me. When I did, her eyes looked up at me through her long lashes and something in the air changed in that moment. It was like we were caught in a wave, unable to move or speak, clinging to each for dear life, afraid of drowning. Finally, I cleared my throat and said, “His anger will never hold a candle to mine for what he has done to you. I’ll never let him near you again. I’ll be there with you, and you’ll be safe no matter what. Do you trust me?”

She was caught in the same wave as me and finally she blinked and released the breath she was holding. “Yes, I believe you, and trust you.”

“Good. Let’s go, pretty girl. Let’s go make your day!”