chapter THIRTY-TWO
Gray
M y phone starts buzzing the moment we pull into the Sable Ridge parking lot.
I let it go to voicemail.
It starts ringing again before I've even stood up.
"Fuck," I mutter under my breath, earning a curious look from Eli in the seat across from me.
"Problem?" he asks.
"Family," I say, which explains everything and nothing. I hit decline again.
Third call. This time I answer, if only to prevent him from calling the entire athletics department to track me down.
"Gray." My father's voice carries that particular brand of authority that's opened boardroom doors and crushed business rivals for three decades, even through the phone speaker. "Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you."
"Competing. You know, that thing I'm here on scholarship to do." I keep my voice low, but several teammates still glance over. Great.
"Don't be flippant. We need to discuss tonight."
Tonight. The family dinner with the Kincaids that I'd managed to push out of my mind until now. Katherine and her parents, another attempt at orchestrated matchmaking disguised as a social evening.
"I can't tonight. Team obligations."
"Cancel them." Not a request. Never a request with Harrison Lockwood. "The Kincaids are expecting us at seven. Katherine specifically asked about you."
Katherine Kincaid. Pretty in that porcelain doll way that photographs well but lacks any real warmth.
Makes Kinsley Adams look charming by comparison, which is saying something.
The one time I made the mistake of sleeping with her, she spent the entire encounter making these high-pitched, nasal sounds that killed my mood so completely I couldn't even finish. Worst lay of my life, hands down.
"I told you I'm not interested in Katherine."
"And I told you that your personal preferences are secondary to family expectations.
" His tone sharpens with the edge that's made opposing counsel wet themselves in depositions.
"You're twenty-one years old, Gray. It's time to start thinking seriously about your future. About appropriate partnerships."
Around me, the team is filing off the bus, shouldering bags and stretching muscles stiff from the three-hour drive. Reese passes my row, and I catch a hint of her scent—still tinged with heat despite Bo's best efforts, but controlled enough to function.
The contrast between her and Katherine Kincaid is laughable. Katherine, with her perfect pedigree and calculated ambitions, versus Reese, who commands eight Alphas through sheer force of will and strategic brilliance.
"Gray? Are you listening to me?"
"Every word." I watch Reese disappear through the bus door, something crystallizing in my mind. "But my answer remains the same. I'm not coming to dinner."
"Yes, you are." His voice drops to that tone that used to terrify me as a child. "The Kincaids have been patient about Katherine's interest in you, but patience has limits. This dinner is happening, and you will attend."
"What if I bring someone?"
The words escape before I've fully thought them through, but once they're out there, the idea takes shape with startling clarity.
"Bring someone?" My father's tone suggests I've just proposed showing up naked. "This is a family dinner, not some casual social gathering."
"A date," I clarify. "Someone I'm seeing."
Silence stretches long enough that I wonder if the call dropped. Then: "Are you seeing someone seriously?"
I think about Reese. About the way she looked at me yesterday when I found her crying in the bathroom. About how she fit against me in that cramped space, how right it felt to hold her. About the fact that I can't seem to stop thinking about her, heat cycle or not.
"Potentially."
"Well." He sounds thrown, which is satisfying. Harrison Lockwood doesn't like surprises. "Is she... appropriate?"
"Define appropriate."
"You know exactly what I mean. Family background. Education. Designation."
There it is. The checklist that's ruled my entire life. Family money: check. Elite education: check. Alpha or suitable Beta: well, that's where things get complicated.
"She's a student at Sable Ridge," I say carefully. "Exceptional academic record. Strong family background."
All true, technically.
"What's her name?"
"Reese." I don't offer her last name. Let him work for it if he's that interested.
Another pause. "Bring her tonight. Seven sharp. And Gray? Make sure she understands what kind of family she's meeting."
The line goes dead. I stare at my phone, wondering what the hell I just committed myself to. And what kind of situation I'm about to drag Reese into without her having any idea what she's agreeing to.
"Sounded fun," Eli observes dryly. He's been listening shamelessly, because privacy is apparently a foreign concept on this team.
"About as fun as a root canal." I stand, grabbing my bag from the overhead compartment. "I need to find Reese."
"This should be interesting." Eli follows me off the bus. "You planning to give her any context before you drag her into the lion's den?"
"Some."
"How much is some?"
I consider this as we walk toward the athletic complex. How do I explain three generations of Lockwood expectations? The weight of legacy money and social positioning? The fact that my father sees marriage as a business merger rather than a personal choice?
"Enough," I say finally.
Eli snorts. "You're fucked."
"Probably."
I find Reese in the equipment room, methodically coiling steering cables.
She's changed out of her travel clothes into athletic shorts and a tank top, preparing to help with boat maintenance despite the fact that she just spent three hours managing a bus full of Alphas while fighting her own biology.
The sight of her, competent and focused even while dealing with her heat, makes my chest tight.
"Shouldn't you be resting?" I ask.
She glances up, those blue-green eyes sharp with alertness. "Shouldn't you be wherever team captains go to brood about race performance?"
"Funny." I close the door behind me to keep any nosy teammates out of the conversation. "I need to ask you something."
Her hands still on the cables. "That sounds ominous."
"Are you free tonight?"
"That depends. Free for what?"
I lean against the doorframe, trying to figure out how to frame this without sounding completely insane. "Family dinner. My parents' house. Very formal, very traditional, very..." I search for the right word. "Tedious."
"Why would you want me there for that?"
Fair question. Because I can't stand the thought of another evening watching Katherine Kincaid perform her perfect Alpha daughter act.
Because the idea of you meeting my parents terrifies and excites me in equal measure.
Because I'm pretty sure you're the only person who could handle them without either being intimidated or kissing their asses.
"Mutually beneficial arrangement," I say instead. "You need a distraction from your heat. I need a buffer against family matchmaking attempts."
She raises an eyebrow. "Matchmaking?"
"Katherine Kincaid. Daughter of my father's business partner. Pre-law, Alpha, about as interesting as watching grass grow. My parents think she'd make an excellent daughter-in-law."
"And you disagree."
"Strongly."
Reese sets down the cables, giving me her full attention. "So you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend to get your parents off your back about this Katherine person."
"That's a crude way of putting it, but essentially accurate."
"What's in it for me? Besides the privilege of meeting your apparently charming family."
I study her face, noting the careful control that doesn't quite hide the exhaustion underneath. The slight tremor in her hands that suggests her heat is building again despite Bo's assistance.
"Distraction," I repeat. "Something to focus on besides your biology. Plus, excellent food and the chance to see me squirm under parental interrogation."
She considers this, head tilted in that way that means she's calculating angles I can't see.
"What kind of formal are we talking about? Because I'll need to know what's expected."
"Cocktail attire. My mother will be in designer everything, Katherine will probably show up dripping in the best that daddy's money can buy." I study her face. "Think you can handle that level of pretension?"
"Please." Her tone turns dry. "I grew up in that world, remember? I know exactly what your mother expects to see walk through her door."
"Good." I step closer, drawn by the slight hitch in her breathing. "Then you understand what we're walking into."
"This is a terrible idea," she says.
"Probably."
"Your parents will hate me."
"Definitely."
"At least I know their world well enough after dealing with my own parents for twenty years," she says with a sigh. "The question is whether I can stomach pretending to fit into it again."
"You won't have to pretend." I move closer, close enough to see the gold flecks in her eyes. "Though honestly, watching you navigate their expectations might be worth the price of admission."
"You want me to be myself?"
"I want you to be exactly who you are." I reach out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Smart, sharp, unimpressed by money or status. Everything Katherine Kincaid isn't."
She catches my hand, fingers curling around my wrist. "And what happens when my heat spikes again tonight?"
I pause, meeting her eyes directly. "Then we leave immediately. No questions, no explanations to my parents. I'll take care of you however you need."
Her pulse jumps under my thumb. The careful control she's maintained all day wavers slightly, heat bleeding through despite her best efforts.
"When do we leave?" she asks finally.
"Five-thirty. Dinner's at seven, and it's an hour drive to the house."
"Your parents live an hour away?"
"Lakefront estate in the mountains. Very private, very exclusive, very designed to intimidate visitors."
"Sounds familiar." But she's smiling as she says it, that sharp smile that means she's ready for battle. "My family has one of those too."
"I figured," I say. "Which is why you'll be perfect for this."
She stands, moving close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off her skin. "Gray?"
"Yeah?"
"If I do this, if I help you tonight... I want something in return."
"Name it."
"When this is over, when my suppressants arrive and things go back to normal, I want honest answers. About why you really asked me. About what you want from me."
The request catches me off guard with its directness. No games, no manipulation, just a straightforward demand for truth.
"Deal," I say.
She rises on her toes, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek. "Pick me up at five-thirty. And Gray? Try not to look so worried. I can handle your parents."
As she leaves the equipment room, I'm left wondering what the hell I've just set in motion. Taking Reese to meet my parents feels like introducing a lit match to gasoline—exciting and potentially explosive.
But as I think about Katherine Kincaid's practiced smile and my father's expectations, I realize I'm looking forward to tonight for the first time in years.
Reese Callahan is about to meet the Lockwood family. They have no idea what's coming.
Neither do I.