Chapter Twenty-Seven
Grace
I walked into the main room and sat at the table where Karlyn was talking to Jingles. Eros and Indigo weren’t far away. They hadn’t been far from her side since the day she’d walked in flanked by them both.
Kyllian and her man were talking with Banshee and Aspen. Diesel lay on the floor at Aspen’s feet. I could hear shouting coming from church, but the words were indistinguishable.
“What’s going on?” I asked, sitting beside Karlyn, my eyes on the door to church.
“I’m not sure,” Karlyn said. “King came downstairs and walked up and hit Jackson without a word. Then they went in for a bit before everyone came out, except King and Jackson. I think they might be trying to kill each other in there.”
I knew she was trying to lighten her words, but I could hear the fear in her voice. She believed what she said. She didn’t know King. It was only natural that seeing his temper in action would have this effect on her.
The man didn’t know how to use his words when he was angry. He shouted and banged his fists when he was emotional. It didn’t matter what emotion it was; he hid it behind his anger.
Except with me.
I was the only person he let see him vulnerable. The only person he let himself feel with. It should make me feel special, loved. Instead, I felt like a crutch. Something he leaned on when he felt weak, but then returned to the corner when his strength returned.
“They won’t kill each other. Just beat the shit out of each other,” Jingles assured her.
“Well, knowing King, they’ll be at that for a while.” I turned back to Karlyn. “How about a coffee? We can go to Trudy’s; she has the best coffee and pastries.” I lowered my voice. “Just don’t tell Maureen I said that.” Jingles chuckled, and I smacked his arm.
“I don’t think Jackson wants me to leave.” Karlyn bit her lip as she looked at the church doors again.
I looked around the room. Johnny had come back from the hospital, which meant someone else was watching over Keys.
“It will be okay, I promise. You can bring your guard dogs, and I even have one of my own.” I gestured to Johnny, who hurried over.
“What do you need, Grace?”
“Karlyn and I are going to Trudy’s,” I announced, standing up and taking Karlyn’s hand in mine. She was hesitant, but when she looked at Nav, he nodded. “Gather up whoever you need to,” I told Johnny.
I led Karlyn outside, and we climbed into one of the SUVs. Eros and Indigo followed, along with Johnny, Romeo, Zero, and Ace. We must have been quite a spectacle driving through town.
I parked outside of Trudy’s, and Karlyn and I went in with Indigo and Johnny. The others spread out around the building, watching and waiting for something to happen.
King would be pissed when he knew I’d left the clubhouse.
He would use the Death Dogs as an excuse, but I couldn’t live my life behind walls and gates.
I needed to get away. Take some time to breathe.
Time to think. King wasn’t the only one who had trouble with words.
I didn’t know how to make him understand how I felt.
Maureen seemed to think he needed to be told what to do. But he wasn’t a child. He was almost forty fucking years old. He wasn’t some teenager with his first girlfriend. He was the president of a motorcycle club who knew how to make decisions, and he knew how to own the choices he made.
He needed to own this choice. It was his decision to keep me at arm’s length. His decision to put his relationship with Steele ahead of his relationship with me.
“Grace! What a surprise.” Trudy rushed over and pulled me into a tight hug. “Who do you have with you?”
“This is Karlyn. She’s with King’s brother.”
Trudy’s eyebrows scrunched. “Does Maureen know?”
“She does, actually.” I laughed at Trudy’s reaction, realizing this little tidbit hadn’t made its way through town yet. “King recently found out he has another brother. His name is Jackson. He’s a year younger than King.”
“Well, I swear. That clubhouse has more long-lost relatives showing up than the soaps I used to watch on TV. Although I hear the Powell family is trying to catch up.”
At Karlyn’s confused look, I told her about Grayson Powell and Jessie. They’d both recently had some family show up on the ranch unannounced. Jessie’s family was a surprise, but welcome because she loved them. Despite her uncle now being the head of the Mexican Cartel.
And Grayson’s uncle—well, that one wasn’t as welcome.
The way I understood it, the Powell children didn’t know they had an uncle because Old Man Johnson had disowned his son years ago when he’d tried to kill Grayson’s mother and brother, not to mention Old Man Johnson himself—by burning down a barn full of horses.
“We’ll take coffees and cinnamon rolls, Trudy.” I reached over and grabbed Karlyn’s hand. “It’s time I got to know my sister-in-law.” Karlyn smiled shyly, and we sat down.
“Sister-in-law?” Trudy shrieked. “Does that mean the two of you finally got your heads out of your asses? Are you and King finally together?”
“It’s complicated, but we’re trying.” I shrugged.
It was all I could say. I didn’t know what the future held for King and me. We’d been keeping ourselves apart for so long, I wondered if we’d even know how to be together.
“It’s about damn time,” Trudy muttered as she rushed off to get our coffees. She dropped them off and went in the back to get the cinnamon rolls.
“Diamond Creek is an interesting little town,” Karlyn said as she sipped her coffee.
“It sure is. When I first came here, I wasn’t sure why a club would want to set up here. It seems so empty and desolate at first. But I’ve come to love it.” I stared out the window, thinking about all the people I’d met. Namely, the frustrating biker I couldn’t let go of.
“You didn’t grow up here?”
“No, I’m from Arkansas originally.” I looked down at my coffee cup, wondering how much I should share with Karlyn.
“When I was sixteen, my mom and I moved to New Orleans. Once I finished high school, I got a job as a bartender. When my mom passed away, I found a picture of her and the president of the Silver Shadows. So, I went back looking for my father.”
“How did he react?”
“Well, I never actually confronted him.” I looked out the window again, shame filling my heart. “I did something stupid instead.”
Karlyn was quiet as I wrestled with the choice to tell her what I’d planned. Knowing how uncomfortable she was at the clubhouse and with King, I made the only choice I could. I wanted her to like Jackson’s brother. And if it meant she hated me, well, I’d just have to live with it.
“I went to the clubhouse to confront my father. But when I got there, he looked right at me and never said a word. He walked away as if I were no one.”
“Maybe he didn’t know?” she offered.
I shook my head. “The picture I found was of my mother when she was pregnant. And I remember going to the clubhouse as a child. Also, Steele came to our house often. No, he didn’t want me. I look just like my mother.”
“I’m so sorry, Grace. What did you do?”
I took a deep breath. “This is the part I’m not proud of, and it will probably make you hate me. But I want you to know what kind of man King is. I don’t know your story. However, I know you’ve been uncomfortable at the clubhouse.”
Karlyn opened her mouth to speak, and I held up my hand. “You don’t have to tell me. I can see you’re afraid. But you don’t have to be. Not here.”
I stared out the window. I could feel the burn behind my nose from tears that wanted to be set free.
“I started working at the bar, and King came in one night. I knew who he was immediately. I’d done my research. He hung around until I got off shift, and we sat and talked while we drank. When the bar closed, King took me home.”
I dropped my eyes to my cup again, looking for something in my coffee. Strength, maybe confidence. Though what I was really looking for was forgiveness.
“I tried to get King to sleep with me. I’d planned to seduce him and then...” A tear slipped down my cheek. I didn’t even want to say the words out loud. I heard my mother’s voice in my head. Karlyn reached over and put her hand on mine.
‘If you’re going to play the game, Grace, you have to accept your position in it. You have to own what you did.’
It was what she said when we moved out of Arkansas. She never explained what she meant, but it always felt more like we were running rather than hiding. Maybe it was both.
“I had planned to accuse him of rape.”
Karlyn pulled her hand back and narrowed her eyes at me. I knew she’d hate me. It was okay. I deserved it. Maybe I deserved everything that was happening between King and me. The confusion, the anger, the animosity—it all stemmed from me.
“I know it was wrong.”
“It’s not just wrong, Grace. It’s evil. So many women aren’t believed when they tell their story because other women lie.”
I nodded my head as Karlyn’s words rolled over me. I agreed with everything she said. There was no excuse for what I’d wanted to do.
“I know. And I knew when I told you it might sever any relationship you and I could have had. But your relationship with King is more important. He’s Jackson’s brother, and I don’t want you to be afraid of him.
He refused to sleep with me, Karlyn. Because I had been drinking.
I wasn’t drunk—well, not enough to not know what I was doing.
But he refused to take advantage of me because he’s a good man. A man you can trust.”
She was quiet as she stared at me. A police car went by the window with its siren screaming, and we both turned our heads. Johnny’s phone rang, and I listened as he talked to whoever was on the line.
“Now?” he asked.
I watched his body language. I’d gotten to know Johnny really well in the year since he’d been watching over me. He was relaxed. There was almost a smile on his face.
“Yeah, I’ll tell her. We’ll meet you there.” Johnny looked at me and his smile widened. “Okay, on our way.”
He hung up, and I waited to hear the news.
“Maureen is in labor. Her water broke in church, and King and Ravage took her to the hospital. We need to go.”
I stood up and looked at Karlyn. “Are you coming with me?” I wasn’t sure she wanted to be anywhere near me. But after a moment of silence on her end, she nodded.
“If that’s where Jackson is, I’ll go.”
I nodded, understanding that whatever chance we could have had at a friendship was gone. It was my fault. And it was the reason I had never shared my story with any of the old ladies.
Especially Beck.
They were too important to me to share my shame with. I didn’t want to lose them too. I went up to the counter, and Trudy waved me away, telling me to get to the hospital and let her know as soon as the baby was born.
I turned to walk out the door, and that was when I heard it. The same sound as a few nights back when I was talking to Jude at the bar. Trudy’s window shattered, and I froze when I saw Johnny drop to the floor.