Chapter 2 Gracie Mae #2
“Right, Grace,” he completely ignores me like a brother would. I then hear him give a rather saucy kiss to Alice over the phone before he lets her be.
Ah, young love.
Alice clears her throat before saying, “Reed makes me unbelievably happy, but you already know that.”
Reed Carter is Snake’s real name but she’s the only one allowed to call him by it.
“Hi, Alice!” Connor chirps excitedly. His chubby cheeks shades of red. Yeah, someone has a little crush.
“Hi, Connor!” She replies with just as much enthusiasm. “Ready for your test today?”
Did I also mention how Alice is such a great friend? Most people wouldn’t care to remember those tiny details, but she does.
“I’m going to ace it. I’m sort of a math genius you know,” he proudly tells her. Okay, more than a little of a crush. He never boasts.
“And your sister and I are so proud of you. When you get the test results back call me and tell me what you got.”
“I will!”
We pull up in front of his school and I put my car in park by the entrance. He clicks his seatbelt and before leaving the car he throws me a one arm hug.
Hugging him back I tell him, “Love you, champ.”
“Love you, sis.” He lets go and that means I have to, too. Grabbing his backpack off the car floor he swings it over his shoulder. As he shuts the car door, I roll down the window.
I shout at him, “Be good!”
He shouts back, “Always am!”
And then I don’t pull away until he safely makes it inside.
“Sorry about that. Was dropping Connor off at school,” I apologize to Alice.
She laughs it off. “He really is a sweet kid.”
A huge smile forms on my face. “Yeah, he is. Anyways what are you doing up this early?”
“Snake has physical therapy.” Snake has been in physical therapy for almost five months now due to almost dying. Again, long story but the man miraculously woke up from being on life support for three months after being brutally tortured. Like I said, long story.
“This early?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” she begins softly, and I have no idea where she is going with this. “Later today Snake will be in Hollows Point.”
My brows raise in surprise. “Oh . . . okay. And I need to know this because?”
“Because Oak will be with him.”
Oh.
Oh.
Suddenly my heart starts beating like a hammer. Butterflies swarm chaotically in my stomach. And my tongue begins to feel too heavy in my mouth.
“Grace? Did I lose you?” Her concerned voice breaks through my mini heart attack.
I clear my throat in hopes to sound collected but as I respond, “I’m here.” It comes out as anything but.
“I know it’s been a while since you saw him, and I wanted to warn you.”
It really hasn’t been that long, but it sure does feel like ages.
One month.
I haven’t seen him in one month.
Every time that Connor and I make a visit to the Vipers MC in Stonesville, Pennsylvania he’s either busy or not there.
I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s avoiding me.
And to be honest it fucking hurts.
Especially when I thought that him and I had made a connection.
It wasn’t that long ago when Oak was assigned to watch over Connor and I while the war was happening between The Crowned Devils MC and Vipers MC.
I can still remember the nights where I would find him wide awake in the middle of the night standing outside my trailer.
Every time I found him during that hour, he always held a haunted look in his icy blue eyes.
I pried, once.
And it felt like an olive branch between us.
Then somehow it snapped.
After Snake woke up in the hospital, I thought Oak was growing distant but pegged it to be my imagination.
Except it wasn’t.
And that . . .
Well, that hurt more than I thought it would.
And while I thought Oak and I had something more I knew at the baseline we had become friends.
I throw on a smile that I don’t feel. “Thanks, but it wasn’t needed,” I tell her.
She sighs. “I saw the two of you, Gracie Mae.” Alice only calls me Gracie Mae, when things are of a serious matter. “There’s something there. Even a blind man can see it.”
Instead, I ask the question I always ask when it comes to him. “How is he doing?”
I hear rustling over the phone and think that I’ve lost her. “Alice? You there?” A pause. “Alice?” I hear her and Snake talking but I can’t make out what they are saying.
After a minute I finally hear a voice clearly on the other line, but it isn’t Alice who answers. “He’s a good man, Grace,” says Snake. There’s another pause and I know what he’s about to say next is going to be a big fat lie. “He’ll eventually come around.”
It’s the same answer he always gives me when I ask about Oak and quite frankly, I am tired of hearing it. Especially when I know it’s not the truth.
“Well, I have to go. Enjoy your physical therapy.”
Before the phone hangs up Alice comes back on the line. “He trusts you; you know.”
“Snake?”
“I’m not talking about him, and you know it.” I swallow. “I saw it back in the hospital room. He trusts you.”
“Where will that trust get me if he constantly avoids me?”
“Then make it so he can’t avoid you.” I blink, surprised by her advice. “I have to go now but I’ll be in touch with you later. Love you!”
“Love you, too,” I reply but I still feel in sort of shock.
As the phone disconnects and I drive the rest of the way to community college I can’t help but think of what she said.
She’s right.
He’ll be in my town today. He won’t be able to easily avoid me.
And when I see him because I know I will I’ll ask him the question everyone else has been answering for him.
But first I have to ace these final exams.