Chapter 14 #2
“No, you don’t.” Maverick’s voice was calm, too calm. “Every morning, I woke up with a hole in my chest. I worked. I dated. I fucked. I laughed and partied like life was just peachy, but it wasn’t. Because an entire half of me was gone.”
Grayson felt his stomach knot.
“I was living a half-life, bro.” The raw honesty in Maverick’s voice hit hard. “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. Not even my worst fucking enemy.”
Grayson looked down at the concrete floor, remembering. The way Wren smiled, the way she laughed, the feel of her small body tucked against his in bed.
Maverick’s voice softened. “Did she hurt you?”
“Yeah,” Grayson answered without hesitation. Because she had.
“On purpose?”
Grayson hesitated. That was the part he didn’t know. Because he’d been a grumpy asshole and stormed out without letting her explain. “I don’t know.”
“Then talk to her.”
“It’s not that easy.”
Maverick pushed away from the barrel, crossing the short space between them to place his hand on Grayson’s shoulder. “Of course, it is. Because if she’s truly the one, then you’re already in love with her. And that’s not going to go away.”
Those words struck him like a punch. It was way too fucking soon to attach that emotion to what they shared.
Or was it?
Maverick must have recognized the change in him, because he smirked. “Figuring it out, aren’t you?”
His lips twisted. “Shut up,” he said, with absolutely zero heat.
Maverick laughed.
Grayson flipped him off.
“Don’t be a dumbass, Gray. Swallow your pride and your stubbornness and go get your girl.”
For the first time since learning the truth about Wren, Grayson’s anger started to weaken, replaced by something lighter…something that felt a lot like hope.
If there was one thing the Storm family had in spades, in addition to their work-hard, play-hard lifestyles, it was their stubbornness. So, despite Maverick’s assurance that Grayson was wasting his time being mad at Wren, he still dug in his heels.
For four whole days.
Though to be fair, some of that time lapse had less to do with him being stubborn and more to do with him being busy as shit.
Harvest time was always a killer, and this year was no exception.
He’d spent two entire days alone working fast and furiously to fix the destemmer with Jace, because without it, they were fucked.
But this morning, he’d hit a breaking point on the whole Wren/Lark situation.
He knew Lark had confessed to Nora and Remi about the twin switch, but because he’d missed Sunday dinner, where they’d apparently told everyone else, Grayson, himself, still didn’t know why they’d done it.
Since then, it was apparently old news and forgotten by everyone except him.
And he hadn’t asked anyone for details, still too pissed off about being played for a fool.
However, the fact that Lark had kept her job, and she was moving in with his cousins, told him that perhaps there’d been a better excuse for their deceit than the twins simply wanting to prank him.
Of course, even if that had been the only reason, Grayson suspected the girls’ reaction would have been similar to Maverick’s. Pure amusement.
That didn’t seem to be the case for Wren, from what he saw at the library.
Now, he wanted to know why they’d done it, so he stopped by the B&B Mom and Dad ran and checked the cleaning schedule posted in the kitchen.
Grayson found Lark exactly where he expected her to be.
The Nook.
Back when Mom was in charge of the rental cabins, she and Everett had given them all cute names to go with the descriptions on the website.
The names were more enticing than the numbering system they’d used before.
Not that Grayson had made the switch. In his mind, the cabin everyone else called the Nook would always be cabin seven, his personal favorite.
Armed with a mop, bucket, and what appeared to be enough cleaning supplies to sanitize a hospital, Lark should have been hard at work, scrubbing the kitchen floor.
Instead, she was zoned out, looking out the back window, though Grayson doubted she was fascinated by the trees. More than likely, she was daydreaming.
He cleared his throat.
Lark turned, freezing when she spotted him standing just inside the front door.
The second their eyes met, she groaned.
Actually groaned.
“Nice to see you too,” he grumbled.
She snorted, then started mopping the floor, as if she could somehow clean her way out of this conversation.
Not a chance.
Grayson crossed the open space and leaned on the island that separated the kitchen from the larger living room area.
“Lark—” he started.
“No,” she said, cutting him off.
Grayson blinked. “No?”
“Nope,” she said, attacking the kitchen floor with so much vigor, he was surprised the mop didn’t break in half.
“What the hell does that mean?” he barked.
“It means I’m busy working.”
“Clearly,” he drawled, alluding to the fact he’d just caught her woolgathering.
She muttered something under her breath.
“Care to repeat that for the class?” he asked sarcastically.
Lark stopped mopping, leaning on it like a cane. “I know why you’re here, and I don’t want to hear it. I already confessed to Nora and Remi.”
“Fine. You confessed. You don’t think I deserve an apology.”
Lark sighed, and he finally spotted the first glimpse of guilt.
“You do. It’s just… It was easier to come clean to Nora.
I know you. Know I’m about to be subjected to some grumpy-ass lecture and…
” She leaned the mop against the counter, shoving her hands in the front pockets of her jeans.
“I’m sorry, Grayson. What Wren and I did was wrong.
When I volunteered to work that festival, I didn’t realize it was the same weekend as the Taylor Swift concert.
And while that probably doesn’t mean much to you, Nora and Remi got it, because they knew those tickets were a big fucking deal. ”
“I don’t live under a rock, Lark. I know how hard it is to get tickets to Taylor Swift concerts. You realize you could have just told Nora you had them, and she would have gotten someone else to work the festival.”
Lark grimaced. “I do know that, but I realized my mistake just a couple days after she yelled at me for fucking up the schedule, and I was worried she’d fire me. It’s happened before…kind of a lot.”
Grayson was well aware of Lark’s long resume of short-term jobs she hadn’t managed to hang on to.
She shrugged. “I tend to be impulsive at times.”
He snickered, because that was one hell of an understatement.
Lark’s eyes narrowed, but there was no anger behind the glare.
“According to my dad, I make mountains out of molehills. He and Mom are just full of weird-ass, folksy sayings like that. The thing is, I panicked, and I pulled Wren into my drama. And she only agreed to the whole charade because she’s the best sister in the world, who would do anything to help me. ”
For the first time since entering the cabin, Grayson smiled. Because he liked hearing Lark saying sweet things about his— About Wren.
Jesus, Maverick was right.
His emotions were completely engaged and there was no going back.
Before he could respond to that, Lark sobered up. “I know you confronted her in the library. Did you…” She glanced away from him, her actions uncharacteristic for the take-no-prisoners woman.
“Did I…” he prompted.
“Did you say something to upset her?”
Grayson frowned. “What do you mean?”
“She’s…” Lark crossed her arms and stopped talking again. Her posture and expression told him she didn’t intend to finish that sentence.
“She’s what?” he asked, his stomach suddenly tight. He’d been angry that day at the library, but he didn’t say anything cruel or hurtful.
Lark bit her lower lip, the gesture reminding him of her twin. Clearly, it was something both sisters did when they were uncomfortable.
“Did you yell at her?” Lark asked, not answering his question.
“No.”
“Were you mean?”
Grayson shook his head. “No.”
“Did you scare her?”
That question irritated him. “Of course not! I don’t scare women, Lark. I confronted her and let her know I was upset by her lie.”
“Technically, it was my lie,” Lark corrected.
“No, it wasn’t. You both shared in that subterfuge. And while you might think you had a good reason for doing so, it went too far.”
Lark frowned, confused—which was interesting. Because it told him Wren hadn’t been completely forthcoming with her sister about what happened between them at the festival.
But he didn’t have time to address that. He was too worried about what Lark wasn’t saying.
“What’s wrong with Wren?”
Lark sighed again. “She’s back sliding.”
“Back sliding?”
She pursed her lips, shaking her head, a wall slamming down between them.
“What does back sliding mean?” he repeated, unable to mask the concern in his tone.
“Nothing,” she said.
Her silence piqued his anger. “I’m not sure why you’re acting like I’m the bad guy here. You and Wren were the ones playing games.”
“She was helping me!” Lark retorted. “Helping me keep my job.”
“Fine,” he spat. “But kissing me wasn’t required to do that!”
Lark froze—completely—and it occurred to Grayson that he’d never seen the woman so still. Not once. But now, it was as if she’d stared straight into Medusa’s eyes and turned to stone.
Worse than that, the color drained from her face.
“What?” she whispered.
Grayson immediately regretting saying anything.
“You kissed her?” Lark asked, her voice so soft, Grayson barely heard her. There was no outrage in her tone. Instead, there was something worse. Something inexplicable.
Panic.
Grayson nodded. “We kissed,” he said more gently, wondering what the hell was so wrong about him and Wren sharing a kiss.
“Oh my God,” Lark said, more to herself than to him. “Why wouldn’t she tell me that?” She began pacing across the kitchen, tugging on her ponytail. After five trips back and forth, she finally stopped and faced him again. “Was she okay?”
Grayson stared at her. “What?” Her question made absolutely no sense.