Chapter 36
Michael
S econds after the words were out of Seth’s mouth, the two guys who’d been sitting at the bar were standing at our table. They’d discreetly flashed badges, herded the three of us into a nearby room that housed a couple pool tables and dart boards, and closed the door behind us.
They’d asked Grace and me to wait near the door, while they drew Seth off to the side. He’d followed along with them, seeming too surprised to protest.
Grace had looked up at me, her eyes devastated. I’d pulled her close, wrapped her up in my arms, rested my cheek against her silky hair, and told her everything was going to be okay.
Detective Chase had joined us a minute or two later and informed us that the booth we’d been sitting in was wired with a listening device. The police had listened in and recorded everything that had been said, both for our safety and for potential future prosecution in the event any illegal activity was discussed.
They’d hit the jackpot on that front.
As the other officers walked Seth back over to us, Detective Chase had asked to speak to Grace alone. I didn’t love the idea, but she’d gone without protest, so I’d settled for keeping a close eye on her. I trusted Detective Chase with her, but not touching her when we’d both just been hit with something that seemed a lot more like a scene out of a crime novel than real life had been tough.
As I’d watched her, I’d registered one of the other officers leaving, then stiffened, wary, when Seth had sidled up next to me a few seconds later. The remaining officer had shifted closer, as well, his attention clearly on us although Seth hadn’t seemed to notice.
I thought back to my brief exchange with Seth.
“Must suck,” he muttered.
I kept my attention pinned to Grace, not bothering to respond. Grace was my only priority in this situation. I needed her to be okay.
“Knowing I had her first, I mean,” he went on, his voice brimming with bravado and smug satisfaction. “Knowing she spread her legs for me long before she ever did for you.”
I felt the nearby officer’s alertness ratchet up as I shifted.
He didn’t need to worry. As much as I would have liked to slam Seth against the wall, wrap one hand around his throat and slowly, painfully choke the life out of him while he panicked and fought against my hold, he’d risked himself to help us, to help Grace.
For that one act, and that act alone, I’d let him live. But I couldn’t let his comment stand.
Eyes still on Grace, not doing him the respect of turning my head even a fraction of an inch to look at him, I let him know how things stood.
“I’m going to make a recommendation that I strongly suggest you take,” I told him, keeping my voice low. “Once this is over, forget you ever knew Grace. Wipe her memory from your mind entirely. Because if you don’t – and I find out - I’ll do it for you. And I promise you that you won’t like how I do it.”
Then I did look at him, letting him read on my face all the ways I’d love to fuck him up if he so much as thought about Grace in the future.
He swallowed and wisely shifted away. The nearby officer glanced down at the ground, fighting a grin, and I realized he’d overheard.
Overheard and apparently had no problem with what I’d said.
I swung my focus back to Grace and kept it there.
I glanced over at her now as I drove us home. She’d barely said a word since Seth had dropped his bombshell, even when Detective Chase had talked to her.
I had my arm across the center console, hand resting on her thigh. She was letting me touch her, but she seemed disconnected, staring silently out the passenger window.
I debated but left her to her thoughts...for now. So much had happened in such a short time, and now this. We both needed time to process.
She didn’t say a single word as I followed her up the stairs to our floor. She let me hold her hand as we walked down the hall but didn’t give it a little squeeze like she normally did or even look at me.
I waited until we were in our apartment, Grace standing at the sink, doing nothing, looking utterly lost.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Talk to me, Grace,” I said, as gently as I could manage as worry swirled in the pit of my stomach. “Tell me what’s going on in your head.”
Grace’s only response was a silent shake of her head. The worry spun faster. This felt like more than just shock at Seth’s revelations.
“What’s wrong, Grace?” My voice sounded like I’d dragged it through gravel. “I want to help but I can’t if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Now Grace reacted.
She spun to face me, flinging her hands in the air. “What’s wrong? Everything!”
I reached for her, but she stepped back, sending a jolt of near panic through my chest. “Gracie...”
She whirled away and stalked into the living room, more agitated than I’d ever seen her.
“It’s too much. It’s just too much!”
Stay calm. She doesn’t need you freaking out.
“What’s too much, sweetheart?”
Grace shot me a look of disbelief. “This! All of this. Me and all my mess,” she went on, her voice raised as she flung her hands in the air again. “I hate what I’ve done to your life! I hate it!”
So much for staying calm.
“Are you serious?” I shot back. “I love what you’ve done to my life, for my life.”
“How can you say that? I’ve ruined everything!”
Where was this coming from? Just hours before, we’d seemed solid. Now I felt her slipping away – hell, pulling away. I took a step closer to her.
The tears in her eyes stopped me like a brick wall.
She was scared.
We both were.
We could strike out at each other, push each other away, curl into our own protective shells and let fear destroy what we had.
I refused to let that happen.
“Gracie...” I took a breath, trying to settle both myself and her. “You haven’t ruined anything.” I held up my hand, stopping her when she would have cut me off. “Just let me say this, okay?”
She wrapped her arms around herself, took a breath of her own, and nodded.
I let the words spill out.
“I love having you in my life. I love knowing when I come home, you’ll be here or if not, you’ll be here soon. I love sharing space with you, talking to you, seeing you. I love seeing your things next to mine – your shoes lined up with mine by the door, your book on the table next to the couch, your crazy collection of coffee creamers in the fridge next to my protein shakes and beer. I love you being here. In my apartment and, like I said, in my life. If you were gone...” dammit, don’t leave me Grace ... “if you were gone, there would be an enormous hole no one else could ever fill.”
“If I were gone your life wouldn’t be in danger.”
She was calmer. We both were. We’d pulled back – even just a fraction – from the brink of disaster.
I shrugged at her statement. “Probably not, though some of the guests at the pub can get a little intense about their meals.”
She didn’t laugh, didn’t so much as crack the tiniest smile. Still, I took a chance and stepped closer.
“Fine. Fair enough, but the police are working on that. That will be over soon, and we’ll have the rest of our lives together if that’s the way you want it.”
“What do you want?”
I had to touch her. Needed with everything in me to be in physical contact with her as I answered her. I skimmed the backs of my fingers down her arm as I took the leap and went all in.
“I want this. You. Us. The two of us together.” Could she see how fast my heart was beating? “I want to be married to you, Grace. If this ends, you’re going to be the one to call it. I won’t force you to be with me, to let me be with you, but I want it. I want you and all your mess. Today and always. That’s not going to change.”
She dropped her arms and let me pull her closer, looking up at me. God, this woman was my everything.
“I love you, Grace. I’m in love with you. Sometimes it feels like I always have been.” Tears welled up in her eyes again, but I kept going. “To me, we feel inevitable. It tore me apart when you left, and I have to believe there’s a reason we found each other again. This is what I want, Gracie. You and me, forever.”
She looped her arms around my waist and rested her head against my chest. I held her, stroking my hand over her hair, breathing in her scent as her tears soaked my shirt.
She was crying but the crisis had passed.
Grace was mine. I knew it – I felt it – soul-deep.
She lifted her tear-streaked face to mine, love shining from her eyes, as I wiped the wetness away with my thumbs.
“I don’t deserve this,” she said, even as she clung to me.
I lowered my head and kissed her, giving her my heart and soul. “You do. We do. We deserve this.”
She slid her hands up, framing my face. “I love you, Michael. So much it scares me a little. It’s just...” she swallowed, shaking her head... “it’s more, bigger, than anything I’ve ever felt. I don’t have words to tell you.”
I rested my forehead against hers. “I know, sweetheart. It’s the same for me. Words don’t do it justice.”
“They don’t.” Grace raised up for another kiss.
I poured everything I had into it, losing myself in her as she lost herself in me. When we both pulled back, she slipped her hand into mine. “Let’s see how actions do.”
She backed toward my bedroom, and I followed willingly, mesmerized by the heat in her eyes.
“I love you, Gracie.” I couldn’t have held the words back if I’d tried.
“I know you do,” she responded, teasing now. “Show me.”
“Show you?” My face split into a grin. I rushed forward, dipping down to lift her up over my shoulder while she laughed. “Hold on, baby. It’s going to be a wild ride.”