Chapter Seven
Gracie
I was running behind on everything.
I blamed Layna.
I loved her.
She was one of my closest friends in the world.
But, well, she was a terrible house guest.
And an overall bad influence.
She kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. While the time was full of some much-needed laughter and fun, it meant that I slept hard and deep enough that my body’s natural alarm clock didn’t wake me up in the morning.
On top of that, Layna had turned off my actual alarm that was on her side of my bed.
So I woke up confused and groggy, then tripped right into outright panic when I realized I was almost an hour behind on my morning routine.
I liked to start my mornings early so I could ease into my day with a decent amount of self-care, some cleaning, and a few work-adjacent tasks that would help me feel ahead of the day before it truly even began.
With that time stripped away from me, all I managed was a quick shower and a coffee and pastry on the run to get to my day job as just another lackey at a desk.
I worked through my lunch to try to get a few loose ends tied up for my next event.
Which meant that by the time I left work, I was cranky and hungry. But then I got a call that caused a mini crisis. Because my caterer for an event backed out last minute.
I rushed to my office, panic tight around my chest because, damnit, caterers were sometimes booked out a year in advance. And I needed to find one with three weeks’ notice.
I spent hours researching, reading reviews, making calls, and leaving messages, all the while saying little prayers that someone would get back to me, that someone could squeeze me in.
Finally, pulled from my work haze by the churning ache of my empty stomach, I grabbed my phone and made my way out of the office to grab something quick at one of the many restaurants in the heart of Navesink Bank.
I stepped out of the building, and glanced around then felt that weird flinch of fear. Like I saw someone out of the corner of my eye.
Only, when I looked more closely, there was nothing and no one there.
A trick of the light, maybe.
Or my hunger making me jumpy.
Still, as I walked to the local sushi place, grabbing a few rolls to go, there was a weird cold prickle at the back of my neck, a strange dread in my stomach.
I tried to shake it off, to tell myself it was just paranoia, that this part of town was relatively safe, and that I could take care of myself if some creepy dude was behind me or something.
I didn’t dare look back until I reached the office door, where I paused to plug in my code since it was after hours.
As I suspected, though, there was no one there—just me and my low blood sugar conjuring up some bad guy.
I ate at my desk and made another few calls just in case the first few rounds didn’t produce a call back.
Finally, deciding I’d done everything I could, I cleaned up my office and decided to quickly run a few errands before heading home.
There was liquor to buy, since I wasn’t like Layna, Vi, and Hope. I didn’t like the hard liquors the guys kept at the clubhouse. For better or worse (worse, usually, since the sugar almost always gave me a headache and hangover), I preferred those sweet premixed drinks instead.
I also needed to grab more of my shampoo and conditioner since Layna and her long mane of hair had used up what was left in my bottles in the shower.
I also had a pick-up order from the local printer.
So I parked my car in a central location and ran back and forth to it after each errand.
The print shop, though, was far off at the edge of town, almost close to Third Street gang territory, where there were several rundown and empty buildings and clear scouts and dealers standing around.
I reminded myself that the club made it very clear to all the local crews that the princesses were off-limits.
But it wasn’t necessarily the dealers I was worried about; it was their clientele.
It didn’t help that a flickering streetlight let out a loud hum before blanketing me in near total darkness just as I rounded the bend to a dead-end street where the print shop was located.
My heart leapt.
My pulse fluttered.
And my belly tightened.
I forced myself to keep walking, not to start swiveling my head around, looking unsure and scared.
Walk with confidence had been something hammered into my cousins and me during our training from our badass aunts. Predators are surprisingly good at picking out prey. Make it clear you aren’t that.
I squared my shoulders, lengthened my stride, and forced a confidence I didn’t feel.
Right up until I got to the damn print shop and found it closed down.
Just as a group of young guys emerged from a dive bar across the street.
Great.
Fantastic.
Just what this night needed.
“Hey, baby!” one of them called as I turned on my heel and started to walk back from where I’d come.
“Aw, don’t run away. We just want to talk to you!”
Yeah, sure.
Why didn’t I check the time before I started down this way?
“Damn, look at that ass,” one of the guys called.
He sounded closer.
Or was his voice just echoing against the buildings?
“I love when they make you chase them,” another voice curled, his voice as slimy as his words. I felt like the ick of it slicked my skin. I wanted a shower. And a can of mace.
“Come on, guys,” another voice called. “Leave her alone.”
Finally, a voice of reason.
The problem?
While he found the nerve to stand up to his buddies, he sounded much further away. Like he hung back while his buddies charged forward to follow me.
“Shut up, Cyrus. We’re just having some fun.”
That sounded close. Really, really close.
My chest tightened as I resisted the urge to break into a run.
Because I knew my aunts were right.
These were predators.
And if the prey ran, their instincts kicked in.
I sucked in a strangled breath and glanced sideways as I passed a darkened storefront that reflected not only me back, but the three men pursuing me.
They were closer than I would like but not as close as I feared.
It was okay.
The bend was just up ahead.
I would be on a slightly less isolated area.
I wasn’t under the delusion that anyone would come to my rescue. But it gave me places to go. Buildings to dip into. People to put between us.
I didn’t need a rescue; I just needed—
“God, just fucking grab her!”
Suddenly, all my training flew out of my mind as my reptilian brain took over.
I tripped into a run. Full tilt.
Inwardly, I thanked my aunts and my cousins and everyone else in my inner circle who insisted on how important training was. Cardio training, strength training, taking care of your body so it could work with you and for you as you needed it to.
So my lungs didn’t scream.
My thighs didn’t object.
Not even as I flew down the main drag, ignoring the curious glances of people I passed. Not even as I rushed down a side street to shorten my path toward my car.
“You go that way,” I heard one of the men shout.
Shit.
They were breaking apart to try to get me from multiple angles.
I yanked my bag off my shoulder, digging blindly around for my phone.
Until the memory flashed across my mind.
My phone falling out of my hand as I put the liquor in the trunk of my car.
Then slamming the lid without grabbing it.
Damnit.
I had to get back to the main drag even if it was further from my car.
This was where the home field advantage came into play. No one knew the ins and outs of this town as well as my cousins and I did. We’d endlessly roamed these streets as teenagers. We knew every back alley, every cut-through in the woods.
I ran down the alley behind a Chinese restaurant, knowing that at the other end, there was a small gap in the gate that I was (hopefully) still small enough to slip through.
And that would put me right back on the main street. Close to Redemption, actually. As much as I didn’t want to run in there, breathless and panicked, and have everyone make a huge deal out of this, it was an option.
I was just up to the gate when I heard footsteps slapping the ground behind me.
My heartbeat doubled as I said a prayer and pushed my body into the gap.
Okay.
Yeah.
It definitely pinched a little tighter than it had when I was sixteen. The old metal scraped against my chest. The brick wall scratched across my ass.
But when I sucked in a deep breath, I managed to wedge myself through just as a hand grabbed at my wrist.
I yanked free and ran, not wanting to risk the guy also fitting through the gate. I needed every second of advantage I had.
I ran to the corner and chanced one look back.
When I ran right into a brick wall.
Well, it might as well have been.
He was as big and tall and firm as one.
My air was knocked from my chest.
“Oh!” I yelped a second before panic set in.
Was it one of the guys?
A hand went around me, making me violently yank back. Then immediately stumbled.
“Hey, what’s up?” a familiar voice asked as the hand grabbed my wrist to keep me from falling on my ass.
Even as my mind placed the voice, my head angled up.
And there he was.
Perish.
The way relief washed through me made tears prick my eyes.
I tried to rapidly blink them away, but Perish was watching me too closely. He saw them.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice rough even as his hand pulled me closer.
“It’s nothing,” I insisted.
“You’re out of breath.”
“It was just some stupid drunk guys,” I said, trying to wave it off. But the words only made Perish get even tenser.
“Where?” he growled.
“I think I lost them.”
“What did they look like?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters. Gonna knock their fucking brains out their ears.”
He would, too.
I knew these biker types well enough to know that even the most fun and lovable among them were capable of intense, unimaginable violence when provoked.
I mean, Dezi, with all his love of sweets, was a lunatic. And Sully, in all his silly Hawaiian shirts, was incredibly lethal.
Perish, he didn’t even try to hide his brutality. He wore it on the outside.
“Can you just… walk me to my car?” I asked. “Please,” I added when he kept scanning the streets, looking for someone to pound his fists into.
He exhaled hard, looked down at me for a long moment, then nodded.
There was nothing to be afraid of with a giant by your side. Especially one with hands the size of his. Who was, no doubt, armed as well.
We were both silent on the walk, but I got the feeling that Perish’s mind was as loud as mine was, judging by the wired look behind his eyes each time I chanced a look up at him.
“This is me,” I said when we got to my car. “Thank you. What?” I asked when he just kept… hulking there.
“Gonna stay here till you get in and drive off.”
“Okay,” I agreed, lips curving up. It was something one of my uncles or cousins would say too.
So I climbed in my car, stuck the key in the ignition, and… nothing.
I tried again.
And again.
“What the hell?” I asked, throwing open my door.
“Dead battery?” he asked, going toward the hood and knocking on it.
“I just got a new one.” My dad had insisted on it even though my old one was working just fine.
“I don’t wanna think about you sitting on the side of some dark road because your car won’t start.”
I leaned back in to pop the hood before joining Perish as he grunted over my engine.
I didn’t know anything about cars.
I didn’t even check my own oil or top off the fluids.
It was one of the many perks of having so many men in your life who liked doing those little tasks for you.
“Do you know about engine stuff?” I asked, hoping he didn’t, that he was just one of those guys who stood and grunted at a car but had no idea what to do about anything.
Because I was already too into him. If I found out he was also competent on top of being hot and protective, I just might combust.
“Enough to know that this,” he said, grabbing a little slim rectangle and pulling it out of a slot near the battery, “fuse is blown. It’s your master fuse,” he clarified, showing me the little clear area of the fuse that looked like it had some soot in it.
“You say that as if I have any idea what that means.”
“Your uncle owns a repair shop.”
“Which is why I don’t need to know these things,” I said, lips curving up.
To that, Perish nodded.
“Fair enough.”
“So the car won’t start until I replace it?”
“No.”
“And I’m going to assume there are no twenty-four-hour master fuse stores around here, right?”
“No.”
“Great.”
“I’ll get it towed to your uncle’s garage. Want me to see who can come scoop you up?”
“Actually, I’m not that far from here,” I said, going into my car to grab my purse, then my trunk to dig for my phone. “I’ll walk.”
“No.”
“No?” I asked, brow arching.
“You were just chased by some assholes.”
“They seem like they’re gone now.”
And I was just… exhausted.
I wanted to go home before Layna got back and get some sleep so she wouldn’t rope me into some other adventure that would, yes, be lots of fun, but would further drain my already empty tank.
“Fine,” he said, looking around. “I’ll walk you.”
It wasn’t a question.
But I could have pitched a fit.
I just… didn’t.
Which was probably a monumentally stupid move.
But, well, it did feel good to have him care enough to escort me home.