Chapter 12

12

ALICE

I hadn't wanted to go to work after what happened to my car, but I'd committed to Nora and didn't want to let her down. My shift yesterday went okay, but I was still worried. Especially since I'd barely seen Grady during the last two days—although he'd kissed me senseless at night and when I left for work in the morning. The effort he put into finding the person who spray-painted my car made me wonder if there was more of a threat than I realized.

Once I got to school this morning—with a prospect stationed outside to watch over me again—my day had turned around a little. The first thing Nora told me when I walked into the break room was that my classroom was going to be short an aide. Normally, this would be bad news. But the reason behind it meant that I wouldn't have to deal with Britney ever again.

I kept my happiness over her quitting to myself all day long, but only because I didn't have the time to call Grady to tell him about it. With another aide out sick, we were seriously shorthanded, so I'd barely been able to shove a couple of pieces of pizza that Nora had ordered for everyone into my mouth for lunch.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted and hungry. As much as I was looking forward to seeing Grady soon, I was tempted to send him a text to let him know that I wasn't feeling up to doing much of anything tonight. Pondering the idea of a night in at my place with some take-out food, I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings as I walked out of the school.

I stumbled to a stop as I neared my car and found Grady leaning against the trunk. "When did you get here?"

"A couple of hours ago," he answered, wrapping his hand around my wrist to tug me close.

After I crashed against his chest, he tilted my head back to capture my mouth. My lips parted on a gasp, and his tongue slid inside to tangle with mine. Not caring who saw us, I twined my arms around his neck and gave myself up to his kiss. When he finally lifted his head, I blinked up at him for a moment, trying to clear the sensual fog clouding my head. "Wow, that's a heck of a way to end my workday."

He smirked at me, his thumb brushing against the inside of my wrist. "Then I'll just have to meet you when you're done as often as I can."

"I like the sound of that." I stroked my palm against the scruff of his beard. "It was the cherry on top of a ridiculously busy but awesome day."

"Awesome?" he echoed, tilting his head to the side.

"Soooo awesome," I confirmed with a grin, bouncing on my toes. "I had this coworker who wasn't nice, like at all. She was kind of giving me a hard time about going out with you, as if I cared about her opinion."

"Wish you'd told me about the bitch," he muttered.

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore because she quit." I did a little celebratory dance. "So now I never have to see her ever again."

He heaved a deep sigh and raked his fingers through his thick, dark hair. "Yeah, but if I knew she was giving you a hard time, I woulda known to look into her when your car was spray-painted. A head start like that might've saved me some time in figuring out who had it in for you."

"Whaaa?" I cried, my eyes going wide. "Are you trying to tell me that Britney was behind it?"

He nodded. "Some guy she was seeing gave her the idea and goaded her into it."

"I…I…I don't even know what to say." Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook my head. "Until she decided to warn me about dating you, she'd never even said a single word to me. I don't understand why."

"Sometimes people do fucked-up shit for reasons we'll never understand." He brushed his lips against mine again before giving me a hug. "But you don't have to worry about her causing trouble for you. Or anyone else. Not with me at your back. I won't let anything happen to you."

I hadn't been around that long, but I knew that his club was into some things that weren't exactly on the up-and-up. His being able to hack my phone to add his contact information had been the first hint, and his secrecy over stuff he called "club business" was another. But even knowing he crossed some lines that might be illegal, I still trusted him.

I knew he had my best interests at heart, so I kind of already had an idea of the answer when I asked, "Did you have something to do with her quitting?"

"Damn straight," he confirmed with a grin.

"Really?" I squealed, my eyes widening.

"No way in hell was I going to let you spend forty hours a week with a woman who has it out for you." His eyes gleamed with determination. "Or even have to run into her around town. Old Bridge is Iron Rogues territory. Your enemies are my enemies, which means she doesn't belong here anymore."

"Holy crap!" My breath caught in my chest at his words. "She didn't just quit? She moved, too?"

He nodded. "Yup."

"Whoa." It was hard to wrap my head around the lengths he'd gone to for me.

"A strong message needed to be sent—nobody messes with an Iron Rogues old lady," he growled.

"But I'm not officially your old lady." Although we'd only been together for a short time, I would be thrilled if Grady gave me his property patch. "Not until you give me a vest with your name on the back."

"You mean like this one?" he asked, opening his saddlebag to pull out a piece of leather about half the size of the one he wore. Flipping it over, he showed me where it said "Property of Deviant."

"Oh my gosh." My fingers trembled as I reached out to trace the patch that announced to anyone who saw it that I belonged to Grady.

"Sheila dropped it off a couple of days ago, but Fox held onto it until the shit with the vandal wouldn't taint it. I grabbed it from him on my way here," he explained, sliding my arm through one of the holes before doing the same with the other side and settling the vest on my back.

"So I'm your old lady now?" I asked with a sniffle, my eyes filling with happy tears.

"Damn straight," he murmured against my lips before claiming them in another kiss. "Knew that's exactly what you were gonna be when we met, even before I fell all the way in love with you."

"You love me?" I gasped before pressing my palm over my mouth as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"You got my patch on your back"—he placed his palm over my belly—"and are hopefully already carrying my baby. Wouldn't have done either of those things if I didn't love you."

My heart filled with joy as I smiled at him through my tears. "I love you, too."

"You better because I'm never gonna let you go, gorgeous. You were always meant to be mine, and you're finally right where you belong—with me."

"Remind me to do something special for Cara's birthday." I wiped the tears from my cheeks as I gave him a watery smile. "If she wasn't in my class, who knows how much time would've been wasted before we met?"

"Just tell her she can be our flower girl when we get married." He stroked his thumb over my bare ring finger. "Because someday soon, you're gonna have my ring right here."

I couldn't wait for his proposal…if he bothered to ask instead of just sliding an engagement ring onto my hand and telling me we were getting married. Either way, I was looking forward to walking down the aisle to him.