Chapter 36

Grace

"Ilike your skirt, Miss Peyton," Sophie smiled up at Peyton. "It's so pretty."

Peyton bent down and smiled back. "Well, thank you, Miss Sophie. I like your hair," she said, and tugged on one of her ringlets.

Sophie giggled. "Thank you. Mr. Maverick did it for me and he helped me put together this outfit." She twirled to show off her jeans and sparkly black t-shirt, before she kicked out one foot to show off her sparkly ankle booties. "Leo!" Sophie took off like a rocket and we all laughed.

"I guess I'll have that to get used to later, huh?" Peyton watched Sophie dart off and smiled.

"Maybe not," I tried to assure her. "Sophie hasn't interacted with a lot of children, so she is particularly attached to Leo right now. I'm sure you won't have that problem." Sophie's attachment to Leo only reminded me that nothing here was real life. She wasn't enrolled in school, and I still didn't have a job.

"Hey, are you all right?" Peyton grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face her, concern swimming in her beautiful blue eyes.

"I'm not sure," I admitted reluctantly. I hadn't had a lot of friends—any, really—since college, and I wasn't well-versed in opening up to people about my problems. "This is all great, but it's not real."

She frowned. "The biker thing?"

I shook my head, hoping I hadn't offended her. "This, whatever is happening in my life right now. I'm not working, and Sophie isn't in school, and we're just living with Maverick. Our future is completely uncertain."

Peyton guided me to a table, and I wished I'd taken the other seat because my gaze automatically found Maverick. Once again, the blonde club bunny was hanging all over him. Peyton looked over her shoulder and sighed before she gave me a look of sympathy. "Grace, he doesn't want her. If he did, she would be in his bed. Not you."

I frowned and shook my head. "Oh, I'm not."

She cocked a brow, her lips curled into a grin.

"Okay, fine. I am in his bed," I whispered. A blush crept over my cheeks. "But I have no claim on him. I can't."

"If that's what you need to tell yourself, sure. But don't let Simone get in your head. Maverick did your daughter's hair, Grace. He's all in. The question is, are you?"

Was I all in? I wanted to be, so badly that I could taste it, but now wasn't the time to think about that. "It's not that simple."

"See, that's where you're wrong. The answer is simple, yes or no. Everything else is the complicated part."

I nodded, because what else could I do? "You and Rocky got through some pretty difficult times together, but what if there's nothing there between Maverick and me when this is all over? If it ever ends?"

There it was, my biggest fear when it came to moving forward with Maverick. What if this was all a product of danger and fear and adrenaline rather than something real?

"There are no guarantees, Grace. If there were, you wouldn't be here running from a very bad man."

"Good point." I looked up as Maverick made his way to our table, looking good enough to eat in a pair of well-worn jeans and his MC gear.

"Ladies."

Peyton smiled up at him. "Maverick."

He grinned and shook his head before turning to me. "You okay?"

I shrugged. "I'm good. You, however, looked worried."

He raked a hand through his thick red hair and sighed. "We have a lead on Trent, so we're going to check it out."

My brows shot up. "All of you?"

"Yeah. Better safe than sorry, ya know?" He looked more than a little concerned, which didn't make a whole lot of sense. It was just Trent.

"Be safe. Please." I reached out and took his hand, giving it a squeeze.

"You worried about me, Gracie?"

"You know I am."

He leaned forward and tilted my chin up towards him before his lips met mine. The kiss was over too soon but it was hot, and I felt it all over my body. "I'll be careful, I promise. And tonight we'll talk, yeah?"

Talking was the last thing I wanted to do, but I nodded because I remembered what he said earlier about focusing on the task at hand. "Yeah. Tonight."

He smiled sweetly and kissed me again before he and his brothers filed out of the clubhouse, leaving just the women, the children, and the prospects.

"Well," Peyton sighed, and flashed me a knowing smile.

Before I could even enjoy the moment, the club bunny—whore—Simone sauntered over with a wicked smile on her face. "Enjoy your time with Maverick, because I've had him before, and I will have him again."

"Go get me a beer, Simone," Peyton demanded.

Simone glared at her, but she didn't talk back because that was reserved for me. "He's having fun playing white knight to you and your brat, but he is going to be mine."

I was damn sick and tired of bullies. Simone wasn't Trent, but they were cut from the same cloth, and I wasn't afraid of her. "Then why come over here to let me know if he's already yours? Seems to me like you're trying to prove something to yourself."

"Enjoy him while you can. I know I enjoyed him last week."

"And everybody else," Peyton mumbled under breath. "Still waiting on that beer, whore."

Simone stiffened and a very small part of me felt bad for her, but it was too small to matter at this point. "I can give him more than you can, and I don't come with a brat."

"Good for you, being proud of being passed around." I pushed away from the table and stood up, glaring at the pretty young blonde until she took a step back. "Talk about my kid again and I'll rip every bleached strand from your skull." I pushed past her with a disgusted grunt, needing to get the hell out of the clubhouse before I said or did something I couldn't—or wouldn't—take back.

"Grace, wait up!" Ellie's voice hit my back, but I didn't stop moving because I was too angry. "Grace," she called again when she caught up to me. "You know she was lying, don't you?"

"Yes, I know that." I may not have as much experience as most women my age, but I was sure Maverick wasn't faking his emotions.

"Then why are you so pissed and rushing out of here like your ass is on fire?"

"Because I'm angry and jealous and I want to pound her stupid face into the ground."

"I'll hold her down if you want me to," she offered with a teasing grin. "Seriously, don't let a word she says get to you. She's made it clear to Maverick and every other single guy in the MC that she's ready and willing."

"It's not her, it's just that there'll always be someone like her making me doubt myself, and us, won't there?"

"Only if you let it. Then again, if you don't trust him, then maybe there's nothing there after all."

Trust. It didn't come easy to me, not anymore. Sure, I trusted Maverick to keep Sophie and me safe. I trusted him with my body and my pleasure. But with my heart? My future? I wasn't sure. "I need some fresh air."

"Sure, I'd love to join you," Ellie said with a laugh as she followed me through a rear door where there were several picnic tables and large wire spools repurposed as stools. "Club whores aren't really a threat, you know."

"Hot women who exist solely to please these guys? Yeah, sure. No threat at all."

"I'm serious. Look at how protective Maverick is when it comes to you and Sophie. Diesel is the same way, and so is Rocky. You think they'd want to be with a woman all of their friends have been with too?"

"Honestly, Ellie, I don't have a lot of experience in relationships, so I don't know." And that's what it came down to. "I want Maverick, but I'm not sure that I have enough experience to handle being with a man like him, and all that entails."

"You think I was?" She tossed her head back and laughed. "Stacy, my sister, she was the wild child. She loved hard, partied hard, and lived her life exactly how she wanted. I was the opposite. And then here comes Diesel, all big and masculine and spitting nails. Everything about him terrified me, including how I started to feel about him. But it was worse being without him."

"Thanks, Ellie. It's just all so complicated, and with Trent running around after me."

"Complicated? Leo is my nephew, product of a one-night stand between my sister and Diesel."

"Oh…my."

"Right?" She laughed and shook her head. "My point is that things are always complicated if you want them to be."

"I don't want them to be, they just are." I shook my head. "But I just feel like I can't breathe with Trent still out there." Until I knew Trent was a part of my past, I could hardly think about my future. Could I?

"Life stops for no one, Grace. It could all be over any minute."

I opened my mouth to tell her she was right, but my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. "Oh no."

"What is it?" Ellie jumped out of her seat and rounded the table to look over my shoulder. "Trent?"

"No. It's from Mabel. She fell." My heart raced thinking of the older woman in pain.

"Why didn't she text Maverick?" Ellie asked, looking at my phone.

"Probably because she's stubborn and always worried about bothering him."

I sent a quick text asking why she didn't call him, my phone chimed with her response:

Maverick didn't answer.

I quickly tried calling Maverick, but he didn't answer me either. I guess they were out of cell range.

"Should we call an ambulance?"

I shook my head. "It doesn't sound too serious if she's managing to text me back, I'll go to check on her. Maverick's busy with MC stuff and I don't want him to lose his focus. Trent is dangerous and I know the guys can handle him, but I'd rather just handle this myself."

"I don't think that's such a good idea. Maverick said you should stay here. You and Sophie."

"I know, but this is Mabel, his grandmother. I can't let anything happen to her while he's out there searching for a problem I brought into his life." Fear took hold of me at the thought that it was more than just a spill. "I have to do this, Ellie. I'll be right back. Promise."

"Let me come with you. Please."

She had the twins with her, and there was no way I was involving her in my problems. "I'm not saying that anything is going to happen, but if it does, I don't want you to get hurt." I pulled her into a hug. "Just tell the guys that I ran away when your head was turned, but it won't be necessary because I'll beat them back here. I swear. If Mabel's in a bad way, and I didn't do anything I'd never forgive myself."

"I don't like it," she called after me.

"I know. You'll keep an eye on Sophie?"

"Of course. Be safe!"

I would've laughed at her demand if I wasn't so focused on getting to Mabel. Without a car.

"Here." Peyton wrapped an arm around me and dropped the keys in my hand. "The black pickup. Take it. Be careful," she whispered, and gave me a squeeze. "Get back soon."

"Thank you." Tears formed in my eyes even as I rushed towards the black truck because these women were strangers a few weeks ago and now they were treating me like the one thing I never really had.

Family.

Mabel was also like family. I was starting to form a life of my own. A life and a family for Sophie and me, and that was pretty damn great.