8. Let The Tides Wash Away Our Sins

Chapter 8

Let The Tides Wash Away Our Sins

S abre

Grace plugged the beach into her car navigation, and I followed the instructions until we were pulling into the parking lot. Putting the car in park, I opened my car door, but before I could get to her, she was already standing in front, waiting for me.

"You're not excited, are you?" I asked her as I rounded the hood. She didn't retort, but her legs were bouncing. "Next time, stay in the car until I come get you," I said, sliding my arm around her waist and pulling her to my chest. She turned her head up to look at me, and I stole a kiss from her lips.

"I can get out of my car. I am not that big yet." Her head tilted down, and I had a feeling she'd faced more comments about being large rather than pregnant.

I raised her chin, forcing her to look at me. "I know you can. There's a difference, mama. You don't need me to help you. I want to." I pulled her tighter to me and kissed her forehead. Grace buried herself as close as she could and wrapped her arms around my waist. We stood there for a few minutes in the parking lot, lost in each other.

She was the first one to pull away. "Come on. We are going to do this the right way," she said, holding out her hand towards me.

I didn't hesitate to let her lead me to a bench that was a little way away. It was on the edge of the parking lot, but a little sand had blown underneath it from windy days. She sat down, pulling me to sit next to her. I didn't let on, but I was putty in her hands, and it wouldn't have taken much to get me to follow her lead .

Grace pulled off her heels and hissed as she rubbed her bare feet against the sandy particles.

"Warm?" I wanted to beat my own ass for acting like a high schooler on his first date.

"No, I knew better than to wear the heels, but they were a necessary evil that I am going to pay for. My feet are going to swell tonight."

"You want me to rub them?" I smirked.

Her face turned a light shade of pink, and her lips turned up into a small smile. "I can't bend that way, so you'd have to fall at my feet. You know? Princess treatment."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" I'd miss her quick wit. She kept me on my toes, but we bantered easily back and forth.

"Do it one day, and I'll tell you if I like it."

I clasped her cheek in my hand, stroking the soft skin under my fingers. I hadn't realized how much I'd thought of her over the last two months. Now that she was here, I wanted to take my time with her. To savor the hours until I had to go back to the club. I leaned over and kissed her again.

"It's funny you're here. I wanted to tell you what happened last night, but then I thought you might have been busy. When you showed up today, I knew I owed you an explanation," Grace said wistfully, her gaze fixed on the water. "My mother loved the beach and used any excuse to come here, so I thought this should be the spot where I tell you everything." With a small smile on her lips, she stood, holding her shoes in her hands. Pointing at my feet, she waited patiently until I unlaced my boots and took off my socks. "Come on. Let's go."

***

"You weren't planning on hiring the lawyer, were you?" I asked her as we walked down the shore, toes in the sand, carrying our shoes .

She smiled up at me. "No, but I made it so that Matt couldn't use him either. It would have been a conflict of interest anyway, but now, they can't bend the system to their liking. McNally spends his Sundays on the golf course with Matt's dad. Sometimes, they pick up tee time with Judge Dean. If I were to take this to court, I'd have to face Dean, and he doesn't like my father. No matter what the law said, I would have to spend tons of money fighting Matt, only to be shut down. It shouldn't be like that, but it's the good ole boys club."

"Who did you hire?" I was taking a guess, but I was sure there was a plan already in place here.

"I have an old friend from college that doesn't speak to Matt. They had a falling out before we graduated, so I called him. He was more than motivated to take the case." A melancholy look came over her face.

"What is it, mama?" I didn't like the dark shadow that crossed her face. She should always smile, and when she was mine, I'd do everything possible to make sure it happened.

"Do you think I am a terrible person for wanting Matt to hurt?" she asked me, watching the water as it lapped at our ankles.

"No, I think you're trying to grieve the loss, and you can't."

"I want him to feel pain. He'll care more about the money than the baby."

I let her get lost in her thoughts again as we continued to walk.

"I couldn't see it, but the marriage has been over for a long time. I am not holding onto hope that he'll come back and say all the right things. Even if he did, I wouldn't want him to. It wouldn't matter, and he'd just be telling more lies to save face. I think in all of this, I just didn't want to see that I was right."

I could understand that, and I nodded my head to acknowledge that I was paying attention.

"Why are you here?" she asked me. She tripped over her words. "It's not like I am not glad to see you, but..."

"Mama." I gently took her elbow and turned her towards me, stopping our walk. She didn't fear me, but I could sense her nervousness. I claimed her lips in a searing kiss. "I am here because you went missing without a trace. Cyph said you turned your phone off in your driveway, and it took him longer to find you. That's not acceptable to me, and I would have pulled patches if they hadn't located you. Meredith filled in the details when Cyph found the email you sent to the lawyer." I made sure she was paying attention to me. "I don't play with you or our baby. They got a lesson on how serious I am about that, and eventually, you won't question it either." I bent down and pecked her lips.

"I am not free," she whispered, frowning up at me. "You can't just claim another man's baby."

"I see it like this. You have roughly three months left of cooking." She smacked my arm, but my smile widened at her. "I am not leaving until Monday. We'll get you settled somewhere temporarily, and I'll be here every weekend until you pop. You need something, you tell me. You have an appointment, you tell me. Understand?"

"You can't skirt your responsibilities."

"I am not. I am rearranging them. It's only for three months, and Grizz can handle the rest. He's going to owe me, anyway."

"I can do this on my own." She looked like she was going to stamp her foot on the sand.

"You can, but you're mine. I take care of what's mine. Once the baby comes, you both will come live with me, and we'll make a real go of this." I was serious. They weren't living anywhere else but with me. I ran my hands along her jaw until they cupped her cheeks. I gently kissed her to show I wasn't blowing smoke up her ass.

"I can't raise my baby in an MC clubhouse." She raised her nose in the air, and I lightly tapped it.

"My mom loved my dad, but she wasn't crazy about MC life. It can be tough, but we love harder to get through it. My dad built her a home right before Pretty was born. It's on the property but sits further back. No one's used it since they passed. I have been working on it ever since that first night. You'll be safe there, and it's close enough to my...work. I get called out a lot for dumb things."

She didn't respond.

"If you don't like it, I'll get you something else," I said to her.

"Matt bought the house before we were married by himself. I didn't know until he handed me the paperwork. He never asked me if it was alright or what I wanted."

"You'll always have a choice, mama. Unless it involves your safety; that's my call." I took another look at her. The stress of the day was showing, and she looked tired. "Why don't we sit? I'll even help you up and down." I wiggled my eyebrows at her.

"Is that some sort of kinky innuendo?" she asked with a laugh.

"Nope," I popped the P. "I promise that when you're six weeks healed, I am hiring a babysitter, and we're not leaving our bed."

She looked at the sand to hide her blush. "That's five months away."

I stepped towards her and wrapped my arm around her waist. "You're not ready, Grace, and I'll wait. You're mine. I am not going anywhere. Plus, there are other fun things to do. It's just going to take a little time to clean up the mess. Besides, a baby should never see his father's dick."

"You know it doesn't work like that, right?" She laughed so hard at me she couldn't control her snorts.

Her bump pressed firmly into my stomach.

The baby kicked me.

He agreed, and that was good enough for me. For now.