“Hey, woah.” He grabs my arms and tilts his chin to his chest to look me in the eye. “What’s wrong? Why are you running?”
“I just…” I swallow and battle with the internal struggle of telling him the truth. I decide against it. “I wanted to make sure you guys weren’t waiting too long. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. No need to rush. Although, I’m glad to get out of here. I hate hospitals. They creep me out.” He shivers while throwing an arm around my neck. He presses a kiss to my forehead and grins. “Let’s go home. I can’t wait to show Dillon his room.”
“Me too.” I plaster on a big smile while digging in my pocket for my phone. I turn it off and wonder if it’s too late. Does Trevor know where I live? Why isn’t my face plastered on the news anymore? In fact, why have I been coming to the hospital without odd stares? It’s like the incident never happened. Maybe Grayson has something to do with it? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s time to stop living in this fairy tale world of me and Grayson and start talking to him about the truth.
I can’t keep Trevor from him because eventually, Trevor will come out of the woodworks again, and I have to protect him. I have to protect Dillon too. It looks like Grayson and I both have our pasts to deal with before the future has a chance at looking any brighter.
We walk outside, the hum of the sliding glass doors blasting us in the face with the damp air. The clouds are a powdery gray color. It doesn’t look like it will rain, but it’s casting a veil of gloom over Trinidad, which isn’t helping my mood.
Grayson opens the truck door for me, and I slide in next to Dillon. Grayson runs around to the other side and is nearly too big for the damn truck. He has to duck, almost hitting his head on the roof. When we settle in, I stare at the window while worry, guilt, and fear eat away at my soul.
Dillon settles his head on my shoulder and I rest my head against, stunned that he would pick me to lean on. Grayson rubs his fingers along Dillon’s neck, and Dillon’s eyes droop shut. Grayson stares at us like we’re his damn universe, and I want that. I want this. I want to be everything for them.
“I wish you were my mommy,” Dillon mutters through a yawn.
My hand flies to my heart as something so beautiful spears it. It’s the kind of good feeling that hurts.
“I’d like her to be your mommy too, buddy. Maybe one day soon?” he asks Dillon while staring at me with intense need in those garnet eyes.
I nod, wondering if this is a proposal in the backseat of a Ford Raptor? I guess there have been odder places to say ‘yes’. It isn’t unromantic, oddly enough. I’m surrounded by love, a kid who somehow likes me, and a man who is perfect in every sense of the world.
I’m obsessed with this life I’ve run to, and I don’t want it to be taken from me.
“I love you,” I mouth to Grayson.
“I love you too,” he mouths silently in return.
The road home is long, happy, but with a sense of dread lurking in the corner. I’m being watched, and there is no doubt in my mind that it is Trevor. He’s always going to watch me. He’s always going to want me.
And he won’t stop until he has me.
I’ve fought this long and this hard, and I refuse to fall into the hands of that monster.
Chapter Twenty-One
GRAYSON
It’s been a week since Dillon has been home, and Finley is distant. She’s pulled away from me. I don’t know what I did. I’m starting to wonder if maybe this is more than she signed up for. Maybe having a kid isn’t what she wanted after all. It’s a lot of responsibility for an eighteen-year-old to have. I’m expecting too much of her.
I open the box holding the ring I just bought and wonder if I’m crazy. Am I moving too fast?
“Oh,” Quinn says as she sits next to me in the kitchen. “Well, I’m sorry, but I’m a taken woman.” She points to the massive diamond on her hand and her growing belly.
I snort, open the box, and close it. I do that over and over again until I sigh. Quinn’s hand falls to mine to stop me, and then she wraps her hand around mine. “What’s wrong, Gray?”
Another long exhale leaves me. “Nothing,” I say heavily and stare down the hallway to Finley’s room where she has been staying. She hasn’t slept me with for the last few nights. That’s how I know she’s mad at me. She won’t even come to my bed. The oval sapphire ring glitters in the light every time I open the box, and when the snap of the lid closed, my heart aches a bit more.
“That’s so convincing, Gray. Tell me what’s wrong.” She nudges my shoulder.
“It’s Finley. She hasn’t talked to me. Something is on her mind, and she’s avoiding me. I’m starting to wonder if this is all too much for her. You know, it’s one thing to be with someone older, but it’s another to be with someone with a kid, a sick kid. I love her more than anything, but I’m starting to wonder if maybe she regrets it.”
“I don’t,” Finley’s voice echoes from behind me, and I freeze, then narrow my eyes at Quinn.
“My work here is done,” she says with a bit too much pep and hops off the stool. “I’m going to go check on Jaxon.”
She waddles down the hall, and the tension
