“We’re in love, right?” I ask an hour later.
“Totally in love,” he answers, and I don’t have to pull my head from his chest to hear the smile in his words.
“I told Aly I was going to be staying with you, but I never actually asked. Is it okay—”
“Of course you’re staying with me. I’m on the list to have a house built, but in the meantime, you’ll be in our room with me.”
“New Mexico is my new home,” I say, more to myself than anyone else.
“I’m your new home, Grace. Never doubt that.”
I have never heard truer words before in my life, and I count myself insanely blessed that we’ve found each other again after so long.
As crazy as it sounds, my two abductions brought us back together, and I’d suffer through it all over again if it meant I ended up right here. We’re not entering into this with any doubts. I’m not waiting for the other shoe to drop or for someone to pull the rug out from under us.
He’s my home. I’m his, and our foundation is stronger than ever.
Chapter 39
Grinch
“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop looking at me like that,” I mutter.
“Like what?” Legend asks, a wide grin on his stupid face.
“Like you have me all figured out.”
Apollo snorts a laugh, looking more put together than he has in a while. It took three months for his son to get on a better sleep schedule, and things seem to be better now for him and April.
“I told you it was going to happen,” Legend taunts.
“And now you can predict all the things?” I scoff.
“I predicted that you were the next to fall.”
“Lucky guess,” I say, but I’m not upset with the outcome.
I’ve had Grace in my bed every night on the nights we’re home for over two months now, and I don’t regret it at all. We’re incredibly happy, and it shouldn’t matter that I told him more times than I could count that I wasn’t interested in a relationship.
What I didn’t know when I stupidly said those words was that I’d always been in love with Grace. I just didn’t see a situation where we could ever be together. It took twelve long years of us being apart and one horrific situation for us to find each other again. Now that we’re back to being happy with no secrets between us, I’ll never let her go. I’m grateful she has the same mindset because it would be awkward otherwise.
“It’s not luck,” Legend counters. “It’s fate.”
I lift my beer in salute to that because there were clearly other forces at work that got us here.
“If you’re so good at predicting this stuff, who’s next?”
Legend looks around the garage, several of the men going restless as his eyes pass over them.
“Don’t fucking look at me,” Aro says, but I catch the quick look in Slick’s direction.
The woman isn’t paying any attention to the rest of us. She seems lost in her own little world as she looks down at the empty beer bottle in her hands.
“Never,” Boomer mutters when he gains Legend’s attention. “It’ll never happen.”
“Because you don’t want it to?” Legend asks.
“Just because,” Boomer says as he stands up and leaves the garage.
“So not him,” Legend says after he’s gone.
Several of the guys chuckle. Boomer doesn’t date. He’s been quick to go with the other guys to the bar, but he always comes home alone. The man doesn’t even flirt with the women.
“I think he’s afraid of women,” Spade says, but his tone is serious and not mocking at all.
“Maybe he’s gay,” Aro suggests.
“If he is, he’s fighting it pretty hard. I was thinking he was homophobic because he leaves anytime Tug and Max, or Snatch and Itchy show any amount of affection toward each other,” I tell the group.
“He leaves anytime he doesn’t want to discuss something,” Legend adds. “So I don’t think he’s homophobic.”
“Maybe he’s just uncomfortable with public displays of affection,” Aro says. “He got up and left the other night at Jake’s.”
“What you were doing couldn’t be considered a public display of affection unless you were on the set at a porn studio,” Slick mutters without looking up from her beer.
“That woman was rather aggressive,” Aro adds with a wide smile.
“The bar isn’t the place for you to finger a girl at the table,” Slick snaps, her eyes snapping up to his.
“It was dark,” Aro argues. “I was careful.”
Slick shakes her head, but she doesn’t respond again.
“It’s going to be Harley,” Legend says, pulling the conversation back to where we started.
“Harley?” I shake my head. “No, man. It won’t be him.”
“You said Alyssa Dansby was coming soon, right?” I nod. “I overheard a conversation the other day about where she was going to live. She wants to be in New Mexico but doesn’t feel comfortable staying on the Cerberus property.”