Secrets & Lies (Roughshod Rollers MC 3)

“Then the first step is replying to this,” Allison says, holding my phone out to me. “After that, you just have to let the conversation fall naturally. Grant is probably stressing about your reply. He might think you’re mad at him.”

Disquieted, I look down at my phone.

“I’m not,” I say. “I don’t feel like I have the right.”

“Well, start by telling him that you aren’t upset,” Allison suggests.

My heart is pounding and I feel anxious all of a sudden. Is it really going to be this easy? Before I can regret it, I quickly type out a message.

“I understand. I’m not mad. I hope we can still be friends.”

I show the message to Allison before I send it. She frowns.

“Is that what you really want to say?” she demands.

“Partly,” I say quietly. “But if I tell him I love him now, I’m just going to run him off.”

Allison chews on her bottom lip in thought before she nods, though she still looks unconvinced.

“Whatever you think is best,” she says.

“What’re you guys doing?” Hayley asks, coming into the kitchen. She catches my glance toward the living room. “Owen wanted to watch a movie.”

“We’re messaging Grant,” Allison says distractedly.

“Grant?” Hayley asks, confused. “Why?”

Well, that answers the question of how much she knows. Allison looks at me uneasily.

“Grant and I were together a long time, but I left him over a misunderstanding,” I tell Hayley. The words, somehow, come easier now. It’s the third time I’ve said them out loud. It isn’t as scary explaining myself now that I’ve told Grant the truth. “Owen is his son. We’ve been trying to work things out but it’s hard.”

“Yeah?” Hayley asks. She spies a mug of coffee. “Oh, this mine?”

“Sorry, it might have gone a little cold,” I say.

“No worries; caffeine is caffeine,” Hayley says with a laugh, taking a sip. “Not bad. Anyway, is Grant still interested in you?”

I remember his heaving breaths and his desperate touches.

“I think so,” I say cautiously; it could, after all, just have been pure lust.

“Then don’t rest on your laurels, girl!” Hayley says, rolling her eyes. “Go get him back!”

“It’s not that easy, Hayley,” Allison laughs. “But we’re trying. We’re just trying to figure out what to say to him.”

“Well, I’m going with this; it’s a good start,” I say.

I press send. Barely half a minute later, my phone vibrates and I almost drop it in shock.

“Shit!” I say, suddenly panicked. “He replied. Did he? Is it him?”

“Well, check!” Hayley demands, coming closer.

I don’t want to check. I can’t bear to get my hopes up. But I have to. Trying to calm my trembling hands, I look at the message.

It’s from Grant.

“I’m glad you aren’t mad. We should talk. Properly. About us and Owen. I want to be friends at least too.”