by Susan Stoker
Gritting her teeth, Grace made a split-second decision.
Tonight. If Logan was at the party at the gym, she’d ask. She wanted to know. Before she had to marry Bradford. Before her parents had her completely under their thumb. She needed to know.
Chapter Six
Logan stood at the back of the gym, enjoying the ambiance. Felicity and Cole had outdone themselves. Castle Rock wasn’t exactly the hub that Colorado Springs or Denver was, but this was a first for the small town.
The disco ball whirled and spun over their heads, spotlighted by a few bright white lights. The fluorescent lights overhead had all been replaced by black lights. The result was a disorienting blend of purple light and spinning circles. Felicity had actually made sure no one had epilepsy before they walked into the gym, for obvious reasons.
Everyone was also wearing white. If they weren’t when they arrived, Cole and Felicity had provided either plain white T-shirts for the men, or a white scarf for the women. The result was an amazing visual that outdid any of the clubs Logan had been to.
There weren’t a ton of people at the party, but surprisingly, Nathan had decided to show up with Blake, as had most of the gym regulars. Cole had brought a cooler filled with ice and beer, and Felicity had supplied other bottled drinks, including soft drinks and water for those who were either driving or trying to watch their caloric intake. The gym didn’t exactly have a liquor license, but as long as no one got out of control, Felicity and Cole figured they could get away with “throwing a party.”
Nursing the Lone Star beer in his hand, Logan watched as the newcomers smiled and gawked when they first entered the gym, then wandered around greeting their friends. The music was loud, but not obnoxiously so. So far, not many people were dancing, but Logan figured it was only a matter of time.
Logan was extremely aware of Grace Mason standing on the other side of the room. She’d arrived with Felicity and was wearing a white tank top and a pair of jeans. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen her look so casual. Even in high school, Grace typically wore slacks and shirts. Her hair was always styled and perfect. Her clothes pressed, her classy one-inch heels always present.
But tonight she looked . . . amazing. More down to earth, more approachable. Logan shifted where he stood, frustrated that the woman still had any kind of power over him. He still wanted her. The attraction they’d flirted with all those years ago was still there. But even more so on his part now. Grace Mason had grown up. She was no longer a girl, she was a woman, and his palms almost itched to touch her. But it wasn’t only that. Every time he’d seen her talking with another man, he’d wanted to rush over and punch the other guy for being too close to what he wanted for himself. It was irrational as hell.
There hadn’t been a day since he’d left when he didn’t think about Grace. Where she was. What she was doing. Who she was with. At least for the first few years.
With time, came distance. He stopped seeing her every time he caught a glimpse of a pretty brunette. Eventually, he stopped hoping there would be a letter from her when he went to the mailbox. And he only occasionally wondered “what if” anymore.
But tonight, she looked phenomenal. Her hair was pulled up in a simple ponytail that sat high on her head and gave him glimpses of her slender neck, which made him want to suck on it and place a hickey there for everyone to see and know she was taken. Her tank was tucked into her jeans and she was wearing a black belt with a huge buckle. Her jeans tapered down her legs to a pair of flip-flops. The outfit wasn’t sexy. She wasn’t trying to attract attention to herself . . . but she was nonetheless.
Logan couldn’t stop looking at her feet. He’d never, not once, seen her wearing flip-flops. Even though he was on the other side of the room, he could still see her sexy little toes. Grace laughed at something Felicity said, and her white teeth shone clearly in the black lights in the room.
“Why don’t you just go over there and talk to her?”
The question startled Logan out of his introspection. He turned to see Cole standing next to him.
“I don’t want to.”
Cole laughed as if Logan had just told a hilarious joke. “Oh, that’s such bullshit. You’re dying to talk to her. Any moron can see it.”
Logan scowled and crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Grace and Felicity across the room. “Why are you harping on this, Cole? Haven’t we had this conversation already? Just let it go.”
Instead of answering, Cole leaned against the wall, mirroring Logan’s stance, and motioned at the two women with his head. “Felicity picked her up tonight. She parked down the street and waited for Grace to sneak out of the damn mansion she spends more time at than her own apartment. She climbed out her window and met Felicity on the street.”
“Doesn’t want her parents to know she’s slumming?” Logan sneered. He didn’t know why he was being such a dick. He did want to go and talk to Grace, get to know her again, see if the connection they’d once had was still there, but he was afraid that if he did, he’d hear her say she didn’t want anything to do with him. It was insane. He was a badass former soldier. He shouldn’t be such a pussy about talking to her.
For the first time, Cole looked pissed. “Dammit. Listen to me,” he demanded, standing up straight and glaring at Logan. “Felicity keeps clothes in her car for Grace to change into, because if Margaret Mason found a pair of flip-flops or jeans in her daughter’s closet, or found them on one of the many surprise visits she pays to Grace’s apartment, she would lose her shit. I know you think you’re smart, and you have Grace all figured out, but I’m standing here telling you, you don’t know dick. I’ve never seen a woman so lost in all my life.”
Logan gestured toward Grace, who was giggling and laughing with Felicity. “Really? Because she doesn’t look all that lost to me.”
“Then you’re not looking hard enough,” Cole returned immediately and with force, smacking the wall next to his friend to emphasize his point. “Rumor has it that she’s practically engaged to Bradford Grant.”
Logan looked sharply at his friend then. “Bradford?”
“Mommy and Daddy want it to happen. So it’ll happen.”
Looking back across the room at Grace, Logan muttered, “Makes sense. He’s loaded. She’s loaded. They’ll make a good couple . . . ouch!”
Logan took a step away from his friend and rubbed the back of his head where Cole had smacked him. “What the hell?”
“You aren’t listening to me,” Cole said easily.
“I am listening, but you’re talking in some damn code. Just fucking spell it out.” Logan was pissed. He hated games. He was a black-and-white kind of guy. Not to mention the thought of Bradford Grant and Grace together made him want to go and find the man and beat the shit out of him for taking what was his. The thought startled him, but he didn’t have time to reflect on it.
“Grace Mason is so far under her parents’ thumbs, she can’t breathe. She’s drowning, and every day that goes by, she goes farther and farther under. She wants their approval more than she wants to live her own life. They’ve manipulated her since the day she was born and have used emotional blackmail to get her to do whatever they want. Grace doesn’t own a pair of jeans, Logan, because her parents have told her that she looks like a slut when she wears them.
“Her parents own her lock, stock, and barrel. And if you don’t get your head out of your ass, she’s going to be married to Bradford Grant by the end of the year. Then she’ll be lost to you, and Felicity, forever. And the shit of it is, she knows it. She’s laughing now, sure, but if you look closer, you’ll see it’s all on the surface.”
Logan narrowed his eyes at his friend for a beat before turning to look at Grace again. He tried to put aside his insane anger at the thought of Grace with someone else, and look at her as a private investigator would. What was Cole seeing that he’d missed because of his own feelings and memories?
There were only about thirty feet between
where he and Cole were and where Grace stood with Felicity. Her back was to the wall and her feet were crossed as she leaned against it. Now that he was really concentrating on Grace’s body language, Logan could see what Cole meant. One hand held a sugary-sweet alcoholic drink, but the other was constantly fiddling with herself nervously. She rubbed the back of her neck, she fingered the belt buckle around her waist, she wiped her hand on the side of her jeans. Grace’s eyes constantly roamed the room, as if looking for someone . . . or waiting for someone to show up. She laughed and smiled, but also bit her lip nervously. Her shoulders were hunched over, as if she were uncomfortable in her own skin and wanted to be anywhere but where she was.
“What’s really up with her?” Logan asked Cole, feeling the protectiveness he’d thought long gone well up inside of him again as if it were a wave crashing over his head. He’d promised himself that he wouldn’t go there again, but seeing Grace, really seeing her for the first time since he’d been back in town, made his promise dissipate into a thousand tiny grains of sand. “She’s got more money than she could ever spend in this lifetime. She’s pretty. She has a good job, but you’re right, something’s wrong. I should’ve seen it before now.”
“I don’t know. Not really. I have my suspicions, as do all of us who know her, but nothing concrete.”
“What does Felicity say?”
Cole shrugged. “Nothing. Not to me. She wouldn’t break Grace’s confidence. She’s only hinted to me that Grace’s parents aren’t June and Ward Cleaver. But that wasn’t exactly a revelation.”
“She doesn’t look like she’s being abused,” Logan noted, seeing no signs of bruises on her arms or face. “Is she? The light in here is shit and I can’t tell.”
“Physically? I don’t think so. Emotionally? That’s a whole ’nother thing,” Cole responded.
Logan waved his hand. “Emotional abuse doesn’t really exist. It’s just a thing made up by psychologists to give weak people a reason for not being mentally strong enough to break free of an unwanted relationship.”
“Wow, man. That was harsh.”
Logan looked up at Cole in confusion. “What?”
“You can’t really believe that.”
“What? That emotional abuse doesn’t exist? Yeah, I do. Look, you know what a bitch my mother was. That’s abuse. Spending every day wondering if she was going to beat the shit out of me, my brothers, or my dad. Wondering if she was going to get the cane out of the closet or if she would use a belt. Trying to figure out how to hide another bruise. Making up stories so the authorities didn’t separate Blake, Nathan, and me. That’s abuse. Grace is an adult. She can just leave if she doesn’t like spending so much time at home. She has her own apartment; she doesn’t have to stay over there. It’s called free will.”
Cole looked at Logan for a moment, a look of such disgust on his face, Logan took a step back.
“If that’s really what you think, and you’re not just talking out your ass because you’re pissed about something else, then stay the hell away from her. I mean it, Logan. I know we’re friends, and I’m happy as I could be you’re back in town, but that woman doesn’t need another person fucking with her head. I know the two of you have a history, but just because you can’t see what’s right in front of your face doesn’t mean it’s not there. Yeah, you had a shit childhood. Your mom hurt you, your brothers, and your dad. A lot. If you haven’t figured out that sometimes words can hurt a whole hell of a lot more than fists, then you’re not half the man I thought you were.”
With that parting shot, Cole turned and headed across the gym to the woman they’d been discussing.
Logan watched as Cole put one hand on Grace’s shoulder and leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a half hug. She smiled up at him and said something back to him. Logan clenched his teeth.
He didn’t need this. Not now. He and his brothers were getting their business up and running . . . and it was working. They were busy, and word was obviously getting around. He didn’t have time to ponder Grace Mason and what her situation might be.
But that didn’t stop his mind from turning over what Cole had told him and wondering if everything he’d thought his entire life about abuse was wrong.
It didn’t stop his feet from moving in Grace’s direction.
It didn’t stop his long-buried attraction from rising up from the depths of his soul.
His. Grace Mason was his, dammit.
If she was in trouble, he wanted to be there for her.
Needed to be there for her.
Their new relationship was starting today.
Right now.
Chapter Seven
Grace tried to concentrate on what Felicity was saying, but it was hard. She was on edge. First, she thought for sure she’d been caught sneaking out of the house earlier that evening. She’d had one foot outside her windowsill and heard creaking outside her bedroom door. She’d frozen in fear for at least five minutes, not moving a muscle, but when neither her mother nor father came bursting into her room, she’d finally shimmied the rest of the way out her window.
Over the last few years, she’d gotten good at sneaking out of the house. It was ridiculous, really. She was well over the age where she should need to creep out of her parents’ house, and she didn’t even live there full time, but it was what it was.
She’d changed into the jeans and tank top her friend had brought for her as they drove back into Castle Rock. Felicity hadn’t commented on the ponytail Grace had put her hair in, but she’d seen her eyes go to it and the small smile creep over her lips. Pleasing Felicity meant almost as much to Grace as pleasing her parents sometimes.
As if worrying someone would notice her and word would get back to her parents wasn’t enough, Logan Anderson had taken up position across the gym and had been staring at her for most of the night. She’d said hello to his brothers, and they’d stopped to chat for a bit, but had quickly moved on. Even though there was a strong family resemblance among the Anderson brothers—they were fraternal triplets, after all—in Grace’s eyes, Logan had always been the best looking.
And tonight was no exception. He was still wearing the black jeans he’d had on earlier, but now he was wearing a white T-shirt, as were most of the men. But somehow it seemed so much sexier on him than anyone else. Logan was taller than her five feet eight by a couple of inches, and looked like he could bench-press a car. He obviously spent a lot of time in the gym, and it showed. She couldn’t see his tattoos from across the room, but she knew they were there.
“. . . don’t you think?”
Grace turned her attention back to Felicity. “I’m sorry, what?”
Felicity laughed, but luckily didn’t embarrass her by pointing out what had obviously made her mind wander. “I said, I think we should do this more often. Yeah?”
“Sure. It looks like you have a pretty good turnout for the first time. And you didn’t really advertise, except for signs around the gym. If you had more time, you could’ve put an ad in the paper, and even maybe paired up with some of the gym owners up in Denver that you know. You might need to apply for a liquor license, though, if you want to keep serving beer and cocktails. Maybe you could do some sort of reciprocal gym exchange thing or something. Or let their customers use your equipment for free, and the people here could go up to Denver sometimes and work out. It would be a good marketing tool for you both and-”
“Whoa, hang on there!” Felicity exclaimed. “I didn’t mean for you to go into work mode on me, I only wanted to get your preliminary thoughts. Although, none of those are bad ideas, actually.”
Grace blushed, glad for the low light. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s great. Speaking of which . . . have you heard back from the college yet?”
Grace looked around, happy to see that no one seemed interested in their conversation. “Yeah, I got the acceptance email this week. It said a packet should be in the mail, so you shou
ld receive something for me soon.”
Felicity screeched and pulled Grace into a big hug. “That’s great! I’m so happy for you!”
Grace hugged Felicity back and then pulled away. “Thanks. It’s not a huge deal. It’s only an online program. It’s not like I got into Harvard or anything.”
“Yeah, but since you already have one undergrad degree, you’ve got all of the basic education classes already done. You just need to take the marketing ones now. You’ll have that second degree done in no time.”
“Yeah,” Grace agreed with no enthusiasm. It wasn’t as if she would ever get to use a marketing degree. Once she was married to Bradford, she’d be stuck being a secretary for the rest of her life; at least until she started having kids. Then she’d have to stay home with them, host tea parties, be taught how to be a better mother by Margaret Mason, and probably die a slow, lonely death.
Felicity held up her beer bottle. “Cheers. To great things ahead.”
“Cheers,” Grace mumbled, and took a small sip of the screwdriver in her hand, not really tasting the sweet drink.
“Hey, what are we toasting?” a deep voice asked next to them.
Grace looked up to see Cole standing near them. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, then threw his arm over her shoulder. Cole was big. He was around six-four and towered over most people. He and Felicity were close friends, but Felicity told her time and time again that they thought of each other like brother and sister. Grace hadn’t believed it at first. Cole was hot and Felicity was beautiful, but the more she hung out with the two of them, the more she believed it. She hadn’t gotten any sense that the two were holding a torch for each other.
“Hey, Cole,” Felicity answered. “We’re just toasting to a successful night.”
