Until I Found You: A Second Chance Standalone Romance (Heart's Compass Book 3)

by Brooke O'Brien

  Twenty-Two

  Graham

  The smell of exhaust permeates the air from the dirt bikes. We hear the announcer thanking everyone for coming out tonight, the sound of dirt bikes’ engines revving in the background.

  Wrapping my arm around Halle’s shoulder, I pull her in closer to me. She tilts her head against my chest. Even with the noise around us, I can hear her sigh in contentment. I feel it with her.

  With all the shit going on at work, the stress of Krate, and the fire at my mom’s, being able to get away from everything and come back to a place that holds so many memories for us is very therapeutic.

  “It’s been so long since I’ve been here.” There’s a smile in her voice when she says it. All night we’ve been like this, holding each other, touching each other in little ways. We haven’t spoken about what’s going on between us. The last time we did, I reminded her painfully how it was best for her that we weren’t together.

  Although after that, it seemed like everything went out the window because my need to be near her and protect her wrapped around me like a vise. It put a lot of things into perspective for me.

  Our friends seemed pleased to see us turning back to our old ways. While they knew that something was going on with us, up until that point we had held back on showing affection toward each other when they were around. When we were alone though, it was like nothing was off limits. We were the same couple, if not more affectionate, than we were back then.

  “Nothing makes me feel like home more than being out at the track,” I press my lips against the side of her head and finish, “with you.”

  She tilts her head back, looking at me, as we continue our walk toward her car. She insisted on driving, saying we always take my pickup, so I decided to indulge her a little.

  Pressing a kiss against her lips, we round the back of her car as we approach the driver’s side. Pushing her up against the door, I wrap my hands around her thighs and lift her up using the car to support her. Her legs wrap around my waist and I want to fall to my knees when I feel her warmth pressed against me.

  “Dear God,” I moan, diving in to kiss her neck.

  The sun has gone down. The cool breeze is flowing through the wide-open space of the fields surrounding the dirt track.

  Halle’s fingers slide into my hair, holding me close to her. I can feel her swallow beneath my lips, her breathing picking up pace as I kiss along the column of her neck and over her jaw. Wrapping my hand around her chin, I hold her face and kiss her deeply earning me a soft moan.

  “Do you know how hard it was not to do this back there? I’ve been dying to kiss you since we left your house,” I groan, kissing along her jaw up to her ear. Rubbing my aching cock against her, I let her feel just how much I want her.

  It’s like something inside me has broken, all the restraint I once had is let free and I can’t get enough of her.

  “Want to come stay with me tonight?” I run my tongue over the shell of her ear, nipping her. I hear her shutter a breath, as her nails dig into my skin at the base of my neck.

  “Yes,” she breathes out. “Let’s get going or I’m going to have you doing something that is considered against the law in this very parking lot.”

  Lowering her to the ground, I reach behind her to open the door as she slides into the seat. I flash her a wink before I shut the door behind her and race around to the other side.

  The drive back takes us about fifteen minutes. We drive with my hand wrapped around her thigh, trailing my thumb over her soft skin. Luke Combs plays through the speakers and Halle chats animatedly about gossip she heard about Brannon and Brea’s friend, Lissa. Lissa has been close-lipped about what happened between them when she was in town for Ellie and Callum’s wedding.

  “Graham,” Halle says, her voice is serious this time catching me off guard. “I can’t tell who it is, but I think the person behind us is following me.”

  The dark night sky makes it difficult to make out who’s driving behind us. Holding onto the head rest of Halle’s seat, I peer out the window over my shoulder.

  “Do me a favor, baby, and make a few turns,” I say, keeping my eyes focused on the car behind us.

  She pulls onto the next road and sure enough, the car behind us follows along behind. A few seconds later, she makes a sharp turn onto another road essentially bringing us in a circle and once again the car is right behind us turning too.

  “Graham,” she mutters nervously. “What should I do?”

  “Take another left up here and let’s head back to the highway. Try to stop for a second before you turn. I want to try to see what kind of car it is.”

  “Okay,” she responds. Her voice flutters with nervousness.

  Rubbing my hand over her shoulder, I try to let her know I’m here. The tension in her shoulders ease just a little.

  As soon as we roll to a stop, I’m able to make out just enough of the front hood to see the GTO emblem and I immediately know who it is.

  “Son of a bitch,” I curse out, slipping my phone out of my pocket and quickly dialing Maverick’s number.

  “What’s up?” he answers, the sound of music blaring behind him.

  “Where are you?”

  “At Tattered with Ryan. What’s going on?” Tattered is the tattoo shop his girlfriend, Ryan, co-owns.

  “I’m with Halle, we’re driving back from Big Nasty and we’re being followed.” I glance over at Halle, reaching to touch her thigh again. “It’s Krate.”

  Halle’s eyes flash to me, wide with worry before focusing back on the road. Her hands grip the wheel with so much force, her knuckles turn white.

  “Where are you?” Mav asks. He tells his girlfriend, Ryan, he’s gotta go and a few seconds later, the music disappears just before the exhaust on his pickup roars to life.

  “We’re coming down Highway 30. We’re in Halle’s car, heading to my place.”

  “Alright, I’m heading that way.”

  He cuts the line. Thankfully he’ll be coming from Everton, so he will likely be coming up on us very soon.

  “It’s gonna be alright, baby. You’re doing good,” I reassure her, just as the loud rumbling of the engine behind us revs.

  Krate drives up on us, nearly rear-ending Halle’s car, before breaking and doing it again once more.

  “Graham,” she cries, her hands fisting the steering wheel as she picks up speed.

  “Be careful, baby, you’re doing great. We’re almost home,” I say.

  We’re still about seven minutes away. In this moment, I hate that I let her drive tonight. I wish I would’ve driven, and it was me in the driver’s seat. Although I know if the roles were reversed, there’s no way in hell that stupid son of a bitch would be playing this game with me.

  Glancing out the side mirror, I notice a pickup truck come up on us and a moment later a honk ensues.

  “Oh, God, what was that?”

  “That’s Maverick, baby. You’re doing great. Pick up the speed just a little bit but be careful. I don’t want you to get into an accident. I just want us to get home.”

  “Okay.” She trembles, pressing on the gas.

  My phone vibrates in my hand and I quickly swipe the screen, answering it.

  “It’s definitely Krate, that stupid son of a bitch!” Maverick shouts.

  “Yeah, I know. He’s been riding on our ass. Do me a favor and get rid of him. I want to get Halle home.”

  “You got it. Let me know when you make it home.”

  “Alright,” I say, rubbing my hand along Halle’s leg again hoping to reassure her.

  I disconnect the call and turn my attention to my woman sitting next to me. All my biggest fears feel like they are about to become reality. Ever since the day I lost Gage, all I’ve thought about is what would happen if something happened to Halle or my mom. The fear of losing one of them, letting them down, has damn near crippled me.

  Here I am in this moment, feeling like I’m out of control and could lose her, and I don
’t even know what to do.

  “Baby, Mav is here and he’s going to help us lose him. Okay? I need you to just focus on the road and getting us home. We’re almost there, baby. Just get us home.”

  Maverick pulls his truck into the lane next to us, toward oncoming traffic and races up next to Krate as he revs his engine again before slamming on his brakes and swerving back behind him. He continues to run up behind him, riding on his ass warning him to let us go.

  Distracting him long enough, Halle quickly swerves over into the right turning lane that veers off onto the gravel road leading to my house. Slowing enough to take the corner, I turn back to check if Krate is following us to see that he and Maverick continue to fly past us.

  Halle lets out a heavy sigh as she pulls over to the side of the road.

  “It’s okay, baby.” I lean over and kiss her, as she puts it into park and wraps her arms around my neck holding me close to her.

  Her body trembles against me, as the tears start to flow down her face.

  “Graham,” she cries, her arms wound tightly. I feel her tears against my neck as trembles rack through her body.

  “You’re okay. We’re both okay,” I say to her, doing my best to remain calm even though I feel like I’m about to lose my mind.

  She crawls over the seat into my lap and I hold her, doing my best to calm her down. We sit like this for a few minutes, until her tears have dried and her body has stopped shaking.

  “I’ll drive us the rest of the way to my place.”

  She nods her head. The adrenaline that was once racing through her has eased and now she’s crashing. The exhaustion weighing her down, as her eyes begin to droop.

  I move to open the door and she scoots over into the seat. Closing the door behind me, I race to the other side and slip into the driver’s seat. I try to make quick work of getting us back to my place. Thankfully, we’re not too far now so it only takes a couple of minutes.

  Her forehead is pressed against the glass of the window, as she looks out with her body curled up into a ball. Her arms are wrapped tightly around her legs, and I realize now how fragile she looks.

  “You ready to head inside?”

  It takes a minute before she unwraps herself, looking over at me.

  “Graham, I was so scared,” she says, as the tears fill her eyes again.

  I tell her to hang on a sec as I turn the car off and come around to her side, helping her out. She doesn’t hesitate when I wrap my arms around her lower back and her legs, picking her up. She tangles her arms around my neck, holding onto me as I carry her inside.

  She helps grab the keys from my pocket and unlocks the door. Kicking the door shut behind me, I don’t stop as I take her down the hall and into my bedroom. Setting her on the edge of my mattress, I press a soft kiss against her lips.

  “I know you were scared,” I whisper to her. “I was scared too.”

  In fact, I was terrified. Images flash before my eyes of me racing down the side of the road, the gravel crunching beneath my feet as my lungs burned with every deep breath I struggled to take. I envision the red and blue lights from the emergency responders, as I frantically look around for Gage, hoping to see him standing around or being loaded into the ambulance.

  I learned painfully that day that he had died at the scene of the accident, and as much as I wished otherwise, they wouldn’t be transporting him to the hospital. No, they would be pronouncing him dead at the scene and taking him directly to the morgue.

  Watching the ambulance drive away that night without Gage in the back was hard enough to accept. Knowing that I would never see him or talk to him again was a painful reminder that life can change in an instant. Nothing is guaranteed, and in a moment, it can be taken from you.

  All this time I felt regretful for what happened to Gage, feeling like it was my actions that put him on the road that night. It was my reckless behavior that made him have to come get me and if it wasn’t for me, he would’ve never been there. He never would’ve got into that accident.

  Now it’s a painful reminder that life is too short.

  “I don’t know what I’d do if something would’ve happened to you,” I say, the thought of losing her causes my voice to crack.

  It’s now that the tears that were threatening to fall begin their slow descent down her soft cheeks. Wrapping my hands around her face, I press a deep kiss against her lips and hope that without words she feels every emotion pouring out of me and into her. I hope she understands everything I want to say but just can’t find the words because I’m so overwhelmed, I just want to hold her. I want to remind myself that she’s here with me, and even though we haven’t talked about it, I want to believe she’s mine.

  When our lips break apart, she wraps her hands around my wrists and we just sit here with our foreheads pressed together. Our warm breaths mix together, reminding us that we’re both here and alive.

  “Will you take a shower with me and then hold me tonight?”

  I want to wash away the smell of dirt and exhaust from our bodies and lie together, with her wrapped in my arms.

  “Of course,” I say, grabbing her by the hand and leading her into the bathroom located off my bedroom suite.

  We don’t say a word as we both help undress each other. With every piece of clothing that is stripped away, I feel like every wall that’s been built up between us falls away too.

  Standing here together, under the water steadily falling from the shower, I wrap my arms around her and just appreciate the feel of her skin against mine.

  Halle presses a soft kiss against my chest, just over my heart as she circles her arms around my waist. When she peers up at me now, it’s like my heart stops beating for a moment, when I see the love on her face shining back at me.

  Then when the words that follow pass her lips, I want to fall to my knees and wrap my arms around her waist, just thanking God and heaven for this woman.

  “I love you.”

  I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve her. I don’t deserve her one bit. Her light and her goodness, she’s everything that’s right in this cruel world.

  When I tell her I love her back, I kiss her with so much passion I let myself believe for a moment I do deserve her. Lord knows, I wish I did. With every ounce that’s left in me, I wish I deserved her, and I vow to spend the rest of my life trying to prove to her I do.

  Twenty-Three

  Halle

  A soft grunting sound pulls me out of my sleep, jolting me awake. I stare wide-eyed around the room. My dream is blurring with reality and for a moment, I find myself disoriented and unsure of where I am until Graham’s arm tightens around me.

  “You okay?” His warm breath feathers over my ear, a piece of hair draping over my face.

  Turning in his arms to face him, taking in the sleepy look on his face. His hair is mussed, and his facial hair has grown in longer than he normally wears it, giving him this rugged look that is so very sexy.

  “I’m better now.” I smile, running my fingers through his wayward hair. His eyes droop, relaxing.

  When we were younger, Graham would often sneak in through my bedroom window when my parents were asleep. While it certainly wouldn’t have made them happy had they known, there was always a sense of peace that fell over me having his arm wrapped around me. Waking up this morning in his arms is the same. Even with the events of this past week, there is still a calmness I feel being with Graham that I’ve never been able to find anywhere else.

  “You doin’ okay after last night?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  Graham’s long eyelashes feather out over his face as he blinks. Even as he looks back at me with a warm smile, I can tell his mind is somewhere further away.

  “I was thinking last night when we were lying in bed,” I sigh. “What is it about you that has Krate so hell bent in pissing you off?”

  Graham moves his arm, rolling onto his back. Shoving the pillow up, he drapes his arm underneath his head looking
up at the ceiling.

  “Couldn’t tell ya,” he responds curtly. His tone is completely different than it was just a moment ago.

  Rolling onto my stomach, I sit up and face him, my eyes blazing into the side of his face not buying it for a second.

  “You have no idea why he would try to chase us down and practically run us off the road?”

  His eyes dart over to me out of the corner of his eye, before closing them and letting out a heavy sigh.

  “You’re going to make me do this, aren’t you?”

  “Graham, tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Shortly after I got into town, I got a call from Detective Keller.” The mere mention of his name has me sitting up. Folding my legs under me, I pull the blanket over my lap as Graham wraps his hand in mine.

  “He called me and asked me to stop by the station. I figured it had to do with Gage, but I hadn’t been expecting what he had to tell me. Around the time the accident happened, Gage had been working on a case. Do you remember how news broke about the big drug sting that landed Isaac Krate in prison?”

  He must read the question on my face, as I nod my head. What do Isaac Krate and Gage have to do with the accident?

  Graham pulls my hand toward him, pressing a soft kiss against my palm before resting our joined hands against his chest.

  “It turns out Gage had been taking the lead on the case. Maverick and I have been digging into it and we found out Gage had been the one who had been by to question him. He was helping build the case against him. Anyway, after he was caught and put away, it pissed some people off. Turns out the sting brought down some of their biggest men. Marc clearly didn’t like how Gage had been coming around. It’s unclear what all he had on them, but they think the accident was done out of retaliation. Maverick and I believe he may have been trying to cover something up, but we can’t be certain.”

  “You think Marc is who’s responsible for the hit and run?”

  “According to Keller, that’s what their leads have come to, but they don’t have solid evidence built around it yet.”