by Sophia Gray
“Sage?” she asked as I freed one hand.
“She’s safe.”
“And Trenton?”
I paused in the middle of untying her other hand. That she cared about the kid still said so much about her. Her heart had no limits.
“He’s being taken care of.” I freed her hand.
Before I could untie her legs, Victoria leaned forward and embraced me. I stroked her back.
“It’s all right,” I murmured in her ear. “I’m here. You’re safe now.”
Victoria pulled back and stared up at me through teary eyes. “I love you, Grant.”
My heart swelled, and I hugged her so tightly she squealed. When I pulled away, I kissed her thoroughly. Again and again. The moment I had to come up for air, I pressed my forehead to hers and looked down at her. “I love you, too.”
Tears streamed down her face, and I kissed them away. I hated that she had gone through this horrible ordeal, but I would be damned before I’d let this affect her long-term. I was going to replace this with so many happy memories that she’d never have to think about this ever again.
“I love you,” she repeated breathlessly.
“Love you back.” I grinned. “I’ve never told a woman that before, and I intend to say it to you all the time.”
Her eyes widened, and she laughed. Then she glanced around. “Can we get out of here?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
It took me no time to be able to untie her legs, and she tumbled into my arms. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t grow hard, and I wanted nothing more than to make a new memory right here, right now, but I could hear the guys talking Trenton down. It sounded to me that Trenton had stopped asking to be killed, though. Good.
With ease, I picked Victoria up. She laughed and slapped my shoulder. “I can walk!”
“I know.” I nestled her to my chest. “But is it so wrong that I want to be your knight?”
“You’re more than just a knight.” She rubbed my chest.
“Oh, yeah? What am I then?”
She stared up at me, and I was blown away by the love shining in her eyes. “You’re mine.”
Sage rushed over, hugging her mom, and it was kinda awkward until I was able to stand Victoria up. The two were crying and embracing, and I just stood there, next to them. It wasn’t awkward, and I didn’t feel like I had no right to be there.
After a long moment, Sage stared at me, one hand on her hip, the other hand still hugging her mom. “So you’re Grant, huh? I’ve heard a lot about you.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Trenton. The guys had bandaged him up, and I heard Hank say it was a clean shot, that the bullet had gone straight through. I had a doctor friend who could look him over so there wouldn’t be any paperwork or questions asked concerning the gunshot. Yeah, I might sometimes be a snitch to the police, but I didn’t want them asking any questions about my shooting Trenton. If they found him in conjunction to the drugs, that was one thing, but I wasn’t gonna broadcast to the police about the kidnapping and ransom attempt or press charges or anything like that.
Unless Victoria and Sage wanted to.
Sage cleared her throat. “Not all of it was good,” she added.
I turned back to face her and gave her a slight grin. “I’m a good guy once you get to know me.”
She crossed her arms. “I heard you’re a take ‘em, leave ‘em kind of guy.”
I shifted my gaze to Victoria. “I’m a one-woman man. Just took finding the right one.”
Victoria’s grin was breathtaking.
Sage rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”
I glanced around. “Someone might have called the cops. We can’t stick around here.” I grimaced. “I’ll clean up the blood—”
“Got it handled already,” Daryl called. Sure enough, he was scrubbing away. Most of the guys had loaded back up into the vans, and that included Trenton. He wasn’t saying anything. Maybe he’d passed out.
I turned back to the women. “If you want, we can call the police once we get back to my place…”
That I still didn’t hear sirens going off told me plenty about this neck of the neighborhood. Shots must be a regular occurrence.
Victoria grabbed Sage’s hand. “It’s up to you.”
“He tied you up and—” I brushed my hand on her cheek. I had been so relieved to find her alive and not dead that I didn’t see the bruising until now. “He hit you.”
“I’m fine,” Victoria insisted, holding my hand that still cupped her cheek. “What do you want to do, Sage?”
Her daughter slowly shook her head. “I wasted enough of my time and life with him. I’m done.”
Daryl just finished cleaning up and was loading the bucket and sponge into the van. Yeah, we came prepared.
“Ready to go?” I asked the women.
They nodded.
“Where are we going?” Sage asked.
“We’re going to Grant’s,” Victoria said.
I shook my head and grinned at them. “We’re going home.”
Chapter 23
Victoria
As soon as we got back to Grant’s, he insisted a doctor look us over. We were both fine, but despite our repeated attempts to tell him that, he wouldn’t hear of it. The doctor, a beautiful, tall woman who I was sure had slept with Grant at one point, gave us a clear bill of health.
“Just feed them,” she said as she draped her stethoscope around her neck. She had been all smiles when she walked in, joking around despite having just stitched up Trenton or whatever she had to do for him.
But Grant, without looking at me or needing me to say anything, made it immediately clear that we were a couple.
That we were together.
And, boy, did I like the sound of that.
The doctor left, and Sage rubbed her stomach. “I am starving.”
“How about we order some food in?” Grant suggested. “Any preference?”
“Not pizza!” Sage and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Grant shook his head. “You two could be sisters instead of mom and daughter.”
Sage shook her head right back at him. “Nope. I need my mom.”
Grant mumbled about finding take out menus and walked toward the kitchen, leaving me alone with Sage in the living room. She sat beside me on the couch.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
“No,” I said firmly. “If you really need to, we can talk about what happened tonight, but that’s it. We need to move on. We both made mistakes, and neither of us are to blame, and—”
“And we should probably get counseling, Mom. We went through a traumatic experience, and, yeah, we can rely on each other…” Her gaze shifted toward the kitchen. “…and you on Grant, but it’s probably smart.”
“You’re really serious in psychology, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I’m interested in it. I mean, I started to read up so I could help make Trenton better, and I failed him. Maybe if I had training and knew what to actually say and do, I could’ve actually helped him. I don’t think I ever did help him, not in all the time we were together.” She blew out a deep breath. “But I do still want to help. Not Trenton,” she rushed to add, “but someone else. Other people. Is that completely insane of me? I mean, I don’t even have my GED yet.”
“Honey.” I patted her hand. “All you have to do is take it one step at a time. That’s how I worked my way up to becoming a restaurant owner. You can do it, too. I’ll help you in any way I can.”
Sage took a deep breath. “Mom, I really am—”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing. People misjudge others. It’s not always easy to leave someone you spent so much time with, even if they abuse you. If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me.” I wrapped my arms around her.
She tucked her head on my shoulder like she did when she first started to open up to me after I first adopted her.
“Maybe we should both stop apologizing. I mean, really, Mom, it’s not your fault at all! If you had tried to ground me or tried to keep me from seeing him, I would’ve been all the more determined to see him. It probably would’ve made things worse, and who knows? I might’ve run away with him, like we’d talked about from time to time.”
My eyes felt ready to bulge out of their sockets. “Come again? You talked about what?”
“We didn’t, so…” And Sage laughed.
I started to laugh, too, and then the laughter turned into tears for both of us, but I liked to think it was more therapeutic than anything.
Grant halted in the doorway, holding up takeout menus. He raised his eyebrows.
Sage’s tears slowed, and so did her breathing. She had fallen asleep. I shook my head at Grant, and he laid the menus down on the coffee table. He sat beside me and draped an arm across my shoulder, as if protecting both me and Sage.
It felt good. It felt right. It felt amazing.
And I fell asleep feeling content.
***
The next morning, I woke to the sound of sizzling bacon and smelled pancake batter heating up. Neither Grant nor Sage were on the couch with me. I stretched, rubbed my eyes, stood, and leisurely made my way to the kitchen.
Grant was manning the griddle on the counter and cooking bacon on the stovetop at the same time. Sage was sitting on a bar stool at the island, grilling him.
“So what makes you so sure that my mom is the one for you considering how many other women you’ve dated?”
I hung back, listening. Grant currently had his back to me, and so did Sage, so neither of them saw me yet. I couldn’t help smiling at how possessive Sage was being.
“What’s the saying? Sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince? Well, I had to kiss a lot of toads to find my queen.”
I covered my mouth to suppress my giggle.
But Sage wasn’t as impressed. “Queen is right. She’s not a princess, but you didn’t just kiss the toads.”
“Okay, I really don’t think this is appropriate—”
“I’m not a minor, and I’m not a virgin, so…” Even though she wasn’t facing me, I could still see her crossing her arms. “But, fine, we’ll get back to that. How do you know that you really want to be with her? Maybe it was just the whole crazy rush and excitement of having to look for me and then the thrill of the rescue. What if, in a few days or weeks, when the craziness settles and it’s back to everyday life, you decide you have nothing in common, that you don’t really fit together? That it was all just heat and fire and nothing is keeping the spark going?”
Grant laughed. “The spark is still burning.”
“For now,” she said hotly, “but in a few months? In a year? Five years? Are you sure you’ll still want to be with her?” Before he had a chance to respond, she added, “Trenton told me about you. He’s a lot of things, but he never once lied to me. Might’ve omitted a few, but…You fucked a lot of women. What makes you think you won’t wake up one day and regret that you’re tied down to one woman for the rest of your life? Because I know my mom. If you two are serious, she’s gonna want a ring one day, and she’s gonna marry you, and there’s no way she’ll get a divorce. If you cheat on her, she’ll kill you and go to jail for it. So…”
Grant half turned toward her, and I stepped back slightly so there was no way he could see me. Maybe I should just let them know I was here, but I really did want to hear his answer. Sage had a good point. Being in love was one thing, but I had to assume it would take work to make it last. What if he did get bored of me one day?
“I understand where you’re coming from,” he said quietly. “You want to protect your mom. So do I. I would never do anything to hurt her. And, yeah, I’m not denying that I went from woman to woman.” He turned back to the bacon and started to remove the strips one at a time, placing them onto a plate covered in paper towels to soak up the grease. “But I learned what I wanted and what I didn’t want from a woman. I don’t want someone fickle. I don’t want someone who will say anything she thinks I want to hear. I don’t want someone who is clingy or someone who won’t understand my commitment to the club.” He faced her completely. “You mom is an incredible woman. She loves you very much, and if she loves me half as much as she loves you, I’d be set for the rest of my life.”
That was it. I couldn’t stand here hiding any longer.
I entered the room, and Grant’s face just lit up. A huge cocky grin. Wide eyes. He was wearing a wife beater, and his arms looked especially huge today.
Sage sighed dreamily. “If only I could get a guy to look at me like that. I guess I approve, Mom.”
I walked over to her and ruffle her hair. “Thanks, kiddo.” I walked around the island and kissed Grant. Just a peck, really, since we were in front of Sage, but the look I gave him told him to just wait until we were alone.
“Breakfast. How sweet.” I grabbed the spatula and flipped some of the pancakes. I sniffed. “Do I smell cinnamon?”
“And apples,” Sage said.
“Her idea to add them. I hope they turn out.” Grant removed the last of the bacon and patted some of the grease off.
In no time, breakfast was ready, and we were sitting at the breakfast nook, eating and laughing. While I agreed that getting some counseling was probably a good idea, this was therapeutic in its own right.
We almost felt, well, like a family.
Chapter 24
Victoria
A few months had passed, and honestly, life was better than ever. Grant and I were still going strong. Sage’s fear that we didn’t know each other well enough, that the novelty would wear off once we settled back to our daily lives—a fear I shared, too, to be honest—proved unfounded. We made a great team, we made each other happy both in the bedroom and outside of it, and we were more in love with each other with every passing day.
The day we learned the verdict—that Trenton was going to jail for drug trafficking, and so was the drug lord who had threatened him—was a day full of celebration. Grant took Sage and I out to dinner that night at a super fancy place.
He grinned once the waiter left to fill our drink orders. “I’m here with the two most beautiful women in the room.”
Sage rolled her eyes. She loved teasing him every chance she got. “We’re only the most beautiful women in the room? Not in the whole world?”
“Well, I haven’t seen all of the women in the whole world, so if I had said that, you would’ve pointed out that fact, and you know it.” He loved teasing her right back.
We all burst out laughing.
“I haven’t been seeing you as much lately. Haven’t found a new guy, have you?” he asked her.
Sage shook her head. “Are you kidding me?” she just about shrieked.
A woman at a nearby table glanced over.
Sage blushed and lowered her voice. “I’ve sworn off bad boys, and since I haven’t met a good one yet, I’m comfortable staying single for a long, long time.”
“Speaking of being single, how’s Corinne doing?” I asked. We hadn’t talked much since Sage resurfaced in Corinne’s life, and to be honest, I missed our talks. Maybe I should give her a call. It couldn’t hurt any.
“She hasn’t been with a guy since Jack. I think he scarred her. She started to take an art class, and there’s one guy taking it who she won’t stop talking about, but I think she’s scared to take the plunge.”
“Corinne? Scared?” Grant shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like her.”
Corinne came over for dinner a few times in the past few months, and when she met Grant, she spent the entire time throwing me winks and nudging me. She approved. We had talked about life in general, not specifics.
“I know, right?” Sage shrugged. “Normally, if a guy caught her eye, she would have no problem being the one to ask him out without waiting around for him to do it, but she hasn’t.”
“Maybe she will.”
“I think
someone got it into her head that she needs to be happy with who she is by herself before she should date a guy.” Sage grinned at me. “I wonder who put that idea there?”
I grinned back. “Someone very wise.”
The two of us laughed, and Grant had to chuckle, too.
She turned back to Grant. “On a more serious note, I haven’t been around lately because I’ve been so busy. Since I’m now a waitress, I’m trying to save up as much as I can. Any day now, I should be hearing back about whether or not I passed my GED. I’ve already done a lot of research on different schools, and I’ve narrowed down my choices. It won’t be easy, getting into a program. I know that. It won’t look good that I took a break from schooling, but I plan on being honest with my admission letters about my mom. About my moms.” She smiled brightly at me before her grin became more ironic. “Psychiatrists should eat that up, hopefully.”
