Page 15 of A Twist of Fate

“You haven’t actually asked me yet,” I reminded the man I couldn’t imagine spending another day without.

“It’s funny, because I feel like I ask you every day in my head. Every kiss, every breath I take, every damn smile you give me. I question whether you’ll be mine forever with every single moment we share together. I guess I just forgot to say the words out loud.” He pulled a little white box out of the pocket of his leather jacket then and bent down on one knee. “This wasn’t how or where I pictured doing this,” he started to say before taking a hold of my hand in his. “Gretchen, will you do me the honor of becoming my one and only, my ol’ lady, my bride, my everything?”

“Y-y-yes!” The word left my lips on a whimper because there was no way I was going to be able to get a solid damn word past all the emotion that was filling me up to the brim.

“I forgot one,” Toby told me as he rose back up in front of me and trailed his hands from where they had been holding mine, skimming up my arm, back down my sides, and finally landing where his palms could cup my belly. “The mother of my children,” he whispered in reverence as he stole yet another piece of my heart.

Chapter 5

A Plan too Late

Kane

Once again, I watched Gretchen move to the shop windows and glance worriedly outside. “Something wrong with G?” I asked as Zeke moved to head towards the back.

“Not that I know of, why?”

“She’s been acting weird. Anxious all the time these days, watching out the window, ducking out of view sometimes.” I turned to Zeke. “You haven’t noticed?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve been booked solid. This is the first break I’m getting today. Why don’t you check on her and let me know if there’s anything we can help with?”

As Zeke took off to the back room, I moved closer to the window Gretchen was staring out of. “Hey G,” I started to say as the woman damn near jumped out of her skin. She breathed a quick sigh of relief at seeing me there and clutched her chest over her rapidly beating heart.

“Jesus, you scared me.”

“Probably because you’re on edge over here. What the hell has got you so wound up? The biker giving you trouble?”

“No, of course not. Why would you even think that?”

“Um, maybe because he’s a biker and sure as fuck isn’t perfect. Also, could be because he’s still keeping you as his dirty little secret.” I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did. Honestly, I couldn’t account for the jealousy I felt when I thought about Gretchen being with another man. Not that she had ever been with me, but as the old saying goes, you want what you can’t have. I never noticed her until she was off the market. That was my damn luck too.

Gretchen sighed, then placed one of her trembling hands on top of mine. “Listen, everything is great with Toby. We’re actually going to tell his family at their next Sunday dinner when he knows everyone will be there so we can do it all at once.”

“Oh!” Color me shocked all to shit. I didn’t think the asshole was ever going to grow the balls to put it out there. “So, what has your hands trembling so hard then?”

She glanced back toward the window then. “Do you see that green car parked across the street?”

I took a look out the window and saw what she was talking about. “The beat-up Jetta?”

“Yeah,” she whispered, but didn’t elaborate.

“What about the Jetta, honey?”

“Well,” she sighed and looked away from me. “This is going to sound stupid. I swear, I’m probably just imagining things at this point. Coincidence and all. This is still sort of a small town, you know?” She was babbling.

“Spit it out, G.”

“I think one of the club whores is following me. She was showing up at places when I was with Toby once in a while. Now, I’m seeing her places I go too. Like, that car. It’s hers. It’s been there most of the day, even if she hasn’t. She’s probably out stalking Toby down somewhere, but I swear she parks there to get to me. She wants me to know.”

“Toby knows about this?” She nodded her head in confirmation. “And what the fuck is he doing about it?”

“He said he would handle it, but the guys he talked to at the club didn’t want to lose another girl at the club right now. Apparently, she’s a favorite, and they don’t think she’d be stalking him since he doesn’t give her the time of day.”

“Seems like all the more reason for a crazy woman to stalk a man,” I assessed.

“That’s what I thought too.”

“Tell you what, I’ll look into her and see what I can do to get her off your back. Maybe Toby’s hands are tied by the club, but mine aren’t.”

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