Page 56 of The Breaking Point

“I led her down this path. I mean, she went to the club to look for me.”

“Grace is an adult who makes her own choices. If she wanted to go exploring, that’s on her.”

I knew that. Everyone kept saying that, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

It just made me feel powerless. It made the gulf widening between us even bigger. Because when we’d been younger, at least I could tell myself I’d been protecting her by sticking close.

Now, though, she didn’t need me to act like a big brother. It seemed Grace Dallas could handle herself.

“You know if Coach finds out about this, he’ll still blame me,” I said darkly.

“Because Coach also can’t see that his daughter is grown. But once again, that’s not your fault. It’s also not your job to make sure the Dallas family is happy.”

I was about to tell Mac how wrong he was when Elodie came home. Mac got up to help her with the groceries, and then they were kissing and being disgustingly happy right in front of me.

“Look what I got you.” Elodie pulled out a bag of sour-cream-and-onion chips.

Mac’s eyes lit up. “Baby! My favorite.” He immediately opened the bag and tossed a few chips into his mouth.

I rolled my eyes. “You guys are pure cheese.”

Neither Mac nor Elodie was offended. They just laughed.

“Believe me, man, the day your lady brings home your favorite bag of chips, you’ll be as happy as I am,” Mac quipped.

“We are having a barbecue, after all,” said Elodie. “Chips kinda come with the territory.”

We helped Elodie prepare a few of the sides for the barbecue. I was mixing a bowl of coleslaw when Mac said, “Brady was telling me he saw Grace Dallas at the club a few days ago.”

Elodie’s eyes bugged out. “What? Grace? Are you sure it was her?”

“Unless I was hallucinating, yeah, it was her,” I groused.

“What in the world ...” Then she poked Mac hard in the chest. He protested loudly as she said, “This is your fault!”

“My fault? I didn’t give Grace a password!”

“You told Brady, and everybody knows Grace is obsessed with Bra—” Elodie made a face and immediately stopped talking.

I froze. “Keep going,” I said.

Mac shot me a look. “Elodie just meant that Grace seems to follow you around a lot. That’s all.”

Elodie snorted.

“So? What are your thoughts on this whole thing?” I asked Elodie.

Elodie shrugged. “Grace is exploring her sexuality? Sounds like a great idea to me. Sure, the club is overwhelming at first, but it also has a lot of guardrails to keep things from going crazy.”

“Grace doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into. Besides, she told me she only went to see what I was doing there.” I said the words in triumph.

Elodie glanced over at Mac. “Well, if that’s the case, then maybe not. Maybe she is just obsessed with you,” said Elodie.

“She can’t be obsessed with me because nothing can happen between us,” I said.

“So youwantsomething to happen?” Elodie raised an eyebrow.

Mac just shrugged and kept stirring his bowl of salad. I sighed. “Maybe,” I admitted. “Yes. Okay? I’m attracted to Grace. But that’s as far as it can go.”

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