Page 19 of Drake

Finally, we pull up and I park my bike along the gravel drive to the property I had once envisioned buying for me and Lacy.

Lacy carefully gets off the bike and watches me nervously as I take a few steps. The gravel crunches beneath my feet and that’s the only sound I hear besides the beating of our nervous hearts.

“Ok, Lacy. I have to show you something,” I say.

Chapter 15

Lacy

Of all the things I had imagined that Drake would want to show me when he got home, this was definitely not what I thought of.

As he stands nervously on a short, gravel drive in the middle of nowhere, I feel a lump began to form in my throat. Has he lost his mind?

“What are we doing here? Where is this place?” I asked, nervously glancing around. All I see is trees and grass for miles.

“This is what I needed to show you,” Drake says, reaching out and offering his hand to me.

I take his hand and allow him to walk me along the gravel drive until we reach a wide, open lot that overlooks the rolling hills of Hollow Cove. It is absolutely breathtaking.

“Wow, it is beautiful,” I say, taking it all in. “But what is it?”

Drake lets go of my hand and turns to face me head-on. “Lacy, all my life I have come to this very spot whenever I needed to relax. I came here when I had my first breakup. I came here when I first got a bike and could ride. I came here when my mom died and again when my grandpa and dad died. This has always been my favorite place in the world. Well, it was until you came into my life. Once I had you, wherever you were, became my home. Where you are is where I need to be. I have been saving up money to buy this and an engagement ring for you. Every time I see this place, I envision us living here with our kids. But now, that may not happen,” he says, shaking his head.

I rushed to him and grabbed his face in my hands. I force Drake to look at me. This beautiful, stubborn man is magnificent and is about to make all of my dreams come true. How could this be a bad thing? “Drake, I don’t understand. I want all of those things with you too. Let me help, together we can make your dream a reality. I want all of that with you. I want you and nothing will ever change that,” I say, making sure he is receiving what I am truly saying.

“It’s not that simple. Something happened and it is bad,” Drake says.

“Just tell me,” I urge, still holding his face in my hands.

Drake snakes his arms around my waist and together, we stand there embracing as we both shake with fear for what is to come. “Lacy, when we got to San Antonio, I discovered that the load we were protecting was mostly illegal drugs. Josh played us for fools,” he admitted.

I was stunned, then shocked, then finally pissed off.

“Then let’s go to the cops. Turn him in, he can’t get away with this!” I yelled, my own anger and rage with the situation shining through.

“This is my girl. My ride or die, balls to the walls, chick. Fuck me, I love you so much,” he growled.

“Let’s just end this now,” I said, allowing him to wrap me in his arms.

“Lacy, if it were that simple, I would. But it’s not. He threatened to take me and my brothers down. He threatened you and the other girls. I have to protect you all. I don’t know what I am going to do about Josh just yet, but I want you to know how I got myself into this mess,” Drake says. “I’m praying like hell you won’t leave me.”

I’m in deep here. I know it, but there is no turning back now.

Chapter 16

Drake

Lacy stares at me for a moment and then calmly walks further into the property. For a moment, I think she is trying to leave and just went the wrong direction, but then a sort of calmness comes over her and I am just perplexed. I watch in a strange wonderment as she walks around the property, mumbling things to herself as she goes.

“Um, babe. What are you doing?” I ask.

“I think the house would be perfect about there. The front door could be about here,” she says, taking a few steps to her right. “We could sit on the porch in the evenings and watch a dog or kids play around here,” she says, waving her hands in front of her where I stand.

I take her in, complete lust and wonderment filling me as she begins to map out a house and talks through where bedrooms will go. Where she wants the couch to fit in the living room. I can’t seem to wrap my mind around the thought that she is totally bypassing this moment to capture why I wanted to bring her here in the first place.

As she continues talking, I slide in next to her and wrapped one arm around her waist. I let her continue on until she is finished. I am loving this moment, even though part of my life feels like it is falling apart.

“What do you think?” she finally asks, as she turns and the sun hits her face just right. She looks like an angel standing before me and I know I am not worthy of her presence.

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