Page 41 of Blade

Her smile said I was never getting away from her.

I didn’t know back then just how right she was. Becca, Ryder, and Rachel wormed their way into my life and into my heart like no one else had. They never left, even after I did. I never forgot them. Some might say it was because in this little nowhere town that was barely even a dot on the map, we were safe for a while.

Safe enough to breathe.

Safe enough to live.

Safe enough to love.

Until we weren’t.

Leaving Diamond Creek and Becca at fifteen years old hurt more than losing my mom. I felt nothing when I lost my dad. He was the one that had gotten us into the position where we needed to hide. He was the reason I lost Mom. The reason I lost Becca.

If she knew who I really was now, she might change her mind about me not being mean enough to not have friends.

If she found out who I really was, would she still be the girl who refused to let me be alone? Who was I kidding? She wasn’t that girl anymore. Becca was no longer the girl who wanted to be friends with the lonely kid. Becca wasn’t the tenacious little girl who always got what she wanted.

She was different and quiet.

She didn’t stand out anymore.

Becca was the one hiding now.

Before I knew it, Friday snuck up on me. While I tried to forget that Becca was going out with Grant tonight, nothingworked. I needed to keep myself from going over there and knocking him out when he showed up at her door to pick her up.

As far as she knew, there was no valid reason for me to be jealous. We had only met less than two weeks ago, that she knew of anyway. There would be no way to explain to her she was mine and mine alone.

Only, I couldn’t have her.

I couldn’t stop her from living her life. Why did she have to include him, though? The guy was shady as fuck. I just couldn’t figure out what he was doing. He wasn’t on the up-and-up.

I’d spent my entire childhood hiding from the bad guys. Spent more than a few years being the bad guy myself, but when King started this chapter, we all decided we didn’t enjoy living outside the law. We might live right on the line, but we weren’t outside it.

Because of the life I lived, I knew criminals.

Grant Nicholson was definitely a criminal. He might wear a suit, but I knew for a fact, criminals who wore suits were often worse than those that didn’t. They were just better at hiding their crimes, and that made them more dangerous.

Hearing my phone ring dragged me from my thoughts.

Pulling it from my back pocket, I saw Grams’ number flash and sighed. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I knew this wouldn’t be good.

“Hey, Grams, what’s up?” I asked, blowing out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

“Blade, I need you to come to dinner tonight.”

Dropping my hand, I motioned to the prospect for a beer.

“Why?”

“I would like to spend some time with you, and with the mother chapter coming tomorrow night, I won’t be cooking at the clubhouse. So I thought it would be nice to cook for you tonight,” she explained.

I knew this woman. Spent most of my childhood at her house. She did nothing without a reason. She was cunning and always had a motive. I was pretty sure I knew what that motive was, but I wasn’t stupid enough to call her out on it.

Despite knowing she was setting me up to be there when Grant arrived to take Becca on theirdate,I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

I wanted him to see me when he picked her up.

Wanted to make sure he knew I was watching him.

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