Page 41 of Zac

I nod.

“He didn’t touch you?”

I shake my head, feeling a little lightheaded.

“Grab your shit.” He releases his hold on me and reaches into his back pocket pulling out his phone.

“Wait, what?” I shake away the fog and finally register his words.

“You’re not staying here.” Jace isn’t even looking at me.

“I’ll be okay Jace, I appreciate your help but?—”

He lifts his gaze and my words pause by the intensity in his eyes. “I said grab your shit!” I know he’s not trying to be harsh but I sense he is barely holding onto his anger. When he hits a button and lifts his phone to his ear, tears fill my eyes.

“Brother, we got a problem.” I know who he’s talking to and I’m not sure yet how I feel about it. “Yeah, your girl.” And then the tears fall. “She’s okay, I got her. Meet me at my place.”

When he ends the call, Jace reaches out and wraps me in his arms, pulling me to his chest. “Come on, let’s get you and Grayson some things.”

He guides me inside and mindlessly I move around, unsure of what to grab. My life is one big mess after another, when will I ever get my head above water and be able to breathe?

ChapterTwenty-Nine

Zac

“Are they here?” I ask as Aurora opens the door and I rush past her pausing quickly when I see Grayson asleep on the couch still wrapped up securely in a purple blanket.

“Who?” she whispers, confused.

Before I can answer her I hear the sounds of Jace’s motorcycle approaching and turn back around heading back outside. There’s the rev of his engine right before he pulls into the driveway followed by Presley’s car.

Jace climbs off his bike, pulling his helmet off as I approach.

“What the hell happened?”

My last conversation with Presley wasn’t a great one. In fact we said some shitty things then I left. I walked away thinking everything that had been going on between us was over, but the idea of that was actually eating away at me.

“I showed up at her place, because Grayson had been crying over his Batman pajamas. He kept waking up and each time he’d cry a little harder until finally passing out again. I told Aurora I didn’t want him to be going through that all night. So I showed up at her place after I knew she’d be off and I was going to grab them and go.”

“And?” Not that I didn’t care about Grayson, but I knew there was a point to this story, and I needed to hear it.

“Grant was there,” Jace drops the bomb and my stomach feels like it drops. “He was being an ass. She was telling him to leave and he refused.”

“What did he do?” My blood pressure has skyrocketed making it sound like I was in a tunnel. I swear I could hear it pumping as a swooshing sound filled my ears.

“I think he only scared her, though she won’t admit it.”

Because she is so fucking stubborn.

“But I told him it was time to leave, he went back and forth with me a bit, then finally walked away. But not before making it clear he’d be back. I couldn’t leave her there.”

“She’s not staying there.” She could hate me if she wanted to.

I glance up seeing her still sitting in her car. Her hands on her steering wheel, her head forward, her forehead on her hands. She is showing no signs of getting out.

“Not sure she’s real happy with me right now. She wanted to stay, insisted she’d be okay.” None of this surprises me. By allowing Jace to gather her up and bring her here, she is accepting that she needs someone. She may not have asked for it, but she allowed him to help and in her mind that is one in the same.

“Can you guys give us a little time?”

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