Page 31 of Falling for the Knockout

“Gray,” Trace barked into the cell.

“Trace, man—you’re up. I’m done chasing Kaiah around. Call in one of the other guys to babysit her today. I need some time off,” he ordered.

Trace laughed into the other end of the line. “That bad, huh?” he teased.

“Even worse,” Gray said and ended the call. It was time for him to get his head on straight and stop thinking about the woman he couldn’t have. He was old enough to be Kaiah’s daddy and the sooner they both came to accept that, the better.

Gray spent the rest of the afternoon sulking about giving up time following sexy little Kaiah around but that was his call. He was the one who gave up the right to watch her every move. Now, that duty fell to one of Perdition’s members and he just hoped like hell that the guy in charge of tailing her now remembered his warning. He announced that Kaiah was his but not every man in his club was on the up and up and would honor his calling dibs on the sexy seer.

He decided to head over to Tito’s and get some measurements for the new bar top he was building before most of the guys showed up. He didn’t want to have to explain why he took the rest of the day off from watching Kaiah and he especially didn’t want to have to deal with Trace giving him any shit. Plus, he wanted to get shit-faced before having to head back home to face Kaiah—if he even headed home. He had half a mind to spend the night in Trace’s office on the sofa but then he knew that Kaiah would hunt his ass down. She wasn’t going to let him hide from her no matter how much he wanted to.

Gray loved helping out around the bar and even lending a hand around the club members’ houses. He owned a small construction company and when something needed to be fixed or built, he volunteered. He didn’t need to work another day in his life with all the money that was left to him by his estranged father. Gray had a rough childhood—it was just him and hismom. He loved that they had each other and even though they didn’t have much in the way of things, he knew she loved him. They were happy until his father came back and tried to worm his way back into their lives. His father was a shifter and when his mom told him she was pregnant, he took off. Until Gray was ten, he didn’t know who his father was. He met him for the first time when he wandered back into town and Gray’s life. He told Gray that he was dying and wanted to get to know his son before it was too late. He stuck around for almost a year and Gray’s mom allowed him to live in her spare room but then he took off again, leaving them both to wonder what happened to him. Gray hated that his father came back so abruptly and uprooted his and his mother’s lives, and she allowed it. But then, he was young and stupid. He didn’t know that sometimes adults needed a second chance to make things right, but he did now. Now, he’d give just about anything to have a few minutes with his mother and his father, but they were both gone. Hell, everyone he ever loved was gone now and there would be no bringing any of them back, no matter how badly he wanted to.

When he turned twenty-one, he got an envelope from his father’s lawyer. He thought his dad had left them again when he was about twelve. He had left Gray’s life almost as quickly as he came back into it. Gray believed that his father got sick of butting heads with him and just took off again and the idea that he was disposable was a hard one to shake. His mom tried to be enough for him and before his dad came back, she was. He had no idea what it meant to have a father figure until his father waltzed back into his life. Problem was—he left them again but this time, he left a letter with instructions not to give the envelope to Gray until his twenty-first birthday.

He let it sit on his desk for weeks, not wanting to care what his father had left to say to him. Gray received his father’s messageloud and clear when he took off the second time. What more could he say to him that would make a difference? His mother was the person who changed his mind about opening the letter. She sat him down and told him that she was sick and wasn’t sure how much time she had left. His mom begged him to open his father’s letter in hopes that his old man had just taken off again and would be willing to step up when she was gone. She feared leaving Gray all alone in the world and honestly, he thought it would be better to be alone than have to deal with the possibility of his father leaving him once again. But he did as his mother asked and opened the letter which explained that his old man had died about eight years prior, which would put his father’s death just after the time that he left them the second time. His father didn’t return because he couldn’t—he wasn’t lying to them all that time, he was dying.

His father had not only left him an explanation but had also left him a large inheritance. His dad owned a startup company that he sold for millions, and he left it all to Gray. He let his dad’s lawyer set up a trust for him, but he refused to touch the money. His mom passed quickly, and her loss had Gray feeling more alone than he ever had. He didn’t use any of his father’s money until he needed to buy an engagement ring for his wife—Emily. Gray eventually figured out that using his father’s money wasn’t selling out. On the contrary, he found ways to spend the money that made him happy—a house, a life for his wife and girls, and eventually a means to start up his little construction company. He was happy—for a while. But, money couldn’t maintain his happiness, nothing could. Money couldn’t save the people he loved—his mother, his wife, and his two daughters. And it couldn’t get him the woman he wanted now—Kaiah couldn’t be his, no matter how badly he wanted her.

“You’re here early,” Nomad said. He was one of Gray’s closest friends in the pack and closest to his age. Gray liked that he always knew where he stood with Nomad. His friend had a security clearance that most guys would only dream of having but Gray knew that Nomad had a past he had to fight like hell to get over. His friend hadn’t always made the best decisions and had gone down the wrong path a few times when they were younger, but Nomad had found his way and straightened himself out. It was one of the things Gray liked about the guy—he was a fighter.

“I had to measure the bar top for the new one I’m building,” Gray said. “And I could use a drink.”

“It’s not even noon,” Nomad said. He held his hands up in defense, “Not that I’m judging you’re wanting to day drink.” Gray chuckled and went behind the bar to grab a beer.

“You in or out?” he asked Nomad.

“In,” he said. “I’m in. It’s already been a long ass day.” Gray nodded and handed him a beer.

“Same here,” Gray grumbled.

“I take it your bad day involves a sexy little dark-haired seer?” Nomad asked.

“Yup,” Gray admitted. “I just can’t take her being in my head anymore, man.”

Nomad shrugged, “I don’t know I think that might be hot. I mean, you don’t have to work that hard in bed then—you just think about what you want, and bam—she’ll give it to you.”

“If only it was that easy,” Gray grumbled. “It’s a little more complicated than that.” He wished it would be as easy as hisfriend thought. All he wanted was to get Kaiah in his bed doing all the dirty things he had been thinking about her since they met but that wouldn’t solve any of his problems. She’d still be younger than him and he would still worry about losing her to the same hunters who murdered his wife and girls.

“I thought you were watching her?” Nomad asked.

“I was but I needed a break,” Gray said. “I had some work to do.”

“Right,” Nomad said. “How about I help you measure the bar top and then we can stop drinking this weak shit and move onto something that will put hair on our chest.”

Gray chuckled, “You have a particular poison in mind, man?” he asked.

“How about tequila?” Nomad asked.

“Tequila works,” Gray agreed. “Let’s drink.” The sooner he could get the bar measured, the sooner he’d be able to start drinking to forget the sexy seer back at his house. Yeah—tequila would work just fine.

Kaiah

Kaiah Nez was just plain worn out after dealing with all the emotions of the day. That was the trouble with being a seer, she picked up on everyone else’s turmoil, including the sexy older wolf who she couldn’t stop thinking about. That man had more angst than any other person she ever felt before. Sure, she had agreed to stay out of his head as he liked to point out, but how could she? Gray wasn’t much of a sharer and when she thought he was going to let her in, he’d push her further away. It was getting to the point that she was thinking about admitting defeat and running back to her grandmother’s house in New Mexico. But that wasn’t who she was.

Every time she took a peek into Gray’s head she could see all his desires and need for her, but she also saw the terror in his eyes every time she pushed him to let her in. She knew what had happened to his wife and kids just over five years ago. She had heard the rumors floating around Tito’s, but she could also see the day he lost his family play through his memories, and the sight was enough to about break her. The hunters hadcaught up with Gray’s wife and kids at their home. Gray was out hunting when it happened and by the time he shifted and got back home, the cops were waiting at his house to keep him from going inside. It was never proven that hunters were responsible, but she knew from reading his thoughts that Gray believed it to be true. She saw it all and God, it broke her heart knowing that happened to Gray because whether he liked it or not, she was starting to care about him.

Kaiah could also see the way he’d look at her when he thought she wasn’t paying attention. The way Gray looked her body over and stifled his moan every time she walked into the same room as him wearing close to nothing, turned her completely on. Her new favorite outfit to wear around his house was a tank top and the skimpiest cut-off shorts she could find. He looked damn near ready to swallow his tongue when she’d saunter past him under the pretense of “just needing something from the refrigerator.” Kaiah had an excuse for every damn room in his house and if she had to bend over to retrieve whatever it was she needed—well, that was a bonus. She loved to read every one of his dirty thoughts when he checked out her ass. What Gray didn’t know was that she’d do every single elicit thing he wanted from her and so much more.

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