Seven
GRACE
He dropped his arms and stepped out of my reach.
I stepped forward.
He held a hand up.
“Take you with me?” The disgust on his face, slapped me in mine.
The pain and anger in his eyes scared me.
“Yes. I don’t want to raise this baby here, in all of this.” I held my hands up.
“Grace.”
“No, I know this isn’t the time.” I headed toward the door. “Today is about Mattie, but as soon as it’s over, we need to talk and we need to get the fuck out of here.”
“Gracie.” He said, his tone full of sadness. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I spun on my heels and held on to the door for support.
“What?” A fire burned in my chest.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m back until we find out what happened to Mattie and make them pay.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“But …” I took a step toward him. “What about your plans? Your promise to your mother?”
“It’s doesn’t matter now.”
My heart sunk.
I needed to tell Mase about what happened, what I saw.
“Things are different now.” Mase walked toward me. “They killed my brother. My brother got shot because of me. Because I left in the first place. Don’t you see that?”
“Mase, no, that’s …”
“If I hadn’t have been so selfish and just accepted my birthright, Mattie would still be here.” He dropped to his knees. “I killed him Gracie.”
I dropped to my knees and crawled over to him. I held him to me. He squeezed me tight. I felt his tears drip down my neck.
He cried so hard. He cried for both of us.
When it was over, when his body had no sobs to give, he sat up and placed his hand on my stomach.
“I’ll protect you, Gracie.” He rubbed my belly. “You and Mattie’s little one. I promise.”
“It’s not safe here for me,” I whispered.
“It will be, now that I’m here.” He climbed to his feet. He helped me up.
“I’ll help you raise him.” He patted my stomach again. “We all will help you, the whole club and I’ll finish what I started and make sure this place is safe for all of us. Okay?”
Mase kissed me on the cheek and disappeared into the bathroom.