Page 119 of Accepting Fate

I want to believe him, but I don’t. Mike Nicholson is a very smart man. He may drink himself into oblivion every day but when he has his sights on something, he will stop at nothing to get it. Now that he’s found me, it’s only a matter of time before he takes me away from everything I love.

"Angel?” Grayson asks, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Mhmm.”

"Do you want to talk about it?”

Sighing, I shake my head. "It was just another flashback.”

I haven’t had a nightmare since the first night Grayson came over. I should have known that finding that fucking note was going to trigger them to come back.

I was walking out of the ER, happy and ready to see my man. The second I saw that piece of paper on my door handle, my heart dropped into my stomach. I got in my car as fast as I could, locked the doors, and checked the entire thing to make sure someone wasn’t hiding in it.

The second I opened the note, the world stopped spinning.Reading it felt like my stomach was trying to come up my throat and that I had a million eyes on me. No matter how many times I checked the Jeep, I felt violated. I was touching something that was in his grubby hands, and he had been close enough to touch my car. I wanted to run back inside and scrub my hands for an hour, but I knew he was close. There was no way I was getting out of the car.

For a split second, I considered running away again but then I realized that I couldn’t live without Grayson, even if my days were numbered. Just the thought of never seeing him again was enough for me to drive home. I didn’t want to ruin the celebration with his brothers, so I went home to figure out how the hell I was going to tell him.

I should have known the second I sent that text, he was going to show up.

A flash of orange jumps up on the bed and Oliver nudges his face against mine. His purrs grow loud as I scratch his favorite spot behind his ear.

"Angel. I want nothing more than to lay here with you all day, but we need to figure out a plan.”

Confused, I lift my head off his chest. He looks just as exhausted as I feel. "A plan?”

His brows pull together. "Yes. We are going to find this fucker and until we do, we need to figure out a plan of security. I’ll go get all of your stuff and inform Mrs. Wanda that you will no longer be living there. You need to call your boss and tell her you will be out until further notice. Tell her you have some family emergency and have to leave town. Harper can–”

I move off his chest and sit up. "Hold on. I can’t just leave my job. They need me. And why am I giving up my house? He doesn’t drive and won’t pay anyone to cart him around. He isn’t just some drunk piece of shit. He’s all of that and more. Every move is calculated. It’s a one-man show because he wants all the credit to go to him. I have to go to work, and I can’t stay here forever.”

Grayson sits up and rests his back against the headboard. "You will move in here. I plan on spending the rest of my life with you. I was going to ask you to move in with me on our trip, but this moved up my timeline. You are here most of the time anyway, so what’s the difference?”

Raking my fingers through my hair, I groan. "Bear. I love you more than anything in this entire world, but this is a lot. If you would have asked me on my birthday and none of this was happening, I would have said yes. But right now, my world is imploding. I’m fighting everything in me that is telling me to run. The only thing keeping me here is the fact that I wouldn’t make it more than a foot down the road before I missed you so much and had to turn around. I’m fucking terrified but I don’t want to stop living, I want to fight. And that means I don’t want to hide. I will stay here while he is still out there, but I need to keep my place and I need to keep working. I need some semblance of control in this mess.”

Grayson reaches forward and threads his fingers through mine. His worried expression softens. "I hear you, Angel. I really do and I’m proud of you for saying how you really feel. I want to keep you locked in this bubble where you are safe, but you’re right. You spent your entire life hiding and he knows that. And I fucking hate it, but he needs to see you aren’t hiding anymore. So if you’re okay with it, I want to have a meeting with my brothers.”

Telling another person about my past makes me sick. I hate the idea of someone getting hurt because they tried to help me. But it’s been almost eight years and even though I’m terrified, I want him gone.

Nodding, I climb into his lap. "Okay, but I don’t want your mom or dad knowing until after this is all over.”

"Deal.”

Oliver jumps up into my lap and pushes Gray’s hand away so he can snuggle in closer. I let out a small laugh and give him what he wants.

Grayson nuzzles his face into my neck and kisses me.

"Bear?”

"Yeah, Angel?” he says, keeping his face buried in my neck.

Placing Oliver on the bed, I turn to straddle Grayson. "I need you.”

A low growl sounds from his throat and he lifts his head so our eyes meet. "Are you sure?”

Grinding my hips down against his quickly hardening dick, I crash my lips to his. In a flash, I’m on my back and he is giving me exactly the distraction I need.

Sitting on Grayson’s lap, while telling his brothers everything, has proved to be the only way I can get through this without turning into a complete mess.

We called them and said it was urgent and everyone rushed over. I tried my best to get through it, but Grayson had to fill in some of it when it got too hard.