Page 22 of Deception (Deranged Drifters MC #22)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Griffin’s Beach Gracie

A s if the night wasn’t already awkward, Gracie has to sit in the clubhouse with Cole across the room, Klaire on his lap, and her son is being watched by Kent’s sister, Martha.

She knows he’s safe, and she’s known Martha their whole lives, but if tonight wasn’t the vote, she wouldn’t be anywhere near here.

And if Cole gets patched in, she will avoid this place like the plague.

The lovey-dovey looks between Cole and Klaire make her want to throw up. If only Klaire knew her “perfect boyfriend” was messing around on her because she refuses to have sex before marriage and has at least one kid out there because he doesn’t use condoms.

“Aren’t you just so excited?” Klaire calls to Gracie from across the room. Standing up, she hurries over, and Gracie feels sick when Klaire looks so deliriously happy. “Our boyfriends might become members tonight. And your brother. Isn’t it just great?”

“Uh, yeah, super great,” she says, plastering a smile on her face.

Klaire’s dark hair looks just like her mother’s used to before she finally let the grays settle in and stopped the chunky highlights.

Kent must sense her unease because he wraps a strong arm around her shoulders, and Klaire looks distraught. “Gracie, oh, you must just hate me. I haven’t even asked how your baby is. Or seen him. Maybe we can plan to get together soon. How does lunch sound?”

The way Cole glances back with a knowing smirk on his face makes Gracie want to hurl all over Klaire just so he’ll have to smell it all night. He can deny Nolan is his to everyone else, but the look on his face says he knows he is. Knows and doesn’t care.

“Sure, lunch sounds great, Klaire.”

“I like you two together,” she says and smiles at Kent. “You’re a cute couple.”

No matter how cordial she wants to be, Gracie can’t bring herself to tell Klaire the same about Cole. A rabid dog chewing Cole’s face off is the only thing that would look cute with him.

She’s saved having to respond when Melanie calls out, “Is that popcorn?”

They all turn to see Lex sitting on the bar top with a bowl of popcorn in her lap. It looks ridiculous but also very Lex-like. “I like popcorn with my shows. Wanna join? It’ll start any minute now.”

“I like shows. What kind are we talking about?” Melanie asks and hops up next to her. Taking a handful, she pops it into her mouth.

Undertaker’s girlfriend leans against the bar and takes a handful herself. Jamie Pittman may not be that much older than Gracie, but the larger woman fits very well with Undertaker. She makes a mental note to get to know her a little better.

“I’m not positive, but I’m leaning towards action with a slice of horror,” Lex says.

“Horror?” Jamie asks, her dark hair hanging in loose curls down her back.

Maybe I should dress up more for Kent like she is with Undertaker. I wonder if he’d like lingerie or something like that. If I can find something that doesn’t look ridiculous on me.

Lex smiles and shrugs. “Gore. Bloodbath. I’m hoping for a fucking bloodbath.”

Gracie’s mom tilts her head from the table nearby. “What kind of bloodbath?”

“Shhh, it’s about to start. And I won’t ruin the twist for you,” she says, her eyes glancing at Gracie.

Her stomach twists, and she looks up at Kent. “Did you tell Lex?” she hisses in his ear.

“What? No,” Kent says. “You think she knows?”

Before she can answer, the Chapel doors open, and the men filter out. They all stand in two lines along the wall and look at the three Prospects.

“Here we go,” Lex says with a wide smile.

Colt crosses his arms over his chest. “Kent Conway, stand up.”

Kissing Gracie, he does. “Yes, sir?”

“Take off your kutte and toss it here.”

He does, and Colt immediately tosses him another one that Jace hands him with a smile on his face. “Welcome to the club.”

Beaming, he pulls on the leather and wraps Gracie up in his arms. His mouth finds her ear, and he says, “Prepare to celebrate with me tonight.”

If it gets Cole out of my sight, I’d go to Timbuktu.

“Gavin Short, stand up.”

They turn and watch her brother do the same thing Kent did. But this time, Colt pauses, and Gracie holds her breath. There’s no way they won’t patch Gavin into the club.

“Colt?” Hailey asks as she looks at her father. “What’s wrong?”

A smirk appears on his face, and he takes a kutte from Ky, tossing it at him. “Had to make you sweat a little bit. You’re with my daughter, after all.”

He laughs and hugs Hailey before giving her a big kiss. “Thank God. That would’ve been humiliating.”

“Cole Walsh, stand your ass up.”

“Here we go, babe,” he says to Klaire, bypassing the kiss she tries to give him, and tosses his kutte to Colt.

His cocky smirk tells everyone he expects to wear a member kutte home tonight, and Gracie can’t breathe. Is he really going through with this? How can he sit at the same table as my father and brother knowing what he did? As my boyfriend?

“Colt?” Klaire asks when nothing gets tossed Cole’s way. “Aren’t you going to give him something? You know, like you did Kent and Gavin?”

Cole’s smirk doesn’t waver until Colt says, “No, I’m not. We took a vote, and we all decided you can get the fuck out of our clubhouse.”

“Wait, what?” Cole asks, “Are you serious?”

Giggling, Lex continues to eat popcorn, and Gracie looks up at Kent. If he didn’t look as confused as she is shocked, she’d think he lied about telling Lex.

“You’re out,” Colt says. “I can finally move around here without you up my ass all the time. It was fucking weird.”

Whipping around, Cole glares at Gracie. “You fucking bitch.”

“I didn’t… It… I had nothing to do with this,” she stammers.

“Woah, you weren’t kidding about the show,” Melanie says and shoves another fistful of popcorn into her mouth.

Klaire looks between her friend and boyfriend. “What would Gracie have to do with this?”

“That’s what I’d like to know, too,” Ky says. “What the fuck makes you think you can talk like that about my daughter?”

“I swear, I never touched her,” Cole says and looks at Ky. “That kid is not mine.”

All air escapes Gracie’s lungs, and she feels like she might faint. Kent broke his promise, and it’s confirmed when Gavin shouts, “The fuck he isn’t!”

“You admitted it to us this afternoon, motherfucker,” Kent growls.

Holding a hand up, Ky looks at Colt. “You know this asshole knocked up my daughter?”

“I had no fucking idea,” Colt says and looks at Lex. “You knew?”

She shrugs and pops a kernel into her mouth. “I may have overheard Kent and Gavin talking to Cole this morning, yes.”

Gracie steps away from her boyfriend. “You told Gavin? Not even twenty-four hours after you promised you wouldn’t say anything.”

“Baby, I had to,” Kent says, his eyes pleading with her. “I couldn’t get that motherfucker out of our club alone. Not without this happening, which, I suppose, happened anyway.”

“You’re Nolan’s father?” Klaire gasps.

Cole shakes his head furiously. “No, she’s a fucking stalker and a goddamn liar. I’d never touch that ugly bitch.”

“Say another thing about her,” Kent growls. “I fucking dare you.”

“She’s getting everyone against me! She knows how dangerous—”

“Is it true?” Klaire asks and turns to Gracie with watery eyes. “Gracie… Did you sleep with him?”

Lip trembling, she nods. “I didn’t know you were together until I found out I was pregnant. It was a stupid decision at Melissa’s party, and then he refused to even admit anything happened.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” she says, and she hates how her voice cracks. “I didn’t know until last night he was even prospecting.”

“You’re a liar! And you’ve asked them to throw me out. Why are you trying to ruin my life?” Cole shouts.

Handing Melanie the bowl of popcorn, Lex hops off the bar. “Actually, that’s on me. I’m the one who asked to have you thrown out. I’m the one ruining your life.”

“What?” he gasps.

“Yeah, you see, I heard things. Like you admitting you slept with Gracie. Then you said really not nice things about her. I risked my life twice to save her, and I love her like a daughter. But there was one thing you said that really, really pissed me off.”

Jaw dropped, Gracie stares at Lex. She did all of this? Pulled the strings? Who else could pull this off?

“And what was that?” Cole asks through clenched teeth. He has enough sense not to call Lex any derogatory names, even though it looks like he’d love nothing more.

“You said you were untouchable. No one’s untouchable, and if you think my husband would have picked you over Gracie simply because you’re with his sister, you’re even dumber than you look. Which I didn’t think was possible.”

“Which is a very nice way to say that you can go fuck all the way off, motherfucker,” Melanie says.

Rolling his shoulders, Cole laughs. “She was a lame lay, anyway. And easy as fuck. Good luck keeping Kent happy, you whore.”

Kent’s fist connects with Cole in a flash while Gavin grabs Cole by the arms to hold him upright, letting Kent beat the hell out of him. “Don’t you ever fucking talk about my girl again. Ever.”

“Now, that’s teamwork,” Lex says.

“Lex, you knew?” Gracie whispers.

“Baby, you should have told us from the very beginning. He never should have gotten this far, and that stupid motherfucker thought I wouldn’t be able to pull anything off.” Grimacing at the bloody mess of his face, she shrugs. “Guess he was wrong.”

Lily tilts her head as she joins them. “Gracie, you should know better than any of us how seriously Lex takes protecting the women of this club. Especially the daughters.”

Her lip quivers, and she looks at Klaire. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t tell anyone because the last person I ever wanted to hurt was you.”

Klaire just nods and lets out a deep breath. Her eyes don’t leave Kent and Cole. “You chose to raise a baby alone to avoid hurting me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” she says with a giggle before she shakes her head. “You really didn’t know we were together?”

“I swear. God, I thought he actually liked me. Apparently, I was just easy.”

“No, he’s just a fucking asshole,” Klaire says. “How many other women did he sleep with? I’m glad I didn’t.”

“Stop!” Colt shouts.

A few men pull Kent and Gavin from Cole. He falls to the ground, unconscious, and blood covers every inch of skin Gracie can see. Even his hands.

“Take him to the hospital, and make sure that if he decides to come after us for this, we’ll make his life a living hell,” Colt says.

“How much do you want to get from him for Nolan?” Lily asks.

Shaking her head, Gracie blinks back her tears. “I want nothing from him.”

Klaire wipes her eyes. “I’ll go with. I know what to say to make sure he doesn’t go to the cops.”

Kent shakes with anger, and it shocks Gracie. He’s never looked like this before, and she has no doubt that if Colt hadn’t stepped in, he would have killed Cole.

“Lex, why the fuck didn’t you come to me?” Ky asks.

“Because I wanted him out, not dead. Plus, this was really fun to watch.”

“Thank you,” Gracie says.

Lex just shrugs. “You know how much I love knocking men down a peg or two. Besides, I’m pretty sure he wanted to date my husband, which was super weird.”

“Do you think she’ll forgive me?”

“Pretty sure she already has.”

Swallowing, she hates the feeling of all eyes on her. “I need some air.”

“Gracie,” Kent says as Melanie puts ice on his knuckles.

“I need time alone right now,” she says and hurries out the door.

“Fuck,” he mutters just before the door shuts.

Gracie runs her hands through her hair as she takes in gulps of air. Everything came to light in a matter of minutes, and while she feels like a weight has been lifted, she feels the sting of betrayal. Kent promised her he wouldn’t say anything.

“Hey,” Hailey says. “You doing okay?”

“I don’t know,” she admits.

“That was kind of… a lot.”

Gracie chuckles and sits on the picnic table. “You can say that again.”

“I don’t think anyone in there is going to say it to you, so I will. You’re kind of an idiot, you know that?”

“Excuse me?”

Apparently, Gavin’s girlfriend has the same moxie as Lex. “You should’ve put that bastard on blast. Klaire will forgive you, and that asshole owes you a lot. Keeping it a secret only helped him and hurt you.”

“Klaire wasn’t hurt, though.”

“Yeah? Do you really think you’re the first and only girl he cheated on her with? Finding out his true colors helps her in the long run. Imagine if this hadn’t happened, and she married him.”

Her stomach drops. “I never thought about that.”

“It’s noble and everything to want to avoid hurting your friend, but you may have enabled him to hurt her with others she’ll never know about. At least he’s gone, though.”

She laughs. “I don’t want him to be Nolan’s father any more than he wants to be.”

“Don’t think he’ll fight you on that.”

“I can’t believe Kent told Gavin.”

“Are you kidding me? That guy is head over heels for you. Did you miss how the guy who never shows any type of emotion lost his shit in there? He just wanted to help you.”

It’s true. She knows how much Kent hated the guy who did this to her before he ever knew his identity. Kent is a good guy, and he was trying to help her. But he broke his promise.

Can she overlook the betrayal because of his good intentions? What other promises will he break for similar reasons?

“This was not the night I expected, Hailey.”

“But I think it was the one you needed. He didn’t deserve to sit at the table with our fathers or boyfriends.”

“Can’t argue that.”