Page 23 of Deception (Deranged Drifters MC #22)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Griffin’s Beach Kent

“ H ey, let’s show you to your apartment,” Jace says, taking his son under his arm.

“But—”

“I think she needs the time. This will also give you a quiet place to talk to her when she’s ready.”

Nodding, Kent follows his father upstairs. The sense of pride he feels as he takes an apartment in the clubhouse, just like every other member, dulls in comparison to knowing how betrayed his girl feels. He’s wanted this since he was six years old, but he can’t quite enjoy it.

They walk in, and he has a bed, dresser, and an attached bathroom. Most rooms come with a desk, but not his.

“Figured we’d move some things around,” Jace says as he pulls bedding from the dresser to help him make the bed. “There may be times where Gracie needs to stay here, and this way, you can have room for a travel crib for Nolan.”

“Thanks, Dad,” he says and puts the fitted sheet on the mattress.

“What happened, Kent? She looked pretty upset.”

He can’t meet his father’s gaze, and he focuses on putting a pillow into a case. Growing up, Jace made it a point to teach Kent the importance of being a man. How to treat women, but more importantly, he was taught to always keep his word.

“She didn’t know Cole was here until last night, and she finally admitted he was the father. She asked him to leave, and he told her she couldn’t stop him. If she couldn’t, I was sure as hell going to try, but I needed help.”

“You could have come to me.”

“Yeah, but you’d need to know a reason why, and it would have spiraled even faster. I honestly thought Gavin and I could scare him away, and then she’d never need to know I said anything.”

Jace leans against the dresser and studies him. “A normal man would have been scared.”

“That motherfucker is anything but a man,” he snaps. “What he did… How he treated her… I could have killed him tonight. I would have if you hadn’t pulled me off of him.”

“You kind of scared me tonight. I’ve never seen you look like that before. Or react like that. You really care about her.”

Looking at the door, Kent sighs. “I love her.”

“What?”

“I haven’t told her yet. Well, I told sleeping-her, but I don’t think that counts. I don’t want to scare her. Man, I hated Cole before I even knew he was the one who treated her so badly. She didn’t deserve anything he put her through, and she sure as hell doesn’t deserve to raise a baby alone.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “I guess I did raise you right.”

“You’re not disappointed in me?”

“For what?”

“I broke my promise to her. You always say a man is only as good as his word, and I didn’t keep mine.”

Jace moves over to Kent and places a hand on his shoulder. “You had good intentions behind it. It’s not the same as going back on something you said just because you didn’t want to keep your promise anymore.”

“Think she’ll forgive me?”

“I’m willing to bet on it. And I’m proud of you, Kent. Not just because you patched into the club, but for the man you’ve become. And hell, I never thought I’d see the day you got angry, let alone almost kill someone because of it.”

He chuckles. “I bet a few people wonder what happened to me, huh? Everyone always assumes I’m smoking joints all day to stay so chill.”

His natural personality is to just go with the flow. He rarely gets worked up over anything, but tonight, he lost all control.

“I think you impressed those who weren’t sure if you had it in you to step up when needed. No one will ever question whether you’ll fight anymore.”

“I’ve been in fights before.”

“Not like that one.”

He laughs. “True. I’ve never fought with the intention of murder before. It’s a weird feeling.”

“I bet. If you can hone that in, you’ll be almost as unstoppable as Venom and Undertaker.”

“I don’t know that I want to be in their ranks, honestly.”

“Fair.”

Smirking, he slaps his father on the shoulder. “As much as I love this father-son bonding, I gotta go find my girl before she leaves. I need to apologize to her.”

“You’re learning early that most of the relationship is you apologizing for something whether you were wrong or not. And the sooner you accept the fact that it doesn’t matter whether or not you were, the better. In the end, you’re always wrong.”

He laughs and heads downstairs, praying Gracie didn’t get a ride home from someone else. Walking outside, he feels relief to find her sitting on the table with Hailey.

“We’ll see, I guess,” Gracie says.

Hailey catches sight of Kent, and she stands. “I’ll head back inside. I should probably check out Gavin’s apartment. And figure out how the fuck I’m going to remember which one it is. Why can’t you guys put numbers on the doors?”

Smirking, Kent just nods as she pats his chest on her way inside. This confirms what he suspected: He’s definitely in trouble.

“Hey,” Gracie says when she turns to look at him.

“Hey,” he says and moves to stand in front of her. “Come inside with me?”

He expects her to argue and fight. To say she doesn’t want to go anywhere with him because she can’t trust him, but she takes his offered hand and lets him lead her inside and up to his apartment.

Inside, she takes in the room, tilting her head at the open area under the window. “You don’t get a desk?”

“They thought the space would be better used for a travel crib in case you and Nolan ever need to stay here,” Kent says, suddenly worried it was all too preemptive. “Gracie, I’m so sorry.”

“You promised me, Kent.”

He moves to the bed and stares at the floor as he leans forward on his elbows. “I know. I needed someone to back me up to get Cole the fuck out of here, and I figured your brother would have the same motivation as me.”

“It—”

“I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. Not when I know how much he hurt you. It’s not in me to do that, and there was no way in hell I was going to let that motherfucker sit at the same table as me. This is your club, too.”

“You had good intentions,” she says.

Snapping his head up, he searches her face. “I did?”

Sighing, she smiles and moves to stand in front of him. “This is your one get out of jail free card, Kent Conway. I need to trust you, and you know how difficult that is for me.”

“I’m so sorry, kid,” he says and stares into her eyes. “I have never seen red like that before, but the moment I heard him say that shit, I wanted him dead.”

“I noticed,” she says and runs her fingers through his hair. “I think you scared a few people. You’re the last one they expect to see react… I’d say like that , but the truth is, I don’t think they expect you to react, period.”

His heart pounds in his chest as they gaze into each other’s eyes. “I’ve never gotten that angry at anything in my life,” he admits. “But there’s a reason I did.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Because I’m in love with you.”

She freezes, her hands in his hair, and her mouth drops open slightly. Nothing comes out of her mouth, and he knows she’s not ready to admit how she feels yet.

“Knowing what he did to you and how he abandoned Nolan drives me fucking insane. I wanted to kill him before I even knew who he was, and then once I knew him, he had the nerve to say that shit about you.”

“Kent—”

“You’re not ready yet, and that’s okay.”

Shaking her head, Gracie leans back, but he plants his hands on her hips to keep her from backing away from him. He needs her to understand that he means every word he said, especially after sharing her secret.

“I… I don’t know what to say.”

“That’s okay.”

“How is it okay?”

Kent smiles. “I don’t need you to say that you love me for me to love you. I’ve been in love with you since the night you showed up at my apartment and offered me all of you. You trusted me enough to give into your desires, and that’s why the thought of anyone hurting you makes me insane.”

“I care about you—”

“I know. I mean it, Gracie. It’s okay that you’re not ready to say it or are even there yet.”

Her tongue slides out over her bottom lip, and he stares at it. “I’m scared to open myself up to you in that way.”

“I promise never to break your heart.”

“You can’t promise that. No one can.”

Considering how he proved he’s not always trustworthy with his words, he’s not sure he has much of a leg to stand on. To prove the validity behind his words, but he means it. He’ll never break Gracie’s heart.

He tugs her into his lap and gently kisses her as he pushes her hair away from her face. “I can. You’re it for me, Gracie Short.”

“You’re only twenty, Kent. You can’t know that for sure.”

Cupping her cheek, he rubs his thumb along her soft skin.

“When I see my future, I see you and Nolan. I see us outside, and I’m teaching him to throw a football.

Or baseball. I’m sitting right there next to you at his little league games.

Or maybe he wants to play soccer. Or football.

It doesn’t matter because in every scenario, I’m there. ”

“It still doesn’t feel real that you love Nolan the way you do. You care about him like he’s yours.”

She dips her head, and a piece of hair falls over her face.

He tucks it behind her ear and lifts her chin to look at him as he smiles.

“Because he’s yours. Holding him for the first time in that hospital room changed something in me.

As far as I’m concerned, that boy is mine.

He may not have my last name, but I will always be there for him the same way my dad was there for me. Nothing will ever change that.”

“You are something else, Kent Conway.”

“Yeah? Is that good or bad?”

Her lips touch his, and he slides his hands around her and up her back to press her chest against his. “Good,” she whispers, her lips tickling his as they rub over his.

“I really am sorry, Gracie. I never want to break a promise to you.”

Gracie gives him a small smile and nods, her nose bumping his as she does. “I know. And I forgive you. I think it all worked out, and I hope Klaire knows I never meant to hurt her.”

“I love how much you care about others.”

“You overestimate me.”

“I think you underestimate yourself,” he counters.

Climbing off his lap, she smirks. “Can I borrow your fancy new kutte?”

“Uh, sure,” he says, shrugging it off and handing it to her.

She disappears into the bathroom, and he leans back to lie on his bed. Tucking his hands behind his head, he looks around and can’t stop the smile spreading on his face.

This is mine. My apartment. My club. My girl. Life can’t get much better.

The bathroom door opens, and his jaw drops when he looks and sees Gracie walking out wearing his kutte. Only his kutte.

“I’ve heard the guys around here talking about how much they like this outfit,” she says. “What do you think?”

“I… Wow,” Kent mutters and yanks off his shirt before standing to strip out of the rest of his clothes.

Correction: Now things can’t get any better.