Page 30 of Dream Mates (Into The Parallel Omegaverse #2)

Chapter Nineteen

Brennan

M y muscles ached, but it was a good ache. I hadn’t made it to a wrestling workout in a while. I hadn’t been keeping up on my workouts at home, either. While I’d played rugby most of my youth to please my father, I’d gotten into wrestling because I enjoyed it.

Really, lately only Jett wasn’t slacking in the workout department.

I should fix that. Part of Evan’s freedom hinged on him being able to defend himself.

Wes now had more to protect. Grace and Riley should know the basics.

Though Jett had taken Riley to the gym this morning for an early morning workout before she went to another skate smash clinic to get ready for the upcoming tryouts.

Parking my motorcycle in the garage, I checked my phone.

“Terrance, it’s Saturday, play with your kids,” I muttered, looking at all his texts. Once again, he had concerns about the estate property I’d bought to make Evan happy. I’d been ignoring them with everything else going on. But I should deal with Terrance’s concerns at some point.

Perhaps not right now. Jett would be at his gym for a while–and Evan and Spencer’s cars were gone, and they all had plans.

Which meant I got the house to myself for a bit…

As I opened the door to the kitchen, I was hit with a wall of chocolate, banana bread, and anxiety.

…or not.

“Oh, hi, you’re home,” Grace stammered, nearly dropping a tray of those chocolate cookies with the powdered sugar on them that Jett liked.

She wore a fluffy pink apron and had flour on her face.

“Sorry. Sorry.” Grace put them on the kitchen table, which was covered in baked goods.

“Grace, what are you doing?” I asked as she hustled around the kitchen, turning things onto racks, opening drawers, and putting more things in the oven.

And I didn’t mean the obvious task.

“Sorry.” She dropped the spatula on the floor. “I… I didn’t know you’d be home. Sorry. Do you need to make yourself food? You can have some cookies or banana bread, though those aren’t lunch. Should I make you coffee?”

Grace practically spun in circles, her anxiety ratcheting up with every word, filling the kitchen with the acrid tang of nerves.

I took a step towards her. She didn’t answer the question, but I wasn’t sure this was the time to push her. Grace was wound so tight the tension was palpable.

“It’s fine. I’m not hungry. Though banana bread sounds good,” I soothed, trying to put her at ease.

“Good, okay.” She bent down to get the spatula and hit her head on the open drawer. “Ow.” Grace sunk to the kitchen floor, spatula still in hand, her lower lip quivering.

What. The. Fuck.

“Hey. I thought you were going to the movies?” I sat down on the floor next to her. Where was Wes?

“They went to the movies, since Evan’s on call tonight again.” She leaned toward me, like she was going in for a cuddle, then moved back.

“They left you alone?” My eyebrows rose. Grace was not ready to be left on her own. If she wasn’t going to be working with Wes and Spencer I’d suggest that she postpone starting her job.

Her eyes rolled. “I’m not a puppy, Bren. They went on a date. Spencer asked if I wanted to come with him to his club, but sitting in the golf cart reading romance novels and drinking beer didn’t sound fun today.”

“Okay.” Ugh, they all left her alone?

A sigh escaped her lips. “I should be studying, but,” she made an exasperated noise. “I… what am I doing? They’re gonna know. Everyone’s gonna know.”

Scrunching up her body, she rested her head on her knees, as her voice broke, and her peach scent grew burnt with fear.

I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Come here. If you need Wes to come home, tell him.” I wrapped my arms around her, enveloping her tiny, shivering body with my own.

“I’m fine. Just nervous about starting work.” She sighed and settled into my arms.

Grace really believed she was fine. This was why we had fucking problems.

“It’s okay to be nervous. It’s okay to not be fine,” I whispered.

“Okay.” She closed her eyes.

“It’s also okay to not go to work right away. Spencer owns the company. If you need more time, then let him know,” I added. “There’s no rush.”

“I know. But my family had a business, so I’ve been working since I was useful. It feels weird to not work.” Her voice was quiet.

“Now that, I understand.” I nodded.

A tiny smile played on her lips. “Pretty sure putting on a tiny tux and going to a dinner and doing inventory are two different things.”

“Inventory sounds more fun. Those tiny tuxes are itchy. What sort? I started helping with the budgets of various company and foundation projects when I was in high school,” I told her.

“We had a hardware store. Not like the fancy one Evan dragged me to for doorknobs, but the kind where you can buy nails, chickens, and hot sauce all at the same time. My favorite was counting the baby chicks on chicken delivery day to make sure that we got the right amount.” Her eyes sparkled with the happy memory.

Hot sauce? Chickens? At a hardware store? Not that I knew where you could buy chickens around here.

“Also, in high school I helped on the neighbors farm. In undergrad and while getting my PhD, I always had a couple of jobs. So yeah, it’s been weird not going to work.

I’m looking forward to starting. I get to use my degree and do really interesting things, but I’m afraid that I’m going to mess up.

So many little things are different.” She slumped against me.

“You will mess up. It comes with starting a new job. Or an old one. Terrance thinks I’ve fucked up badly by buying that estate.” I kept my arms tight around her, so that she felt safe.

She peeked up at me. “It will be beautiful. But what if…” Her chest heaved.

Telling her that she was overthinking wasn’t going to help.

“While your fears are valid, no one in this house will let anything happen to you,” I assured, stroking her hair because I didn’t know what else to do.

“Okay.” She went quiet and just sat there with me on the hard kitchen floor until the timer dinged.

Grace made a face, then used me to get herself up off the ground. She’d been leaving off her walking cast and brace, which worried me. All that baking probably wasn’t good for her wrist.

She got the cookies out of the oven, then started moving the others around–the ones on pans went on racks, the ones on racks went in containers, as she became a ball of nervous energy pinging about the kitchen.

“Any more in the oven?” I peered around the kitchen trying to discern what else needed to be done.

She shook her head. “No, but eventually I need to wrap everything individually.”

“What are these for?” There were a lot of baked goods.

“We can eat what we want, but they’re really for the bake sale for Riley’s school.” Grace never stopped moving, loading the dishwasher, rinsing things, and putting stuff away.

This wasn’t healthy. With the amount of energy she had, a movie wasn’t going to work. I didn’t want to push her recovery by working out or playing the piano. But…

“Let’s get out of here and go for a ride,” I finally offered, blocking her with my body to keep her from moving but not grabbing her. Yes, I think that would be okay.

She paused, head tilting. “Like on your motorcycle?”

“If you feel up to it, yes. Put on some jeans, and we’ll go for a little ride while everything cools.

Given they’re for Ri’s bake sale, she can help wrap them later,” I told her.

Grace shouldn’t be doing this all herself.

Riley needed to take responsibility, too.

Also, with the amount of money that school costs, no one should be needing to hold a bake sale.

Though it was probably a fundraiser for art club or something.

“That sounds nice. Thank you.” Grace gave me a shy smile then went upstairs.

I grabbed my phone and texted Wes.

Me

Wes, your girl is a bundle of nerves. I’m stealing her.

Then I sent a text to Jett.

Me

Wes left Grace alone. I’m going to take her for a ride before every surface is covered with baked goods.

I sent a picture of the pile of baked goods. My phone buzzed.

Jett

I get to eat some of those? Have fun. Where are you going?

Me

I’m considering taking her to see the estate.

I helped myself to some banana bread. Not what I’d been planning on doing today. But it needed to be done, and I couldn’t let her wind herself up like this; she’d get sick. It might be nice for her to see the place Evan wanted to marry her in. Right now, there was enough time for her to object.

My bite of banana bread was overly sweet. I grimaced. Who the fuck put chocolate in banana bread?

Wes didn’t answer my text, but he was at the movies.

I was finishing cleaning up for her. She came back down in jeans and one of Evan’s flannels, which could be a dress on her, and her jacket over her arm.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I eyed the shirt. Her head ducked and she wrapped her arms around herself. While I understood why she stole Evan’s clothes, part of me still thought it was to annoy me, not because it brought her comfort. We put on our shoes.

“Come on.” I walked out of the kitchen and into the garage.

She shrugged on her jacket and grabbed her helmet from the garage, as I grabbed mine and my bike.

Her gaze lingered on her own tiny green motorcycle with a sidecar. “I can’t wait to ride it.”

“It’s really nice. You should probably take the written test first, before practicing.

Also, get cleared to ride from the doctor.

” I still couldn’t believe Spencer did that.

Not buying her a motorcycle, it would be good for her to have one that suited her.

It was that he got her that particular one.

Top of the line, limited edition, and custom.

Show off.

Not to mention he’d gotten himself a matching one. It stood by Evan’s. I didn’t even know that he could ride.

“I suppose.” She sighed. “I’ll ask at my next appointment.”

We went out to the driveway, and I closed the garage behind us. She was fiddling with her helmet.