Page 18 of Love Me Back (Diamond Creek #2)

Grayson

I wasn’t surprised when I woke up alone. If I was honest, I wasn’t even surprised when I reached the kitchen and she wasn’t there. I’d known last night that the minute I let her go, she would run. She would avoid me.

“Jessie on her walk?” I asked Addie as I rolled up to the table. Addie made breakfast every morning. I’d tried to help over the years, but she insisted she enjoyed it and wanted full control.

So I gave it to her.

“She left.”

My head whipped around to my sister, who stood at the stove. The stiffness in her back told me she was pissed. The question was, who was she pissed at?

“What do you mean, left?”

Addie slammed the spatula on the counter, spun around, and glared at me. “She packed a bag and left.”

I stared at Addie. I heard the words, but they didn’t make sense. Why would she leave? I pulled my phone out and called Ryder.

“Morning, Grayson.” He sounded exhausted. They had a new baby at home, and the last thing they needed was their phone ringing early in the morning.

“Is she there?”

“Yeah, she’s here.”

My body had been wrapped tighter than a lariat, but once I heard those three words, my muscles relaxed, and the tension left my body.

“Is she coming back?”

Ryder chuckled. “Oh, she’s coming back, even if Ellie has to hogtie her and drop her on your front porch.”

“Thank God.”

“Grayson, listen.” I heard a door close, and Ryder continued, “Jessie’s scared.

I try not to listen too much when she and Ellie talk, mostly because I can’t deal with the drama.

I’ve got two little girls that will cause me enough as they get older.

But Jessie has become like a little sister.

She and Ellie are tight. Tighter than even Beck and Rachel were.

So I hear things. What I’m trying to say is: don’t fucking hurt her.

You’ve been playing with her for months, and whatever happened last night, and I’m not asking,” he added before I could interrupt, “but whatever it was, freaked her out. Jessie means a lot to me and to the club. Jingles took her on as a little sister, and I don’t need to remind you how he got his name. ”

The threat hung in the air. I knew what it was. Ryder was doing what big brothers do. I felt bad for Addie when she finally found someone she was interested in. The five of us Powell men would put the guy through the wringer.

“Ryder, I appreciate you looking out for her. But I haven’t been playing with Jessie.

I’ve known she was skittish from the moment I met her.

I was trying to give her time to acclimate, but with the ranch and all the shit that’s been going on in town, it got away from me.

I love her. I’ve loved her from the moment I laid eyes on her. ”

“Then fucking tell her that.”

“So she can run? You know as well as I do that if I tell her I love her, she’ll leave town and never come back. I can’t take that chance.”

I ran my finger over a mark on the table. This table was almost as old as the ranch. Every other year we lightly sanded and refinished it. I wanted it to last through another three generations if I could. I wanted my own kids to sit and eat breakfast here.

If I could just get her to stay. I’d always been a patient man, but Jessie could try the patience of a saint.

“I’ll send her home. ”

“No, let her have the night. I’ll come get her tomorrow at the store.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I need to be well rested for when I spank her ass, and knowing she’s safe and not running means I’ll be able to sleep.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks Ryder.”

He disconnected the phone, and when I looked up, Addie stood across from me. Her hands held onto the back of a chair, and her smile was the biggest I had ever seen.

“What?”

“You love her.” She sighed.

“Of course, I fucking love her. I just need her to love me back.”

“She does. She just doesn’t want you to know.”

“Addie, that doesn’t make any sense.”

My sister shrugged and walked back to the stove. “Love doesn’t always make sense. Sometimes you just have to trust it.”

We finished breakfast, and Addie helped me get outside. The damn ramp was my nemesis, but if the tingling that was getting worse was any indication, I wouldn’t need it forever.

“Morning, Grayson.”

“Morning, Carl. You my ride today?”

“I am.”

Carl held the chair while I hefted myself into the seat of the Gator. Then he folded it up with ease and tossed it onto the bed.

“You know your way around a chair pretty good, Carl.”

“My grandma was in a chair for most of my life. She was in a car accident and lost her legs.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I gazed out over the ranch as we rode, looking for any sign of my horse.

“Didn’t stop her none. Hasn’t stopped you none either.”

“Carl, I have to be chauffeured around my ranch. I should be on a horse.”

“Lots of disabled people ride horses. And we can even have a Gator fitted so you don’t need your feet.”

Carl was a great hand on the ranch. But sometimes his overt positivity grated on our nerves.

I didn’t know a single other person who always thought about the silver lining.

I swear if I’d been killed the day of the accident, he would have stood at my funeral and waxed on about the positive sides of death and dying.

For hours we drove around the ranch. There was no sign of Thunder, and no sign of the mysterious man Jessie encountered in the barn.

Tyson’s words ran through my head. The combination of her finally giving in last night and then running this morning didn’t bode well, but without solid proof, I refused to consider I had read her so wrong.

Dinner that night was quiet. It was just the four of us—me, Hudson, Emerson, and Addie. Tyson said he’d eat in the bunkhouse with his club brothers, and Carson and Pops only came out to the ranch for dinner every other Sunday.

Unfortunately, it worked out that this Sunday we would have guests. Guests I still hadn’t told my family about.

“We have guests coming this weekend.”

“Oh? And when were you planning on telling me? When it was too late to go grocery shopping for extra food?”

I looked at my sister. “Extra food? Really? What don’t we have here that you would need to go shopping for? We raise our own beef and have freezers full. We grow our own fruits and vegetables that we pick fresh and can what we don’t use at the end of the season.”

“Well, the staples are running low,” she complained.

“Then I suggest you make a list and send Ralph to get it. Like you normally do.”

“Who’s coming?” Hudson asked, cutting Addie off before she could argue.

Hudson always cut through the bullshit. Pretty sure it had something to do with being the third child.

The third wheel. He always wanted to hang around with me and Carson, and when we fought, he was always the one to negotiate a peace treaty.

We’d missed him during the three years he’d been away at school. He never came home to visit but always called a few times a week to talk and catch up. Carson and I were convinced he had a girlfriend. But when our parents died, he dropped out and never went back.

He wouldn’t talk about what happened at school, but given he only had one year left, we knew something had happened. He didn’t date; hell, he left the ranch even less than I did.

He stood firmly by the notion that with Mom and Dad gone, we needed the help. But we knew there was more to it. I just hoped one day he would trust us enough to open up.

“Armando Garcia.”

Emerson’s head popped up from his plate. “Are you crazy?”

“Who’s Armando Garcia?” Addie asked, her head turning from me to Emerson like she was watching a tennis match.

Hudson set his fork on the table and leaned back in his chair. I watched him study me out of the corner of my eye before he said, “Armando Garcia is the new head of the cartel in Mexico.”

“The cartel?” Addie gaped at me.

“It’s not the end of the world. He called and wanted to buy a few horses for his grandchildren. I’ve already spoken with King, and he assured me he would send more guys over for the weekend.”

“How many people is Garcia bringing?” Emerson asked.

Emerson confused us all. He often spoke without thinking, but sometimes when I looked at him, I swear I could physically see the wheels turning in his head.

There was no question that he was smart.

He just didn’t apply himself, and I had to wonder why.

“His younger brother, his nephew, and each will have two guards.”

“So, nine people,” Addie said before taking a dramatic breath. “Added to our eight. ”

“Eight?” Hudson asked.

“Jessie,” she answered.

“Where is Jessie?”

“She went to see Ellie,” I answered, not looking at either of my brothers.

Emerson laughed out loud, while Hudson coughed to hide—unsuccessfully—his own chuckle.

“What is so funny?”

“You finally got her in your bed, and she ran!” Emerson couldn’t contain his laughter until Hudson, seeing the look on my face, smacked him so hard he fell out of his chair onto his ass.

“How the hell do you know she was in my bed?” I asked, glaring at Addie, who shook her head trying to convince me she hadn’t told them. But her smirk told me a different story.

“Bro, we heard her.”

“What?”

“She’s not quiet. Good job, man!” Emerson said as he stood from the floor and sat back in his chair.

“You sleep on the other side of the house, on a different floor!”

Hudson and Emerson stared at me, both grinning. Addie coughed, trying to hide her own laughter.

“You’re all assholes,” I said. Pointing my fork at them, I added, “No one says a fucking word to her.”

“She’s coming back?”

“Yes. I have to pick her up at the bookstore tomorrow.”

“Does she know she’s coming back?” Emerson asked, and I wanted to punch him in the mouth because the fucker knew what he was asking.

“Ellie will tell her.”

They all laughed again.

“Assholes, all of you.” I dug into my food and waited for them to calm down.

“Garcia will be here Friday night. I figure we can have something light, finger-food type stuff. I’ll show him the horses Saturday morning, and we’ll have a cookout Saturday evening.

That gives a valid reason for King and his men to be here.

Then we’ll have Sunday dinner like normal.

His guards can eat in the bunkhouse with the hands.

So that would only be three extra people for you, Addie. Does that work?

“It does, thank you. Though it will be tough getting everything ready for a cookout in just a few days. The old ladies can’t bring food. Beck and Ellie just had babies, and Sam is still pregnant.”

“The club girls will help.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. I can call Patty and order some desserts; that will cut down on what I need to prepare myself. Carson can pick them up on his way out.”

“Carson and Pops will probably stay the night Saturday. Where’s Pops gonna sleep?” Emerson asked, that stupid grin back on his face.

“In his room.” I pointed my fork at him again. “And before you ask, Jessie will be in my bed every fucking night from here on after, so buy some goddamn earplugs.”

My brothers laughed and again, Addie smiled. I loved my family, but they were assholes.