Page 14 of The Secrets We Keep (Sovereign Sons MC: North Carolina #1)

SOPHIE

I release Asher from my hold when I hear the door click shut behind me. I glance in that direction and I’m disappointed when I see that Grayson left. My heart sinks a little. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t him walking away after how he reacted to my injury.

“Why don’t you go take a shower and get your pj’s on? Maybe we can watch a movie before bedtime tonight,” I tell Asher.

“Heck yeah!” He cheers, rushing out of the room to do as I say.

“That man still loves you,” Chef says when Asher is out of earshot.

“What?” I ask nervously.

He chuckles. “Grayson still loves you. I could tell something happened the second you both walked into the room. He’s always been protective of you. I just hope he’s not going to land himself in jail for taking care of it,” he trails off .

“What do you mean?” I ask, my eyes wide.

“I mean that he walked out of here to go take care of whatever it is that happened.”

“Oh my gosh,” I groan as I rush toward the door. “Please, stay with Asher. I need to go stop him.”

I push open the door and rush down the hallway, not waiting for a response from Chef. As I run down the stairs my feet barely hit the floor. I hear the commotion from the main room before I get there. It’s different from the laughter that filled the clubhouse when we entered. Fuck.

I reach the main room when everything gets quiet, the only sound in the room is heavy breathing. My eyes find Grayson. He’s hovering over an unconscious Eric. Rowan and Axel are holding back the other two members from Tennessee.

I push my way through the crowd and stop beside Grayson.

“Are you okay?” I ask as I drop to my knees beside him.

He looks at me with wild eyes and nods his head once.

I look down at his hands and see his busted knuckles.

I stand and offer him my hand. He looks at it cautiously before grabbing it and pulling himself to stand.

I walk him out of the room, ignoring everyone’s stares.

I tug him through the clubhouse, up the stairs, and down the hall to his suite, not letting go of his hand until we’re inside.

We find Chef and Asher watching the first Jurassic Park movie.

Asher is so into the movie that he doesn’t hear us enter, which is for the best since I won’t have to explain what happened to Grayson.

When we walk into the bedroom, I close the door behind us and urge Grayson into the bathroom.

He’s silent the entire time that I search for a first aid kit, finding one under the sink.

I open the kit and nod for Grayson to sit on the toilet.

When he does, I pull out the alcohol and pour it on gauze before cleaning his knuckles.

He doesn’t complain, but he does suck in a breath.

“What were you thinking?” I admonish softly as I toss the gauze into the trash bin.

“He hurt you,” Grayson rasps.

My heart clenches. “That doesn’t mean you go out and fight him.”

“He didn’t put up much of a fight,” he mutters.

I snort, making Grayson look up at me. His lips twitch when he sees my face. “I could see that,” I choke out. “Did you even give him a chance to?”

“Nope,” he smirks. “I didn’t think he deserved one.”

“Fair enough,” I shrug before going back to cleaning him up. His knuckles aren’t bad now that they’re clean, so I put a little antiseptic ointment on them. “All better.”

“All better,” he repeats hoarsely.

“Do you want to have dinner and watch a movie with us?” I ask before I think better of it .

“What?” He asks, shock lacing his voice.

“Uh, I just thought you might want to hang out with me and Asher for a bit. He has this current obsession with the Jurassic Park movies, so I hope that you like them. Anyways, I thought you might like to avoid everything downstairs for a bit. I understand if you don’t want to.

I’m rambling, so I’ll stop now,” I groan as I start to pull away.

Grayson gently grabs my uninjured arm, stopping me. “I’d like that,” he murmurs, his beautiful hazel eyes finding mine.

I lick my lips and nod. “I’ll ask Chef if he can bring us up some food. Any requests?”

“I’m fine with whatever.”

I nod my head and then point over my shoulder. “I’ll go ask then.”

He chuckles as I back out of the bathroom, eager to put some space between us. I walk back into the great room of the suite and take a seat on the couch next to Asher.

“Do you two need anything?” Chef asks.

I look over at him and frown at the smirk on his face. “Could you please, bring something up for the three of us? We’re going to eat dinner and watch a movie.”

“No problem, sweetheart,” Chef murmurs as he pats Asher’s leg and gets up from the couch. “I’ll bring something right up. ”

Asher waves at him without even looking away from the screen. I shake my head at my kid. He has a serious obsession with dinosaurs.

I hear Grayson exit the bedroom and I hold my breath until he takes the seat that Chef vacated. “I hear we’re watching Jurassic Park tonight,” he murmurs as his arm spreads over the back of the couch, his fingers skimming my shoulder.

Asher’s head whips in his direction and he launches himself at Grayson. It’s funny that he ignored me and Chef talking, but the second Grayson says something, he doesn’t care about the movie anymore. My heart squeezes at the sight of them. Grayson wraps his arms around Asher with a laugh.

“Is it okay that I join you and your mom for dinner and a movie?” Grayson asks him.

Asher beams up at him. “Heck yeah, it is!”

****

I open my eyes and stretch, taking in the great room of the apartment.

It’s dark and the credits are rolling on the second Jurassic Park movie.

I couldn’t say no to Asher since it’s technically the last true night of summer for him.

Tomorrow night he’ll be going to bed early so he can get in a routine and be ready for school bright and early on Wednesday morning.

I turn my head to the right and suck in a breath at what I see. Asher and Grayson are both asleep. Asher’s head is on Grayson’s chest and Grayson’s arm is wrapped tightly around Asher. That’s it . I have to tell him. I can’t keep this secret any longer.

I don’t want to destroy this moment, but Asher needs to go to sleep, and Grayson and I need to talk, so I gently shake them both awake. They look around with the same sleepy eyes and give me the same sleepy smile.

“It’s time for bed, buddy,” I murmur softly as I reach out and brush the soft, dark curls off Asher’s forehead.

“Okay, mama,” he whispers as he sits up. “Thanks for watching movies with us, Grayson,” he says as he gives Grayson another hug.

“Anytime, Ash,” Grayson murmurs.

Asher gives me a hug and a kiss and then goes to his room and closes the door.

“Can I stay here tonight?” Grayson asks, making my heart jump. He must see the surprise on my face because he continues, “I just need to know that you’re both safe.” I bite my lip and nod before standing and pulling him toward the bedroom. “I can stay on the couch,” he offers.

“It’s not comfortable. Besides, we’ve shared a bed on lots of occasions. I trust you,” I tell him. It’s the truth. I do trust Grayson. It didn’t take long for him to weasel his way back into my life, into my heart.

I leave Grayson in the bedroom as I go into the bathroom to try and steel my nerves. I shower and brush my teeth. I don’t really have anything nice to wear for bed, so I settle for an oversized t-shirt from Grayson’s closet.

When I step back into the bedroom, Grayson is already in bed, his shirtless, tanned torso on display.

My eyes track over the familiar and new ink covering his arms and chest and the hard muscles of his abdomen.

His chest rises and falls softly as he sleeps.

He fell asleep again. I sigh as I walk to my side of the bed and climb inside.

Grayson reaches for me as soon as I’m laying down, like he’s drawn to me.

“We need to talk, Gray,” I chastise.

“Tomorrow,” he murmurs softly before kissing my temple.

My eyes close at the sweet touch and then I’m blinking back the tears that form. I sink further into his embrace. Tomorrow. I’ll tell him tomorrow.