by Sophia Gray
The tires squealed, and the van jerked to a halt. “We’re here,” Bob said unnecessarily.
The other van was still parking as I jumped out. With little patience, I waited for everyone to get out. Moonshine Motel. We were parked around back. Good. Hopefully Trenton hadn’t seen us pull up.
The place was a fucking dump. A place a rat would hide in and grow to be the size of a tiger. There were probably roaches and other bugs. Just thinking about it made my skin crawl.
You wanted a place of your own, Trenton, but I didn’t think you would want a place like this.
Damn it. He hadn’t wanted me as a father figure, and I never laid out any demands on him, but maybe I should’ve insisted he moved in with me. It would’ve cramped my style, but I had offered him to crash at my place. I hadn’t forced him to. He could make his own decision. He wasn’t a kid.
The guys hovered around me, and I held up a finger. “Listen to me,” I said quietly. “We’re gonna surround the room, but first, we have to figure out which room they’re in.”
I pulled out my cell and was about to call Hank, when the guy strolled over to us. He’d been waiting for us to arrive.
“Have you seen signs of any of them? Trenton or Victoria or Sage?”
“I saw Trenton. He came out a few times. He was on the phone, and he also left to get them some food.”
So at least he wasn’t starving the women. Small favor?
“What room number?” I demanded. Time to get this done and over with.
Hank pointed. “Right over…What the hell?”
I jerked around in the direction he was pointing. A young woman was racing out of an apartment.
Damn it all, if it wasn’t Sage.
Chapter 22
Grant
She didn’t get very far before Trenton burst out of the motel room. He raced after Sage, and I sprang into action. I shoved the other guys out of the way and dashed over to them.
“Leave her alone, Trenton,” I warned as I approached.
Trenton didn’t even look at me. He just went to grab Sage.
Nope. Not on my watch.
My fist cocked back, and I punched Trenton square in the jaw. He had some size to him, but I was stronger, taller. This wasn’t a fight he could win.
He did land two swift punches to my stomach, and I wheezed out a grunt. I motioned for the other guys to hang back, and I noticed Victoria hadn’t come out of the motel room. I swore if he hurt her…
If he killed her…
We traded a few more punches, and his knee ended up in my gut. Damn. My next punch went over his head, and he grabbed me around my waist, trying to knock me down. I returned the knee to the gut, grabbed one of his arms, and yanked it up and out, to the side, at an awkward angle. Trenton groaned, muttering a curse, and he backed off, jerking his arm free.
He circled me warily. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, his face looked a little too thin, and his gaze kept darting everywhere, like he was afraid of shadows.
“You’re really doing this?” he asked between gulps of air.
“You’re the one doing this,” I retorted.
Trenton shook his head. “I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice. There are always options. There—”
“There weren’t,” he said flatly, feigning a punch.
I jerked away and then circled back. “You could’ve come to me.”
“You and your self-righteous bullshit.” Trenton’s grin made my skin crawl. “You think you can walk the line, that you can do whatever the hell you want. Sleep with whoever you want. Screw over anyone who looks at you wrong. You’re an asshole.”
I kept silent. Trenton could say what he wanted, but I knew the kind of man I was. Maybe I was a little selfish and self-centered at times, but I would give my all for my men, and at one time, Trenton had been included in that. Not anymore, and that was on him, not me.
He lunged for my legs, and I tumbled to the ground with Trenton on top of me. He was fighting like he was a wild man. Like he was possessed. Like he had nothing to live for.
“Vic…” I managed to get out as I batted his hands away. He was trying to go for my neck to suffocate me No way would my guys allow that, but I didn’t call them over. I could handle this.
Trenton’s sick grin grew even more. “I killed her,” he said.
What? No!
Blind fury gave me strength, and I threw him off of me. I stood up and stared down at him as he scrambled to his feet. He was laughing until I stalked toward him.
With shaking hands, he pulled out his gun, but I was quicker on the draw and a faster shot.
Accurate, too.
A long wail burst out of him as he crumbled to the ground. I had shot him in the leg. I hadn’t wanted to shoot him, not during the ride over, but now that he had killed Victoria…well…I was willing to shoot him.
Still wasn’t willing to kill him, though. I just couldn’t do it.
I walked over to where Trenton was rolling around in agony. Tears streamed down his face, and he was bawling. I had to admit, I felt badly for shooting him. If he hadn’t pulled out the gun, if he hadn’t shot Victoria, if he hadn’t pulled any of this shit…
Trenton grabbed his left leg, still crying hard. Through it all, he stared at me. “Kill me,” he said.
What?
“Kill me,” he repeated. “I have nothing to live for.”
I glanced over at Sage. She was standing off to the side, a little bit away from the guys, watching us. She was crying herself.
“Sage…” Trenton reached out toward her with an outstretched bloody hand.
She turned away from him without saying a word.
“She left me. She’s leaving me.” Trenton never stopped crying.
It was hard to see him like this. He was so utterly broken. Between the drugs, the money, and losing Sage, he was just broken. The saddest part of all was that it hadn’t had to come to this.
“Just kill me!” Trenton screamed.
“You don’t deserve death,” I said coldly, staring down at him.
How could he? How could Trenton have killed Victoria? All she had wanted to do was save her daughter, to bring her home.
Victoria was a kind and good person. She was a bright and cheery woman. She was a hell of a businesswoman, a go getter. She was the kind of person who got what she wanted out of life.
And now her life had been cut tragically short. We wouldn’t have that time I wanted to see if we could work out long term.
Because, here was the thing, I already suspected we could work out long term.
I had fallen for her. Hard. Despite the whole mess with Trenton and Sage. Despite not knowing her for long. Despite my never being in love before. In lust? So many times I lost count, but in love? Never. Not until now. Not until Victoria.
“Sage,” Trenton whimpered.
She completely turned away from him. Good. I might’ve failed Trenton, but I would help the girl out. Get her a place. Buy her food, clothes. Whatever she needed. She was family now. No way would I let Victoria’s daughter fall through the cracks. Her boyfriend had held her hostage. She might need to see a psychiatrist after all this shit, especially after seeing her boyfriend—ex-boyfriend—shoot her mom.
“There’s no point to living,” Trenton wailed. “Just kill me.”
“Boys,” I commanded, “deal with him.”
Sage peeked over her shoulder, and I nodded at her. I held up one finger, hoping she would wait, and I had to do it. I had to go inside the motel room. I had to see…her.
It took me a moment to collect myself, to take few deep breaths, for me to be able to walk inside.
Victoria was on the floor, tied to a chair, facing away from me. There were marks on her wrist near the binding. She had put up a fight. Of course she had.
Steeling my nerve, I walked around to face her, and then I almost began to cry myself.
Trenton had lied. He hadn’t shot Victoria.
&
nbsp; She lifted her head. “Grant?” she whispered. She blinked a few times.
“I’m here. I’m here, babe.” I picked her and the chair up and set about untying her.
“Sage?” she asked as I freed one hand.
“She’s safe.”
“And Trenton?”
I paused in the middle of untying her other hand. That she cared about the kid still said so much about her. Her heart had no limits.
“He’s being taken care of.” I freed her hand.
Before I could untie her legs, Victoria leaned forward and embraced me. I stroked her back.
“It’s all right,” I murmured in her ear. “I’m here. You’re safe now.”
Victoria pulled back and stared up at me through teary eyes. “I love you, Grant.”
My heart swelled, and I hugged her so tightly she squealed. When I pulled away, I kissed her thoroughly. Again and again. The moment I had to come up for air, I pressed my forehead to hers and looked down at her. “I love you, too.”
Tears streamed down her face, and I kissed them away. I hated that she had gone through this horrible ordeal, but I would be damned before I’d let this affect her long-term. I was going to replace this with so many happy memories that she’d never have to think about this ever again.
“I love you,” she repeated breathlessly.
“Love you back.” I grinned. “I’ve never told a woman that before, and I intend to say it to you all the time.”
Her eyes widened, and she laughed. Then she glanced around. “Can we get out of here?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
It took me no time to be able to untie her legs, and she tumbled into my arms. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t grow hard, and I wanted nothing more than to make a new memory right here, right now, but I could hear the guys talking Trenton down. It sounded to me that Trenton had stopped asking to be killed, though. Good.
With ease, I picked Victoria up. She laughed and slapped my shoulder. “I can walk!”
“I know.” I nestled her to my chest. “But is it so wrong that I want to be your knight?”
“You’re more than just a knight.” She rubbed my chest.
“Oh, yeah? What am I then?”
She stared up at me, and I was blown away by the love shining in her eyes. “You’re mine.”
Sage rushed over, hugging her mom, and it was kinda awkward until I was able to stand Victoria up. The two were crying and embracing, and I just stood there, next to them. It wasn’t awkward, and I didn’t feel like I had no right to be there.
After a long moment, Sage stared at me, one hand on her hip, the other hand still hugging her mom. “So you’re Grant, huh? I’ve heard a lot about you.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Trenton. The guys had bandaged him up, and I heard Hank say it was a clean shot, that the bullet had gone straight through. I had a doctor friend who could look him over so there wouldn’t be any paperwork or questions asked concerning the gunshot. Yeah, I might sometimes be a snitch to the police, but I didn’t want them asking any questions about my shooting Trenton. If they found him in conjunction to the drugs, that was one thing, but I wasn’t gonna broadcast to the police about the kidnapping and ransom attempt or press charges or anything like that.
Unless Victoria and Sage wanted to.
Sage cleared her throat. “Not all of it was good,” she added.
I turned back to face her and gave her a slight grin. “I’m a good guy once you get to know me.”
She crossed her arms. “I heard you’re a take ‘em, leave ‘em kind of guy.”
I shifted my gaze to Victoria. “I’m a one-woman man. Just took finding the right one.”
Victoria’s grin was breathtaking.
Sage rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”
I glanced around. “Someone might have called the cops. We can’t stick around here.” I grimaced. “I’ll clean up the blood—”
“Got it handled already,” Daryl called. Sure enough, he was scrubbing away. Most of the guys had loaded back up into the vans, and that included Trenton. He wasn’t saying anything. Maybe he’d passed out.
I turned back to the women. “If you want, we can call the police once we get back to my place…”
That I still didn’t hear sirens going off told me plenty about this neck of the neighborhood. Shots must be a regular occurrence.
Victoria grabbed Sage’s hand. “It’s up to you.”
“He tied you up and—” I brushed my hand on her cheek. I had been so relieved to find her alive and not dead that I didn’t see the bruising until now. “He hit you.”
“I’m fine,” Victoria insisted, holding my hand that still cupped her cheek. “What do you want to do, Sage?”
Her daughter slowly shook her head. “I wasted enough of my time and life with him. I’m done.”
Daryl just finished cleaning up and was loading the bucket and sponge into the van. Yeah, we came prepared.
“Ready to go?” I asked the women.
They nodded.
“Where are we going?” Sage asked.
“We’re going to Grant’s,” Victoria said.
I shook my head and grinned at them. “We’re going home.”
Chapter 23
Victoria
As soon as we got back to Grant’s, he insisted a doctor look us over. We were both fine, but despite our repeated attempts to tell him that, he wouldn’t hear of it. The doctor, a beautiful, tall woman who I was sure had slept with Grant at one point, gave us a clear bill of health.
“Just feed them,” she said as she draped her stethoscope around her neck. She had been all smiles when she walked in, joking around despite having just stitched up Trenton or whatever she had to do for him.
But Grant, without looking at me or needing me to say anything, made it immediately clear that we were a couple.
That we were together.
And, boy, did I like the sound of that.
The doctor left, and Sage rubbed her stomach. “I am starving.”
“How about we order some food in?” Grant suggested. “Any preference?”
“Not pizza!” Sage and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Grant shook his head. “You two could be sisters instead of mom and daughter.”
Sage shook her head right back at him. “Nope. I need my mom.”
Grant mumbled about finding take out menus and walked toward the kitchen, leaving me alone with Sage in the living room. She sat beside me on the couch.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
“No,” I said firmly. “If you really need to, we can talk about what happened tonight, but that’s it. We need to move on. We both made mistakes, and neither of us are to blame, and—”
“And we should probably get counseling, Mom. We went through a traumatic experience, and, yeah, we can rely on each other…” Her gaze shifted toward the kitchen. “…and you on Grant, but it’s probably smart.”
“You’re really serious in psychology, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I’m interested in it. I mean, I started to read up so I could help make Trenton better, and I failed him. Maybe if I had training and knew what to actually say and do, I could’ve actually helped him. I don’t think I ever did help him, not in all the time we were together.” She blew out a deep breath. “But I do still want to help. Not Trenton,” she rushed to add, “but someone else. Other people. Is that completely insane of me? I mean, I don’t even have my GED yet.”
“Honey.” I patted her hand. “All you have to do is take it one step at a time. That’s how I worked my way up to becoming a restaurant owner. You can do it, too. I’ll help you in any way I can.”
Sage took a deep breath. “Mom, I really am—”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing. People misjudge others. It’s not always easy to leave someone you spent so much time with, even if they abuse you. If anyone should be
apologizing, it’s me.” I wrapped my arms around her.
She tucked her head on my shoulder like she did when she first started to open up to me after I first adopted her. “Maybe we should both stop apologizing. I mean, really, Mom, it’s not your fault at all! If you had tried to ground me or tried to keep me from seeing him, I would’ve been all the more determined to see him. It probably would’ve made things worse, and who knows? I might’ve run away with him, like we’d talked about from time to time.”