The Falling of Grace (The Falling Series Book 2)

by Marisa Oldham

  Grace and Michelle buckle into the seats, sunglasses on their faces, ready to take off on their road trip. Grace sits in the passenger seat and Jaden leans into the driver’s side window. “Please call me when you get to your hotel.”

  “We will,” Michelle says.

  “I love you two. Drive safe.”

  “We love you, too,” They say in unison.

  Grace hangs out of the window looking back at Jaden, who stands with his arm raised waving goodbye to them as they drive away. Her heart breaks a little as he fades away into the horizon.

  Chapter 15

  The giggles and squeals of Grace’s niece wake her from the most comfortable sleep she has had since she left Paris. Her niece’s laughter brings a smile to her face. When they arrived last night, Abigail was already fast asleep in what used to be Grace’s room. Grace rubs her eyes and looks around the spare bedroom. Pain pierces her heart as she looks around at what used to be Ian’s room when he lived with them as a teenager. Michelle insisted on sleeping in Ian’s old room, but Grace felt that Michelle should be able to sleep in her childhood room, no matter how much staying in Ian’s old room would hurt her. Grace takes a deep breath and sits on the edge of the twin bed. The need to create and get lost in her work inundates her.

  The last time Ian broke her heart she lost her creativity. This time it is all she can do to keep from running out of James’ front door to the art store in her pajamas.

  After throwing on a pair of jeans and a shirt, Grace hurries out the kitchen and grabs her purse from the couch. She waves to James and his wife Sara who sit on the floor playing with Abby, and rushes out the front door. Grace can hear her brother’s guttural laugh as she skips down the stairs.

  About an hour later, Grace arrives back at James’ home with her arms full of art supplies.

  “There’s more in the car. Can you help me?” she asks, looking at James.

  James gets out of his usual spot in the easy chair that used to belong to her father and goes outside to get the rest of her art supplies.

  “Wow,” Michelle says, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow.

  “I need to paint or draw or something.”

  “Or something!” Michelle laughs.

  Sara walks into the living room toting Abigail on her hip and the sight of them warms Grace’s heart.

  “You went shopping.” Sara smiles.

  Eager to get to work, Grace looks at Sara. “Can I use the garage?”

  “Of course, this is your home, too,” Sara says, as she runs a finger through Abby’s curly brown locks.

  The canvas that Grace pins against her body slips down her side. “Will you help me?” she says, looking at Michelle.

  Without hesitation, Michelle runs over and grabs the canvas, brushes, clay, and everything else she can fit into her arms.

  “Oh, Grace, your friend Becca called again. She sounds really concerned,” Sara says.

  “Didn’t you call her?” Grace asks, looking at Michelle.

  They make their way through the dining room and into the kitchen. “I did, but you know, she wants to hear your voice. She’s really worried. You need to call her yourself.”

  “I’ll call her after I get all this put away.”

  Moments later, James is standing in the doorway to the garage with a box filled to the top with art supplies. “Did you buy the entire store?”

  Rolling her eyes, Grace forces a smile. “I feel like I have to get it out, ya know, but I don’t know exactly how or what I want to use. I have an idea for a painting,” she says, searching through the box still in James’ arms. “But I’m not sure if I should use watercolors or oils, or maybe it’s not a painting that I need to create, maybe it’s a sculpture or—”

  “How many cups of coffee did you have?” Michelle says, then laughs.

  James chuckles and sets the box down on a workbench. Clearing his throat, he nods his head while looking at Michelle. His eyes follow Michelle as she closes the door to the garage behind her. “Grace, can we talk?” he says, then rubs his hands over his jeans.

  Grace turns her back to him and piles paint brushes on top of a worktable.

  “I know you don’t want to talk about what happened to you, but I need to know.”

  His words stop her dead in her tracks. Every time the thought of Sean or Ian or Emma comes into her mind she shoves it away focusing on an idea for a new art project. James’ words and the concerned tone of his voice make it impossible to push the thoughts away now.

  “What do you need to know?” she asks, not turning around to look at him, her heart pounding in her chest, but her body remaining perfectly still.

  There is a long pause before he answers. “Did he rape you?”

  Grace shakes her head, a sense of relief washing over her. Thank God he didn’t get that far.

  “Missy said that he cut you. How bad is it?”

  Grace turns to James and lifts her shirt to reveal the gauze taped over the midsection of her stomach. She peels the tape off and shows James the scabbed slice above her bellybutton.

  “Fuck, Grace! What the hell happened?”

  Grace presses the tape to her skin then drops her t-shirt. Her eyes dart to the floor and humiliation creeps into her tone. “I made a bad choice.”

  “Why? I mean, here I’m thinking that you’re safe at home in Paris and I get a call that you’re in the hospital because you were kidnapped. When did you go to L.A.? Why?”

  Grace turns to face the workbench again, taking her time to answer James. She knows he is going to be livid when she explains the events that led up to what happened with Sean. Part of her wants to protect Ian from her brother’s fury and it confuses her. Taking a moment, she prepares her words. “Ian found me in Paris.”

  “What? Ian Taylor?”

  “Yes. He found my address on an envelope that Jaden saved. He was living with him, James. For years. Jaden lied to both of us.” Grace turns to look at her brother, even though she is scared to see the look she knows he will give her. When she looks at him, instead of anger, all she sees is pain. His face falls and his shoulders curl. She takes a deep breath and continues. “We fell in love again. I tried to stay away from him, but he’s always going to have a hold on me.” She shakes her head. “He was perfect. So loving. I mean, I really thought he was truly in love with me. More than I ever felt loved by him before. We talked about him moving to Paris and he kept saying that he had things to take care of in L.A., so he went home to sell his condo, his cars, and pack up his things. I think he wanted to marry me.” The words crush her. The facts stab at her heart. “It was all a lie.”

  James walks to where she is standing and takes her into his arms. The tears choke her and she is barely able to tell him the rest of the story.

  “He has a girlfriend he just moved in with not long before he came to find me in Paris. She’s pregnant.”

  “Fuck, Grace. Oh, fuck!”

  “I just lost it. Jaden and I went to a club and Ian was there with her and when I saw them together all I could do to make myself feel better was leave with the first guy I met.”

  James holds her tighter.

  “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just wanted to drown all of it out. All the lies. All the pain. I wanted to bury it. I’m a complete idiot.”

  “You’re not an idiot, sweetheart.”

  “I am, James! I’m so fucking stupid! I almost got killed. Over what? Over a man? Over Ian?” Grace wriggles out of James’ arms and turns back to face the bench. “I purposely slept with men I didn’t know to try and get back at Ian for being with her. Who does that?”

  “Someone who’s in a lot of pain and who’s lost.”

  Grace huffs. “Jaden called Michelle and she came to try and intervene and I acted like a teenager, snuck out of the house, and went to a bar. That’s where I met him. He put Rohypnol – a date rape drug – in my drink and I woke up tied to a bed in a motel room.”

  James leaps up onto the bench and places his ha
nd on Grace’s shoulder.

  “Do you want to know the most screwed up part of the whole thing?”

  James nods.

  “The entire time I was laying there, trying to figure out how I was going to get myself out of that motel room and away from that sick bastard, I was also thinking that I would never see Ian’s face again. That scared me more than thinking I was going to die. The thought of never looking into his eyes, never hearing him sing, never kissing him again…it horrified me. Here I’m going through the most terrifying experience of my entire life and all I can think about is being away from Ian. That’s so jacked up.”

  “Oh, Grace, I’m so sorry.”

  “None of you should feel sorry for me. I’m a weak woman.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re strong.”

  “Strong women tell assholes like Ian to fuck off and they go on with their lives. They don’t let them tear them apart and shred the perfectly decent life they had to pieces. I hate that I fell apart like that. I don’t ever want to be that weak girl I was when I was a teenager. I never should’ve let him into the loft. My gut told me to stay away from him and I ignored it and look where it got me.”

  “We all make mistakes.”

  “Mistakes that wind you up in a motel room with a serial rapist who’s going to take your life because he has mommy issues? No, James, we don’t all make mistakes like that.”

  “You’ve learned your lesson though, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then all you can do is try to fix what’s broken inside you.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” she says, mustering up a smile. “I need to get my head right and going home to Paris just seems like a slap in the face. It will just be a reminder of the life I had before Ian Taylor walked back into it and turned it upside down, again.”

  “Well,” James says, as he jumps down from the bench. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. I want you here. I want to know you’re safe. I want to protect you because I feel like I’ve done a shitty job of it so far.”

  “Last I checked you aren’t a psychic. This is all my fault. I can’t keep blaming Jaden or even Ian. It’s all my fault for being stupid and thinking that love could actually work for me.”

  “Stop that shit. It’s not love that’s your problem. It’s Ian.”

  Grace sighs then grabs a tube of paint. “I need to get my feelings out on canvas.”

  “I’ll let you get to it. If you need me though, I’ll be in the house. Sara usually has dinner ready by six.”

  Grace takes James into her arms. “I love you. Thank you.”

  “I know it’s hard to talk about, but when you’re ready I want to know exactly what happened in that motel room.”

  Pushing away from James, Grace lowers her gaze to the floor. Foggy images of Sean plunging the knife into her skin. The sting of steel on flesh and the feeling of her skin splitting on either side of the knife cause her wound to ache. The smell of sweet alcohol on Sean’s breath, and the sinister look in his eyes brings chills over her body. She shivers. “It was the most terrifying moment of my life. Every day, more and more images pop into my mind that I didn’t remember the day before. I can still smell him. His voice is crystal clear, but I can’t recall everything that happened.” Grace wraps her arms around herself. The sound of Sean’s deep voice, the feeling of his hot breath on her ear, makes her cringe. She shakes her head. “I don’t want to remember, James.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t try to block it out. Have you thought about talking to a therapist?”

  Grace opens her eyes and feels the sting of tears pricking at the corners of them. “Detective Ramirez gave me a card for a doctor, but she’s in L.A. Every time I talk about what I do remember, more comes back and it terrifies me.”

  “You’re safe here.”

  “I know, but every bump in the night freaks me out. When I went shopping today, a man was staring at me and…I was so scared. I kept looking behind me, to the side of me, and every time I met his eyes.”

  “You should be used to men checking you out.”

  “I was, but now, I can’t trust anyone.”

  “Do you want to try and sit with me and talk about what you remember?”

  Grace shakes her head, tightening the grip on herself. “No. Not today. I know you’re trying to help, and I so love you for it, but I just need some time alone to work.”

  James opens his arms. “Come here.”

  Grace falls into him.

  “I love you, kiddo. Everything is going to be okay. I promise. You’re safe. When you’re ready to talk it out, I’m here.”

  Grace backs away and wipes tears from her eyes. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll be in the house if you need me.”

  Grace nods. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  She stands silent in the garage for a moment, then digs her phone from her pocket and calls Becca.

  ~ ~ ~

  Ian’s mouth is dry when he wakes up. Every muscle in his body aches and every bone hurts. His neck aches from sleeping with his head against the wall in the hallway of Grace’s building. “Uhh,” he moans sitting up straight. Fuck, I just want to get high. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks the time. He has been sitting by Grace’s loft door for over twenty-four hours. For two weeks, he tried waiting at her door morning, noon, and night. His last ditch effort was to spend an entire day and night at her doorstep. Grace never came home. I’m beginning to think fucking Jaden lied to me, he thinks, as he stands up and runs his hands over his growing beard. He presses numbers into his phone.

  “Hey, it’s Ian.”

  “Hi, Ian,” says his agent’s secretary.

  “How are you, Kristi?”

  “Good, sir, and you?”

  “Tired. Really freakin’ tired. I need a favor.”

  “Sure thing, what do you need?”

  “I need a flight from Paris to L.A. that leaves tonight. I need to get back there as soon as possible. I’ve wasted too much time here already.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. Do you need a car to pick you up in Los Angeles?”

  “Please. Thank you, Kristi.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll call you as soon as I know your flight details.”

  “Thanks.” Ian hangs the phone up and places his hand on Grace’s door. Where are you, baby?

  Even though he is exhausted by the time his flight arrives in Los Angeles, Ian has the driver take him straight to Jaden’s house. The unlit windows of the house and Jaden’s truck absent from the driveway are his first clues that no one is home.

  Ian pushes the intercom button. “I’ll be just a few minutes.” He tells the driver.

  “Take your time, sir.”

  Ian climbs out of the limo and instead of going to the front door, he walks through the tall weeds surrounding Jaden’s home and goes to the backyard. Using his cell phone to light his way, he searches for the rock that does not look quite like the others. Spotting it, he bends down and picks it up, turning it over. He slides the door open on the bottom of it and pulls out the key to the house. The back stairs at Jaden’s house wobble and creak when he steps up them. Using the key, he enters the quiet house. I guess I should’ve used this instead of breaking down the door the other night. Just to be sure, he checks Jaden’s room to see if he is home and then heads straight upstairs. With each step, he anticipates finding Grace’s things in the guest room.

  He opens the door slowly, afraid of what he might find. When his eyes fall on the empty room, void of any of Grace’s things, he knows she is not at Jaden’s. His heart thuds in his chest as he wanders down the stairs. Now what?

  Putting the key back where he found it, he heads back to the limousine. The chauffeur nods from behind the steering wheel and Ian puts his hand up stopping him from getting out to open the door. He climbs in the back and pushes the intercom button.

  “Do you have plans for the next couple of days?”

  The d
river lowers the window that separates the front from the back seat. “What do you need, sir?”

  “First, you can stop calling me sir.” Ian smiles. “I need a ride to Oregon.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Feeling the warmth from the morning sun, Grace turns onto her other side and pulls a blanket over her shoulders. Sensing someone watches her, she opens her eyes and jumps back at the sight of a man. She opens her mouth to scream, but then recognition falls on her.

  “Jaden!” she gasps and jumps.

  “Mornin’, sugar.”

  “What are you doing here? You scared the shit out of me!”

  Jaden gets up from the chair pulled close to her bed. “I needed to make sure that you were okay.”

  Grace sits up and a smile spreads across her face. “When did you get here?”

  “Around 8:00.”

  Grace pats the bed. “Get over here!” She opens her arms, welcoming a hug. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine, just fine. How are you?”

  “I’m doing okay.”

  “You haven’t been calling me back.”

  Grace pulls away from him, but keeps her hands on his shoulders. “That’s why you came all the way to Oregon?”

  “I got worried.”

  “Oh, Jaden, I’m so sorry. I’ve been so focused on my work.”

  His expression turns weary.

  “Really, I swear.”

  Jaden pulls her back into his arms and hugs her hard. “It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re alright.”

  “How long are you staying?”

  “Just today. I wish it could be longer, but the band has a gig tomorrow night.”

  Still holding onto him, she breathes in the scent of him. Patchouli and cigarettes. The smell takes her back to another place in time when she was in love with him. “How long were you watching me sleep?”

  “It’s about 9:30. I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up.” His husky voice and warm breath on her neck send chills over her entire body.