Mia sucked in her breath. “Parker.”
I snorted. “Yeah, well, let me know when you decide to see if there’s life beyond the OBX, Parker. At least I wasn’t too scared to leave.” My feet hit the pavement. Then I dropped her keys in the empty seat, and Mia handed over my backpack.
“I love you, Mia,” I said, squeezing her hand.
“I love you, Gray, and I think you need to get back to Alabama and fight for Sam, because she’s phenomenal.”
“Yeah, she is,” I agreed, then turned to where Parker sulked. Why was she so hung up on this? “Parker, I love you, no matter what. But grow up and worry more about your life than mine.”
I shut the door on whatever protest she was going to make and made my way inside. Mia was right. Sam was phenomenal, but was she going to stay once I explained everything to her?
I wandered into the tiny gift shop while I waited for my flight and passed a Kitty Hawk deck of cards. Josh was right, too, I needed to lay my shit out in front of her and let her decide. As terrified as I was of letting her see that I was nowhere good enough for her, she deserved the truth.
I bought the cards.
The gym was busy as I walked in at four thirty p.m. I’d driven like a bat out of hell to get here before her shift ended. At least here, she couldn’t run away from me.
Her eyes were puffy and had dark circles under them as she leaned over a math book with Avery. Shit. I’d been the reason she’d been crying. Like she didn’t have enough going on already. I leaned on the counter and waited for her to notice.
“What do you want, Grayson?” she asked, her voice tired.
“I’m not good for you.”
“So you keep saying.” She smiled as a high-school boy signed in.
“That’s my cue to leave,” Avery drawled, and practically ran.
“Sam.” I fiddled with the card in my hand.
“What could you possibly want that couldn’t wait?”
“You.” She sucked in her breath, and I forged ahead. “You once asked me what you did to get past the mistakes. The stuff that keeps you up at night and leaves you nauseous in the morning?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, well, I’m not exactly an angel, right? Is she? Your Grace? Is she as perfect as you no doubt need her to be? Because, honestly, I don’t see you with an imperfect person. You’re too good for that, or I thought you were. All this time I’ve thought I was the one too damaged for you, and yet you’re the one kissing me while she’s waiting for you.”
“Can’t you stop talking for a second?”
Her mouth snapped shut.
“Thank you. I told you that I understood that kind of mistake, like the one you’re running from, and yes, you ran five states away from it, don’t argue. I understood that choice because I’ve done something that I still can’t recover from.” The wariness in her eyes killed me. I wanted the trust back, the ease between us. I would forsake kissing her for the rest of my life if I could get the trust back. Yeah, you know what she tastes like now, so try and keep your hands off her, you liar.
“What could you have possibly done that’s so bad?” she scoffed, and turned to dismiss me.
I grabbed her wrist, careful not to bruise her skin, and put the ace of spades into her palm, face up. “I’m responsible for what happened to Grace. I killed the woman I loved.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sam
Seriously? He gave me a fucking card, declared himself a murderer, and then walked away? I pulled the e-brake in the driveway and tried to compose myself. He couldn’t have really meant it. They didn’t let murderers into the army, and he’d clearly been going to visit someone.
And I’d bet my life that Grayson wasn’t any kind of murderer.
I opened the door and put my keys next to his in the dish on the entry table, and then hung my purse in the hall closet. The house smelled like…steak? “Grayson?”
“Kitchen,” he called out. Of course he was.