“Depends on what it is,” she says, smiling a little.
“If you can’t work it out that you will at least consider taking the money from me, it can be a loan. You can pay me back, if you insist.”
“Gray, you don’t even know how much it is.”
“I don’t really give a fuck, CC. You’re important to me. Not the money. And if I win the tournament in Georgia, I can buy three garages once I put that with the money I got from signing the Riverton contract.”
“You’d really do that?”
“Definitely. You don’t seem to have grasped it yet, sweet lips, but this thing between us is special. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here and I’m staying here.”
“Sometimes, life throws curveballs that are beyond our control, Gray.”
“Good thing for you that I’ve become a master at learning just how to hit balls so they curve the way I want them to.”
“Ouch. That was a really bad pun.”
“They can’t all be gold. How about you give up pretending to eat and I take you back to the hotel and ravage you.”
She drops her fork in her plate and grins at me—and this one almost reaches her eyes. “I was hoping you would suggest that.”
I throw some money on top of the bill the waitress left earlier, then get up and walk over to her seat, pulling it back and helping her up.
“I do aim to please,” I tell her, kissing her lips gently. “It’s going to be okay, Cooper. I promise. I will always be here for you.”
She hooks her hand against my jaw and looks into my eyes. Then she burrows her head into my neck, placing a gentle kiss on my chest.
“I could love you, Grayson Lucas,” she whispers, and it feels so close I can almost taste it.
“I’m counting on it, sweet lips. I’m counting on it,” I tell her, trying to swallow down the emotion that’s choking me. CC doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve made it my goal that she falls in love with me. I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen. I’m keeping her.
Forever.
“I’m sorry, CC. There’s nothing I can do. The contract clearly states the terms of the loan and I’d say the pictures you described would sway a jury or a judge.”
I hold my head down, the phone away from my ear. Mack is a local lawyer in town and, as lawyers go, he’s about the only one I trust not to rat me out to Riverton. He is new to the area, having moved here after marrying Belinda, a local girl who’s a few years older than me.
“So I’m royally fucked?” I ask, my eyes still closed.
“The only alternative is to take out a loan on the bank again. The garage would clearly be worth that.”
“You forget one thing, Mack.”
“What’s that?”
“Riverton owns all the local banks. You don’t think he’s already put word out against me?”
“You really think he’d go that far?”
“I know so.”
“What about an online lender? Or a national bank?” he suggests.
“I’ll try it, but my personal credit rating isn’t that great.”
“I’m sorry my news isn’t better, CC. Hell, I’m even sorrier I wasn’t around to keep you from signing this ridiculous contract.”
“It doesn’t matter. Back then… even now, I would have signed anything if it meant making sure Banger would keep from worrying and be able to die in peace.”
“He was a lucky man to have you. There’s still a small chance we can go to court and win because of the outrageous contract terms and your age.”
“Yeah,” I answer him, but I know that’s not going to happen. For one, I don’t think I could handle court and having my mom’s sordid past out everywhere. For another, I doubt there’s anything like a fair trial around here.
“I do my banking in Lexington. Go talk to a Jim Graves there. Tell him I asked you to contact him. See what he can do.”
I write the name down with little hope, then Mack and I say our goodbyes.
I’ve only been back in Kentucky for a couple days. I’ve had trouble breaking away from Gray to try and figure out what to do with the garage. If I told him, he’d buy it. That’s tempting. Fuck, it is. But, I can’t let him do that. This is my problem, not his, and I’m not about to ask a man I… care about… to bail me out of a mess I made. That reeks of something my mother would have done and that’s not who I am—or ever will be.