“Fuck, I shoulda planned for this,” Gray muttered, lips at my throat and I knew what he meant.

We were naked in my bed. We’d finished. It was fabulous. So fabulous, as usual, we wanted to start up again.

And he needed to get home to Grandma Miriam.

His hands slid up my sides, one moving in to cup my breast but my fingers curled around his waist.

“Get off me, Gray, you gotta go home to your Gran,” I whispered even though I really didn’t want to and he growled against the skin under my ear.

I shivered.

His head came up, his hand leaving my breast to frame my face. “Love her, you know it darlin’. My Mom left and she stepped up and was there for me. When she lost her legs, I vowed I’d pay her back and she could depend on me no matter what, no matter how long it lasted. But, right now, I wish my uncles weren’t assholes and most of my cousins didn’t hightail their asses outta Mustang to get away from their asshole Daddies ‘cause this shit is killin’ me.”

I knew what he meant about that too.

Audie was good for once a week and Audie had stepped in for us with no notice when we needed him, going to Gray’s after Casey did his thing at The Rambler so Gray was free to stay with me. But Audie made it clear that was all Gray got. And Grandma Miriam refused to let anyone but Audie, Gray or me help her with things at the house.

But tonight was a special night.

Tonight, I’d bought a new outfit, including heels and hose and tonight Gray had taken me for a fancy dinner at Jenkins. Tonight, we drank wine and ate steaks that were really good but not as good as the VFW. Still, they had fancy sauce that tasted awesome and Jenkins had superior desserts that were phenomenal.

Gray had even dressed up.

It was fun. Better than the movies Gray took me to which I loved. Better than most everything.

Except for his birthday, his birthday we had at his house, Shim, Chastity, Roan and Audie came over. Grandma Miriam made a cake and I helped with dinner and we had a blast.

And Audie stayed and Gray and I came back to my place where he stayed.

And he’d loved my present but not so much at first.

It was a scarf given to him in March and when he opened it, he grinned at me and teased, “Dollface, it’s March. In about a day I won’t need a scarf for another eight months.”

To which, I returned, “When I saw you walking up to me in the playground that first night, I thought that a scarf said you had a woman who cared about you. And a man having a scarf does say that. So you’ve got two women who care about you therefore two scarves.”

After that, he kissed me then he made love to me and that was when he told me he loved his present.

So that was the best.

But his frustration now was about more than just this being a special night.

We had two and a half months of this and Gray wanted me falling asleep at his side and waking up there just as much as I wanted to do it.

I knew this because he told me.

Incidentally, that made me cry too, just like when he told me he loved me.

“I’m gonna talk to her,” Gray decided and my eyes got big.

“Sorry?”

“I’m gonna talk to her about you movin’ in,” Gray replied.

I blinked rapidly then told him something he already knew, “You can’t do that.”

“I sure as fuck can.”

“Gray!” I cried. “She’ll lose her mind.”

“Better’n both of us doin’ it. I gotta drag my naked ass outta your bed one more time, get dressed, go home and go to sleep alone when that is the last thing I wanna do, dollface, I’ll lose it. And you want me to go about as much as I want to.”

“Actually, less,” I informed him. “At least you have Mrs. Cody’s strawberry preserves to wake up to. Macy’s graduated me from hamburger to roasts to casseroles and now I’m just cracking desserts. I haven’t made it to breakfast and definitely not preserves so I still wake up to boxed cereal or toast so you’re ahead of me on that score.”

Gray stared down at me a second then burst out laughing, collapsing on me then rolling so I was on top.

I lifted my head and he lifted his hands, tucking my hair behind my ears then holding it there, still chuckling.

“Just an FYI, dollface, for a guy, preserves do not make up for goin’ to sleep alone when he can go to sleep with your face, hair and body and wake up to your smile, your breathy ‘hi’ and your ability to make me laugh.”

I allowed his compliment to settle deep as I muttered, “Good to know.”

“Though, seein’ as I love you, I’ll pinch a jar of Gran’s preserves and bring it to you. She inventories that shit so she can call Macy out when she steals it and ream her ass but I’ll take that hit for you.”

I grinned at him and whispered, “Thanks, Gray. And, just so you know, if I had a Grandma I could steal jam from and catch flack for it, I love you enough to do it for you too.”

He shook his head, grinning, dimple out then he lifted it and touched his mouth to mine.

Then he rolled me to my back and did it again.

Then he lifted his head, looked me in the eyes and muttered, “I gotta do this or I won’t.”

I knew it. I knew by his words that it wasn’t easy leaving and it was getting harder.

I loved that just about as much as I hated it.

And I knew it because it wasn’t easy letting him go and it was getting harder.

“Okay, honey,” I whispered.

He lifted up, kissed my forehead then slid out of the bed making sure the covers never left me but still, once out, he pulled them to my shoulder. I slid my hands under my cheek and watched him dress. When he was done, he got close and smoothed my hair back, leaned deep and kissed my temple.

I turned my head, lifted a hand and caught the side of his neck before he pulled away.

“Thanks for tonight, honey,” I said quietly.

“Anything for my girl,” Gray returned quietly. “See you tomorrow. I’ll talk to Audie, see if I can get him to take an extra night.”

I knew that wasn’t going to happen because Gray did this daily. But I was glad he wanted to try.

I nodded. “That’d be good.”

“Say you love me, Ivey.”

“I love you, Gray.”

He grinned, gave me the dimple then whispered, “Love you too, baby.” He bent again, touched my lips with his then whispered against them, “’Night.”

“’Night,” I whispered back.

Then he was gone, using his key to lock the door behind him.

I closed my eyes, sighed then threw back the covers, got out of bed, pulled on undies and a nightie, put away my pretty new dress, my pretty high heels, dumped my hose in the hamper, washed my face, brushed my teeth, turned out the lights and went to bed.

And I did all of this not knowing the path to beautiful I was on was going to veer crazily under my feet.

* * *

Five hours fifteen minutes later…

“Ivey!”

I woke with a start, my heart racing and a hand shaking me.

“Ivey!”

I scooted across the bed, terrified.

“Ivey, sis, it’s me,” Casey whispered.

I blinked at the shadow in the dark.

What on earth? How did he get in?

“How’d you get in?” I asked.

“Doesn’t matter, Ivey, I don’t have much time. I don’t… I don’t have much time, honey, they’re after me.”

Oh God.

“Who?” I asked, moving toward the lamp by my bed.

“Don’t turn on the light!” Casey hissed and I stopped dead.

“Who’s after you, Casey and why can’t I turn on the light?”

“’Cause I’m worried they’re close and I don’t want them to know where you live.”

Oh God!

I shoved up to sitting and demanded to know, “What’s going on?”

“I ran into some of our history.”

Oh God!

No.

What we’d always feared.

Always.

“Casey,” I whispered.

“Worked me over,” he whispered back. “Bad dudes. Serious bad dudes. Wanted to finish me off. Don’t even know how I got away. Just know I did and they followed me. You turn on that light, you’d see. It’s bad, sis. They’re pissed, they wanna do me and while they were workin’ me over they asked for me to give up you.”

I closed my eyes.

Then I opened them. “Right, I’ll get dressed, we’ll go to Gray.”

“Are you crazy?” he hissed. “There are five of them, Ivey, they are on a mission and they got hardware. You want your cowboy steppin’ up for you and gettin’ his denim shirt filled with holes?”

My heart started beating wildly.

No, I didn’t want that.

“We’ll go to the police,” I told him.

Something filled the room. Something I forgot seeing as Casey had been out of my life awhile. Something that was not good. And it was something that told me Casey messed up big.

“When I left you, Ivey, I was hurtin’. Did somethin’, we go to the cops, they might put two and two together and know it was me.”

God!

My stupid, stupid, STUPID brother.

“What’d you do?”

“What I did, they nail me, I’ll do five to ten in the local penitentiary.”

Yes, my stupid, stupid brother.

“Get up, pack a bag, we gotta go,” Casey ordered.

At that, my heart clenched.

“Go?” I whispered.

“Go, honey, go. We gotta go.”

“But I can’t. I have a job, rent to pay…”

Gray.

“They followed me, they’ll find you. Won’t be hard, Ivey and all these folks, someone shields you, they’ll buy it. You cannot do what you’re doin’. You and me, we gotta evaporate, sis, to stay alive and to keep these folks safe.”