Worth the Risk(42)

“It’s comforting to know my whereabouts are being tracked so diligently,” I say teasingly as we both step back out of the middle of the sidewalk so people can pass. “I can assure you that everything was taken out of context. The hero thing. The party. The kiss.”

“At least Grayson is having some fun for a change,” she says, talking right over my explanation as if I didn’t utter a word. “He had a rough go of it when Claire left town.”

“Claire?” Wait. What? “As in Claire Hoskin, Claire?”

“Mm-hmm. Didn’t you know she’s Luke’s mother?”

“No. I didn’t.” My mind stumbles over the information. The beauty queen of Sunnyville and one of my closest friends back in high school. Claire is Luke’s mom? Claire was with Grayson? She’s the one who walked out on them?

I try to hide my shock as I look over at a group of teenagers who are sitting outside of the convenience store at the end of the street. They screech playfully, and I can almost picture us there, doing the same thing, when we were that age.

Claire. Gorgeous. Conceited . . . but couldn’t the same things have been said about me?

Realization strikes. The kind that makes your jaw fall lax and forces you to blink to make sure you’re right.

Grayson sees me as Claire. A “walks like a duck and talks like a duck” type of thing. No wonder he hates me.

When the thoughts settle, I’m left with Cathy staring at me with her brow furrowed and her smile frozen as if she just said something she shouldn’t but can’t wait to say more.

“I had no idea he was with Claire. I left Sunnyville after graduation and never looked back.”

“Yeah, it’s a long story, which the majority of us around here don’t know the half of, I’m sure. You know how money can keep lips from getting loose, don’t you?” She waves a hand my way as if the story is inconsequential. “Anyhoo, I’m sure he’ll tell you when the time’s right in your relationship.”

“I told you, we aren’t—”

“Like I said, if any man deserves a break and something more than a little mindless twisting of his sheets, it would be Grayson “Make Me Moan” Malone. First his suspension from flying at work, when we all know he’s a hero and then everything with Luke yesterday . . . The guy can sure use a little Sidney sunshine in his life.”

“What do you mean? What happened with Luke yesterday?”

“Oh my, you don’t know?”

“Don’t go clutching your pearls on me, Cathy,” I say when she lifts a hand to her chest. “What happened?”

“He was in a fight at school.”

“About?”

She looks around as if she’s about to get in trouble for talking, and the simple action has dread dropping into my stomach. “Well, someone teased him about that picture in the paper—the one of you two—and one thing led to another about his mom not wanting him, and boom, he threw the first punch.”

“Regardless of what you might think, not everything is about you, Princess.”

Grayson had been trying to tell me he wasn’t canceling because of something I had done or said. I was just too wrapped up in myself to listen.

God, maybe I am every bit as selfish as everyone keeps implying. As Grayson keeps saying without coming right out and throwing it in my face.

“Little boy is just like his father. Willing to fight for love. How does it feel having two men—Grayson and Luke—love you at the same time?”

Her words snap me from my thoughts, and I mumble some kind of generic response. Even if I refute her, she will argue with me. I take a step backward. “It was good seeing you again, Cathy, but I have to run. Drinks next time?”

“You know I’m definitely in.”

I head toward my car, my mind a confused mess.

That damn picture.

It only serves to prove my dad right. That I act before I think, without taking anyone else around me into consideration.

The heat from my dad over the photo was just another reprimand in a long line of them. It’s water off my back.

The pang of remorse I feel when it comes to Luke, though, is a whole different ballgame that I’m not sure how to process.

My actions caused him to be bullied and teased. To throw a punch in defense. He’s hurting, and it’s all because I acted in haste without thought to anyone else who might be affected.

Feeling like shit is putting it mildly.





I don’t know why I’m here.

It’s because I want to apologize to Luke.

I don’t know why I’ve sat staring at the front of his house.

It’s because I really want to see Grayson.

I don’t know why I’ve spent the last thirty minutes watching the porch swing move ever so subtly under the influence of the intermittent soft breeze. Why I keep glancing at the blue BMX bike lying on its side in the driveway or the baseball bat propped beside the front door.

Even more, I don’t know why I keep staring at the lights in the windows and wondering what’s going on inside.

I should start my car and drive away.

But I can’t.

Something happened to a little boy yesterday, and it was because of me. My dad may say I’m heartless and only think of myself, but no matter how many times I told myself to stay home, I couldn’t. And then as I told myself I was just going out for a drive to clear my mind, my hands kept turning the wheel to navigate the streets until I ended up here.