Seeking Me To Find You (Finding You Series Book 1) (22 page)

I hear my door bell ring and I rush downstairs. Opening up the door, Rory greets me with a huge smile.

With a tight hug, she pulls back, checking me out from head to toe. “Damn, woman. You’re sexy as hell.”

Feeling a little self conscious, I grab my purse, ready for a well deserved night out.

*

I’ve never seen
Moon Doggies this packed. I guess karaoke night is extremely popular around here. Looking around we see Harper, who is also a newbie at the school, waving us to a table by the stage.

Leaning into Rory, I ask, “Where’s everyone?”

Taking a quick sip of her drink, Harper stands, waving us over. “Here comes Lana and Kaila as we speak,” Rory points out.

Everyone gives each other a polite hug while Harper signals the waitress to get us started on our first round of drinks.

There are multiple conversations going on around the table. Drinks are flowing and I’m really starting to relax. Usually girls are so catty, but there’s no gossiping or talk of work here. Conversations range from family to purchasing a new car to what’s your favorite sexual position. Awesome!

About two hours in, Pete, one of the assistant managers, comes to the microphone. In his Aussie accent, he calms the crowd. “Good evening, mates.”

The crowd whistles and cheers.

“It’s Karaoke Night!” he screams.

The crowd goes wild. Feeling the drinks finally hit me, I let loose. A group of guys at another table sends us a round of drinks. Harper, who obviously is extra friendly when drinking, invites them to scoot their table with ours. Each guy sits by the girl they want to pair up with. I believe they already decided this before coming over. In flowing conversations, we find out they are all Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton.

The Marine sitting next to me is Brady. Being very attentive, he listens as I ramble on about my job. He is very easy to talk to, making the drinks he is feeding me a piece of cake to throw back.

“Grace, don’t you sing?” asks Lana.

Everyone starts egging me on to sing. They’re all talking at once making my already spinning head lead me to do something I really shouldn’t do.

“Okay,” I say as I bounce up to where Pete is signing people up to sing. As I make my way up, it feels as if I’m being watched. I look over my shoulder where I see Jackson boring holes into my head. Ben appears to be trying to get him to leave but he’s stock-still with no expression on his face. The game is on.

I’m second on the list so I go back and cozy up with Brady. As we are sitting there talking, I feel I light tap on my shoulder.

Turning around, Jackson is standing, still with no expression. Holy hell, does he look hot. He has worn jeans with glorious holes and a tight, black t-shirt accenting areas where I have nipped and sucked.

Snap out of it Grace.

With a gorgeous, pleading look he asks, “Grace, can we talk?”

With a snarky slur I say, “No.”

Just then, Pete calls my name. Getting up from my chair, I become unsteady on my feet, stumbling into Jackson’s arms. Shaking him off of me, I walk gingerly to the stage.

“Tonight we’re going hear from a newbie. I’d like to welcome to the stage, Grace!”

The round of applause and whistles fires me up. Jackson’s eyes are riveted to my every move. I see him walk back to the bar where Ben tries to get him to leave. I shift nervously from one foot to another. The moment the music starts, our eyes lock. My once confident smile quickly fades, turning to apprehension under his gaze. Trying to regain my composure, hurt overcomes my body, then anger wells up stiffening my spine.

“This song reminds us girls that we don’t need a man to make us happy.”

I give him a quick wink hoping to jab the knife he used on my heart back into his, only deeper. I know…real mature.
Oh well
.

Matt Nathanson’s “Modern Love” track starts to play and I close my eyes and start moving to the beat. Getting into the act, I move off the stage and make my way to our table. I move and sway, flirting with every single man at that table. As I sing, I make my way to Brady’s lap, shimming provocatively before I stand up and make my way back to the stage. As I turn around, Jackson is walking my way. He doesn’t look happy. I see Ben placing money on the bar then standing up, twirling his keys.

I finish the song and all around me the crowd goes wild.

Looking sternly at me Jackson commands, “Let’s go home.”

I walk past him to Brady, who is standing, holding my chair out for me. Next thing I know, Jackson picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. Brady tries to stop him but Jackson stiff arms him back down in his seat. I start kicking and screaming for Jackson to put me down. Suddenly my vision blurs. Hanging upside down, I
think
I see the table of my friends sitting in shock. The lights around me fade to black.

*

I feel warmth
on my face, and then I feel the most intense pain in my head. It hurts so bad that my teeth are vibrating. Something is on my feet. I carefully open one eye and see Thor lying at the foot of my bed. I struggle to remember the night before as I attempt to sit up. The last thing I think I remember is Jackson putting me in his truck then making a phone call.

Without warning, my stomach lurches. I run to the bathroom, emptying the contents of my stomach in the toilet. I hurt so bad that I rest my head on the seat. Retching over and over again, I slump down, laying my cheek on the ice cold tile. Feeling Thor come in and lay beside me, I look up just in time to see Nate walk in.

“Hello Gracie. Funny thing…I received a call last night…”

I sit back up and heave once again.

Jackson

I
know that
I probably dashed any hopes of just being friends but I was extremely naïve to think we could ever
just
be friends. I couldn’t sit by and watch her make a mistake that she would regret this morning. When I carried her out of the bar last night, I wanted to handcuff her to her bed and never let her leave. Fearing possible jail, I did the next best thing…I called Nate. Even though he gave me an earful, he was grateful that I called him.

When Nate had shown up, he immediately went upstairs to check on Grace. Following him, we made our way to where she was passed out, Thor lifting his head signaling that he was dutifully guarding her.

Seeing that she was okay, Nate cracked the door until it was almost closed and started downstairs.

Turning back he said, “We need to talk.”

When I reached the living room, Nate had already taken authoritative position on the sofa. That left me with the loveseat, feeling like the biggest douche bag.

“When I spoke with Grace last, she said that you guys were so happy even though your schedules were hell. She went on and on about falling in love…”

Sitting up straighter I said, “She said she was falling in love?”

“And you’re not?” Nate said while cocking his head slightly.

I stood up, running my hands down my jeans. “I need to get home to catch a few winks before I have to go to work.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Turning back I asked, “What does it matter?”

“When I came over tonight, you were sitting on her bed wiping her face down with a cool rag. The way you were looking at her was as if you would abandon everything else just to take care of her.” Looking smugly he continued, “I call that love.”

“She deserves so much better than me.”

Looking quizzically at me he asked, “What makes you think that?”

“My life is not conducive to a life she deserves. She needs someone there every morning to hold her while telling her that she is the most important thing in his life.” Pacing like a caged tiger, I continued, “Can’t you see that I can’t give that to her. My job will take me away, therefore causing me NOT to give her everything she needs.”

Motioning for me to have a seat, Nate leaned back into the sofa. “Let me tell you a little story.”

I sat down reluctantly but give him my full attention.

“Grace’s father left her mom before Grace was born. He decided that he could not handle the job of raising a child. He was so selfish to think that his child wouldn’t miss having her father around. Oh how stupid he was. He’s actually been trying for several years to make up for his idiotic behavior. Even though Grace still seeks his affection, she doesn’t know that her mom gave her the greatest gift ever…a dad. Oh, I think she knows she means the world to her stepdad, but she always has struggled with rejection from her father.

“When Grace loves, she loves with her whole heart. She only wants to be accepted for who she is and that has been a struggle. Hell, I’ve contributed to her struggle by being so protective of her. She means the world to me and I just want to keep her safe. For the past couple of weeks, she’s been the happiest that I’ve ever seen her. Then I get a call saying she was not going to come up last weekend. I didn’t ask any questions, I just told her that I would come up soon. Then I get your call.

“One thing I know is that if Grace couldn’t handle your lifestyle, she wouldn’t be with you. Do you forget that her stepfather is a retired Marine? He deployed on a regular schedule from the time she was little until he retired when she went into college. She knew he loved her. He made her the center of his universe even though he was gone a lot. You didn’t give her enough credit to feel the same about you.”

Nate got up and walked to the door, “Now, if you don’t see her being the love of your life, then leave her alone. If you see a never-ending future with her by your side, then just give her time. She’ll come around.”

“I’ll send Adam over for Thor later.”

As I started to walk out the door Nate stopped me. “Thanks for calling me.”

I continued out, knowing that I could give up getting any sleep tonight.

*

Grace encompasses my
every thought. From the very first sight of her, the only thing that I wanted to do was take care of her, to draw her close to me and make her feel loved. I walk into the office and all eyes turn to me. Taking off my cover, I set my crap on the desk. Ben walks over and plops his nosey ass on the side of my desk.

“So…what happened when Nate arrived?”

Unpacking my clean uniforms and making sure they are hung in a neatly fashion, I pretend to ignore Ben. “I need coffee. When are we meeting to go over the events for the day?”

Ben still sits there with a smug look. “Brother, are you going to answer my question?”

“I’ll be back,” is what I answer. I can’t face this asshole without having at least two cups of coffee in my system. As I walk into the next office, Ben is hot on my trail.

“You know…”

“I know what, Ben?” I spit back at him.

“You really want to be this way?”

As I pour my coffee I turn back, giving Ben a warning glance. “When we are at work, it’s work. I’m not discussing anything personal.”

“Well, tonight when we get home we’re having a chat,” Ben counters.

Tipping my coffee to him, I respond rather forcefully, “Not going to happen.” I push past Ben, heading to my desk to start the day. Shit is piling up and I don’t have time for his.