“We’ll take coffees and cinnamon rolls, Trudy.” I reached over and grabbed Karlyn’s hand. “It’s time I got to know my sister-in-law.” Karlyn smiled shyly, and we sat down.
“Sister-in-law?” Trudy shrieked. “Does that mean the two of you finally got your heads out of your asses? Are you and King finally together?”
“It’s complicated, but we’re trying.” I shrugged.
It was all I could say. I didn’t know what the future held for King and me. We’d been keeping ourselves apart for so long, I wondered if we’d even know how to be together.
“It’s about damn time,” Trudy muttered as she rushed off to get our coffees. She dropped them off and went in the back to get the cinnamon rolls.
“Diamond Creek is an interesting little town,” Karlyn said as she sipped her coffee.
“It sure is. When I first came here, I wasn’t sure why a club would want to set up here. It seems so empty and desolate at first. But I’ve come to love it.” I stared out the window, thinking about all the people I’d met. Namely, the frustrating biker I couldn’t let go of.
“You didn’t grow up here?”
“No, I’m from Arkansas originally.” I looked down at my coffee cup, wondering how much I should share with Karlyn. “When I was sixteen, my mom and I moved to New Orleans. Once I finished high school, I got a job as a bartender. When my mom passed away, I found a picture of her and the president of the Silver Shadows. So, I went back looking for my father.”
“How did he react?”
“Well, I never actually confronted him.” I looked out the window again, shame filling my heart. “I did something stupid instead.”
Karlyn was quiet as I wrestled with the choice to tell her what I’d planned. Knowing how uncomfortable she was at the clubhouse and with King, I made the only choice I could. I wanted her to like Jackson’s brother. And if it meant she hated me, well, I’d just have to live with it.
“I went to the clubhouse to confront my father. But when I got there, he looked right at me and never said a word. He walked away as if I were no one.”
“Maybe he didn’t know?” she offered.
I shook my head. “The picture I found was of my mother when she was pregnant. And I remember going to the clubhouse as a child. Also, Steele came to our house often. No, he didn’t want me. I look just like my mother.”
“I’m so sorry, Grace. What did you do?”
I took a deep breath. “This is the part I’m not proud of, and it will probably make you hate me. But I want you to know what kind of man King is. I don’t know your story. However, I know you’ve been uncomfortable at the clubhouse.”
Karlyn opened her mouth to speak, and I held up my hand. “You don’t have to tell me. I can see you’re afraid. But you don’t have to be. Not here.”
I stared out the window. I could feel the burn behind my nose from tears that wanted to be set free.
“I started working at the bar, and King came in one night. I knew who he was immediately. I’d done my research. He hung around until I got off shift, and we sat and talked while we drank. When the bar closed, King took me home.”
I dropped my eyes to my cup again, looking for something in my coffee. Strength, maybe confidence. Though what I was really looking for was forgiveness.
“I tried to get King to sleep with me. I’d planned to seduce him and then...” A tear slipped down my cheek. I didn’t even want to say the words out loud. I heard my mother’s voice in my head. Karlyn reached over and put her hand on mine.
‘If you’re going to play the game, Grace, you have to accept your position in it. You have to own what you did.’
It was what she said when we moved out of Arkansas. She never explained what she meant, but it always felt more like we were running rather than hiding. Maybe it was both.
“I had planned to accuse him of rape.”
Karlyn pulled her hand back and narrowed her eyes at me. I knew she’d hate me. It was okay. I deserved it. Maybe I deserved everything that was happening between King and me. The confusion, the anger, the animosity—it all stemmed from me.
“I know it was wrong.”
“It’s not just wrong, Grace. It’s evil. So many women aren’t believed when they tell their story because other women lie.”
I nodded my head as Karlyn’s words rolled over me. I agreed with everything she said. There was no excuse for what I’d wanted to do.
“I know. And I knew when I told you it might sever any relationship you and I could have had. But your relationship with King is more important. He’s Jackson’s brother, and I don’t want you to be afraid of him. He refused to sleep with me, Karlyn. Because I had been drinking. I wasn’t drunk—well, not enough to not know what I was doing. But he refused to take advantage of me because he’s a good man. A man you can trust.”
