I stared at him, trying to fight the tears. “And you and me?”
“I’ve got a house in Malibu,” Knox said. “I’ve already told Emily and Kieran we’ll be making more frequent trips to California.” He reached out and touched my hand. “They’re very excited to meet you. Especially Emily. I think she likes the idea of having a sister-in-law. Plus, she’s been wanting to invest more time in the LA location. ”
“Location?”
“Delta June’s.”
“That huge auction thing?” I said, realizing how dumb I sounded. I didn’t know anything about it other than having seen some of the huge auctions that were televised.
Knox grinned. “Yes, the auction thing.”
“Sorry,” I said, embarrassed.
“Don’t be. When I told her you are an artist, she got very excited. She’s been hoping to move Delta June’s impressive art collection to one location. She mentioned wanting to talk to you about that.”
I swallowed, my heart jumping right into my throat. He knew I was an artist? He talked to his wife about me already? That made my heart a little lighter. I liked that idea, as well.
“We’ll figure this out,” Knox said. “I promise.”
I believed him because every fiber of my being wanted to. I didn’t want to walk away from him and never see him again.
I nodded. “Okay.”
Knox pushed his chair back and stood. “Good. Now let’s get you to the airport. Creed’s already pissed that I changed his flight plan without his knowledge.”
I giggled. “Seriously?”
“He’ll be the first to tell you I always get what I want. He’s not wrong. But he’ll get over it. He always does.”
The best part about taking a private jet from Vegas to LA was that I never had a chance to dwell on anything. Well, that and going through security. Missing that was definitely a bonus.
During the short flight, I spent the entire time talking to Journey Zeplyn, who, as it turned out, was engaged to Creed, Hawk, Garrison, and Nick. Legally, she wouldn’t marry all of them, but they were having an official ceremony, and based on her radiance, she was very happy.
At least one of us was.
Listening to her gave me a chance to ignore the heartache that threatened to choke me, as well as to pretend there wasn’t a letter from my father burning a hole in my pocket. I was afraid to read it, but I figured I needed to before I got to Rule’s house. I needed all the ammunition I could get if I had any hope of trying to salvage our relationship.
And I did. Have hope, I mean. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew I had to try to understand this from Rule’s perspective. I had to stop making rash assumptions and hear him out. If he even wanted to look at me. I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.
“Hey,” Journey said as the plane was beginning its descent. “I know it’s not my place to try to sway your opinion of Rule, but I thought you should know something.”
Her tone was serious, so I gave her my full attention.
“He’s a morally gray kinda guy, I know that.”
That was definitely a good assessment.
Journey continued. “I didn’t truly understand what that meant until he did what he did for Creed. I will never—”
I interrupted before she could continue. “What did he do for Creed?”
Journey glanced in Creed’s direction, then her husky voice lowered slightly as she continued. “We had some issues earlier this year. It was bad. Hawk was shot, and Creed was…” She swallowed, and tears formed on her lashes. “Sorry. When I think about how close I came to losing them…”
I waited her out because I could tell what she had to say was going to change something inside me.
“Rule saved Creed’s life. And Rhyan. She was there.” She exhaled slowly. “I won’t go into details because it’s a morbid story I don’t like to dwell on, but just know this. He walks the line between good and bad, but when it comes down to it, he’ll walk through hell to take care of the people who are important to him. You should know that.”
I nodded, fighting tears. Deep down, I knew Rule had more good in him than bad. Like Journey said, he was morally gray, meaning he wasn’t evil or good, he lingered on the line between the two, doing what was necessary. It didn’t surprise me that he saved Creed’s life. After all, he’d saved mine when he put a bullet in Diggy’s head. And, unlike my mother said, it wasn’t because he’d been hired to find me. He’d done it because he felt guilty that he hadn’t stopped my mother from staging my kidnapping. No one would ever convince me that he didn’t have a heart. I knew better.
