Page 69 of All I Have Left

I back up an inch, tilting my head to the side. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to threaten a man’s family? It’s a death sentence.”

Shane laughs and draws in a lung full of smoke. “She ain’t your family, man.” He stands straighter, his chest tight. “Walk away. It’s what you’re good at, remember?”

“I can’t do that.” I run the back of my hand across the right side of my jaw.

“I’m not scared of you, Grayson.”

I point my finger in his face. “That’s your fucking problem right there. Youshouldbe. I should be your worst nightmare because I will be if you keep fucking with us.”

Like it or not, my mental stability takes all my composureand I start shaking. My words are no long sturdy. He knows he’s getting to me. I want to kill him. I want to make him pay for every time he touched her in anger. A scar he’d carry until the day he died. A reminder that I made him pay for the consequences.

I look to his friends, all standing back, waiting for him to tell them what to do. They say nothing. Not a goddamn word.

“Grayson.” Josh appears before I can do anything, “Help Ethan with the chairs.”

I turn without another word and reach for two of the four chairs Ethan is holding, his eyes on Shane.

“What was that about?” he asks when Shane gets into his car. I don’t say anything at first, but he raises an eyebrow.

“Nothing.”

Never again will I stand by and watch someone get hurt. I won’t do it.

“Are you going to be okay?”

I guess my shaking is more noticeable than I want it to be. “Yeah.” I run the palms of my hands over my pants. “Hey, you guys going out tonight?”

“Yeah. We thought about it. Evie up for it?”

“I was gonna take her to dinner tonight, but then I thought going out as a group would be a better idea. More people around us.” I want her alone, but at this point, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I know Shane’s only biding his time until he finds one, or both of us, alone. But I also know we can’t stay locked up in my room. “I think she needs a good distraction.”

She needs a night of normalcy. Something I can provide her because normal is what I need just as much. She’s my normal, my distraction.

I refuse to let post-traumatic stress disorder define me. My emotional state is already better simply by being back with Evie.

33

EVIE

Adistraction.

That’s Grayson’s answer for tonight. He wants a date with me. I can do that. I want that. What I don’t want is being fussed with.

“I don’t understand why you guys have to dress me up just to go to The Point.” I grimace, thinking of how much attention I will get looking like this there. Probably about as much as I did when I wore that black dress. Attention is something I don’t want or need right now.

Kelly laughs, curling my hair. “Hold still or I will burn you.” She snaps the iron in my face a couple times.

“Okay, okay… damn. I don’t know how I manage to get roped into these situations all the time.”

Frankie lifts my chin to apply makeup to my swollen eye. “Evie, it’ll be fun and you know it.” Frankie gives me this look that reminds me of Grayson, persuasive as all hell. “Besides, our little brother is finally home, you’re free from Shane, so we have lots to celebrate, and we always go there to celebrate.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m free and you know that.”

Neither one of them say anything. They know it’s only a matter of time. Shane Larson isn’t a man who will settle on beingtold no. And when that protection order is issued on Friday, I know damn well what his reaction is going to be.

“What if Shane’s there?” I eye both of them. “Hicks told me to stay away from him.”

Kelly lays a warm curl over my shoulder, cupping it to secure the hold. “If he shows up, we leave.”

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