Playing for Hearts (15 page)

He moved over and held her door shut, not letting her climb in and drive away. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.” He lowered his voice. “I can see it in your eyes.”

She blinked. “It doesn't matter.”

“Whatever you think about me, I do care about you.” He stroked her arm. “Maybe too much, and that's the problem.”

“Grayson … ” She sighed, her determination not to fall for his pretty words fading with each second. “I need to go do something. My problems have nothing to do with you. You're just the unlucky person who stepped into my path today.”

“Talk to me.” He lifted her chin. “You used to trust me with what was going on in your life. I'd like to help.”

“So you say, but where were you when I needed you a few weeks ago? You talk big, but so far I haven't seen that part of you who used to be friends with me. You're hard and cold. I don't even know you anymore.” She sniffed. Dammit, she was not going to cry.

“When did you come to me?”

“The night I went to your house and made an absolute fool out of myself. Later, I'd gone back to talk to you, to take you up on your offer, and you were gone. Now it's too late. Everything has changed.”

“No, it hasn't. I've been an ass, but I want to make it up to you.” He framed his hands around her face. “Go do what you have to do, and then I'll come over to your house and we can talk. Just talk.”

She shook her head. “I'm not staying with my dad anymore.”

“Okay.” He frowned. “Come to my house. Please.”

She hesitated. Was she asking for disappointment again? When would she ever say enough is enough?

“Miss Marino!” Mrs. Bakkersten shuffled across the street and approached them, out of breath. “I'm so glad I found you, dear. Your dad's been trying to get a hold of you.”

She reached out toward Grayson. “What's wrong?”

“He's been trying to call you for the last hour.” Mrs. Bakkersten tsked and shook her head. “He asked me to find you, and since everyone knows you're living back at the hotel after your breakup with John, that was the first place I looked. I'm lucky to find you here.”

Grayson pulled her tight against his side. “Wait, you broke up with John?”

“Never mind that … ” She pressed her fingers into her temple. “Did something happen? Is my dad hurt?”

Visions of a lift malfunctioning and her dad pinned under a vehicle stole her breath.

Mrs. Bakkersten grabbed Shauna's hand. “No, dear, but he said it was very important. He wants you to call his cell phone.”

She blew her breath out.
He's not hurt. He's okay.

“Thank you.” Shauna leaned against Grayson's side, letting him hold her against him.

“You're welcome.” Mrs. Bakkersten glanced back and forth between Grayson and Shauna. “I expect better out of you this time, Mr. Schyler. Don't you go breaking this young thing's heart, or sleeping with all those other women you enjoy parading around everywhere. Shauna has always loved you, and doesn't deserve the way you treat her.”

Grayson grinned and nodded. “Yes, ma'am. I'll be careful.”

The older woman drilled him with one last condescending look and then harrumphed, pivoting on her two-inch heels and marching back across the street. Shauna shook her head.

“You've got some supporters in town.” Grayson chuckled.

Aware of how she was pressing her body against him, she stepped back and dug her phone out of her purse. She could've sworn she'd turned the phone on this morning, but the display wouldn't light up.
Dammit.

“Here. You can use mine.” Grayson held out his phone.

“Thanks.” She punched in the number and paced, while she waited for her dad to pick up.

“Hey, dad. It's me.”

“Buddy, you need to come over right away. This has gone on long enough,” Tony said.

Her back stiffened. Not one who particularly enjoyed having someone order her around, she hesitated before telling him she was on her way over now.

“Your mom's packing.” He cursed under his breath. “She says she doesn't want to come between us anymore, and is leaving.”

“Dad … this doesn't involve me.” She clamped her lips together briefly. “If she wants to leave, let her go. Besides, she's left before and we were fine without her.”

The conversation died. Shauna waited, surprised to find her hands shaking. There were too many things going on in her life to worry about the feelings of a woman who'd given her own child no thought when she'd hightailed it out of town.

“Shauna.” Tony cleared his throat. “Do it for me. Come talk to your mother.”

“She's not what I would call a mother, dad,” she said.

“I know you believe that but you don't know … just come over, please. I love her.” Tony hung up.

Shauna pulled the phone away from her ear, stared at it in shock, and then cocked her arm back to throw it when Grayson grabbed her hand, rescuing his phone. She glared at him.

“I would've bought you a new one.” She jerked her arm.

“That's not the point.” He slid the phone in his back pocket.

“It never is with you.” She stomped away.

She wanted to hit something, or smash a window. Anger rolled up her back and she flung her arms out to the sides. “What is with people? They think they can manipulate and threaten whenever they want, and if it gets too tough … bam! They're gone, leaving their shit behind and not giving another thought to anyone else.”

“I don't — ”

“It's sickening! I wish she'd leave. I don't want her here. Everything was fine before she came back. Dad was happy. I was happy. We don't need her.” She swung her foot out and kicked the hubcap on her car. Pain radiated up her toes to her ankle. “Dammit!”

She limped to the driver's side door, flung it open, and threw in her purse. All the stress, confusion, and heartache she'd suffered through coiled into an angry ball in the pit of her stomach, and she rounded on Grayson.

“You're no better than my mother.” She poked him in the chest, backing him toward the middle of the street. “You dangled me like … like one of your airheaded blonds who kiss your ass and don't care that in the morning you'll be gone. Well, guess what? I take back every second I wasted hoping and praying that you'd wake up and see how much I lo — ”

He moved forward, making her retreat, walking with that lazy long stride that had the ability to hypnotize her. His gaze was so intent, her breasts hardened and she forgot why she was wasting her time arguing. His hair lay over his forehead in a sexy I-don't-give-a-damn way that tempted her to reach up and sweep it back. But she didn't. She couldn't get that close. Not the way her body sang when he was near.

The back of her thighs hit against the car, her breath barely coming through the constant throb of her body. “What are you doing?”

“I'm going to take what's mine.” He lowered his head, hovering inches from her mouth. “I don't care if I get it here, in the middle of Main Street, or if you come over to my house and let me have you there. But I'll be damned if we're gonna pussy foot around this subject any longer.”

“But … ”

He shook his head. “I'm done fighting, Shauna. I want you. You hear me? I want you as much as you want me. For as long as you want me.”

Oh my God. She forgot to breathe. She'd waited forever to hear him admit his feelings toward her, to confess it wasn't her overactive imagination dreaming up a future with him. Everyone thought her crush was one sided, but she knew better. She sucked in air, filling her lungs.

Then the magnitude of her dad's phone call hit her. She stumbled backward.

“My mom … ” She pressed her fingers against her forehead. “My mom's back, Grayson. Why did she come back?”

“Aw, sweetheart.” He gathered her in his arms.

His body was warm, and she leaned forward. Her body strained against her clothing while her head warned her that they were out in plain view of anyone who was downtown.

“You're not alone. I'm here. You have friends.” He stroked the hair back from her face. “I'll help you.”

“How do I know you're telling me the truth?” She gazed up into his eyes. “I don't want to turn back into the person I was, Grayson. I don't want to hurt inside anymore.”

“There was never anything wrong with you before.” He kissed her forehead. “I understood you.”

“But you're so angry.”

“You painted my name all over town.” He grinned. “I get angry. It's what we do.”

She laughed softly. “We're screw-ups.”

“Yep.” He expelled his breath in a whoosh. “Let's start over. Come to my house.”

She nodded. “I'll come over.”

“No pressure. I'm not a jerk. I had no idea what else you were going through. Sweetheart, you have a lot going on. I'm sorry. If I'd have known, I wouldn't have left town.” He studied her.

She gazed up at him. “We can talk.”

“Promise?”

“Y-yes.” She rolled her eyes. “After I go talk to my dad.”

He lifted his hand and traced a finger over her bottom lip. “Hurry.”

She sighed, and gave him a half smile.
I will.

Shauna scrambled out of her car and hurried up the walkway to her dad's house, her heels clicking rapidly on the concrete. The house looked the same as it had the day she'd left. The lawn still needed mowing, and dad's overalls still hung at the end of the porch in their usual place.

As she negotiated the steps and crossed to the front door, she paused, steeling herself for what was to come. She planned to support her dad the same way she's always backed him.

She knocked, and let herself in. “Dad?”

Tony stood up from the couch. His thinning hair stood out from his head and there were grease marks smeared across his wrinkled forehead, showing her how many times he'd ran his hand through his hair. A sign that his frustration level was about to explode.

She walked into his arms and let him hold her tight. His chest trembled and he squeezed her tighter. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat.

“I missed you, buddy.” He stepped back, planted his hands on her shoulders, and sniffed. “I'm so glad you're here. You belong here. This is your home.”

She smiled sadly. “It's okay. I'm doing fine on my own. You made sure I was capable of standing on my own two feet.”

He sighed and reached into his front shirt pocket before dropping his empty hand. A former smoker, he still reached for the cigarette pack he expected to be there when times were rough.

“What's going on, dad?”

“She's leaving me again,” he said.

“Did you really expect her to stay? She's good at walking away and not looking back.” She crossed her arms and softened her voice. “I hate that she's hurting you.”

“Don't say that.” Tony frowned. “I didn't raise you to talk bad about your mother, and I won't put up with it now, in my own home.”

She clamped her lips shut. Her continual hatred for her mother had remained a sore spot between them for years, and one she tried hard not to verbalize aloud when her dad was near. “Anything you need, I'll help. If you want me to move back, I will. I'll even cook your dinners and spend time assisting you in the garage, if you want to start going out and having a good time. You work too hard … ”

“All I want you to do is talk with her.” Tony seemed to gain confidence once he'd spoken the words. “She's leaving because she knows I'm upset and worried about you.”

Shauna snorted and turned around. She walked over to the mantle and straightened the picture Mr. Gunderson, the school photographer, had snapped of her in seventh grade during the father and daughter dance.
Oh dad, how could you still love her?

“I've never stopped wanting her to come home. Even when she was gone and I thought I'd never see her again, I never stopped hoping and praying.” Tony cleared his throat. “I thought I would die without her, but I didn't. Because of you. I can't explain how much having her back here with me makes me feel alive — ”

Shauna glanced over her shoulder. “She didn't love you enough. Real love doesn't work that way.”

Tony hung his head and whispered, “Real love is different for everyone, Shauna.”

At that moment, she'd do anything to see her strong, stubborn father stand up proudly and order her to go to her room. It broke her heart to see him weakened by a woman who never gave a damn how she hurt others.

“Fine.” Shauna stepped in front of her dad and rubbed his arms. “I'll talk to her.”

He mouthed the words thank you.

“I love you, dad.”

“I love you, too.” He kissed her forehead. “She's up in our bedroom.”

She noticed it wasn't
his
bedroom anymore. When had it changed? When had life become so complicated? When would they ever heal from the pain Belinda brought them?

The kind of love her dad talked about was something she never wanted to experience. It hadn't taken her long after her mom left to know that when she found someone to love, it would be the forever kind. The kind of love that never wavers and no matter what, you never give up.

No one, not even Kate and Diana, knew the reasons she'd never given up on loving Grayson. They would never understand that if she threw it all away, she'd be no better than her mom. She wasn't stupid. At one time, her love had been forced and a figment of her imagination, but the night she'd taken matters into her own hands and thrown her naked self at him, she'd known that her crush had turned into something more. She'd seen the need in Grayson's eyes, and his denial couldn't beat that.

If someone asked her to explain how that happens, she'd have no words. They'd shared a look. She and Grayson had seen the truth. They'd connected on a level deeper than she'd seen two people achieve. And tonight, Grayson had proven that she wasn't crazy. He felt it too.