Give Me Grace (32 page)

“No, I don’t,”
Casey replied, his eyes hiding a glint of amusement that I’m sure only I recognised. “Should I, sir?”

“Nate,” my dad barked again.

“Nate,” Casey dutifully repeated.

Dad shrugged. “Might come in handy for Halloween if you’re into that shit.”

His next comment made me cringe because I knew he was revisiting the time Dalton and I took him to dinner in the city. It was winter so Dalton had his blond highlights for the summer fashion shoots and a dusting of bronzer on his face. Dad only picked up on the bronzer because there was a smear on Dalton’s collar. Dad thought it was from me and remarked on it. Dalton replied that it was winter and he wanted a bit of colour on his face. Spending all of his life working with grease and metal, Dad couldn’t relate and it showed.

“
Do you get highlights or wear makeup?”

Ugh.

Dad!

So what if he was divorced, had kids, got highlights
, or ate only white food. It shouldn’t matter. Either Dad was just being a big old meanie, or he was trying to make a point somewhere in there.

Casey
scratched at his short, scruffy beard, hiding a grin. “No, sir.”

Dad, it seemed, finally got to the point. He
turned to Henry with disbelief written all over his face. “This is the type of man you tell your sister to stay away from? Did you not meet Dalton? That man was about as useful as a Hyundai Excel,” he said, spitting out the words with distaste. Dad
hated
cheap import cars so that insult was huge. “When Grace rang and told me she’d given him the boot, the whole workshop erupted in cheers. We closed a whole half hour early that Friday and everyone stayed back for a beer to celebrate. Even Warren,” Dad said to me pointedly, “who you know always goes straight home because he’s whipped by that wife of his.”

“Dad, you’re being dramatic,” I told him, embarrassed to hear about the celebration and all warm on the inside at the same time. “The workshop always stays back for a beer on Friday afternoons.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waved me off. “But that Friday we lashed out on the good stuff.”

“Good stuff,
schmood stuff,” I muttered.

Dad dragged the chair
from the corner towards the side of my bed. The sound of it scraping along the linoleum floor was loud. He picked up the newspaper that someone must have left in the room. Then he sat down, put on his reading glasses, and snapped it open. He glared at Henry over the top of the pages. “I don’t know what your issue is, young man, but you need to leave your sister alone.”

“Dad,” I said in warning.

Dad ignored me, focusing on the page in front of him. “I understand your protective instincts, but your sister’s worked hard. Grace is entitled to live a little so you need to give her space to do just that. She’s been there for you more than you know, so—”

“Dad!”

“There for me?” Henry shouted. It was clear he’d had enough of Dad shoving the wonders of Casey down his throat. It was also clear he wasn’t ready to let go of that grudge just yet. “She hasn’t been there for any of us! Not since mum died.”

“Screw you, Henry,” I snap
ped, because I damn well had.

“Not there for you?” Dad
crumpled the paper in his lap, and I knew he was ready to swallow his pride and tell Henry the truth. I really didn’t want him to because I didn’t want to see my brother hurt over it.

“Daddy,” I whispered. He glanced at me and I gave a brief shake of my head.
“Don’t.”

“You think after everything you did, I’d sit back and let you take that kind of hit from your brother?”

“Everything she did?”

Dad
sighed heavily. He put the paper back on the table and tucked his reading glasses into the pocket of his shirt. “Grace paid out our mortgage and all your mother’s medical bills because the debt was about to put us on the streets.” Henry blanched. “She helped pay for the food you ate, the clothes you wore, and the university education you and your sisters got. That was so you could keep your weekends free playing guitar with your band and going to parties rather than working to earn your education and the apartment you rented with your friends.”

Henry
stared at me, tears building in his eyes.

“You think your sister wanted to be a model? You think she wanted to leave a family still in grief to trip around the world, get pinned and poked, and miss out on being a teenager?
All those years of sneaking into clubs underage, getting detention for wagging school, being taught how to drive, and hanging out with friends on the weekends. You got all that. Grace got none of it
.
You think her life was so great? She had no friends because it turns out teenage girls are a pack of jealous bitches who can’t stand seeing another girl prettier than them do well for themselves. She gave up regular school for tutoring. She didn’t go to movies, or parties, or cut loose at all, because
she was working.
If you think—”

“Enough!” Henry shouted at
Dad without taking his eyes from mine. Dad shut up, glancing at me with guilt. I don’t think he’d meant to lay it all out so harshly.

“Is
it true?” my brother whispered. “You did all that for us? Paid for everything all those years when it was all I could do to get Dad that damned television?”

“Henry,” I
said softly. I didn’t know what to say. I never wanted him to feel what he felt right now.

“Is it true?” he s
houted, his knuckles white.

“Yes.”

“Fuck!” Henry’s chest heaved up and down.

“Son.”
Dad went to grip his shoulder in a supportive gesture but Henry’s hand flew up, halting him. “Screw all of you for this,” he hissed. He spun on his heel and took off out the door.

There was a pause and then my father piped up with, “Well that went as well as expected.”

“Dad! Go after him.”

Dad shook his head. “He needs time
to cool off, Grace.”

“I’ll go,” Casey said.

“No!” Henry obviously had a lot of anger to work through. I didn’t want him working through it on Casey. “You need to go lie down, Batman. Not fight our family battles.”

“I’ll be fine.” He bent over my bed, not without a wince, and in full view of Dad, kissed me. It wasn’t a polite peck like you’d give your nanna either. There was a quick sweep of tongue too—enough for me to forget myself and grab his hair
with my good arm, holding him there for a second longer. Then he was gone.

My dad arched a brow at me. “Batman?”

“Yeah,” I replied on a soft, drawn-out sigh.

“I like him.”

“Henry!” I called out after shutting Grace’s hospital room door behind me. I checked left and right, but the man must have been quicker than I realised because I didn’t see him. What I
did
see was my nurse bearing down on me and she was breathing fire. I’d already nicknamed her Houlihan from
M.A.S.H
because the woman had a
take no prisoners
attitude with a glare to match. She would’ve been better placed inside a war zone.

“Back in bed, Mr Daniels,” she instructed in her gravel voice.

“In a minute,” I told her. “I just have to—”

“How about I give you a minute to get your butt back in bed?” Her drawn on eyebrows pinched together, creating one long squiggly line. I tried not to stare
and forced my gaze down to her eyes. “This is a hospital, not command central like you and your posse seem to think it is.”

My brows flew up. “Posse?”

“You heard me.”

Travis appeared behind her and I widened my eyes in silent communication
to help a guy out.

Using his middle finger, Travis rubbed at his brow in silent reply to let me know I was on my own. My eyes narrowed and Houlihan glanced over her shoulder to see what I was looking at. Travis quickly snapped his arm back down by his side.

“Visiting hours are over,” she barked.

“Yes, ma’am.” He disappeared quickly, no doubt wait
ing until Houlihan returned to her station.

Because it was easier not to argue, I let the nurse hustle me towards my room. Deposited back in my bed, pain meds delivered
, and chart checked, I was ordered to rest, and then she was gone.

I lifted the blankets and was half out of bed when Travis materialised.

“Pussy,” I muttered at him, wincing and holding my ribs as I slid the rest of the way out and to my feet.

“Bitch.”

“As delightful as this conversation is, I need to find Henry.” I started for the door, opening it cautiously as I asked, “Did you see him?”

“I passed him in the hall on the way to your room,” he replied as I stuck my head out and peeked left. No Houlihan. “What was up with him anyway? I said hey and he shot past as though I wasn’t even there.”

I looked right, not even knowing where to start with that question. “Don’t ask,” I muttered.

Travis stuck his head out beside me. There she was.
Houdini Houlihan.
Her back was to me and she had Jared barrelled up by the wall. He looked nervous. Travis snorted beside me when he caught sight of his trapped brother.

“Jared’s a pussy too,” I muttered with a smirk sent his way. Jared’s caged glance caught us and relief swept his features.

“Quick,” I muttered and shoved Travis back inside and shut the door, sacrificing Jared for the greater good. “Fucking Houlihan.” I turned around, facing my friend. “What are you two doing here anyway?”

Travis folded his arms, eyes flattening in an unhappy gesture. “Jared and I spent the
past couple of hours at the Florence Bar, reviewing the security footage.”

“And?”

He exhaled audibly. “Morgan didn’t leave like you thought. We placed her inside on two separate occasions after the time of your accident.”

“Hell.”
It would have been easier if it
was
Morgan who’d hit us. At least then we knew who we were dealing with. Now we were left with the possibility that someone was after Grace and no idea who it was. “Are you sure it was her?”

He nodded, grim. “Even if her features weren’t clear on screen, you couldn’t miss that red
dress she wore.”

I tipped my eyes to the ceiling for a minute, resigned to the possibility that Grace was hiding something important from all of us.
Something big enough for people to want her dead.

“I haven’t heard from the police,” I said, looking back at Travis. They’d taken my statement
not long after I woke, barrelling me up before I could go climb into bed with Grace. “Have you?”

“Jared spoke to Mitch. He says they got black paint samples off the side of Marjorie. Forensics
can try piecing back the make and model of the car but that won’t be a quick and easy answer.”

The door opened and Jared slipped inside. H
e was on his phone, muffling the mouthpiece to mutter, “Thanks, assholes,” in our direction before returning to his conversation.

We waited for him to finish. “Good news,” he said after hanging up the phone and tucking it into his back pocket. He looked from Travis to me. “
A witness identified the car. Bad news. The police found it abandoned and burned out near a reserve on the south end of Penrith.”

That confirmed the
crash was deliberate and not the work of complete amateurs.

“Maybe it was young kids,” Jared offered.
“Stole a car, lost control, and panicked at getting caught.”

“Or
maybe someone wanted Grace dead,” Travis said bluntly. “Then incinerated the car to cover their tracks because they’re already known to police.” He looked to me. “What’s your gut say, Daniels?”

I swiped a hand over my face, scratching idly at the light growth of beard on my face. “My gut’s saying this has something to do with Morgan.”
Believe me, you’ll be sorry
, her acid voice echoed
in my head. “There’s too much coincidence for it to be otherwise, but you placed her at the bar.”

Travis shrugged. “She could’ve got someone else to do it.”

“That seems a bit overkill, don’t you think?”

“Then who is it who wants Grace dead?” Travis
asked.

“This is not happening again.” I jabbed my finger at both Jared and Travis in turn, my eyes flashing angrily.
Between Evie being shot and Quinn kidnapped, we’d all had it. Enough was enough. “As soon as Grace gets the all clear to leave the hospital, I’m taking her somewhere safe and I’m not letting her out of my sight until this situation is contained.”

Travis looked at me as though I’d just told him I planned on picking up M
ount Everest and moving it several metres to the north. “How do you plan on managing that?”

“How do I plan on managing that?” I folded my arms. Jared and Travis might have married two stubborn women, but they kept making the mistake of telling them what to do. They’d have better luck telling a cat to sit and roll over. “By putting her in the car and driving, that’s how. Straight to the beach cottage in Terrigal.” Our firm owned the central coast property, acquiring it under an assumed name. It made the cottage a haven to retreat to when one of us needed to l
ie low for any reason. I couldn’t think of a better place to keep Grace safe right now than there. “Mac can pack Grace a suitcase for me. When she’s released from hospital, I’ll let her assume I’m taking her home to the duplex and just keep driving. She’s hardly going to leap from a moving vehicle, is she?”

“She could,” Jared interjected. “I’ve
learnt never to assume anything when it comes to women.”

The door opened and Mac slipped inside. She looked unusually severe. Her blond hair was pulled back in a tight knot and she was wearing a long-sleeved
, fitted black shirt and tight black jeans tucked into combat boots. “Christ, you were right, Casey.” Mac rolled her neck as though she’d just gone a round with Muhammad Ali. “Houlihan is hardcore.”

She held an A4 yellow envelope in her hand. Seeing all three of us standing in my room, she tucked it quickly behind her back.

My eyes narrowed at the furtive gesture. “What’s that?”

“What
… this?” She brought the envelope back into view, looking at it as though she’d never seen it before.

“Yes. That,” I replied.

“I’m not sure. I found it on the floor outside your room just now, ” Mac replied with widened eyes. My body tensed. Mac’s widened eyes was her tell that something had just gone down, and whatever that something was, she a) had no plans on sharing it, and b) it was likely to cause a stroke.

“Jared, was that envelope on the floor outside when you walked in five minutes ago?” I asked w
ithout taking my eyes from Mac.

Mac looked
everywhere but at the three of us and began tapping the envelope against her thigh impatiently.

“No,” Jared growled.

Tension crackled in the room.

“Well, fun chat,” she said casually, “but I’ve got shit to do.”

Jared barred the door, green eyes narrowing on his sister.

“Out of my way,” she barked.

Travis snatched the envelope from her hands and passed it to me. A quick glance over her shoulder and Mac’s eyes widened further. She turned back to Jared. “Move, asshead.”

Jared folded his arms in reply.

Taking the envelope, I flipped open the lip and took a peek. There were several harmless looking white sheets of paper inside, but it was the print on the top of the first sheet made my hands shake.

“Mac.” My voice cracked on the word. She spun around, facing me, and her eyes softened. I
cleared my throat. “How did you …”

Travis peeked over my shoulder when I trailed off, peering into the envelope. He jerked visibly.

“What is it?” Jared asked from his position by the door.

“It’s my parent
s’ autopsy report,” I told him and his body stiffened.

All eyes fell on Mac and the crackling tension reached new heights as we took in her uncharacteristic outfit with a whole new perspective.

“What. The. Fuck?” Travis growled.

“Damn,” she muttered, knowing we were on to her. “I should’ve posted it anonymously.”

My voice was a whiplash. “You broke into Morgan’s house and
stole
the report?”

Mac shrugged
, the gesture nonchalant and frustrating. It only served to piss me off even more. She risked her damn life and was trying to make it sound like a cakewalk. “I only did what you guys were going to do anyway.”

“After we finished her background check and knew what we were dealing with!” I
roared, completely losing it. “You do
not
put your life in danger! Not for me, not for your brothers, not for anyone, and least of all…” I flung the envelope fisted in my hand across the room and Mac flinched “…for
this!
”

“And what if Morgan destroyed it while you were all dithering around with backg
round checks?” she shouted back, sounding far more frustrated than she had a right to be. This wasn’t her fight.

“Then it would’ve been too damn bad!” I yelled
back, going nose to nose. Her nostrils flared and I forced myself to soften my tone. “What you did was stupid and dangerous and not worth risking your life!”

“I happen to think you’re worth it, Casey.”

Then her eyes filled with tears and I sagged like a whipped puppy. These girls were going to kill us all. I might as well just accept it. I shook my head and met her eyes. “Thank you.” A slow, happy grin overtook her pretty face. “But …” I added and her eyes narrowed. “If you
ever
do something like this again—”

“We’ll tell Mum,” Jared finished for me.

Mac gasped with horror and spun to face her brother. “You wouldn’t dare!” she shrieked. She looked to her other brother. “Travis, that’s—”

“Shut up,” Travis whipped out, his green eyes shooting sparks. “There are no words for how pissed I am at you right now.”

Travis stalked to the door and Jared shifted. He launched it open without thought or care to where Houlihan was lurking. Grabbing Mac’s bicep, he dragged her out the door behind him. “Hey!” she yelled.

“We’re going to have a conversation, Mackenzie ‘Lone Wolf’ Valentine, and by
conversation
I mean I’m going to talk and
you
are going to keep your piehole shut and
listen!
”

When they disappeared, I shook my head at Jared. “
Your sister needs a leash.”