Remember Me (Defiant MC) by Cora Brent Read Free Book Online

grin.  That was the thing about Promise; she was so sweetly sincere.  He knew why Grayson had fallen for her. 
      Gray stared at him as he withdrew a cigarette and lit it with fingers which tried not to shake.  “So I take it you’ll be going back home.”  Maddox hadn’t told him the whole story, but he must have known something was wrong about the way Maddox refused to set foot in his hometown though it was only a three hour ride away in the same goddamn state. 
    “I’m going back there,” Maddox said in a tone which he didn’t even recognize.  He hung his head and stared at the dark sand and wondered what the hell Rachel had really poured into that shot.  His chest felt oddly constricted and he was astonished to find that he was struggling not to cry. 
    Promise didn’t say anything as she climbed from Gray’s lap and put her soft arms around him in a maternal way.  He gladly held her petite body for a minute and there was nothing sexual about it.  She didn’t say anything silly or meaningless.  She just released him with a sad sigh and paused to kiss Grayson with tenderness before retreating into the trailer.  Gray reached for her hand and the two of them stared at one another for several heartbeats.  Maddox had the feeling they were having a silent conversation of sorts. 
    “Ride safe, Maddox,” she eventually said before disappearing behind the door. 
    “She’s the shit,” he told Gray in a hoarse voice. 
    “She is,” Grayson agreed.  They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.  And then Maddox told his friend all about it.  How Gabriela de Campo had been to Maddox what Promise was to Grayson.  How it had gotten all fucked up even before Jensen interfered.  He told Gray about what they had done and what it done to him.
    Gray listened, nodding occasionally, asking pointed questions now and then. 
    “What about the kid?” he asked slowly. 
    “What about him?  I never fucking saw him.  He’s Jensen’s.” 
    Gray rolled a short stick of mesquite wood between his fingers.  He seemed hesitant to speak.  “You sure about that, Mad?”
    “Jensen wouldn’t have stood for having something pinned on him if it was mine.  No, sorry, not ‘it’, ‘ he’ .  His name’s Miguel.  I guess he’ll be ten soon.” 
    Gray sighed.  “Mad, people have reasons for doing what they do, no matte r how shitty the excuse may seem.  You said he wanted her, right?  And sounds like he resented the hell out of you.” 
    Maddox shut his eyes.  “The boy isn’t mine,” he managed to whisper.  He wanted Gray to understand that he wasn’t too much of an asshole.  He knew Grayson was a better man on his worst day.  But even at the reckless age of eighteen, if there had been even a possibility that it was his child growing inside of her, nothing could have persuaded him to ride off without a backward glance. 
    Gray dropped the stick and straightened his back.   He was perceptive. “I see,” he said slowly. “It’s not possible, is it Maddox?”
    “No,” he said with bitterness.  “Because I never fucked her.  My brother fucked her.”  Maddox laughed sharply.  “Now isn’t that some maudlin soap opera shit?”
    Grayson saw through his pain and didn’t laugh.   “She still living there in, what was it called?”
    “Contention City.” Maddox shrugged miserably.  “Yeah, as far as I know.  She and Jensen didn’t work out very long and they never got married.  He got hitched to some chick from Flagstaff a few years back.”
    “Well, maybe your paths won’t cross,” Grayson said helpfully. 
    Maddox smiled thinly.  “You don’t know Contention City.  You take a tiny corner of the world which holds fewer than three thousand breathing folks and there’s no avoiding anyone.  Particularly if that’s what you’re trying to do.”  Maddox shook his head.  All this talk about Gabriela and Jensen was irrelevant.  Let them see him coming.  Let them