When Gracie Met The Grump

by Mariana Zapata

“No.” He squinted. “I promised to keep an eye on you for the rest of your life. How does that make any sense?” “It wouldn’t be a lie if it was a short life.” A funny expression came over that handsome face. “That’s a good point.”

He sounded almost impressed. I wasn’t the only one who had something wrong with me.

“I’m telling you these things because you’re going to find them out soon anyw...

It was my turn to watch him dubiously. “Why?” It had seemed so suspicious when he’d gone from purposely ignoring me and glaring, to talking a little more, then a little more when we’d ended up in that cell, and now he...

“You’re going to be involved in my life, and I’m not going to waste my time hiding the truth from you. It’s too much effort, and you’re going to find out anyway.” His eyes glowed that brilliant purple for a moment before his voice dropped. “And I’ll know if you tell someone.”

“You’re too weak to travel on my back anymore. That’s our biggest problem right now.” Ooh, he’d hedged that well, but I was on to him.

“Did you tell her about me?” That beautiful gaze settled heavily on me. “I didn’t need to. She figured things out.”

You just said something about me learning the truth, and you’ve made hints that you know things that you couldn’t have learned snooping through my mail. I really don’t think I had my birth certificate at my house. And now you just said that. About her figuring things out.” I paused. “What did she figure out?” Someone went broody, and he huffed.

But I knew… I knew…. Alexander crossed his arms, confirming just what I’d thought. I was on to something. What the hell was going on?

“I thought you were being oblivious and secretive, but you aren’t, are you?”

“I keep asking if I did something in another lifetime to make you dislike me, and you keep not answering. You know that?” That dark gaze moved over my face, and he scrunched his nose just a little bit. “It’s not your fault I don’t want to like you.

He didn’t want to like me? What did that mean? Why? It made no sense, but… I shrugged.

My grandpa, his dad was Costa Rican, but he was vague about where his mom’s family was from.” Something moved across his face. “What else do you know about your great-grandmother? That one?” “Not much. My grandpa loved her. He talked about her, but not really anything that I think you’d care to hear.” “You’d be surprised what I want to hear.” This man-being-person. Wow. No wonder they didn’t let him talk in public.

The man raised his eyebrows. “That’s even less than I thought you knew.”

He tipped his head to the side, his face unreal and handsome. Almost angelic. Those eyes of his were grave, and his voice was very, very even.

“Damn, you’re dramatic,” Alexander said. I groaned up at him, blinking slowly.

“You done?” he asked, sounding bored. “Fainting?” The Defender gave me a face that said “duh.” “I hope so.”

That could be me. Rational, practical, open-minded, and maybe a little bit of this Atraxian thing. Oh God.

“So you’re telling me that I’m a little bit of an alien?” Alexander rolled his eyes. “That’s a simple term for it.” My brain was fucking spinning. “And you’re an alien?” He gave me a really hard, almost disgusted look. “We don’t do rectal probes, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I explained it as simply as I could. Need me to try again?” Man, fuck this guy.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you that if you don’t have anything nice to say not to say anything at all?” I asked him flatly, the room centering again as I focused on him and that pain-in-the-ass beautiful face. “A few times.”

“I already told you: because you’re going to find out eventually.” “Why? From who?” “When you meet the rest of my family.” How many more of them were there?

What were the chances that he would have landed in my yard of all places? That had to be… a one-in-seven-billion chance. Wouldn’t it?

The expression on his face gave me the feeling he knew exactly what I was pondering and was telling me to hurry and catch up. “Alex… ander.” I squeezed the pillow even tighter. “It wasn’t a coincidence, was it? That you landed in my yard?” He shook his head.

“You were so mad for weeks after you got there. After we met. Like I did something, and now you’re saying it didn’t ‘just’ happen.” “You think I broke my own back, landed in your yard, drained of all of my power on purpose? Really?” he deadpanned.

“I was left there for a reason.” Left? What kind of conspiracy theory crap was this? “By who?” I gasped.

Why didn’t you say anything before?” “Because I didn’t trust you.” No shit. He made a sniffing sound. “I didn’t want to know you.” That was honesty at least.

“I was in a lot of pain the first few days I was there. It was hard to think about anything but my back and being in that condition.” He meant weak and drained.

“Then everything happened, and now I can’t walk away from you, can I?”

“Were you sent to find me then? Is that why you were in the area?” “No, I’ve known about you for years.”

His nose scrunched. “I didn’t want to meet you now, and I didn’t want to years ago. I almost started looking for you once but I changed my mind.”

He’d known about me for years? He hadn’t wanted to meet me?

But I couldn’t move past him knowing I existed in the first place. How?

At this point nothing should be a surprise. The Defender had been carrying me around for days. He’d let me sleep on him. We’d shared a Snickers. Anything was possible.

“You weren’t sent to find me, you didn’t want to meet me but you were left at my house on purpose. That doesn’t make sense.” For the first time since he’d come into my life, he looked uncomfortable.

He watched me closely. More closely than I was comfortable with.

He rubbed his chin and gave me an expression that was almost sympathetic. Maybe he wasn’t used to rocking people’s worlds on a regular basis.

His eyebrows rose, and he looked amused? “As long as you’re quiet.” I gave him a dirty look. His amusement didn’t go anywhere.

He raised his right back. “I don’t need you fainting again.” “I fainted one time.” “You still did it,” he replied, the corners of his mouth twitching.

You’ve got something better than that knife. You’ve got me.”

He looked brand-new. And extra, extra handsome. Stupid handsome.

“Gracie.” His voice went remarkably soft, almost a sigh. “You won’t go hungry again. I promise.”

“I was going to pay them back.” Something else in his features changed. “We’re fine now. You don’t need to worry about food anymore.” His throat bobbed. “Or paying anyone back.”

I was going to find a way to pay the family that owned the cabin back too. Some way. Some time.

And before I thought twice about it, before I could remind myself that I wasn’t his responsibility, that he was only here because someone had dumped him into my life, I reached out and grabbed the first thing I could: his pinkie. His eyes met mine. Just for a split second, every one of his muscles tensed. His fingers were cool and stiff as I clutched the one. But as I started to let go, with his other hand, he folded my fingers back around his, pinning me quietly with his bossy gaze.

My fingers still wrapped around his pinkie. Just his rock-hard finger strong enough to crush metal.

“You’re my first friend in a really long time, and I know you said you don’t want to like me, which means you don’t want to be my friend either, and I get it, but it still means so much to me.” He didn’t nod, didn’t even blink, but I didn’t take it personally that he didn’t respond.

“Told you. You owe me fifty bucks, Selene.” A feminine voice replied, “At least one of us isn’t going to die sad and alone.”

But then the strangers surged forward, and a split second later, most of Alex’s body disappeared in a cocoon of bodies.

I paid as much attention as I could. Their hands. Their arms. They were high around his shoulders, around his ribs, and I made sure they weren’t holding anything.