Let Go (32 page)

When he enters
Mollie’s apartment and crawls into bed with her she shifts moving
her arm over his chest. She mumbles, “Did you get it?”

A smile
spreads in the darkened room. She can’t see it but she can hear it
in his voice, “Yep, I think I now have a sponsor and it feels
good.”

Her tone
changes but he barely notices, “That’s great Grey. I’m happy for
you.”

He kisses her
forehead and whispers, “Go to sleep angel, see you in the
morning.”

The next day
Jimmy shows up with news. He has a fight scheduled with Mario
Cortez the next week. He’s got a pretty long streak of wins. This
both excites and worries Greylan. Jimmy is beyond ecstatic with the
accomplishment. He keeps saying they are on the up and up
especially with Vincent Luciano behind them.

He dials
Jackson when he gets back to Meyer’s house.

Jackson picks
up on the second ring, “Hey Pace, how’s it going?”

“Great, I have
a fight next week with Mario Cortez. Do you think you can make
it?”

A long whistle
sounds over the line, “What the hell did you do to land a fight
with that killer?”

Greylan shakes
his head, he knew Jax would call it like it is.

“I signed with
a sponsor. Jimmy is planning it.”

“You can say
that again. It’s doable but you’re gonna have to train hard this
week. He’s one solid motherfucker.”

Greylan
chuckles, “Message received. When are you coming?”

“Give me a few
days and I’ll be over.”

“Sounds
good.”

Meyer comes
into the kitchen as he ends the call. He seems apprehensive and
skirts around avoiding Greylan. He considers attempting to find out
what the problem is but he suspects it’s still the Mollie thing and
he doesn’t feel like dealing with that shit right now.

He heads to
the gym and puts in a hard workout just as Jackson told him to.

When he gets
to Mollie’s she is already there with a celebratory dinner made
with candles lit. But as he eyes the table he notices four place
settings.

“Hey, who’s
coming over?”

“You’ll see,
go and get cleaned up.”

He smiles and
kisses her, lingering longer than he had intended. She pushes him
away and wrinkles her nose, “Ew, you stink, go away.”

He laughs the
whole way to the shower. When he gets out he hears voices. When
he’s dressed he strides out to find Trinity and Parker. This is a
nice surprise. He gathers her into his arms and squashes her nose.
She laughs pulling away.

“Hey Kid, it’s
so good to see you.”

“You too, big
brother; I heard you got a sponsor.”

“I did.”

“I’m so proud
of you.”

She looks
quickly to Parker and smiles. Taking a deep breath and grabbing his
hand she looks to Greylan and says, “Hey, I need to tell you
something and I don’t want you to freak out.”

He squints
taking in her uneasiness.

“Starting a
conversation like that, Trin is probably not going to get your
desired effect.”

His body is
relaxed with all of the things going well lately. He’s not ready
for the news Trinity announces. His heart stops as she says, “Um,
Parker and I got married yesterday.”

He moves
causing the chair to topple over. His blood starts to heat up as he
realizes the full meaning of her words.

“What the fuck
were you thinking Trinity?”

He runs his
hands through his hair wanting to hit something so badly.

Mollie stands
and picks up the chair. She looks to Greylan and back to
Trinity.

“Maybe we
should go.” Trinity says unsure.

Greylan spins
around and glares at Parker, “And you, I’ve about had it with your
shit. How can you say that you’re protecting and caring for my
sister when you go and do shit like this?” He lunges forward and
pushes Parker into the wall pinning him with his arms.

Parker winces
at the pressure on his throat but doesn’t fight back.

Trinity
screams and pulls on Greylan’s arm, “What the hell, Grey, get off
of him.”

He moves away
from Parker clenching his fists.

Parker walks
toward the door taking Trinity’s hand but turns his voice is firm
and steady, “Grey, we’ll let you deal with this on your own, or
with Mollie. I’m sure Trinity will want to talk in a couple of
days.”

Trinity pulls
her hand from Parker’s grasp and surges toward her brother, her
finger poking him in the chest she exclaims, “Greylan, we had this
conversation when you got out and so many times since. I fucking
chose Parker. It has nothing to do with you and there’s nothing you
can do about it. I don’t care if you don’t like him because I love
him and I have no regrets.”

Greylan’s
mouth opens to argue but it quickly closes with her last statement.
He shakes his head and pulls at his hair as Mollie slides her arm
around his back. She whispers, “Grey, let them go.”

Trinity takes
a step toward the door but turns and states, “When you can grow up,
you can call me and talk about this like an adult. Until then I
don’t want to hear from you.”

He watches the
door close behind them and sinks into the chair. Somehow he failed
his sister and now she’s made one of the worst mistakes she could
have made.

After a while
Mollie asks, “Will you come and sit with me?”

He’s been in
the chair staring at nothing for an hour. At her request he moves
to the living room and ruffles her hair bringing her into his arms
as they snuggle on the couch.

She hesitates
a moment before asking, “Will you tell me about your family? I mean
you are so protective over Trinity and I’d like to know about
it.”

He takes a
deep breath considering her request. He still knows very little
about her so he offers, “I’ll tell you about them if you tell me
something about you. How about your parents?” His request is half
-hearted. His energy seems to have seeped away.

Her breathing
speeds up a moment under his touch but she says, “Okay, I’ll start.
My mom left my dad when I was a baby. I never knew her. So my dad
raised me. He had help from my two aunts but for most of my life it
was just me and my dad. I learned how to fend for myself because he
was busy a lot. But I was fine with that. I learned a lot about
myself and other people.” She pauses taking a deep breath.

“He did the
best he could and I love him for it.”

Greylan leans
his head into hers and kisses her forehead. This is the most she
has revealed about herself to him, he’ll take it. He asked two
months ago, how she pays bills, because he suspects the apartment
is not cheap. She told him that her dad foots the bill. He is some
sort of businessman. Greylan was good with that. Now, hearing this
he understands some of it. He knows how it is losing a parent
whether by death or just not being there.

“Okay, my
turn, but first I want to tell you, I love that you just told me
that. You trusted me enough to tell me.”

She palms his
rough cheek before laying her head against his chest. His breathing
steady he admits, “When I was twenty one my mom was diagnosed with
brain cancer. We thought we could fight it and we did,
aggressively, with everything. She went through chemo and endured
anything to stick around. It was hell watching her lose her hair
and all of the glow in her skin just greyed. She grew so thin and
gaunt that I didn’t want to go into her room those last months. I
wanted to remember her when she looked healthy and she was happy. I
hated myself for feeling that way. It wasn’t fair to her. She
didn’t ask for the cancer.

Greylan’s
voice cracks for a moment and he pauses before he goes on, “My dad
though, he loved her so much. The life seemed to seep away from him
just as it did in my mom. He lost the will to work and even eat. At
one point my sister made me sit down with him at the kitchen table
to watch him eat a whole meal because he was never hungry.

I think
Trinity was the worst. Well at least I felt the worst for her. She
was only eighteen when Mom was diagnosed. She was in her last year
of high school. I’m not sure how the kid did it but she passed and
graduated. She was the one that kept us all afloat. I didn’t want
to face the fact that we were going to lose my mom and neither did
my dad. He kept up all appearances for her though. He would go into
her room and act as if everything was normal, like she just woke up
from a long night’s sleep and the day was just beginning. I think
my mom saw through it but she tried to be strong for all of us. I
remember one day I came home from college. I was going to Penn
State at the time. I drove home as often as I could but toward the
end I didn’t want to go anymore. Every time I came home, was one
day closer to losing her.

Anyway I got
there and Trinity was making a cake. I asked her what the occasion
was and she said there didn’t need to be one. When it was all done
and perfectly frosted she called my dad and I into my mom’s room. I
thought it was a shitty thing to do. My mom had nothing to
celebrate, she was dying but for Trinity I put on my smile, the
best I could.

Before anyone
knew what was happening, cake was flying everywhere. That is what I
remember the best about my mom, her smile that day, as she watched
the three of us whip cake across the room at each other. In the
midst of it my dad and I were reluctant but the more we were
covered, the happier it made my mom. Trinity is special, she
brightens everything. I promised my mom I would always looks after
her. Now this, I’m not sure I did the right thing in letting her
stay with Parker.

Mollie’s hand
moves in soothing circles over his chest. She takes a deep breath
as tears roll down her cheeks.

“When she
passed, we all knew it was coming but you never know. You’re never
prepared. The funeral killed my dad. I was so upset myself that I
never realized…”

“He handed me
his ring closed my palm over it and told me to take care of it. He
knew where he was going he wouldn’t need it and I should have seen
it. I should have known.”

Minutes of
silence pass before he continues, “He killed himself the next day.
He took a shit load of pills. I was pissed at him for a long time.
He took the pussy way out but now I’m just sad that he didn’t stick
around. I guess he couldn’t live without her.”

They sit, each
in their own thoughts. When Greylan moves, she shifts on his chest
and looks up at him. Her green eyes seem stormy and Greylan wants
to take any sadness away. He tilts her chin up and kisses her. When
they pull away Mollie tells him, “Thank you for telling me about
your family.” He nods.

“And for what
it’s worth, I think you did everything your mom asked you to do.
Trinity is a grown woman. You have to let her find her own way
Grey.”

He scoots up
further on the couch moving her body beside his. She molds into his
side as they both drift off to sleep.