Page 32 of Acceptance

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Page 32 of Acceptance

“There’s no security in this job. It could be gone tomorrow, and then what would we do?”

“I guess my money isn’t good enough, huh? And, for the record, this won’t be gone tomorrow because you work with the club. That alone is enough to sustain us because my money doesn’t mean anything.”

He won’t meet her gaze, and he remains silent. Suddenly, she worries her life balances on the edge of a cliff.

“Oh, I get it. They’re beneath you. Not worth your time or effort.”

“I didn’t say that.”

Shaking her head, Ashley walks to the door. “I can’t believe you’re actually considering this.”

“I can’t believe you expect me to just turn it down like it doesn’t matter. My dreams should mean something to you.”

“They do. But how you’re treated means something to me, too. The club treats you well, but they’ll always be unworthy of your time, won’t they? Guess what? I’m the club whether I want to be or not. I guess I’m beneath you, too.”

“I never said that!” he shouts.

Grayson’s never raised his voice at her before, and it drives her point home. She’s frustrating him because they’re not on equal playing fields. And she says what he doesn’t want to accept.

“Fine, be a pawn in their game. But all you’ll hear from me when they let you take the fall when they inevitably fail again isI told you so.”

Walking outside, she takes a deep breath. She needs space. This isn’t what she signed up for, and if Grayson wants this job, she’s going to be right back to where she was at the beginning of their relationship. She chooses him, and she always will, but she’s not certain it’s the same for him.

“If he has to choose, I’m not positive I’ll win,” she says and wipes the stray tear from her cheek as she hurries to her car.

Griffin’s Beach

Grayson

Standing outside the clubhouse, Grayson just stares at the door. There was a time he wasn’t allowed inside without a warrant. He’s been granted full access now, and Ashley was right. They give him consistent work, and it’s usually not that difficult.

She was also right when she called him out for the views he has when it comes to the club. It’s not that he believes he’s better than them, but from a moral standpoint, he wants to be. It’s become too easy to blur that line between right and wrong.

“Tate?” Diesel asks as he walks outside. “Figured you come inside when you texted me.”

“Travis offered me my old job back,” Grayson blurts out.

Eyebrows raised, his father-in-law walks over and sits on the picnic table in front of the building. A table Grayson has never understood the purpose of. Everyone sits on the table, not the benches, and he’s never once seen anyone eat on it.

“You know we’ll have to distance ourselves from you if you accept. Ashley, too.”

“You’d cut your daughter off?”

“I’m always here for her, but we have to take precautions. I’m kind of surprised you’d be willing to do that to her again.”

Again. Ashley barely saw her family because of her relationship with him. She was given a choice, and she ultimately chose him. Even though she was never fully integrated with the club, the distance with her family took its toll, especially after twenty years of separation. Can he really do that to his wife?

“I don’t know what to do, Diesel,” he admits. “I’ve always had this one path, you know? The nice, paved path I’ve driven on my entire life until one day, it just blew up. Okay, great, I pivot and create my own path. It’s bumpy and difficult at times, but I keep going because that’s who I am.”

“And then you’re offered the nice familiar path that’s paved and easy again. I get it.”

“The fifteen-year-old with a dream is telling me to take it and run.”

Diesel sighs. “And the rest of you?”

He moves to sit on the table beside him. “The rational part of me says something else is at play that I don’t see. Or don’t want to see. I want to believe they want me back because they know I can do what they can’t.”

“It’s a ploy, Tate. You’re a pawn in their game.”