that Lizzy was on board, she peeled out of her sister’s driveway.
Fifteen minutes later, Grace uncurled her fingers from the steering wheel and finally felt as if she could breathe again.
“Come on, Warrior Princess,” Hope said softly after opening the driver’s side door. “Let’s get you inside and fix something to settle your nerves.”
“Does it involve alcohol?” Grace asked her.
“Definitely.”
Once they were inside and Grace had not one but two shots of whiskey in her system, she felt calm enough to walk back out onto her porch, pull out her phone, and call Alyssa.
Her sister answered on the fifth ring. “Grace, I don’t have time right now. I only have ten more minutes of my break to scarf down something to eat, and then I have to get back to work.”
“We have a situation,” Grace said. “It’s about Charlie.” She swallowed hard, frustrated that her voice shook when she said Charlie’s name. The adrenaline had worn off, and the whiskey hadn’t done as much to fortify her as she’d hoped.
“Is he okay?” Alyssa asked, her voice going high-pitched. “What happened?”
“He’s okay as far as I know,” Grace hedged. “But—”
“Oh, thank the gods,” Alyssa said, cutting her sister off. “I do not have time for an emergency right now. I’ll just give him a call before I have to go back to work.”
“He attacked me!” Grace blurted.
Silence.
“Alyssa, are you there?” Had her sister already ended the call?
“Yeah. I’m here,” Alyssa said, her tone hesitant.
“Did you hear me? Charlie attacked me. He tried to strangle me tonight.”
“Why?”
The question gutted Grace. What did it matter? Did her sister honestly think there was any acceptable reason for her boyfriend to lay his hands on Grace? “Because he’s an asshole?”
Alyssa sighed heavily. “Just tell me what happened.”
“You didn’t even ask me if I’m okay,” Grace said as she pressed two fingers to her forehead and massaged the growing ache.
“Obviously you are since you’re calling me. Dammit, Grace.” Alyssa’s tone was quieter and softer now. “Can you please give me the details? I really do have to get back to work soon.”
How could she be thinking about work when Grace just told her Charlie had tried to strangle her? Wouldn’t a concerned sister ask to leave for a family emergency? Grace would. If Alyssa called and said Bill had attacked her, Grace would’ve been in the car and headed to her sister without hesitation while simultaneously plotting the demise of the man who’d laid hands on her. Regardless of how Grace felt about the way her sister was handling the news, she knew Alyssa needed the details.
After taking a deep breath and leaning against the porch railing, Grace described the texts Charlie had sent Lex about Bronwyn and the cat. She glossed over the details about their decision to head over to the house. There was no need to explain they’d been more than happy to confront the jackhole. But she did have to tell her that Lex and Joy broke in to save the cat.
“Wait a minute,” Alyssa said, sounding annoyed. “Why didn’t Lex just go in and get the cat? What is it that you thought Charlie was going to do?”
“Because he was acting so strange. She was freaked out about what he might do. Can’t you see that?”
Alyssa huffed out a breath of annoyance. “He wouldn’t harm Lex. He wouldn’t harm anyone. That’s not who he is. Just because—”
“Did you miss the part about how he tried to strangle me?” Grace barked into the phone.
“I’m sure it was a mistake. He was probably startled because people broke into our house.”
“Alyssa! You can’t mean—”
“Grace, that’s enough. I know Charlie. And obviously, there are two sides to this story. You can’t call me and expect me to get worked up about some vague texts that sound like he was just trying to get under Lex’s skin. As far as attacking you… From where I’m sitting, you were trespassing. What did you expect him to do? Just let y’all break in and do anything you wanted?” She snorted. “Let it go. I’ll talk to him and find out why he was poking at Lex. It’s likely nothing. Now, I really do have to go.”
The call ended, and Grace stood on her porch, staring at the phone. After a moment, she shook it as if that would do anything to get Alyssa back on the line. She braced herself for the bone-deep anger to take over, but instead, all she felt was disappointment. Was her sister so