and I’ll make it happen.”
Tears filled Alyssa’s eyes and fell unchecked down her cheeks.
Grace gently wiped them away while murmuring soothing words about how everything was going to be okay now and that Grace was there no matter what.
Finally, Alyssa choked out, “I need Lex.”
“You got it.” Grace had held off on calling her niece until she knew what to expect. Alyssa’s initial text just said she was at urgent care. It wasn’t until she got there that Grace realized her sister had been assaulted by Charlie. Honestly, if she’d called Lex right then, it would’ve been bad. Really bad. Because Grace had been full of hateful rage. She still was if she was honest, but she’d had to calm down for her sister. “I’ll call her now.”
Alyssa rubbed at her red eyes and sniffed, trying to get herself under control. “Don’t tell her what happened over the phone. I don’t want her upset while driving.”
“I have to tell her something,” Grace said.
“Just tell her… I don’t know. Anything other than Charlie tried to break my arm.”
“Got it.” Grace disappeared into her room and dialed Lex’s number.
“Aunt Grace? What’s wrong?” Lex asked.
She should’ve known Lex would realize something wasn’t right. Grace never called her at ten o’clock at night. “Can you come home? It’s your mom. She had an accident and—”
“What happened?” There was a rustling on the other end of the line, indicating that Lex was up and moving.
“She has a sprained elbow and a black eye, but she’s gonna be okay. She just needs to see you.”
“It was Charlie, wasn’t it?” Lex barked into the phone. “I knew that guy was going to go after her one day.”
Grace sighed. There was no use lying. “Yes. It was Charlie. But Lex, please be careful driving home and do not, under any circumstances, stop by your mom’s house. Do not engage Charlie in any way, got it?”
Lex let out a low growl and relayed the information to Bronwyn. After a short lecture from Bronwyn, she said, “Fine. But if he crosses my path—”
“Grace?” Bronwyn’s voice came over the line.
“Yeah, I’m here,” Grace said.
“I’ve got this. I’ll bring Lex home and make sure she stays out of trouble.”
“Thank you.” Grace ended the call and headed back out to check on her sister.
“Mom?” Lex called the moment she stepped into the house.
“I’m right here, baby,” Alyssa said, her voice cracking with emotion.
Lex ran to her mother and buried her head in her lap as she held on, clutching her tightly. “That bastard. I hope you ripped his dick off for this.”
To Grace’s surprise, Alyssa barked out a laugh. “No need for that, baby doll. Your aunt took care of that for me.”
“What?” Grace’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Why do you say that?”
“Sit down, Grace,” her sister ordered.
And because Grace was dying to know what her sister had to say, she did as she was told.
“You, too, Bronwyn,” Alyssa said.
Grace glanced up to find Bronwyn standing by the front door, clearly not sure what to do.
Bronwyn cleared her throat. “I think maybe I should go and let you three talk.”
“No,” Alyssa said mildly. “This is family business, and you’re Lex’s family. So please, take a seat unless…” She glanced down at Lex. “I don’t mean to overstep. Do you want Bron to stay?”
“Yes,” Lex said, staring at her girlfriend with pleading eyes.
“All right,” Bronwyn said softly and moved around the couch to take a chair next to Grace.
“The fight with Charlie broke out because he was talking shit about you, Grace,” Alyssa said. “I told him to stop ranting about my sister, and that’s when he lost it.”
Grace wasn’t surprised to hear that Charlie wasn’t her biggest fan. She just didn’t know what she’d done that had set him off that night. It wasn’t like she’d seen or spoken to him since the night they’d catnapped the cat. “Why was he mad?”
“Because you cursed his penis, and now he can’t get a full erection.” Alyssa gave her sister a wry smile. “Thanks for that, by the way. I’ve never been happier to hear that news in my life.”
“What?” Lex and Bronwyn said at the same time as both their heads swiveled in her direction.
“Um, it was kind of an accident,” Grace said.
“What does that mean?” Lex asked, frowning.
“I…” Grace cleared her throat. It was really strange to be talking about her sister’s boyfriend’s penis with her sister and her niece. Awkward. “You know that night we went to get the cat?”
“Yeah?” Lex