Grind (Powertools The Original Crew Returns #3)- Jayne Rylon Page 0,33

on the couch or something. Make yourself at home.”

“Thanks.” Kayla wandered into the sunny living room with a high, peaked ceiling. She trailed her fingertips over the surface of a dark wood table that held framed pictures—Gavyn breaking ground at Hot Rides, a portrait of him and Amber, several candid snaps of baby Noah. Her heart hitched when she saw one of Gavyn with his arm slung around her at her wedding.

It was a day he didn’t remember, and she sometimes wished she couldn’t.

Not because of the ceremony part, but for what had come after, when he’d fallen ever so spectacularly off the wagon. It made her angry and sad all over again because the best day of her life had also been one of the worst. She had to keep a lot of parts of that day, like her copy of this same photograph, locked away in a dark drawer where she didn’t take them out to examine them for fear of hurting Gavyn or reminding him of how close he’d come to losing everything, including his life.

Then again, this might be the only wedding photo she had left. Her guts cramped and she made a mental note to ask the rest of the crew for any they’d taken.

As she was staring at the image, lost in thought, Gavyn cleared his throat from behind her. “It was an amazing day. I’m still so sorry I fucked it up for you.”

“You didn’t ruin anything for me. You screwed it up for yourself.” She sighed and turned, not wanting him to misunderstand.

“So badly.” He grimaced.

And like always, she had the urge to change the topic because she wasn’t trying to make him feel worse than he already did or, god forbid, propel him into a downward spiral that resulted in him relapsing. It had already eaten at her so bad that he’d binged on the alcohol they’d served at the wedding. She never should have allowed it, even if their other alcoholic friend—Roman—had given it the green light.

Gavyn and Roman had gone through rehab together. To this day, she thought ignoring that fact and not accommodating for their disease was one of the most irresponsible and inconsiderate things she’d ever done. She deserved for her relationship with Gavyn to be strained after putting him in that situation.

“So what’s up, little sister?” He nudged her playfully with his elbow before swiping a baby toy from the loveseat and sinking into the plush cushion.

Kayla shrugged, finding it hard to form the words now that she was there, with him.

“I heard you got some more shit news about Bare Natural. I’m sorry.”

She nodded. “It sucks. I think I’m at the point where I have to admit to myself that this isn’t going to work before I waste more of everyone’s time on a stupid delusion.”

“Hey, don’t talk like that.” Gavyn sat forward, putting his elbows on his knees. “First of all, Dave and the rest of the crew would do anything for you. They’ll keep working on this as long as you need them.”

“I know, and that’s why it’s my responsibility to make sound decisions.” It hurt to say it out loud. Literally stole the air out of her lungs and made her deflate. She bent over, putting her hands on her knees.

“Sit down,” Gavyn told her.

“I can’t.” It was bad enough she had to wear clothes, which irritated the hell out of her after years of roaming freely around her naturist resort, but now she was also cooped up inside, unable to escape the pressures of everything building around her.

“Okay, fine.” He held his palms out. Then said, “But no matter what, trying to keep your resort alive is not dumb. It wasn’t a bad idea when you first built it and it’s definitely not now that you have an established brand even if you need to restructure it. Maybe you have to accept that it won’t look exactly like it did before.”

“Yeah, so…about that…” She tried to take a deep breath but couldn’t past the bands restricting her chest. “It seems like Mike and Joe are going in a new direction, making something bigger of Powertools with the Hot Rods expansion project and now this new deal that’s in the works with Giovanni for a mega tattoo shop that anchors some weekend getaway destination. Their hearts are here. Every time they talk about expanding Powertools and each of them managing their own crews, they get like some massive hard-on.”

“Hey, I don’t need