Page 28 of All Out of Love

That was why she was filled with so much gratitude to be free and back home to even this poverty-stricken neighborhood that she leaned over and hugged his neck again. “Thank you so much,” she said.

But he didn’t return her hug, which disappointed her. Maybe he thought she was trying to come onto him? Maybe he thought she’d wasted enough of her time and he just wanted her to get lost?

But that wasn’t it at all. Grayson had too much on his mind to even notice that she had hugged him.

First it was the promises he made to Emily Preston. Promises, he knew, given the nature of his relationship with his father, that were going to be damn-near impossible to keep. And Toya’s freedom was predicated on those shaky-at-best promises? He was most concerned.

But at least she was free for now, he thought, which would alleviate some of his fears and would give his skilled investigators appropriate time to conduct a thorough investigation and, if what she told him was true, and he didn’t doubt it was, clear her of all wrongdoing.

But secondly, it was the neighborhood that caught him off guard too. He could hardly focus on her for focusing on that neighborhood where he was about to leave her. It looked rough out there. Third-world kind of rough. Once when he was a young man he had to make a deal in the backwoods of Guatemala: It was that kind of rough. And he was going to leave Latoya here?

He knew, deep down, there was no way.

Toya had no clue to his thought processes. When he didn’t return her hug, she felt kind of slighted, as if he was already tired of her intrusion into his life. She made it a quick hug.

But that didn’t take away from how she felt about him. She was still enormously grateful. “You don’t even know me,” she admitted, “but you’ve been kinder to me than any human being ever had. And for that I thank you, Mr. Carrington. I can’t thank you enough.”

Those sincere eyes melted him. And he remembered how kind she was to him in that bathroom of all places, and how she shared that overcoat with him. Was she really this good, or was just really good at covering up her true self?

But even if she was, a man couldn’t help how he felt. And for this girl he felt something strong. So strong that every single move he was making went totally against who he was and how he lived his life. It was all about her. And in that instant, he felt it was his job to protect her.

“Go inside,” he said to Toya, “and get you some clothes. Then come on back.”

Toya was confused. This was where he was supposed to give her one of those good luck, sucker, but I’m out kind of farewells. But instead he was talking about clothes? “Get some clothes?”

It was already so not like him that it was almost embarrassing, and even his driver glanced at him through the rearview, but he couldn’t back down. “Get you some clothes to cover a few days.” He looked around her neighborhood again. “Maybe even a week,” he added. “And then come on back.”

Toya saw him look at her neighborhood when he suggested a weeks’ worth of clothing, but something within her wouldn’t question it. It was that look in his eyes. As if it wasn’t about him feeling superior to her environment, but it was more about him looking out for her. That was how it felt. And that was how she took it. “I’ll be right back,” she said as she turned to leave.

But as the driver was getting out to open the driver side back door for Toya, Grayson felt uneasy. That was when he began unbuckling his seatbelt too.

Which astonished Toya. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going inside with you.”

Toya stopped all movement and looked at him. The idea of a man like him, who was essentially her boss, would even think about walking into her mama’s house, with her mama undoubtedly in that house, was too much overload for Toya. Most black families in America were great unions that looked out for each other and treated each other with the upmost respect. But that wasn’t her family. Her mama and sister looked out for each other, but neither one of them had ever looked out for Toya. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. “I’m coming right back.”

“I’m going in with you,” Grayson said again in that way that even Toya knew wasn’t debatable.

But this was her life and her family. It was debatable to her. “It’s not a good idea,” she said again.

“Noted,” Grayson said as his driver opened her door and Grayson began getting out, anyway, on the back passenger side.

Which shocked his driver. “Oh, sir. I didn’t realize you were getting out too.” It was his job to open the door for the boss, not for his passenger!

But Grayson waved it off and buttoned up his suit coat. He waited for Toya to walk around to his side.

When she made it around the car to his side, she wanted to shake her head. They were in the sho’ nuff hood, and he still looked like he’d just walked out of an evening at Carnegie Hall.

And when Grayson took his hand and placed it on her lower back, as if he wanted everybody watching to know that she belonged to him, that small gesture astounded Toya even more. She didn’t belong to him, if truth be told. But when he touched her, it felt like she did. And that alone weirded her out. So much so that he had to kind of nudge her to get her to start walking.

Inwardly, Toya was still shaking her head. Had anybody told her that one day she would be at her mama’s house walking beside one of the richest men in the whole state of Maryland, and that he’d have his hand on her back as if she was his woman, she would have told them to get real. And then she’d tell them to go get themselves some help. But there it was.

Remarkably, Keisha didn’t say a word when they first went inside the house.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

They crossed that one hurdle called Keisha easy enough. Mainly because Toya decided against introducing Grayson to her mouthy baby sister. With Keesh, you had to show her better than you could tell her and Toya showed her she was not the one to be trifled with tonight. She ignored her and her drinking buddies and escorted Grayson straight into the house.