You want to hear about awkward? Picture this.

Forrester, Grady, Faith, Jackson and Grant, sitting around our dining table, all dressed up, waiting for Rob. I’d gone the whole nine yards, brought in the best wine from Jackson’s vineyard, made roast beef, gravy, vegetables, mashed potatoes. I’d been in the kitchen all day. The candles were lit. The table was set beautifully. Classical music was playing in the background.

Everything was perfect. Except for the fact that it was really awkward.

“This looks beautiful,” Jackson said.

Grant glared at him.

“What?” Jackson said, responding to Grant’s glare. “It’s nice.”

Grant wasn’t one bit happy, and I’m going to be honest with you right now. That was the whole plan. I’d done all that work, got everyone I loved around the table, just as a way to provoke Grant.

It wasn’t very mature of me. It wasn’t honest. I’m not proud.

But I was desperate. I’d been dating Rob for two weeks, and I could tell things weren’t going to change. The way things were with Rob was the way they would always be. It wasn’t hell. I mean, he hadn’t tried to pressure me into another threesome with Duke or anything. He’d at least meant it when he said he’d realized how stupid he was being treating me like that.

But on all the little things, I knew he’d never change. He just couldn’t. He still thought I needed to make an effort to be more beautiful for him. He still encouraged me to try the various, drastic treatments that were available at his clinic.

He didn’t say it, but deep down, it made me feel like he didn’t think I was beautiful enough. He said he wanted a woman like me, someone intelligent who was willing to stand up to him and challenge him, but I think what he really wanted was a twenty-year-old supermodel with tits the size of watermelons.

“Thanks for coming, everyone,” I said.

“Of course, Lacey,” Faith said. “We’re a family. If you say this guy is important to you, we’re all here to welcome him, aren’t we, Grant?”

Grant took a deep breath. I watched him carefully. Faith knew what I was doing, of course. She knew I was still hung up on Grant. She knew I needed to force him to make a decision, take a stand, and she was hoping as much as I was that Grant would do something tonight.

What was holding him back? Did he really just not want me? That was my biggest fear in the world.

The doorbell rang. I got up but Grant beat me to it.

“What are you doing?” I said.

“Getting the door.”

“Sit down,” I said, making it clear I wasn’t kidding.

Grant shrugged, as if he didn’t know what the big deal was, but he knew.

I met Rob at the door and for the briefest of seconds, I was sure I saw a flash of disappointment in his eyes. It was because I was dressed in my normal clothes. I knew he preferred me dolled up like a bimbo, he’d made that amply clear, and I’d even tried to dress the way he liked, but I just couldn’t do it tonight. I couldn’t dress that way in front of Faith and the brothers. They’d never let me live it down.

The truth was, I was ashamed to dress that way. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with looking like that if that’s the way you want to look, but they’d have known I was only doing it to please Rob, and that was humiliating in some way.

“You look very … businesslike,” Rob managed to say, as he kissed me on the cheek.

I chose to take it as a compliment even though it was seriously lacking. “Thank you, Rob. You look rather dashing yourself.”

The annoying thing was that he did look dashing. He always looked great in a suit.

I led him into the dining room, where he was greeted warmly by Faith, Jackson, Forrester and Grady.

Only Grant remained seated. And that’s when the sparks started to fly. Rob wasn’t one bit happy to see Grant.

His jaw dropped almost to the floor when he saw Grant.

“You!” he said, like he had just found some fugitive from the FBI’s most wanted list. “It’s you. You’re the one.”

There was a knot of guilt in my stomach but I forced myself to swallow it. It was completely out of character for me to invite a guy I was seeing to meet everyone. The only reason I’d done it was to provoke a response from Grant, and now I waited to see what he’d do.

But I hadn’t ever connected the dots. Not completely. Grant was the one who’d punched out Rob at Club Viper. I hadn’t known it, and we’d never spoken of it, but Grant had responded to my plea for help after all. He’d come to Club Viper. He cared about me. The realization took my breath away.

“The one who beat you up?” Grant said, a bottle of wine in his hand. “Of course. Who’d you think you were going to find here?”

“What the hell?” Rob said, more to me than to Grant. “This is the guy who punched me and my friends at the club.”

“Grant,” I said, my eyes full of tears. I was overcome with emotion. “Is that true?”

Grant just laughed. “Come on, Lacey. You knew it was me who knocked this guy’s dick in the dirt.”

“No I didn’t,” I gasped. The truth was I hadn’t dared allow myself to believe it had been him.

“Yes you did. You sent me there.”

“Sent you there?”

“The text message, asking for help. You knew what would happen.”

“Grant,” I said again, even more emotion in my voice. “I never asked you to beat up anyone. I’d never ask you to fight for me. I know you wouldn’t want to.”

A look of anger flash across his eyes. I shuddered with guilt as I watched the scene unfold. It was completely unfair, completely manipulative. It was exactly the kind of thing I hated. Some woman bringing together two guys, just so that they’d have to fight it out over her. It was like something out of a high school drama.

But Grant had come when I’d texted. That changed everything.

Rob was fuming. “Lacey. What’s the meaning of this? I have to leave.”

“Don’t,” I said, but out of the corner of my eye I was watching what Grant would do. It was only Grant’s response I was really interested in.

“Look,” Rob said. “I knew this guy was looking for you at the club, Lacey. But I didn’t know he was your family. I didn’t know you’d called him to come. I thought he was just some jealous ex-boyfriend.”

Grant laughed. “Look, Rob. I kicked your butt because you were being an asshole. Not because I was jealous.”

I felt bad now for doing this. It wasn’t fair to Rob. He’d done nothing wrong. He was just trying to date me, trying to give me the relationship that I craved. I looked at him in his handsome suit. He’d brought chocolates and flowers, which I hadn’t even taken from him yet.

What kind of a person was I becoming? You didn’t try to square people up against each other. It wasn’t right.

And besides, Grant wasn’t taking the bait. He didn’t want me, not even now that he could see who his competition was. I guess Grant and Rob weren’t competition at all. You can only be in competition with someone if you both want the same thing, and Grant didn’t want me.

“I’m sorry,” I said to the room. “This was a mistake. I thought we could all have a nice dinner together.”

“Why can’t we?” Grant said, only heightening my humiliation.

“You know why we can’t.”

“Because of your games?”

“I’m not playing games,” I said.

Grant just shook his head. “Sure you aren’t,” he said. Then he got up from the table and walked out of the room. A moment later we heard his motorcycle fire up as he tore down the driveway, headed anywhere but where I was.

He’d punched out Rob because he thought I was in danger. But now that he thought I actually liked Rob, he didn’t care. He didn’t care at all. He’d been protective of me, but only in the way he’d always been, as a loyal family member, as a brother.

He wasn’t jealous in the romantic sense. He hadn’t taken the bait. Not for a second.

I was extremely quiet during the rest of the meal, which despite what had happened with Grant, actually went surprisingly well. Everyone else was really nice to Rob. I guess they believed me when I said I was serious about him. They were being supportive. I should have been grateful. But all I really wanted to do was cry.

Without Grant there, the whole thing was pointless. The room felt empty without him.