Chapter 19
nineteen
GRANT
Getting hard in the middle of the mall isn’t ideal, even if Lily makes it so fucking easy.
It was my idea to come here. After learning about her parents a week ago, what they mean to her, and how important her culture is, I knew having them return to Boston was special to Liliana. When I said we should get them a welcome back gift, she beamed.
There wasn’t any sort of competition going on, but in that moment it felt like I won.
Getting the gifts was simple. I can’t think of anything more suited for a couple of professors than matching custom notebooks.
It’s the aftermath that’s proving to be difficult.
After stressed out phone calls and late night study sessions, she finally managed to wrap up her third act draft yesterday.
It was tiring for me, to see her struggle so much and provide every piece of advice I could to get her to the end.
Eventually, though, we made it happen, and I intend on rewarding her for it.
I can’t stop myself when we pass by a store and see something she would like in the window. I can’t help myself when she walks out of the dressing room looking as beautiful as she does.
“Do you like it?” Lily twirls around in the ruffled blue dress that’s as gorgeous on her as the last three items she tried on.
Her wide smile sends a pang of affection through my body and down to the head of my cock. I want to kiss her on the forehead and get on my knees for her in the fitting room, all at the same time.
“I love it.” I answer her, willing my hard-on to get a grip on the very public area we’re in. “You should get it.”
Yellow painted fingers move towards the dress’ price tag, and I lightly lead them away. This store is on the higher end, but there was a ruffled baby pink top in the shop display, and everything about it had my girl’s name on it. I wasn’t leaving the mall without it being hers.
She doesn’t seem to have the same idea. “I’m not letting you buy anything for me without knowing the price.”
“I couldn’t give a shit about the price.
” Not when a dress like this exists, that’s so painfully Liliana with its frilly fabric and pastel color.
Not when her sun-kissed skin glows so bright in it.
“It’s made for you. It could be a thousand dollars and that’d be a steal for how good you look in it. ”
Her cheeks turn the dusty shade of pink that is starting to become my favorite color, and I rub my thumb over the hue.
“I can’t take your money.”
“Of course you can.”
“This dress could cost an exorbitant amount of money.”
“I don’t know what that word means.” I continue before she can’t distract me with a vocabulary lesson. “But regardless, it doesn’t matter. It’s going on an unlimited credit card anyways.”
“Grant.” She puts her hands on her hips, cocking to the side sassily.
I mirror her exactly and refuse to back down. “Lily.”
Her head shakes, but her grin doesn’t fade.
“You’re impossible.”
“I’m yours.”
We haven’t discussed how serious this is between us. Whether it’s two friends with crazy sexual chemistry, or if she wants commitments and labels.
I know what I want. I’ve wanted to say Liliana was mine, wholeheartedly, since the day I met her.
Whether she’s on board with that is up to her, but it doesn’t change where my heart stands.
My feelings for her run too deep to be changed by acceptance or rejection. I belong to Liliana, in body and soul.
It’s nice to belong somewhere for the first time in a long time.
“You’re too sweet to me.” The blush of her cheeks darkens, and my heart swells. “But I’m not doing this with you for free stuff. I just like being around you.”
“I like being around you too.” I press a quick kiss to her forehead and make the quickest decision of my life. “I meant what I said, though. I’m yours. Which means my credit card is yours, too, and that dress.”
After bickering about prices and clothing, I kiss my way into an agreement. I’ll only buy things that are too suited to her style not to be hers.
Luckily for me, and unluckily for her, we both have her personal style down. Every item we choose so flawlessly represents her sweet simplicity, it would be criminal not to buy everything.
We walk out of the store with three new bags digging into the skin of my wrists, but I smile. “You’re going to look amazing in these.”
Liliana pouts, but I can see a grin fighting its way onto her face. Her arm slips through mine, head leaning against my shoulder while we walk the hallways like a couple. It’s bliss.
“Thank you. I really appreciate you spending so much money on me.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I peck the top of her head and inhale the floral scent of her hair. “We should do this more often. I like spoiling you.”
Still intertwined, we turn a corner when she scoffs. “We’re not making a habit of you spending hundreds on me. That’s absurd.”
“You’re right.” As soon as she looks convinced, I smirk. “Thousands, then?”
“Grant!”
Lily’s mouth is open, but it wasn’t her smooth voice that called out my name. Turning towards the source, I don’t want to admit I recognize the high-pitched sound, but I do.
“I knew that was you!” Billie’s butter blonde ponytail bounces as she runs up to us, smile too wide for a first-year college student approaching finals.
To my horror, there are two other heads of blonde trailing her. Taller, broader, and an instant pain in my neck. Billie is innocent enough. I can tolerate her on a good day. Keller and Locke, on the other hand, ruin my mood as soon as I remember they exist.
“Son!” My father calls, hand waving overenthusiastically. I don’t fall for it. It’s a sad attempt to look like a doting father to the public eye.
Locke doesn’t say anything while approaching and doesn’t acknowledge that he’s met Lily before. My half-sister, on the other hand, starts rocking back and forth, slyly smiling.
“Grant…” She trails off playfully, like we know each other. Like we’re family. “Who is this?”
My jaw tenses. It’s not like I’m trying to hide Liliana away—the opposite, actually. I spend hours imagining us having fun at amusement parks or going on a double date with her friends. All fantasies where I can hold her hand in public and show everyone the most beautiful girl in the world is mine.
But showing off my relationship, whether real or restricted to my thoughts, is one thing. Meeting each other’s friends is expected to be intimidating, based off Lily’s stories about Rosie, but nothing I can’t handle. This is different.
This, by technicality, is family. And not the family Liliana and I have confided in each other about. These are people who I only feel connected to by pieces of paper and nothing else.
I never took home a girl I was dating to my mother. The fact that she never saw me in a serious relationship is one of my biggest regrets. And now, when I’ve found the person I’d love to introduce to the parent who raised me, it’s the parent that abandoned me who gets to meet her.
Bitterness gathers in my throat. I feel like I could throw up and scream and cry and punch that bright smile off Keller’s face.
It’s not fair.
“I’m Liliana.” Lily removes her arm from mine to reach out and shake Billie’s hand, but it falls back to her side a few seconds later. There’s a chill where her touch used to be, and frostiness coming through the sudden distance.
I hesitated too long. Maybe she thinks I don’t want people assuming something romantic is between us. Fuck.
Billie’s wide grin grows when she asks, “Are you Grant’s girlfriend?”
Stunned, Lily stares at me. I stare back, mouth parting. I want her to be, but I haven’t asked her yet. Is it wrong to lie about what we are by technicality, or is it worse to hide what I want?
Before I can decide, Locke’s deep tone cuts through. “Stop. That’s none of your business.”
He’s right, it’s not. But I don’t pay Locke any thanks for the interruption, because I know it’s more to keep the cool public image of the McCarthy family intact than it is to lend me a hand.
Tugging on the sleeve of his navy blue button-down, she snorts. “What, jealous because Grant has a super-hot girlfriend and you’ve only been rejected before?”
The stoic aura surrounding Locke pops, and he throws his hands up in frustration.
“Oh my gosh, you’re so annoying. It happened once in high school and you don’t let it go.”
“That’s because it was hilarious.”
“Says the girl who went to prom with the only guy who talks to her.”
The two of them start bickering, the kind that is too personal to be lighthearted but joking enough to know they’re siblings.
I look to the side, trying to catch Lily’s attention, but she keeps her gaze pointed towards them. Their conversation is building in volume, and for a second my lip starts twitching in amusement. When Billie tippy toes to flick Locke on the forehead, Keller interferes, voice booming and harsh.
“Knock it off!”
It stops instantly. They stand eerily still, like kids being yelled at by their father for the first time and not grown adults harmlessly bantering.
Backs straight, faces neutral, amusement gone. It’s like their argument never happened in the first place.
“Sorry about that.” My father’s voice has turned a hundred-eighty degrees, too, morphed into a peaceful tone. “Liliana, was it?”
He holds his hand out, and Lily takes it in a shake, and I hate him for being my father.
“I’m Grant’s dad.”
Lily finally looks at me again, hazel eyes curious but knowing. I haven’t elaborated any further on Keller since that day in the café. She’s never asked, but I’d like to think she knows I’d rather forget my father than remember him.
Keller beams at us. He’s either ignorant to his kids staring at their feet timidly, or has completely decided to ignore them. With my experience, I’d put money down on the latter. He has a special skill for pretending his children don’t exist.