Chapter 18 #2
Ella strolled toward me with a Louis Vuitton handbag. “This bag isn’t exactly what I’m looking for, but it is amazing. What do you think?” She pushed her forearm through the strap, showing it off. “It goes with my outfit.”
“It’s, uh, great, Ella. I’ll buy it for you if you want it.” I tensed my jaw for a beat and gazed at Tiffany, eyeing a similar bag as she twisted it in her hands. “Tiffany, you can get one too.”
“Oh, I couldn’t.” Tiffany set the bag on the shelf.
“Why not?” Ella strode to her and touched her arm. “Do you have any idea how much money Greyson’s family has? This is like buying a candy bar for most people.”
I flinched and fisted my hands. Is that all she saw in me? Would she have ever considered dating me if it weren’t for my family’s money? Of course not.
Pulling me beside him, Malik whispered, “Hey, don’t listen to her. There’s so much more to you than money.” He winked at me. “You’re an amazing football player and the best friend a guy could have.”
Friend? Stinging tore through my chest. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I was losing him. I could feel it. “Go ahead and, uh, buy it.” With my heart drumming against my rib cage, I paid for the purses at the counter.
As the cashier packaged the purses in fancy boxes, I seized Malik’s hand.
I was losing my damn mind. I needed to know he was still mine, and that we hadn’t broken what we had beyond repair.
“We’ll be right back. Um, restroom.” Hauling him out the door, I rounded the corner of the shop.
There had to be a restroom nearby, right? But where?
“What are you doing, Grey?” He stomped along behind me.
With a growl, I dragged him into an alley behind the stores and shoved him against the concrete wall. Fuck the restroom idea.
Malik’s back hit with a thud. “Grey, the girls—”
Crushing my mouth against his, I swallowed him in a heated kiss, my fingers curling into the front of his jacket, my tongue slipping inside him. The chaos in my soul quieted. With a groan, I thrust my swelling cock against his. It felt like a lifetime since I’d had him.
“Greyson Moore. What the hell is going on here?” Ella’s voice clapped through the air.
“Oh, my God.” Tiffany gasped.
With my heart seizing, I freed Malik and stepped back, my lips tingling and pulse returning to thunder in my ears.
Holy fuck, what had I done? “Um, ah, um…” I stared at Ella, who glared back at me, gripping her purse bag so tightly her knuckles turned white.
My attention drew to Tiffany, her fingers covering her mouth and eyes wide, with her phone in one hand and purse bag on the ground next to her.
“Are you gay, Greyson? Is that why your father is running around New York City practically begging women to date you?” Ella snarled.
“N-no, I’m, uh, I think I’m bisexual.” Did it really fucking matter right now? I peeked at Malik, blinking at me.
“Are you in love with him? What the hell is going on? I thought you two were—” Ella made air quotes with her fingers “—Best friends.” With a scoff, she said, “More like boyfriends.” She stomped toward me, dropping the bag at her side. “Or are you fuck buddies?”
“I don’t, um…” I shifted my gaze to Malik. Say something, please.
Tramping closer to me, she jabbed her finger into my chest. “You’re paying for dinner, Greyson.
I’ll have a great time with Tiffany, and I’ll send you the bill.
You can Zelle me.” With a harrumph, she twisted on her heels and trudged away, grabbing Tiffany by the elbow.
“Have a great life sucking cock, Greyson, because no girl in New York City will associate with you after I tell them about this.” She stormed off with Tiffany in tow.
“Holy fucking shit, Grey.” Malik came to life and grabbed my shoulder. “Babe, are you okay?” His forehead wrinkled as he swept his gaze across me.
Babe…Oh, fuck. I crumpled in his arms as my eyes stung, and my throat closed. I was ruined. She would tell my father about this. As my breath hitched, a sob ripped from my throat, and a hot tear tumbled onto his shoulder. I hooked my arms around his waist.
“Hey, I’ve got you, baby. Don’t worry about a thing.” He tightened his hold on me, pressing a soft kiss in my hair and skimming his hand along my back. “We’ll get through this, no matter what happens.”
My heart swirled with emotion. He deserved better than what I’d given him.
“Malik?” I lifted my head and gazed deeply into his dark eyes, so full of concern for me.
“I love you, Malik. Like, really love you.” I sniffled.
There was no other explanation for my behavior today, for risking it all to keep him.
His eyes widened and grew glassy. “I love you, too, Grey. Holy shit, do I love you.” With the corners of his lips curling, he cupped my cheek and pressed a toe-curling kiss on my mouth.
It seemed full of everything he’d held back since the frat party.
As the kiss broke, he said, “Just to clarify, you didn’t mean you loved me as a friend, right? ”
“God no.” With a shake of my head, I forced a smile. “I love you as a boyfriend. As a partner, as a lover. My lover.” With a soft snort, I said, “There was no man after it and never will be again.”
“Goddamn, this feels good. This is right, Grey. We were always destined for this. Do you believe me?” His gaze darted between my eyes as he brushed the wetness from my cheeks with his thumb.
“Yes, I believe you.” How could I have missed it before? I’d been too scared. I bit the side of my lip. “Can we go home? I want to maybe just grab a pizza and cuddle on the couch or in my bed, and I don’t know—”
“Reconnect?” He pressed a lingering kiss against my lips.
“Yes, reconnect.” As I stepped back, I swiped the wetness from my eyes and breathed in deeply.
I would turn my phone off after paying the bill for Ella and Tiffany’s dinner, so no one could disturb us.
Fuck it, buying her dinner was the least I could do after I’d deceived her, and I didn’t want to hear from my father tonight.
For this one night, I wanted peace with the man I loved.
“Come on, give me the keys to your car and let me drive you home.” He snatched my hand and strolled with me down the sidewalk and toward the parking garage.
It felt wonderful to hold hands with him in public, not as friends, but as boyfriends. The world should know that he was mine, and I was his. But first, I’d have to face the consequences of my actions.
After arriving home, I followed Malik into the house, and we shrugged out of our jackets, hanging them on the chair backs at the dinette. The drive home had been quiet. We’d said all we needed to at the shopping mall.
“Where’s Tex?” I hadn’t seen his enormous truck out front, and it wasn’t in the garage. I stepped to the refrigerator. “Beer?” We deserved a reward after the day of bullshit.
“Yes, please.” Malik sighed. “Tex went out with his tutor again. He texted me while we were at the purse shop.” He stood with his ass against the kitchen island counter. “Grey, do you really think Ella will tell your father about us?”
I handed him a can of beer and snicked mine open. “Yes. Well, I think she’ll tell her father, and he’ll tell mine.” I took a sip of beer. “Question is, when will I get a nasty phone call from my dad?” As nausea balled in my gut, I rounded the sectional and dropped onto the corner.
“I’m so sorry, Grey.” He sank in beside me. “I’ll tell my parents about us before Christmas, so they’ll know.” He uncurled an arm behind my shoulders on the couch cushions. “It’s time I came out to them too.”
“Yeah…” He’d have it easy. Me? Not so much. I drank more beer and leaned into his side. “I’m afraid, Malik. I’m not sure what he’ll do, but I think it’ll be severe.” My head swam with possibilities. Would he force me to go to Harvard? Would he outright disown me? But I was his only child.
“What about your mom? You never talk about her.” He wrapped his arm tightly around my shoulders. “Maybe she’d be an ally for you.”
Laughing a scoff, I said, “I barely know her. I’m sure she’ll side with whatever Dad wants.” I took a few gulps of beer. I’d need another one.
“Okay, but you have Julie. Maybe you should call her first thing in the morning and see if she can help calm your dad.” He brushed his fingers in a circle along my shoulder.
“She has a new family now, but I can try it. I don’t know how much contact she has with my parents anymore.” I finished my beer. Yeah, I would feel these tonight. “Want another one?” I rose from the couch and stepped into the kitchen.
“Might as well bring me one since you’re up.” He exhaled a long breath. “Are you really paying for their dinner tonight?”
With a shrug, I tossed my empty can into our recycle bin and grabbed two more.
“Yeah, I guess I feel bad for Ella. I misled her into thinking we had something when I clearly knew we didn’t.
” I’d put my phone on Do Not Disturb while we drove home.
“When will they finish eating, do you think?” I brought the fresh beers to Malik and handed him one as I fell onto the couch.
“I’d say around three hours. It’s one of those places where you eat multiple courses.” He tipped his original beer back, finishing it, and then set it on the coffee table. “Speaking of which, I’m getting hungry.”
“I’ll order pizza. What do you want?” I slipped my phone from my jean’s pocket and opened the screen. A few messages popped up from Ella. “Fuck, she already texted me.”
“Order the pizza and then let’s see what she said.” He kissed my cheek. “If you want to. You don’t have to do this tonight, babe.” His brows wrinkled. “You can handle this on your own terms. You were pretty upset earlier.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if I was more upset about my dad finding out or about the possibility of losing you.” I chewed my upper lip. “Do you want the supreme?”
“Yes, get that.” He squeezed my thigh. “Grey, you will never, ever lose me. So don’t let yourself go there.”
As I ordered the pizza, my phone blurred. Fucking hell, what had I done to deserve him? With a sniffle, I turned to him, my arm hooking around his shoulder. In his ear, I whispered, “I love you.”
“I know.” He pressed a hard kiss on my cheek. “Love you, too.”
As we parted, I held my breath and opened Ella’s text messages. An image popped up of me and Malik mid-kiss, the emotion between us undeniable. “Fuck.” I angled the phone toward him. “I didn’t know she had taken a photo of us.” That would be her proof to my father.
“She didn’t, but her friend, Tiffany, did.” He pushed his lips together. “What’ll we do if she posts that photo on social media? Didn’t you say she has a big following?”
“Goddamn it, I hadn’t thought of that.” I chewed my thumbnail. “Will it matter to Dennis? He signed Casey Carter knowing full well he was gay, right?”
“Yep, and with a boyfriend.” He breathed in deeply. “What does she say in the text messages? Is she trying to blackmail you with it?”
With a scoff, I closed the photo, returned to her messages, and read them.
Ella
You should have told me you were fucking your friend. Had I known, I would never have visited.
Ella
Why aren’t you texting me back? Got nothing to say now?
Ella
Does your father know?
Ella
The dinner came to $843 with tip. You can Zelle it to my cell number.
“Jesus Christ, Grey. What the hell did they order for such an exorbitant bill?” With a scowl, Malik shook his head and drank his beer.
“Probably the most expensive shit on the menu.” It didn’t matter—Dad would pay for it. I opened my banking app and Zelled the money to her and then typed her a message.
Grey
I paid for your dinner. Hope you enjoyed it.
Clenching my jaw, I shut my phone off. How she handled the photo was her decision. I didn’t give a fuck anymore.