9. Greyson
Neighbors.
Noah and True had said those words in sync two weeks ago and I was playing by their rules.
I was still trying to do the impossible and flip a switch in my head to tell me True was off-limits, but that was hard when I saw her every day. When I heard her voice every day. When I smelled the fruity, floral scent clinging to her hair every day.
It was impossible not to stare at her when we were in the same room.
That hair .
Those lips she liked to paint in varying shades of crimson.
Her thick, hourglass frame.
I loved how tall she was.
And I loved how she let laughter consume her whenever she thought something was funny.
She snorted before a loud cackle erupted from her throat, and I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since the night she laughed in my face for the first time.
Hearing it had become a norm in just two weeks and I would never get tired of that.
But in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder how much longer we had before she disappeared as quietly as she showed up.
With a sigh, I shook the thought from my head and loosened the tie around my neck. I hadn’t even bothered changing into more comfortable clothes before coming to find her.
Every night like clockwork, Noah told me to “go get True” so he could get the food on the table. And every night like clockwork, I did. I didn’t know why it was so easy for me to give in to him, but that was a question not worth my time anymore. If Noah asked for it, I would probably find a way to make it happen.
True’s Camry was parked out front and the poor old car was probably thankful it hadn’t been moved since she showed up that random Thursday. She claimed she was shutting herself off from civilization to finish—or start—her book, but every time we asked her how writing went that day, she avoided our gaze and asked for more wine, more bread, more anything to change the subject.
Her avoidance game was almost as good as Noah’s. And his current avoidance tactic involved the woman I was going to find.
My mind flashed back to the brief conversation we had before he deflected.
“ You not picking up your mom’s calls anymore. What happened?” I asked when I saw him stuff his phone in his pocket after her picture popped up three times in a row. I knew Noah’s dad wasn’t shit. And I was banned from their family functions because I called him out too many times. But his mom had always been the parent he preferred.
Instead of answering me, he shoved his hand in an oven mitt and tossed a command over his shoulder.
“Go get True, I’m gonna get everything on the table.”
So, here I was, getting her . I knocked on the screen door in front of her yellow door and waited for her to pull it open like she always did.
But the music bleeding through the walls of the small cabin told me that wasn’t happening.
Mint Condition’s “So Fine” played as I knocked for the third time.
Aside from it drowning out my arrival, True’s taste in music was fucking top tier. She favored 90s cuts and it honestly aligned with everything about her.
When I knocked for the fourth time to no answer, I opened the group chat Noah made the day after our first dinner and typed out a message.
Me:
Red, open the door.
All I got in response was a voice note from Noah.
“Ask her if she wants wine or sweet tea.”
Nothing came through from True and the song still played at the highest volume. Trying the handle on her screen door, I raised a brow when I met no resistance and it opened easily. Then I turned the knob on her front door and walked in the house.
The music was louder in here.
It vibrated through my chest and made me wonder what kind of speaker she was using.
My eyes ran over the details that screamed True more than her physical presence did.
The notebooks on every surface.
The clay mug covered in kiss stains.
The brown, leather loafers in her entryway, a few feet apart like she’d kicked them off as she was walking in the house and couldn’t be bothered to line them up.
Then my focus went to a singular point in the middle of her tiny living room.
In front of the couch that had seen better days. And beside the coffee table that was covered with a mountain of books and half-empty water bottles.
There she was.
True looked the way she did the first time I saw her. Lost between the hypnotizing notes of a ballad, oblivious to the rest of the world.
Eyes shut.
Hips swaying.
And a tender smile on her cherry red lips.
I stood there, waiting for the song to end and cleared my throat before she could pick up her phone to start another one.
“Grey! Ohmygod, how long have you been in my house?”
“Long enough to know that the volume you listen to music at can’t be good for your ears.” I placed my hands in my pockets, looking her over. “I knocked.”
Her eyes narrowed skeptically before she walked over to me. She had on a short rust colored skirt with brown tights underneath and I pulled my eyes away from her legs to meet her challenging gaze.
“Well, what do you want?”
“Dinner is ready.” We went over this every night. She asked me why I was on her doorstep and eventually conceded shortly after I told her Noah invited her to dinner.
I wondered how she’d react if I told her I wanted her there. She was indifferent to me. Not in a cold way, just in a way I knew Noah was the person she preferred. Not that I could blame her. Noah was a people person. He interacted while I observed and most people were drawn to his warmth for the same reasons they were put off by my coldness.
“Um.” Suddenly her eyes were everywhere but my face. She pushed her hair away from her brow and walked back over to the coffee table. “I’m good. Thanks, though.”
I laughed faintly and her brows dipped. “You know Noah ain’t going for that.”
“I have groceries, you know? I’m fully capable of cooking for myself.”
“Yea?” I asked off-handedly, shifting my gaze to the kitchen. “That’s always an option for breakfast and lunch.”
But if I was being honest, I knew all she had to do was give me the tiniest hint she wanted breakfast too and I’d be dropping it at her doorstep before I left for the resort every morning. Except True kept vampire hours and there were never any signs of life from her house when I left in the morning. She stayed up all night and slept in ‘til at least noon, a theory I tested over the past weekend.
“What did you eat today, Red?”
She kissed her teeth at the question but came to stand in front of me again. For the second time, I had to force my eyes away from the swell of her breasts in that tight sweater she had on. They looked heavy. And the thought of losing some part of myself between them was never far from my errant thoughts. Whether she was in the room with me or not.
And just like that, my dick stirred to life.
Taking a step back, I cleared my throat and pulled my hands from my pockets, not wanting to draw attention to my arousal.
True was oblivious—thank God—because she rattled off a list of snacks she’d consumed today and the list ended with a cup of tea.
“That’s what I thought. Come on, you know Noah likes to keep a schedule.”
“Did my grandparents put y’all up to this?” She grumbled, even as she stepped into her shoes, reaching out for my forearm when she stumbled slightly.
“Put us up to what?”
“Trying to babysit me.”
I couldn’t focus on anything but the way her hand felt wrapped around my forearm, and I was mentally patting myself on the fucking back for rolling up my sleeves in the middle of my last meeting today.
Her touch seared into my flesh like a shock of electricity until she steadied herself and went to open the screen door.
She left every light in the house on and didn’t bother grabbing her key ring before walking out.
I followed in a cloud of her seductive scent and shook my head to myself.
“Trust me, Red. The last thing I wanna do is babysit you.”
True kept walking a few feet in front of me, but called over her shoulder. “I heard that.”