CHAPTER 11
GRAYSON
M y family cheer, some applauding as Hunter devours his new fiancées mouth as though there’s no one watching. Mine and Savannahs parents rush towards them, pulling them into hugs and offering their congratulations.
I move silently to the side and grab a beer. I twist the cap off and toss it in the trash before stepping up beside my brother, offering him a small smile. “Bet you’re glad you made the right choice, huh?”
He doesn’t look at me as he responds, his eyes remaining focused solely on Savannah as she shows off her ring. “There was no choice. She’s it for me.”
“I’m happy for you, Hunter. You deserve it,” I tell him honestly, taking a pull from my beer. My brother finally looks at me, and I hold his stare, hoping he can see the truth in my gaze.
“You deserve happiness, too, Gray. You’ll get it someday,” he says, and my eyes immediately search for those familiar blue ones.
I lift my beer towards my lips. “Maybe,” I mutter before throwing the rest of it back and walking towards the house without another word .
I open the refrigerator and pull out another beer before leaning back against the island.
Hunter’s wrong. There is no happiness in my future. No grand proposals. Love is an emotion I’m not sure I’m capable of feeling anymore. I know I love my family. I loved them before I knew what it felt like to lose someone. But I won’t allow myself to willingly love someone again. Because loving with the potential of losing them is something I don’t think I could heal from.
The back door opens, and Liv enters giving me a small smile before opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of wine. Her scent engulfs me as she brushes past me, heading towards the cupboard that holds the wine glasses. She reaches up on her tiptoes, and my eyes are immediately drawn to her smooth, tanned thighs where her dress has risen.
I look away from her legs as she pours herself a glass, filling it to the top. Liv turns to look at me, taking a large mouthful and I raise a brow. “Thirsty?”
She empties the glass before responding. “Drowning my sorrows.”
I tilt my head. “Your sorrows?”
“My best friend is getting married and having her second baby, and now I have to live alone,” she pouts, refilling her glass.
“Hmm. Should’ve known you’d be the selfish type. Have you ever thought that if you weren’t so exasperating, you wouldn’t be alone?” I ask, my tone dripping with sarcasm. Her glass stills halfway to her mouth, and she narrows her blue eyes at me. I know before she even speaks that I’m about to get my ass chewed out.
“And perhaps if you weren’t such a tetchy, unbearably miserable prick, you wouldn’t be alone either. You have no fucking idea who I am and calling me selfish just proves exactly how little you know about me, so do me a favour and keep your opinions to yourself, because I promise you, no one fucking asked for it.” Liv snatches the bottle from the side and storms past me, hitting me with her shoulder as she passes and letting the back door slam closed behind her.
And I stand in the same spot for long minutes after she goes, staring at the closed door in shock mixed with a little awe.
***
The parents’ headed inside at around nine with Reign so that Hunter and Savannah could celebrate their engagement with the rest of us, and somehow Noah convinced everyone that we should take the party to The Boot.
The place was packed when we arrived. With tourist season coming to an end, it seems everyone has gathered for one last hurrah before they head home in preparation of the colder months. The dance floor is full of wannabe cowboys and buckle bunnies on the prowl for their next victims.
I’m so far out of my comfort zone it’s not even funny.
I narrow my eyes as I watch Liv grind against Bella, her head thrown back with a laugh. Her sun-kissed skin glistens with sweat under the dim lighting as she leans forward, placing her hands on her knees and fucking twerks. I pick up my whiskey and throw it back, relishing the burn as it slides down my throat.
Fuck my life.
Noah throws himself down into the seat next to me with a groan. “I don’t know how they’re still goin’,” he says, his forehead shiny with a thin layer of sweat from dancing with the girls.
“Not their first rodeo, brother.” I lift my hand and signal April. She brings us another round of drinks before rushing back to the bar and serving the customers waiting.
With it being so busy in here tonight, April is rushed off her feet. Savannah has ignored her protests and jumped in a few times to help, despite it being her engagement night.
“The fuck?” Killian mutters, sitting forward in his chair and frowning towards the dance floor. I follow his gaze and my own temper flares as Sam Thomas and his brother Justin make a beeline for Liv and Bella.
It was only weeks ago that my brother had words with Sam when he tried to move in on Savannah, and now it seems he’s got his sights set on her best friend too.
Noah stands and approaches Bella, pulling her out of Justin’s reach and I watch with gritted teeth as Sam slinks his arm around Liv’s waist and pulls her back against him. She giggles before wrapping an arm around his neck and grinding her ass against him.
I feel Killian’s eyes on the side of my face, but I keep my attention on the dance floor. Sam buries his face in Liv’s neck and suddenly I’m moving, my legs carrying me in their direction before my brain has even caught up to the action.
I don’t know what I plan to say when I reach the pair, all I know is Sam Thomas is the scum of Rosewater Creek, and I’ll be damned if I let the prick get his claws into Liv.
I’m aware that’s a little hypocritical considering I spoke to her like shit not three hours ago when she’s done nothing to deserve the way I’ve treated her since the day we met, but whenever I’m around her I can’t control myself. It’s as if the urge to piss her off overtakes any rational behaviour and my mind automatically finds ways to get under her skin just so I can see that fire in her eyes and imagine all the ways I can fuck it right out of them.
She sees me approaching and her eyes widen slightly before her lips tip up in a knowing grin and my face drops in realisation. She knew what she was doing when she let the fucker touch her. This is her revenge, and I’ve played right into her fucking hands.
I stop in front of them, not sparing Sam a glance as I glare down at Liv. “Come.”
Her eyes hold a challenge as she looks up at me, fluttering her pretty fucking lashes. “No.”
“I wasn’t asking.” I grab her hand and pull her away from Sam as he says something in protest. I ignore him and continue walking.
Heads turn our way and Hunter chuckles as we pass him at the bar and into the dark corridor that leads to the fire exit.
“Let go of me, dickhead.” Liv protests as the music fades into the distance and I stop, whirling around and pinning her to the wall.
“What is your problem?” She argues as I glare down at her.
“You.”
She tilts her head and narrows her eyes. “Funny, because I was about to be someone else’s problem until you just dragged me away. What the fuck, Gray?”
Fuck, I love it when she calls me Gray with anger in her eyes.
And she’s right. I could have let her carry on with Sam, maybe even go home with him.
But no. Fuck that.
Irrational anger pulses through me at the thought of letting that slimy bastard put his hands anywhere on Olivia’s body. Of him drawing soft moans from her as he caresses her delicate skin and whispers half-assed promises in her ear. But also, because I don’t know why I fucking give a shit.
My eyes zero in on her lips, remembering the feel of them pressed against mine while I stood there frozen to the spot like an inexperienced teenage boy. I cursed myself the entire way home that night. Cursed myself because as much as my body wanted her, my mind wasn’t ready – isn’t ready – for the feelings that Olivia draws from me.
I’ve never experienced the intense visceral reaction that I experience whenever she’s in close proximity. And it bothers me.
In some ways Liv makes me nervous. Her loud, sunshine personality is a complete contrast to my quiet, dark one. While she enters a room and gains the attention of every person in there, I like to remain in the shadows.
“Well? Aren’t you going to explain yourself?” She pushes and I realise I’ve been standing here silently glaring at her.
“Sam isn’t a good guy.” Is the only shitty excuse I can come up with. I’m not about to admit that seeing another mans hands on her stirs up an unfamiliar jealousy inside of me.
She lets out a dry laugh. “What, and you are? I didn’t need him to be a good guy, I just needed him to be a good lay.”
Rage.
It’s so blinding that I can barely focus.
My breathing picks up as I step closer, backing her up against the wall until there’s nothing but centimetres between us. We’re so close I can almost smell the arousal dripping from her.
“You’re so fucking irritating,” I growl, pushing my knee between her legs. Her chest rises and falls in quick pants as her blue eyes blaze with a rage that causes my dick to harden.
“Hmm. And selfish. And exasperating. And annoying, and all of the other things you think of me. But answer me this, Gray; If I’m so irritating, then why are you hard?” She challenges with a cocked head and sly smile on her face. I falter for half a second before my control snaps and I wrap my hand around her throat, crushing my mouth to hers.
Sparks.
That’s the only way to describe the way my lips feel the moment they touch hers. They spread through my body like tiny currents of electricity leading directly to my cock. I felt them briefly the first time she kissed me, but I was too blindsided to focus on anything other than the fact that I didn’t want to feel.
She gasps, momentarily shocked but recovers quickly as she wraps her small hand around my wrist and kisses me back. I taste the tequila on her tongue as it meets mine in a frenzy, and I groan.
I move my hips against her, letting her feel exactly what she’s doing to me and when she moans, I tighten my grip on her neck a fraction.
God, I hate her.
I hate how much I want her, knowing I can’t have her. Not in the way she’d want anyway. I hate the fact that my body betrays me, showing the little vixen exactly how much I want her.
My hand moves from her neck down to her breast and I pinch her nipple. She throws her head back with a moan and I kiss her neck, biting the skin.
“Please, Gray,” she begs, and the sound of my name coming from her mouth has me ready to give her anything she asks for .
“Please what?” I ask, already knowing what she wants but needing to hear her beg for it.
“Touch me,” she pushes her hips against me, rubbing herself against the erection straining against the zipper of my jeans.
“I can’t give you anything more than this.” I tell her, continuing my assault on her neck.
“What makes you think I want more? Same rules apply for you. I don’t need you to be a good guy, just a good lay.” She replies breathlessly as I reach under her dress, my hand trailing up her thigh and finding her centre.
She’s trying to get a reaction from me. And it’s working.
Pulling her panties aside with more force than necessary, I spread her wetness as I circle her clit, and she sucks in a sharp breath.
“So wet,” I mock, my eyes trailing over her, taking in the smaller details. The way her pulse thunders in her neck as her head falls back. The way her swollen lips part with each breathy exhale. I tilt my head, my eyes lasered in on hers. “Is this for me? Or for him?” My voice is unrecognisable as I stroke her, a burning need raging through my veins as Liv comes undone against me.
“You,” she gasps as I push a finger inside her. She squeezes me as I pull down the top half of her dress and suck a pebbled nipple into my mouth before adding a second finger.
“So tight.” I murmur, and she writhes against me, riding my fingers and chasing the high she so desperately needs. I continue to fuck her, my thumb rubbing circles on her clit and as I bite down on her nipple, she detonates.
“Oh, fuck.” She cries out, her walls spasming around my fingers. I don’t let up, crushing my mouth against hers once more as she rides out the orgasm. Her body trembles as she comes down from the high, only pulling back from my kiss once she’s spent.
We’re both panting as we stare at each other and my dick pulses painfully against my zipper with the need for release. A release I won’t allow myself. Because as much as I want her, I shouldn’t have let it get this far.
Regret barrels into me as our surrounding come into focus. Almost as if someone hit play on the remote, the music and chatter from the bar filters through the corridor and I swallow thickly.
Fuck, I really shouldn’t have done that.
Liv must see it in my eyes because she straightens, pulling her dress back into place. “Is this the part where you tell me this was a mistake?”
I don’t say anything. I don’t need to. It’s written all over my face as I watch her wipe the smudged lipstick from her swollen lips, as if she’s wiping away the memory of my mouth touching them. Her face completely shuts down, the mask falling back into place as her steely blue eyes meet mine, cold and hard. “Fuck you, Grayson.”
Grayson. Not Gray.
She pushes past me, heading back towards the bar without a backwards glance and I shake my head with a groan as I watch her retreat.
She’s better off hating me. It’s safer. For us both. Women like Olivia deserve more than meaningless sex. She deserves someone that never makes her question a single thing. Someone who can give her a family and a home full of love and life. I can’t give her that. I knew that and I touched her anyway.
What the fuck have I done?