CHAPTER 33
GRAYSON
L iv climbs off my lap and pulls her jeans back on as I tuck my dick away, my limbs still shaking from the aftershocks of the most intense orgasm I’ve ever experienced.
She was gonna leave me hanging.
I suppose I deserve it after all the times I’ve brought her to the edge just to pull back right before she fell over it. Watching her touch herself was a sight to behold. And, enough to bring a man to his fucking knees.
I was ready to beg.
I have never lost control the way I do when I’m around Liv and I fucking hate it. Because I also love it. Everything ceases to exist the moment that woman puts her hands on me. Her touch is like a drug. It’s addictive and the scary part is, I don’t know if I’ll ever have enough.
If this is what it feels like to be addicted to something, then I never want to get clean. Because I can’t imagine there is anything out there that could offer me the same freedom that being buried inside of her does.
And that alone, fucking terrifies me .
I’ve tried to convince myself that we’re just using each other to fill a void since the day she threw the words at me but if I’m completely honest with myself, I think I knew from the moment her sky-blue eyes landed on mine that she would be my undoing.
“Where are we?” Liv’s voice penetrates my thoughts.
“We’re at the creek. There’s water just past those benches,” I say, nodding my head in the direction of the water.
Liv sits up straighter in her seat and squints her eyes as if she’s expecting the water to become visible in the dark night. “This is where Hunter brought Savannah on their first date?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure. This was his little hang out when he was a teenager so it’s possible.”
“You didn’t come here with him?”
I shake my head with a scoff. “No. He wouldn’t let anyone come here with him.”
“Were you always close with your brothers?” she asks, and I adjust my position in my seat to get comfortable.
“In some ways, yes. We’re all close in age, so we grew up alongside each other on the ranch, but we all had our own lives. Hunter spent most of his time with my dad. He had a lot to learn about what it takes to run a ranch, so making friends wasn’t high on his list of priorities. I had Rue. Noah had Killian. We’d all do our own things, but every now and then, the five of us would all hang out.”
“But you’re all so close now. What changed?” she asks, her eyes filled with genuine curiosity.
I look out into the darkness through the windscreen. “I think Rueben’s death sort of opened everyone’s eyes to how short and unpredictable life can be. Hunter and Noah started showing up at my house more after he died. I gave them hell the first few months. I didn’t want to see anyone. Killian was actually the only person I could tolerate in the beginning. He has been more of a silent support. He doesn’t say much. Doesn’t offer you empty promises and unsolicited advice, he just let you know he’s there if you need him and carried on.”
“Is that what he was doing that day outside the hospital?”
“Yeah,” I breathe as I think back to the day he helped me through a panic attack.
Liv is silent for a long time, and I decide to flip the conversation to her. “What about you?”
“What about me?” she asks, raising one brow.
“Have you always been this close with Savannah?”
Her face transforms with a genuine smile. “Since the day I met her. That girl is my soul sister.”
“That why you moved here with her?” I ask, curious to know exactly why she decided to pack up her life and follow her friend thousands of miles away from home.
“She’s my home. Her and Reign are my family. I love Savannahs parents to death and I’m grateful for everything they have done for me since my parents died, but I would not be here today, the woman I am, without Savannah Wilde.”
I search her face, seeing her in a totally different light. Liv always presents herself as the fun, bubbly girl that commands every one’s attention the moment she enters the room, but behind it all, she’s just a little girl that experienced the worst life had to offer at such a young age.
“Tell me about your parents,” I say, wanting to know more about the people who made this incredible woman.
“You want to know about my parents?” she asks, her tone full of confusion.
“Yeah. ”
She clears her throat and shifts in her seat so she’s facing me. “Well, they were both in the medical field. My mum was a midwife, and my dad was a paediatric surgeon. That’s how they met; their paths crossed at work. They used to love telling me the story of their epic workplace romance,” she lets out a sad laugh before falling silent as her gaze becomes unfocused, as if she’s lost in the memory.
“You didn’t want to follow in their footsteps?” I ask, and she blinks, her eyes clearing.
“I did. I wanted to become a midwife like my mum. I used to love the stories she’d tell about babies she had delivered. She collected these little chips in a jar for every baby she helped bring into the world.” Her smile is sweet and full of pride as she talks about her mother.
“What changed?”
Liv shrugs. “I sort of developed a phobia of hospitals. I try to avoid them as much as I can, but on the rare occasion I do find myself inside of one, I’m counting down the seconds until I can get the hell out of there. But that’s not the only reason. I feel like I lost a lot of precious time with my parents to their jobs.”
“How so?” I ask her. I feel like I’m grilling her a little, but I’m hanging onto every word that comes from her mouth. This more serious side to Liv is something I wasn’t expecting, and it only makes me want to know more about her.
“They worked long hours. Sometimes it felt like I wouldn’t see them for days because they’d get home late and leave early. Don’t get me wrong, they were great parents. I had everything I could have ever wanted growing up. We lived in a beautiful home. I never went without. And at the time, I loved the freedom I had at such a young age, but after they died all I had left were materialist things.” Her eyes sparkle with emotion in the moonlight as she looks at me with a sad smile, “I’d give up everything, the money, the house, all of it, just for a few more memories with them.”
There’s an ache in my chest by the time she finishes talking. I reach across the centre console and take her small hand in mine. “I’m sorry you lost them, Blue.”
“Me too,” she says, squeezing my hand gently.
“Ready to go home?” I ask, turning the key in the ignition. The truck rumbles to life and warm air blasts from the vents against my face.
“Yeah,” Liv answers quietly as she nestles against the seat, her eyes becoming heavy with exhaustion. I turn the truck around and navigate the thicket of trees back towards the road. Within seconds, Liv doses off, her shallow breaths audible in the silence of the cab. I think about everything she told me for the entire drive, and I continue to think about it long after she says good night and makes her way into her house.