34. Spencer
CHAPTER 34
SPENCER
The air is warmer tonight than it has been in months, the golden evening sun casting warm rays on Ally and Mason’s backyard. Tiny bugs are visible in the light above the trees, and crickets chirp happily in the long grass around us. Just like my first night here. The one that started it all. When Grady gave himself to me and I unknowingly gave myself to him in return.
I feel a large warm hand on the small of my back, and I turn to see him at my side, looking down at me with his kind hazel eyes, shimmering almost gold in the sunlight.
He hands me a cold beer, drips of condensation forming on the cold glass bottle. I take it from him and he places a familiar soft kiss on my temple before leaving me to go join Hudson and Jett where they are playing with Hudson’s golden retriever, Ruby, on the grass.
I catch his hand before he’s too far from me, and yank on it just hard enough that he whirls back towards me. I pull him in, wrapping my other hand around the back of his neck to pull him into a long, deep kiss.
I don’t care who is here, who is seeing our public display of affection. Grady and I are together, and I want the world to know it.
He smiles down at me when he pulls away, the corners of his eyes wrinkling. It’s something I have adored about his face since the first time I ever saw him smile big enough for those lines to show up, and it makes me appreciate them on my own face even more.
We match, him and I. In so many ways, but particularly in our joy. Being with him is a joy.
I let him go, giving him a playful tap on his ass as he walks away. He gets about halfway over to Hudson and Jett and skips as he turns around again, taking a few steps backwards. He winks at me, and blows me a kiss, and my heart turns to goo.
“Get a room, you two,” Ally jeers from where she’s sitting on a blanket in the grass, Hazel lying beside her, cooing and kicking her tiny legs in the air. I wander over and set myself down beside her, picking up a bright purple rattle and holding it in front of Hazel.
I admire her for a moment, marvelling at how much she looks like my best friend. The same blue eyes, the same button nose. I know just by looking at her that she’s going to be our new little bestie. It makes me even happier knowing that I get to be here for it. I get to be here to watch her grow up, to be Aunty Spencer. She can call me when she goes out to a party and has too much to drink if she’s afraid of calling her mom and dad. She’ll never be afraid to call her mom and dad, but I’ll be here, just in case.
Ally must be able to read my thoughts based on my expression.
“I’m so happy you’re here, Spencer,” she says, but she doesn’t look up at me, concealing the tears that are forming in her eyes. Happy ones.
“Me too,” I say, and I mean it with my whole heart.
“I honestly never thought we would get to live in the same city again.”
“Neither did I, but you know, I surprise even myself,” I answer.
“How did Sasha respond to you quitting your new job?”
“Before or after she stopped screaming into the phone?” I fill Ally in on the fact that Sasha has officially dropped me as a client, and I no longer have an agent. But for the first time ever, it doesn’t cause the kind of panic within me that I thought it would. I assumed that being jobless would feel a lot worse, that it would cause a spiral that I wouldn’t be able to claw myself out of again. I have a place to stay; I’m safe and cared for. The job situation can be sorted out later. Besides, I have a feeling that all it will take is one call to Eleanor and I’ll be the newest member of the tourism board. I’m no longer worried. I trust myself enough to know that I’ll figure it out and land on my feet.
I gaze over to where Grady is playing with Ruby. He looks so much happier now, his expression bright, his shoulders light. A knot forms in my stomach thinking about how much I must have put him through these last weeks. How badly he fought for me to stay, just to have me leave.
I’m here now, and I’m here to stay. I’ll show him every single day that I will be here for him, the same way he did all along.
Hazel starts crying where she’s lying on the picnic blanket, and Ally picks her up to take her inside and put her down to sleep.
Dusk settles and the dim light and chill in the air prompts us all to gather around the fire that Mason has built in the large stone pit.
Grady and I find some camp chairs and cozy up under one of the blankets Ally has brought outside, sharing the space underneath it. I lean my head on his shoulder and watch the flames dance in front of us.
His hand is on my thigh, his thumb making soft circles on the fleshy part, working their way higher and higher. My core clenches, warmth spreading between my legs. No one else around us seems to notice or be paying attention. But by the quirk on Grady’s lips, he knows what he’s doing to me. I shift in my seat, unable to focus on the conversation happening around us.
Grady leans into me, his voice a soft rumble in my ear.
“Do you want to get out of here?”
I nod slightly in response, the movement only perceptible to him. He clears his throat, and suddenly all eyes are on us at the far end of the fire pit. I can feel my cheeks heating.
“Spencer and I are going to have to call it a night,” he says, his voice cracking slightly as he attempts a casual tone.
“Aw, boo.” Ally pouts. “It’s still so early.”
“I’ve got an early morning tomorrow morning, and Spencer is tired from her trip back to Heartwood,” he lies. A sorry excuse. I flew back yesterday and I feel fine, except for the pulsing between my legs and the feral need to climb Grady.
“Sure, okay,” Ally concedes, but Mason, Hudson, and Jett are eyeing us both with suspicious glares and knowing smiles.
We excuse ourselves, Grady leading me by the hand around the front of the cabin and not waiting a single second to pull me into him. He grips my chin with his forefinger and thumb, tilting my head back to look at him.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he growls. “I’m going to need you to sit very still on the back of my bike tonight, or else I’m not going to be able to control myself.”
A cheeky smile spreads across my face.
“No promises.”
He brushes his lips across mine before whispering against my mouth.
“I don’t want to have to punish you when we get home.”
Heat radiates through me again, and Grady is now striding with motivation and purpose towards his bike.
Once we’re on, I only wait until we’ve turned onto the main road before I reach down from where I’m holding his waist and run my hand flat along his length, pressing against his jeans.
Over the rumble of the motorcycle, I feel more than hear him groan, and he twists his hand on the throttle to accelerate.
When we pull up to the house, Grady is the first to jump off the bike, and he comes around behind me, lifting me off the bike with ease, and carrying me right to the front door.
“Don’t we need to be married before you carry me over the threshold?” I say with a giggle.
“Oh, don’t worry, Rebel,” Grady says as he pushes the door open with his foot, “I fully intend on marrying you.”
Before I know it, he’s carried me up the stairs and straight into the bedroom we share, the one he decorated for me.
He lays me down on the plush duvet and climbs over top of me, resting on his elbows on either side of my head.
“Fuck me like—” I start, but he’s cut me off with a finger on my lips.
“Tonight, I’m going to fuck you like it’s the first time of many. I’m going to fuck you like we get to do this every day for the rest of our lives, and I’m not going to take one single second for granted. I’m going to savour every moment.”
His lips meet mine, and my mouth opens for him, our tongues rolling together. Like they’ve done this a million times before. Like they’ve had practice. But the feeling that blooms in my chest is not one that I’ve ever felt before. Complete and utter abandon. Because I am safe. Grady makes me feel safe.
He makes love to me, and when we finish, I fall asleep nestled in the crook of his arm, in the room that I always fell asleep imagining would one day be mine. I no longer have to imagine it.
The life I always dreamt of is mine.
I’m home.