Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
CAL
When I open my eyes, I’m wrapped in Grayson’s arms. I can’t fathom any part of this is comfortable for him, but he’s wearing a smile when I look at him, so he must not care too much.
“Good morning.”
“Hmmm,” I mutter while I burrow in, as if he could possibly get any closer. “Can I go back to sleep so I don’t have to face the day?”
“What do you have to face?” Grayson asks. “Lt. Allen’s bullshit has been sent to the police. They’re likely tearing through his life as we speak… it might not feel like we have complete closure until we see him arrested, but we’ve made it so he can never hurt anyone again.”
I hesitate as I realize what he’s saying. “You’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.”
“I just never knew you could be right, but there’s a first time for everything,” I say as if this is an astounding discovery.
Grayson laughs and squeezes me. “Excuse me? I surely heard you wrong.”
I shake my head as I tuck my face against his bare chest. “Nope. Heard me fully right, for sure. Are you going home today?”
“Not unless you kick me out, and if you do, I’ll probably just mope at Felix’s and hope you call me back. Or maybe find a boombox and stand outside your window in the rain.”
I grin at that ridiculous mental image. “I suppose, out of pity, I’ll let you stay.”
“Yeah?” he asks.
“You have to stay here all day… as punishment.”
“I don’t know if that’s enough. Maybe staying the rest of my life would be.”
“Maybe if you hang around even in the afterlife,” I muse.
“I’ll do that. I’ll never leave you.”
I close my eyes, loving every second of this. “What… what do we do now? I mean, we can’t lie in bed all day, can we?”
“We could eat breakfast then crawl back in bed.”
“I like the sound of that,” I decide as I smack around the bedside table for my glasses. After exactly two seconds of searching, I give up, exhausted.
Grayson grabs them and then romantically tries sliding them onto my face by accidentally jabbing me nearly in the eye.
“What was that for?” I cry.
“I was trying to be all suave and slide them on with finesse!”
“Quite suave at nearly popping my eyeball out.”
“You’re rather dramatic, you know that? You’ve been hanging around Felix too long.”
“I’ve never been dramatic a day in my life,” I say as he finally manages to get the glasses on me. “I’m too exhausted to get up now.”
“Just after putting your glasses on?”
“I need to be cuddled some more to help me recover from the damage done to my eyes.”
Grayson pushes my hair up. “I’m sorry I caused you so much distress. Let me make it all better,” he says as he kisses the palm of my hand and then each of my fingers. “Did that heal you?”
“Just a little bit,” I tease.
“I’ll have to try harder, then,” he murmurs as he kisses my other hand too.
I pretend that gives me enough energy to get out of bed. After he returns from letting Traveler outside, we head into the bathroom to brush our teeth. Every time I look up, he’s using the mirror to watch me, and I try to act like it doesn’t make me feel embarrassed.
“You’re adorable,” he says.
“Am I?” I ask with a lot of skepticism.
“Absolutely adorable.”
“I’m suspicious of you.”
He slides his toothbrush in the container opposite mine, and I stare at it for an extremely long period of time. Like… why do I love that so much? It’s a freaking toothbrush. Is it really that exciting?
“You okay?” Grayson asks, probably noticing my fixation on his toothbrush.
“Maybe.”
“Is it… is that a magical toothbrush? I mean… you did give it to me, so it might be.”
“Yes.”
“Oh… wow… what’s it do when you stare at it long enough?”
I give his ass a smack. “Shut it or I’m leaving you.”
“What if I… like…” He picks up a towel and slides it on the rack next to mine, and I’m left staring at that too.
“Are you just going to stay in here all day staring at my towel and my toothbrush?” he asks.
“Maybe.”
“If you follow me around, I’m sure there are more areas I can toss shit so it looks like I live here.”
So I follow him, waiting to be impressed by something else.
Grayson grins at me. “You want more?”
“Obviously.”
“Hmm… I mean… I guess, uh… which side of the couch is yours?”
“The right.”
“Now I want the right.”
“You can have the right.”
“We can both have the right,” he says while he goes into the kitchen.
After feeding Traveler, he grabs some cookies, since they’re the only thing I have in this house that isn’t stale, and heads over to sit on the right side of the couch.
When I start past, he grabs me and pulls me onto his lap as he kicks the feet out and urges me back until I’m tucked against him.
“There we go.”
“You… I’m not sure my heart can take this.”
“I’m positive it can.”
“I’m not positive it can,” I say.
“Maybe a cookie will help you,” he suggests as he feeds me one.
And I’m left munching on the cookie and acting like I’m not floating away on my cloud of happiness.
“Do I look like I need to be pampered like this?”
“Yeah… you kind of do,” he says.
“Maybe…”
Grayson laughs as he wraps one arm around my waist and holds me close. “I really like this side of the couch. If you like it too, you can just share it with me every night.”
“I guess if I have to so you’re not left living in some sketchy motel every night, I will, out of the goodness of my heart.”
“You really are sweet,” he says, kissing my cheek.
I lean against him and munch my cookie in bliss.
When he’s done with his cookie, he kisses my cheek a few times before pulling a blanket over us and starting a movie.
I hug his arm to me because it’s really all I can hold on to at this point.
And then I interlock our fingers together and stare at them for a bit.
“Don’t leave me,” I beg. “I… it’s funny because I lived most of my life alone. I never had parents to rely on. The house was always so quiet… but I’m afraid of the quiet now. Yet when I think of you in my life… it makes me so happy.”
“I won’t. I promise you. I will promise you every day if you need me to. I’m not leaving you.”
“Why would you uproot your whole life for me?” I ask.
“Were you not willing to uproot your whole life to follow me around if I stayed in the military?”
And I realize he’s right. He’d cut me off before because he didn’t want me to change my life. He wanted me to live my life and not throw it all away for him.
“I don’t yet have my life in order, but I’m hoping you’ll help me figure it out,” Grayson says. “I need to figure out what I want to do for a job and all of that nonsense.”
I nod, prepared to do whatever he wants if he stays. “I mean… I’m not sure I have my life in order to help you, but I’ll be around to give you a thumbs-up if I think you’re doing something at least semi decently.”
“That’s kind of you.”
“I’m kind like that.”
“Kind and sexy.”
I squeeze his hand tighter and realize how happy I am. I used to despise this apartment. Even the mere thought of coming “home” filled me with dread, so I would find myself hovering around Felix as long as I could to avoid it. But now that I’m here with Grayson…
“We can stay at this apartment for a bit, but I eventually want to make enough money to buy a house,” I tell him. “I just… haven’t gotten there yet.”
“I heard you when you told Audrey that you’d given your money to the families of the deceased… you should have taken care of yourself, Cal. You know Eddie and Tate wouldn’t have wanted you to do that.”
“No, I don’t regret that I gave it away. I’m happy I could help them,” I say.
“I’ve set aside quite a bit of money to buy a house. So we could begin hunting for one. One with a fenced-in yard for Traveler would be best. Something near Felix and Lane.”
“You want to be near those two?” I ask, extremely suspicious.
“Oddly… they seem to offer you some comfort… I’m not quite sure why at this point. If anything, I think you’d be safest far, far away from them. But they did take good care of you?—”
I turn enough to look at him. “Did they? Did they when they nearly murdered me with a safe? When they leaped out and?—”
Grayson cuts in. “And led you right to me.”
“Oh, don’t act all mushy,” I say, trying not to feel it myself.
“Led you right into my arms.”
“You’re a bit full of yourself.”
“Your heart was always destined to find me.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“It pushed you right into my loving embrace.”
I laugh as I lean back so I can kiss him. “Yes, that’s definitely why Felix and Lane leaped out of the vehicle and into danger. To escort me into your loving embrace.”
Grayson nods. “I thought so.”
“I should probably visit Arthur soon. Just for his weekly reminder that I’m not going to off his ex-wife.”
“Makes sense. Has he offered you money to do it?”
“Sure has. Last time it was up to like… two hundred and fifty thousand?”
“What’s her address? I think I have a three o’clock opening,” Grayson says, like he’s actually going to do it. “I mean… she has to be pretty old, right? She’d understand.”
That makes me laugh. “Don’t pretend like you’re evil.”
“I’m very evil, thank you very much. Evil is sexy right now.”
I laugh even harder at that ridiculous declaration. “Oh yes, just… seeing your evilness makes my loins ache.”
“Oh? Do they,” he says while his hand dances up under my shirt before crawling down to the band of my sweatpants. “Sounds concerning.”
“It is rather concerning,” I tease as his fingers slip under the band.
“I should probably check to see what’s going on down here.”
“You probably should.” I stifle a groan when his fingers slide over my cock.
“I might need a better look,” Grayson says as he tosses the blanket up and whips my pants down. “Hmm…”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“I’m left speechless.”
“You are absolutely ridiculous,” I say, flipping around on his lap. “It’s a good thing I grabbed supplies.” I flash the lube and a condom.
“Were you… were you planning on jumping me?” he asks, pretending to be shocked as I pull his pants down. Really, it doesn’t take much stroking at all for his cock to join the party.
“Looks like you’re enjoying it,” I say, stretching myself in record time before lifting my ass enough that I can press his sheathed cock against my hole.
“If this is what happens when I turn evil for a second, then I think I might just commit to the role,” he decides as I sink down onto him.
“You can be anything you want to be as long as you come home and fill me up like this,” I say as I lower myself until he’s deep inside of me.
“Oh fuck. I will do just that,” he says, making me laugh.
And while I rock my hips, Grayson kisses me and holds me close. It feels so freeing to love someone… to be held by them and hold them… to have them whisper words of love in my ears.
I really feel like life can’t get much better than this.