Chapter GRAYSON
GRAYSON
For a moment, he was confused why she was hunched over on the bench, until it became clear she was struggling with something… a necklace. It only looked like one, but her breathing was coming in quick, uneven pants, and her gaze had gone straight through him.
“Good morning,” he tried casually.
He still had in mind that perhaps something he’d done or said the other day had been too much and she’d run. He had to be a little more tame, he thought. At least until she was one hundred percent in, and he figured out what to do with her. But his good morning went unanswered.
Lexi made a garbled sound in the back of her throat, and he wondered if she was the opposite of a morning person. Or maybe-
“Do you need help?”
Her only response was those quick breaths. Her movements got more frantic, and she went to stand. Grayson placed a hand as gently as he could on her shoulder.
“Alexis. What’s wrong?”
She knocked his hand away and took two running steps to get past him. Panic. Without thinking it through, he caught up to her in one step. Spinning her around by her shoulder, he ignored the elbow that skimmed his diaphragm as she flailed behind her.
Using his forward momentum, he walked her backward two more steps until her back was against a wall.
The white concrete wall must have been cool on her back, but her breath continued in short pants and a red flush was spreading across her chest and up into her face.
She brought her hands up in fists and he thought for a heartbeat he might have to hold them down or he’d get hit.
But her fingers just curled themselves into the edges of his t-shirt, grabbing on to something unidentifiable inside him. He ignored it.
She was looking at him, but it was like she wasn’t really seeing him. Her dark eyes were wide and wouldn’t focus, looking everywhere but into his. Both of his hands pushed her back against the wall at her ribcage.
“Alexis. Breathe.”
He used a deeper voice, mindful of startling her. Of course, he mused, she couldn’t get much more worked up than she already was. Maybe there was no harm in using his Dom voice. Much deeper than his speaking voice and sharp, he tried to reserve it for situations that needed it. This qualified.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he commanded.
Lexi jumped, but still didn’t look him in the eye. Her hands made their way to her throat, scratching at where her necklace lay. Grayson winced at the scratches. His voice whipped out a little sharper than he intended.
“Stop.”
She stopped clawing at her own neck, but her breathing was still too fast.
“Breathe.”
It wasn’t working. He leaned forward, putting more of his weight against his arms. He slid his left forearm up between her breasts against her sternum, until his hand was splayed at the base of her throat, but he made sure to not actually touch her neck.
She was having enough trouble breathing as it was.
One of her knees came up, and he pushed her thigh back with his knee against the wall, but it seemed like she didn’t even notice. Like the knee had been a reflex. He reached his right hand up to cup the side of her face and forced her face up to his.
“Look at me.”
It got through. Her breath was still heaving with shallow gasps, but she was looking straight up at him with wide eyes.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
Lexi shuddered slightly.
“I can’t breathe. It’s too tight.”
His eyes flicked down to the thin silver chain at her neck.
It was actually a very long chain, and held only a thin butterfly at the end.
His lack of response seemed to agitate her, and she clawed at her neck again, this time not even hitting the chain.
He raised his left hand a couple of inches to block her own hands.
“Stop moving.”
Her eyes were watery, but she stopped moving. For someone who might not be an actual submissive, she was certainly… responsive.
“I don’t want to die again.”
Her voice came out in a strangled whisper. Her eyes pleaded up at him. Shocked, Grayson could only stare at her for a moment.
“Breathe. You know I won’t hurt you. Stop moving.”
His voice got slower with the commands, and she seemed mesmerized by his unblinking stare. She finally stopped pushing against his hands and relaxed against the wall, taking shallow breaths.
With his left forearm holding her still up against her sternum, he used his left hand to grab at the chain’s little clasp. He didn’t want to look away from her. It was working; he was completely in charge. She was breathing more steadily, and he didn’t want to break their eye contact.
Grayson finally got it to release, although he thought some part of it might have snapped. He slid it off her neck and held it loosely in his hand, but he didn’t move otherwise. He didn’t think she’d noticed that the necklace was gone.
“It’s gone. Breathe.”
Lexi inhaled deeply, and he was finding it difficult to back away.
She had responded so perfectly; exactly as he’d wanted her to.
Maybe she wasn’t a Domme? His body took that moment to recognize that he had her securely pinned against a wall, he was between her pinned open legs, and she was staring up at him, waiting.
He could see the exact moment when she fought it off as her eyes snapped with clarity.
Grayson heard footsteps coming at them fast as she blinked rapidly.
“Lexi! What the fuck? Who the fuck is this? Are you okay?” Eddie jogged up, his short dreads bouncing.