Chapter 17
GRAYSON
No. He wasn’t about to let her kick him out.
His brain scrambled. He’d messed up, treating her like any other sub.
It was apparent that Lexi had some heavy baggage.
Should he ask her about it? No, he reasoned, not right then.
Whatever it was she dealt with, she didn’t need to go through it.
His Alessandra was running on fumes. What did she need?
“I don’t think so,” he said.
From the chair next to him, he felt her stiffen up. Would she never fucking trust him? His frustration tripled when he realized she was right; he hadn’t let go when she’d asked. Twice. He’d forced her to get defensive.
Fine. He would go. He inhaled deeply and stood. His nose was throbbing, but he ignored it. He brought his chair back to the far side of her desk, and her posture relaxed a bit. But he wasn’t quite done with her yet. He stood across from her and leaned over the table.
“I’m going to go,” he said. “Not only because you asked me to, but because I think it’s what you need. You’re going to take five minutes here and make yourself a to-do list. For tomorrow.”
Lexi’s brow creased in confusion.
“You’re going to go home, Alessandra. When’s the last time you slept?”
Her gaze dropped, and it took him a second to realize she was looking at her desk calendar.
“If you need to look at a calendar for that, Alessandra, I’m going to say it’s been too damn long. You shouldn’t even be up walking around.”
Lexi’s mouth opened in defense and he cut her off.
“I’m going to wait out front. I’ll follow you home, and you’re going to go inside.
You’re going to drink one full glass of water, close all of your curtains, and you’re going to lay down.
” Grayson leaned further over the desk until he was inches from her face.
“I could ask you if I could come in, Alessandra, and we both know you would let me. I could touch you - I could touch you right now,” he said, and trailed a hand an inch away from her cheek.
Lexi’s eyes never left his - he had her.
“But I’m not going to. Because that’s not what you need. You need to lay down, and get yourself off.”
Lexi’s mouth opened in surprise.
“Twice, three times if you can. And then, my Alessandra, you are going to fall asleep. You are going to sleep so hard you don’t even dream, and when you wake up, you are going to eat dinner before going back to bed until tomorrow.”
Deep brown eyes blinked up at him. He waited for some response, but she said nothing. The minutes they must have stared at each other felt like ages.
“Do you understand me, Alessandra?”
She turned her face away, but kept her eyes on him. It felt like she wanted to ask him something.
“What is it?” he asked. His tone stayed casual, as if they were discussing nothing more important than their appreciation of coffee. He was content to wait to hear what she needed to say, and moved some of the things on her desk to the side so he could lean more comfortably.
Lexi’s face was very serious. He wondered if he’d pushed too hard; she could be about to tell him to go to hell.
“So is it two, or is it three?” she asked.
A flare of triumph trumpeted through his chest, and he tried not to show it on his face.
Maybe it was only because she was completely sleep deprived right now, but she was accepting him as her Dom; letting him call the shots.
Fucking finally. Even the ones that, as a relative goddamn stranger, he had absolutely no right making. Grayson couldn’t care less.
Now that she’d left that door open for him, there was a much better chance she’d let him walk through it again. It was a win.
“Two,” he said, and watched her face settle. It occurred to him then, how exhausting it must be; being submissive, and constantly being in charge. On top of being physically drained, she was mentally exhausted as well. He reached under her chin with gentle fingers.
“You’re so strong,” he whispered.
Lexi’s eyebrows raised, and she shook her head slightly - just enough to dislodge his fingers.
“Not really. I just keep going.”
“Exactly.” Grayson gestured to her desk. “Make your list. I’m going to go let Eddie know you’re going home.”
She nodded and he walked out, scooping the signed contract from her desk, certain she would do as he asked. He hated how overworked she was, but for the first time she wasn’t fighting him. Well - he rubbed the bridge of his nose - not in every way, at least.
Eddie stood at the front desk, and looked up from the computer when Grayson walked up. His eyes went straight to Grayson’s nose, which must have looked worse than he thought. Eddie grinned.
“You piss her off?” was all Eddie asked, but his eyes were asking a whole host of other questions. Grayson touched the bridge of his nose again, and ignored the bit of blood he swallowed.
“Yeah,” Grayson said. His voice was terse. “Look, she’s about to head home. Is everything okay here? Do you need anything or anyone?”
Eddie’s surprise was obvious.
“You got her to go home?”
Grayson nodded. Eddie’s look was measured. Without looking, he swiped his hand under the countertop. He handed Gray a short stack of protein bars.
“These are her favorite. We’re fine here.”
“And the windows are going in later?” Grayson asked. He turned to look through the gaping holes in the back wall, and tucked the peanut butter bars into his pocket.
“Yeah.”
“I have a guy we use for projects at the club,” Grayson said. “I can have him over here, get some more done while Lexi’s off between today and tomorrow?”
Eddie tapped a rhythm on the counter before swiveling his stool to face Grayson.
“How much does he charge?”
Grayson shook his head.
“It’s on me.”
Eddie stopped tapping and squinted at Gray.
“Why?”
Grayson noticed in his periphery that Lexi had come out of her office. As suspected, she held a sheet of paper in her hands and was reading over it while she walked; her list.
“If he doesn’t,” he said quickly to Eddie before Lexi could overhear, “who’s going to wind up doing it all? Her?”
Eddie’s eyes cut to Lexi and his lips pursed as he nodded. Eddie didn’t look any happier about it than Grayson felt, but at least Grayson had the power to change it.
“Ready to go?” he asked Lexi as she came up to the front. Still looking around the gym and clicking a pen, Lexi nodded absently.
“Good.” Grayson plucked the list from her hands and read through it, frowning at the length of it. He spared Eddie a glance.
“Paper please.”
Eddie shuffled through the desk and came up with a torn-off square of scratch paper. Grayson took Lexi’s pen from her other hand, extracting a huff from her, and quickly took every maintenance item off Lexi’s list to write a new list. How the fuck did she expect to get up on the roof?
From replacing soap cartridges in the bathroom to patching a hole in a wall and putting new flags out front, it went on Rio’s list. It showed him exactly how much she did with this place, and he became enraged at the negligence of the owners. Maybe he’d have to see about getting Lexi a new job.
A smirk flitted over his mouth as he realized that in a sense, he already had. He handed the new list to Eddie as well as Lexi’s original list.
“Maintenance. And is there anything on the rest of her list you can’t handle?”
With an amused glance at Lexi, who’d said nothing yet, Eddie scanned the lists. He let out a little whistle between his teeth.
“Was this this week’s list, girl?”
Lexi rocked back on her heels.
“That was just tomorrow’s.”
Eddie snorted.
“Of course it was. Only you, girl. The only ting I see on here is Marshall? You got that, girl?”
Lexi nodded.
“Do you want me to cover your classes tomorrow night?”
“No, I should be fine-”
“Yes, Alessandra will be taking all of tomorrow off,” Grayson cut in.
Lexi frowned at him.
“You take the day, girl,” Eddie said in reassurance.
Grayson was satisfied. Everything would get done, and Lexi would get some rest. There was also the added bonus that he could see where she lived.
“Miss?” Grayson asked, and pushed open the front door. With a last lingering look at the gym, Lexi let out a sigh and preceded him out. Grayson held a tense moment of eye contact with Eddie before following her out.
Grayson ran through options on his phone in the neighborhood for early dinner options as he trailed her beat up Mazda.
He would order delivery to her house, make sure she was settled, and be back at the club in time for Rio to chew his ass out for asking him for a last-minute full day of manual labor.
But he’d take it, he thought, because it was better than Lexi trying to do it all.
His phone found a well-rated Mexican place, and he ordered a variety of tacos and fajitas at random.
Statistically speaking, she had to like something he picked.
He frowned over his steering wheel as they cruised another few blocks and the buildings deteriorated from mediocre to neglected and impoverished.
It struck him how quickly it happened; two blocks ago there had been a quaint school zone and a serviceable, if small, library, and on this block were boarded up windows and a handful of cars mounted up on cinder blocks.
She lived here? His Alessandra? He didn’t understand.
She had to make at least a decent wage at the gym.
He was half tempted to haul her back to his own apartment and make her rest there.
More than half. Then she turned into one half of a duplex, and it didn’t look too bad, considering the houses next to it.
The single level ranch house was clearly split into two apartments, but the paint was all white with a violently turquoise trim.
How he felt about it must have shown on his face as he walked up the path with Lexi because she let out a little laugh.
“Yeah, I’m not a fan, but the landlord won’t let me change it. I even offered to do his side too.”