Chapter 37 #2
Gemma chuckled and kissed Liam on the cheek. “Give your girls a hug from me.”
Hunter pulled Liam into a hug, clapping him on the back. “See you around, bud.”
Liam stopped before Grayson and me and shook his head, smiling amusedly.
Grayson held his hand out to Liam. “Thank you, Liam. For protecting her. I owe you.”
It was simple words, but I could feel the gravity of them settle between us. There was nothing Grayson wouldn’t do for Liam now.
Liam smiled, looking at me, then back at Grayson. “I was only returning the favour.” He sighed then, pulling me into a hug. “Don’t beat yourself up too much, okay? Beck will be fine. In time. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
I nodded, swallowing down the damn lump that kept choking me up. “Thanks for saving my life in the park.” How many other times had he saved me that I didn’t know about?
He pulled my hair, his grin not quite reaching his eyes. “Ditto.”
When Liam’s car disappeared out the driveway, Gemma threw her arms around me. “I’ve missed you so much.” She held me at arm’s length, studying me. “We’ll talk soon, okay? To catch up.”
“You’re leaving me again?” I didn’t mean to say again, but it slipped out, nonetheless.
“Just for tonight. It’s safer if we split up. We’ll meet up again tomorrow night. Besides, you and Gray have some talking to do.”
I nodded, feeling that familiar ache in my chest returning.
Grayson noticed and brushed a finger along my cheek. “You’ll have the rest of your lives to catch up.”
Gemma nodded, grinning broadly and my heart fluttered at the prospect.
Against my will, I smiled up at Grayson.
Together or death, his eyes said.
I waved Gemma and Hunter off before getting into Grayson’s car. The silence dropped heavy over us as we drove along the coast, farther away from the city, over sweeping hills into the countryside.
The thrill of the escape had worn off, leaving me with nothing but the thoughts of my betrayal.
Have I chosen correctly?
Gods, why did I do it like this? I should have found a way to leave Owen that didn’t tear his world apart. I could never forgive myself for this.
I swallowed against the burn in my throat. I was deluding myself. No matter how I did it, nothing could make this right.
I clamped down on the emotions waiting to tear me to shreds, trying to keep it together as we drove up to a little villa that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
It was covered in vines, reminding me of my own house.
Would I miss it?
Grayson came around the car and opened the door for me. He pulled two suitcases from the trunk and made his way up the steps.
The place was still completely dark as I stepped through the door. I couldn’t see what was inside, but through the floor to ceiling windows on the other side of the room, I could see the ocean, glistening in the moonlight.
It was a full moon. I hadn’t notice. I hadn’t noticed such things in almost two years.
Grayson switched the lights on, and the moon disappeared, instead the little room reflected back at us.
I could see myself too. My clothes were dishevelled, my hair a mess and mascara had left black circles under my eyes. At least I thought it was mascara.
I tried to smooth my hair down, tried to rub the mascara away. The salt of the ocean and my sweat had crystalised on my skin, and I tried to wipe it away too.
Grayson caught my wrists, stilling them as he looked down at me, his eyes soft and a little worried.
He gently kissed both my hands. “Come.” He led me through a door into a bedroom, then to an ensuite bathroom.
He opened the water in the shower, then untangled my hair from the braid.
“Get in. I’ll go warm a towel for you and get you some dry clothes,” he murmured, brushing his hand along my hair.
When the door clicked shut behind him, I crumbled to the floor. I wrapped my arms around my torso trying to keep myself together as the feelings tore me apart.
Owen’s smiling face flickered behind my lids as I sobbed into my hands.
I would never see that smile again.
The realisation made my insides twist in agony, knocking the breath from me.
Arms wrapped around me as I struggled for air.
Grayson pulled my broken body against him, holding me tight as I wailed at my loss.
He rocked me, stroking my hair until my lungs could function again.
When I looked up, silent tears were streaming down his face. “Gray…” I reached up and wiped them away.
He tried to say something, but his face twisted in pain. His hands were trembling as he brought them to my face. “Just…just give me tonight. Then I’ll take you back to him. One more night, baby. Please.”
Another sob broke from my chest. This man… “I made my choice. I chose you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
His eyes fell closed with relief, his breath coming out in a woosh.
Another tear slipped over his cheek as he shook his head.
“But it’s killing you, Princess. You love him.
I can’t just sit by and watch you hurt like this.
Not again. Not because of me. I’ll go get him.
I’ll throw him in a cage if I have to. Then you don’t have to choose. ”
A broken laugh spilled out of me. “You would share me with Owen?” It was an absurd idea. Owen would rather die.
“I was ready to lose you to him. I thought I had. And I accepted it. So sharing you with the pup doesn’t seem so impossible anymore. If that is what you want, if it’ll make you happy, I can do it.”
Gods, I loved this man so much, it hurt.
I kissed him lightly, pulling my fingers through his hair, chuckling against his lips through the tears.
He tightened his hold on me, pulling me closer as if he was afraid that I could slip through his fingers if he didn’t hold on tight enough.
“That is the sweetest thing you have ever said to me, Gray. But I chose this. I choose you.” It broke my heart, but it was true. Even if I had to do it again, my choice wouldn’t change.
I brushed a finger over the stubble on his chin, my own chin trembling. “I have missed you, Grayson Varon, more than words could ever express.”
He lowered his forehead to mine, brushing a hand over my tangled hair. “I know, my beautiful princess. I know how impossible every day was. I couldn’t breathe either. I couldn’t fucking breathe.”
My heart squeezed.
Yes. It finally felt like I could inhale air freely again. The tightness in my chest that’d been strangling my lungs was gone.
Grayson’s arms around me, his body against me, felt so good, so right.
But I needed more. I needed to bridge that hole that still gaped between us.
I needed to feel that he was mine, truly mine, before I gave him my everything again.
Before I recklessly dove back into his madness.
It might already be too late, but I first needed to know he was mine.
Completely, utterly, to the brink of fucking insanity—the same way I was his.
In the same way that drove me to burn down my life, my friendships, my lover.
Just to touch him. To experience him, and the mess he made of me.
How his hands can make my whole body tremble when he traced the curve of my spine.
I longed for that zing of electricity that erupted between us, that made me weak, when he showed me just how much I belonged to him.
It was stupid and it was reckless and maddening, but I needed him to feel whole again.
I had been ripped in two, all this time and he, the thief who had stolen my soul, was the only one who could put me back together.
“Gray?”
He let out a soft sigh, brushing his lips against the top of my cheek. “Hmm?”
“Make it better.” I swallowed. “Make me feel good again.”
He inhaled a shattering breath, a shudder rippling through his body. His eyes burrowed into me, the longing in them suffocating me, stoking the fires in my soul. “Yes, baby. Let me make this right.”
His lips crashed against mine, demanding, possessive, forcing my attention to him and only him. Drowning out the rest of the world, till there was nothing but the burning between us.
He lifted me off the floor and wrapped my legs around his torso. He walked us into the shower, fully clothed and pressed me up against the wall. The warm water spilled over us, shrouding us in wafts of steam.
My heart was beating frantically, in sync with Grayson’s as he kissed me. He kissed me with such hunger it melted away the hurt, the cold that had frosted over my heart.
We hurriedly peeled the clothes off each other, desperate to finally have nothing between us.
When our bodies touched again, I sucked in a shuddering breath. Grayson moaned, pulling me tightly against him, his fingers tangling in my hair. “Fucking magic,” he murmured against my neck.
Electricity buzzed between us, heating my skin and my core. Grayson lifted his mouth to mine again, but he stopped. He pulled back, his eyes roaming over my body in awe. “Oh, you are mesmerizing, little star. You are a fucking dream, I swear to the gods.”
Butterflies scattered through me, leaving me weak and tingling. “You believe in my gods now?” I taunted breathlessly.
“Look at you, baby. How can I not.” He lifted me off the wall. “Can I take you outside? You glow brighter under the moon. I’ve missed it. Let me see your magic again, Ava.”
I nodded and he turned the water off, carrying me to the bedroom. He ripped the duvet off the bed and draped it over my wet, naked body. I gripped the ends of it and circled it around both of us.
Grayson opened a door and walked us out onto the beach. I shuddered as the cold breeze nipped at my wet skin—a brutal contrast to the heat of Grayson.
“Why do we always end up butt naked outside in the middle of winter?”
He chuckled. “No idea, Persephone.”
My breathing hitched as he kneeled and laid me down onto the sand. He kept his body pressed against mine, to keep the chill away, but he opened the duvet, his eyes roaming over my body as the moonlight tingled my skin.