Grayson #2
“I do assignments for them,” I lie through my teeth.
“Sometimes, I get hurt while doing them.” It’s not a full on lie.
I am assigned to matches, and I do sometimes get hurt.
Sometimes, they make me fight young kids from within the mafia to teach them lessons.
Those ones hurt the worst. Those times, I come out unscathed. All except my heart.
Her face pinches at my words, but she lets my lie sit between us for now. I’ve fed her enough to let her into my mess of a life. I can tell she knows there’s more, but she leaves it for now.
“We can find the money and pay them back. I can—”
I shush her with my finger on her lip. “No, we can’t. It’s more complicated than that.”
“Then uncomplicate it for me,” she yells, her anger boiling over.
My lips thin in a pained smile. “I wish I could, honey. I’m…I’m working on it, but it’s going to take some time. In the meantime, I need to lay low and do as they say so no one gets hurt. So you don’t get hurt.”
I grip her face in both my palms, bringing our foreheads together.
“I promise you, I will do everything in my power to fix this and keep you safe. I, well, I fucking care about you, Maisie. You’ve engraved yourself right down to my very heart, and I don’t think I’m strong enough to walk away from you anymore.
But we have to be careful for now. We can’t be normal.
I can’t court you the way I would like to or show you off around town like you deserve. ”
I let my hands drop, rolling on my back and taking Maisie with me.
“Fuck, I’m getting ahead of myself. I don’t even know what this is between us, or if you’re even interested in it.
You’re leaving in a couple months, and my life is here, and you have big author dreams that I want so badly for you, and it’s all so complicated, and I’ve been a real dick to you, and—”
Maisie’s lips cut off my rambling, and I melt into her.
She knows exactly how to ease all my anxiety with one gesture.
She answers all my questions with a fiery, passionate kiss that has my dick rising to attention under her.
She’s fully straddling me now, grinding down on me while letting out little mewls into my mouth. I eat up every single one.
I don’t care that my ribs are screaming at me in protest, or that she makes the cuts on my face crack. All I care about are her lips on mine and the sweet taste of her on my tongue. My hands find her waist, sliding down to her bare cheeks, my shirt now sitting high on her hips.
“Fuck, you drive me crazy, woman,” I groan into her mouth, palming her cheeks.
Maisie pulls away, smirking down at me, and I want to kiss it right off her face. “There, is that answer enough for you, cowboy? I’m not going anywhere for now, so you’re stuck with me. Never again will you make a decision for me. Got it?”
I sigh, trailing my pointer fingers along the edge of her lace panties. “Maisie—”
“No! No. No more, Grayson. I’m a grown woman, and I get to make decisions about my life.
You can’t shut me out anymore. What I walked in on last night…
I never want to see you hurting like that ever again.
You hear me? You aren’t alone in this anymore.
You have me now. Promise you won’t push me away again or keep more secrets from me. ”
I can’t make that promise, not if her life is on the line. If I have to choose between her staying alive and lying, I’ll choose her life every time. She doesn’t need to know that, though. Maybe she already knows it but wants me to feed her pretty lies.
The words come out easily. “I promise,” I whisper against her lips, letting it burn all the way to her, and then I crash my lips to hers, hoping the kiss can chase away the lie so it doesn’t sting as bad.
Our lips are pressed together all of two seconds before a hellion yowls from the doorway.
I jolt up, taking a gasping Maisie with me. “What the fuck was that?”
Maisie tries to conceal a laugh behind her hand, finding this very funny. “It’s breakfast time.”
A little furry hairball saunters into my room, leaving a trail of frizzy hair flying through the air. It stops to scratch its claws on my rug before hopping right up on the bed like it owns the place.
“Hi, sweet girl,” Maisie praises, giving her a chin rub. The fluff ball eats up Maisie’s words, and I imagine that’s what I look like when she gives me attention too.
“Maisie, why is there a cat in my house?”
The she devil spins around a few times before plopping in my lap, smashed between us, as Maisie still straddles my waist.
“Aww, look. She likes you,” Maisie squeals, petting down her back. Little hairball bombs float up to my nose, and I sneeze. “You’re such a good girl, aren’t you?” she coos.
“When did she even get here?” I told her not to leave last night, and if I find out she did, then she’s going to get punished.
She looks up at me through her lashes, trying to look innocent.
I won’t lie: it's adorable. “I may have…maybe, potentially, stolen your truck last night after you fell asleep to go grab her from my cabin.” I attempt to open my mouth, but she halts me with a finger to my lips. “She’s in a new place, and she doesn’t like being left alone.
I morally couldn’t leave her alone and scared for the night, okay?
I was back and in bed within minutes, and you never even knew I left. No harm, no foul.”
I chuckle through her finger, incapable of being mad at her. She’s just too darn cute and selfless. “I’ll let it slide this time, but this is your only warning.”
My arms weave behind her back, drawing her closer. The cat doesn't enjoy being smashed between us and takes the hint to sprint out of the room.
“Gray,” she squeals while I tickle her sides, dragging her back into the puffy comforter wrapped around us.
“Five more minutes,” I murmur against her skin.
I know it can’t last, but whatever this is…I want an eternity of it.