Page 82 of Vengeance

“I don’t know. Many things, I suppose,” Lex says as she pulls into Grayson’s driveway and puts her Mustang into park.

Heidi sighs on the other end, and Lex feels bad for her. “Christian acts as if he’s untouchable. At what point do we just kill him?”

Lex laughs. “I don’t know. That’s not my call.”

“Am I a terrible person if I ask Taylor about it?”

“No, I don’t think so. Hey, I gotta let you go. At least the girls are alright, and they seem tougher than the last group.”

“Fine! I’ll be an adult and deal with it. Somehow. Thanks for listening.”

Hanging up, she gets out and walks up to Grayson’s door. Grayson answers and stands with his bottom half hidden behind the door to expose his bare torso and head. He’s naked. Oh, God.

“Lex? Is everything okay? Is it Tara?” Grayson asks.

“Uh, she’s fine as far as I know. She was released from the hospital quickly, and Ty likely won’t let her or Matty out of his sight anytime soon.”

“What’s up?”

Trying not to imagine him naked becomes more and more difficult the longer he stands like this. “I, uh... I needed help with something, but it’s obviously a bad time. I can come back-”

“Wait,” he says, stopping her as she turns to leave. “Give me two minutes.”

The door shuts, and Ashley opens it only moments later, letting Lex inside as she wears only his t-shirt. “Ash, I’m sorry for interrupting.”

“He did it.”

“I’m assuming so, considering he’s naked, and you’re only wearing a shirt. Good for you guys, though. Middle of the day sex is never a bad thing.”

The brunette laughs and holds out her left hand to show off her mother’s ring, and Lex smiles widely. “No, he did this.”

“Yeah, he did!” she says and examines the ring. “Finally.”

“He told me how you helped him navigate things, and it explains why he wouldn’t skip Shep’s wedding. It also makes sense now how you kept telling him you’ve got him when he was loaded into the ambulance.”

“I feel like I should apologize or something, but I... I’m not really sorry. For any of it.”

Pulling her into a tight hug, Ashley sighs. “Thank you for being a better friend than I was.”

“You’re welcome?”

“I see now how stupid my insecurities and jealousy were,” she says and releases her, her eyes never leaving her ring. “I know you’d never do anything like that, and neither would he. It’s just... I’ve never loved anyone like I love Grayson.”

She smiles. “And he’s never loved anyone like he loves you.”

Grayson walks back out. “What do you need help with, Lex?”

“First, took you long enough. Congrats!” Lex says and hits him.

“Thanks.”

“Okay, I need you to look into something for me.”

He nods. “Okay, what am I looking into?”

“This is going to sound like a bit of a leap, but I think the owner of the Clam Bake might be connected to the Slashers.”

Both Grayson and Ashley lift their eyebrows. “Yeah, that does kind of sound like a leap,” Grayson says.

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