Page 45 of Grayson

“Baby, she doesn’t know me, you know me.”

I lift my gaze, and he cups my cheek, leaning in like he is going to kiss me. Only the evidence of what had taken place slaps me in the face hard.

Placing my hand on his chest I push back and he seems surprised. His brows furrow and his lips part.

“Her lipstick is still on your mouth.” And with that I walk to my room, close the door and flip the lock.

Sitting on the end of my bed, I let the tears fall. When I hear the sound of my front door closing, I lay back on my bed and curl into myself, pulling the blankets tight.

The bed dips at my side and I hold my breath, unsure of who’s entered my room. It’s dark, the apartment had been silent for hours until I’d fallen asleep. Now I’m not sure what the time actually is.

When I feel a hand rest on my arm and gently rub I know it’s not Gray. To be honest I’m thankful. I’m not sure I want to face him now. I’m not sure I even want to see him tomorrow. My emotions are all over the place. My doubts are through the roof, I’m confused, I’m hurt.

“Skye.” The sound of Vivian’s voice is comforting though I know she’s here because she knows. Which means Gray has talked to her.

“I’m fine,” I whisper in the darkness.

“Sweets, you are so far away from fine it’s not even in the same zip code.” She moves in closer and wraps me in a hug. That’s when the tears start to fall once again and this time I do nothing to stop them.

“Oh honey.” She turns me over so that I am forced to look at her. Wiping at the tears, she grabs a Kleenex off the nightstand and hands it to me. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“No,” I sit up and take the Kleenex from her, “but I do want to drink.”

Vivian looks at me with concern but I ignore it. Maybe alcohol isn’t the best option, but forgetting sounds nice.

She follows me out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. I notice she is wearing pajamas and I look at the clock on the microwave noticing it’s after midnight.

“Who called you?” I ask as I reach for the vodka in the cabinet above the refrigerator. Then the orange juice and grenadine. As I add it all to the cup the vodka to orange juice ratio is way off.

Turning to face Viv she looks down at my cup and frowns. “Listen, I’m all for drowning out the shit, but maybe you should stop and think for a bit.”

“Who called you?” I ask again, refusing to let her ignore my question.

“Scarlett.” With a shrug she sits opposite me at the kitchen table. “She’s with Gray.”

I stare at the cup in my hands.

“He said that Gia?—”

“I don’t care,” I interrupt her. “Right now, I don’t care.”

I don’t want to talk about it now. I want to ignore that the last twenty four hours even existed. I want to go back prior to his last shift and remember how sweet he was. Showing up with pizza, playing video games with Tori after he brought over his PlayStation console and hooked it up to our television. The two of them laughing and teaming up to beat out everyone else that had joined the battle.

I want to ignore that everything we’ve shared over the last several weeks may have come to an end. I don’t want to think about what it may be like going forward without him in our lives.

Lifting my glass, I bring it to my lips and start to drink.

I want to forget.

30

Grayson Hawk

The sound of my bedroom door squeaking as it slowly opens echoes over the silence of my apartment. Blinking to adjust to the light spilling in from the hallway I see the silhouette of a woman. One that over the last several weeks I’ve practically memorized every contour of her body. Every little dip and curve.

I’d been lying awake for hours, unable to calm my thoughts.

Skye starts to walk toward me and I sit up just as she places her knees one by one on my mattress. She is quiet, and the closer she gets as she crawls toward me the more clear she becomes.

---