Page 19 of Grayson

Nervous, he’s right, he does make me nervous. Why? Damn it, because even though I know firsthand how big of a whore he is, I still can’t help but wonder what a night with him would feel like.

13

Grayson Hawk

“No,” Scarlett says next to my ear and I can’t help but smile.

Turning my attention to my drunk cousin I find her dancing at my side with her hands over her head and her eyes closed.

“Don’t even think about it,” she adds without opening her eyes.

It’s like she can read my thoughts. Like me watching Skye dance with Vivian and a few others tells her everything she needs to know.

“What’s her story anyway?” I ask and immediately Scar stops, her full attention now on me. “I know it’s just her and the younger girl in the apartment next door. I also know that there is no way she’s that girl’s mom, so again I ask, what is her deal?”

“I already told you, she’s had it rough, so back off.”

“Now I’m some bad guy for wanting to know more about her?”

“No that doesn’t make you a bad guy. But if you act out the thoughts rolling around in that dirty mind of yours, I’ll be forced to be angry with you. You know that I don’t like being mad at you, so don’t give me a reason to be.”

“Wasn’t it you just days ago that was telling me I needed to meet someone good?”

“Hooking up with a sweet girl like Skye was not what I was referring to.”

“Who said anything about hooking up?” I say and Scarlett purses her lips. “Fine, she’s piqued my interest. But shouldn’t she be the one making those choices for herself and not you.”

Scarlett moves in fast, pressing her finger into the center of my chest hard. “I swear to it Grayson Thomas Hawk I will kick your ass if you ruin my friendship with Skye. One night with Vivian, Skye, and her sister Tori was the first time in a very long time I felt like Nashville might be the place I’ll stay in forever. They are fun, and kind, and though I may not have heard all the details what I do know is that Skye isn’t a one-night kind of girl, she is the kind of girl that you keep around forever.”

I know what Scarlett is saying, I get it. Moving my attention back to the dance floor I feel my body once again come alive when she spins in a circle, her eyes focusing on mine. The way her hips sway, and how she drags her hands over her body. Fuck it, it’s like the worst form of torture.

“If you’re looking for a hookup, go after Gia.” I look back to find Scarlett joined me at the table, looking down at her hands as she pulls on the label of a beer bottle. I know how hard it must have been for her to say those words.

I reach out and place my arm over her shoulder, pulling her in closer. “Don’t you just wish sometimes you had one person you felt like you could say anything to, and in the end, they’d still be at your side?”

I wasn’t saying that I believed she was that girl. I wasn’t saying I was even holding out for the possibility that a person like that even exists. But ever since Scarlett sat next to me on my couch speaking of that very thing it’s been lingering in the back of my mind.

“Gray.” Scar lays her head on my shoulder and we stay like that for a few minutes. “Do you think you’ll ever be able to trust that not every woman is like your mother?”

If it was anyone else asking me that question I’d be pissed.

My mother ran out on my father when I was five. I get that marriages fall apart. I get that relationships have issues and sometimes they don’t work out, but what I will never understand is how any woman could leave behind her child and never look back.

“I know that already,” and I do, “but the idea of going through the loss my father did, that’s that part I don’t think I’m built for.”

“You lost too, ya know.”

“I did but I was too young to remember how that felt. What I remember is how sad Dad was. I remember the nights he’d sit on the porch looking down the driveway like he was waiting for her headlights to appear. I remember the times I’d overheard him leaving messages on her voicemail that I’m not sure she ever listened to. Because if she had listened to them and still never came back it only confirms that neither of us meant a thing to her.”

“I don’t remember her,” Scarlett says still so only I can hear.

“Me either.” I only have one faint memory of coming home to find my mother crying in the living room chair. It’s more of a blurry vision, eliminated by the sunlight coming in through the picture window. She told me to go play in my room, which I complied. Two hours later my father came home to me alone. I don’t even know how long she’d been gone, just that she’d left a note for him. A note to this day I still don’t know what it said.

“She’s beautiful, Scar.” I don’t know what comes over me. The words bubble out of me without a single ounce of hesitation. “I know what I should do,” I confess.

“You should look away and never give her another glance,” she finishes my thoughts.

“Yeah.” Skye would be better off.

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