Page 38 of Grayson

“Yeah,” she adds, by her tone I can practically picture her pursed lips and wrinkled forehead. “I’m fully aware of my age.”

“The only thing a seventeen-year-old boy wants with a fourteen-year-old girl is to convince her to climb in the backseat of his car.”

“So we can play rock paper scissors?”

“No asshole,” Skye shoots back, her patience snapping. “So he can use you to satisfy his adolescent perverted mind and then toss you aside.”

“You don’t know Dane,” Tori insists.

I consider knocking, wondering if maybe I could shed some light on the situation and stop myself when Tori throws out her next complaint.

“You’re the one sleeping with the guy that has more notches on his bedpost than half the guys in Tennessee. Just because you are sitting around waiting for him to drop you for his next conquest doesn’t mean that Dane is the same.”

“Every teenage boy is the same.”

“Then what’s Grayson’s excuse?”

“This has nothing to do with Gray.” The banana bread I’d eaten before leaving the station sits heavy in my stomach.

“Why are you being such a jerk about this?”

“Because I have that right.”

“You are not my mother!”

Everything grows silent. My heart races and without another thought I twist the knob and push open the door. Tori is standing in the living room staring into the kitchen, where I assume Skye is.

“No, I’m not your mother,” Skye’s voice is shaky and the sound of it cuts right through me, “but I am your sister. I am the person that loves you so much that the idea of anyone hurting you terrifies me. I’m the one that would give my own life to save yours without a second thought.”

Tori’s shoulders sag and Skye’s voice cracks. “I’m doing the best I can Tori, and I know it’s not easy. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. I’m so scared of messing up with you. I may not be Mom, but I know if she was here she would say the same thing. You going out by yourself in a car with a seventeen-year-old-boy you met a week ago isn’t going to happen.”

Tori says nothing, and after a few minutes of only staring at her sister she turns and walks down the hallway to her bedroom. The sound of her door slamming echoes through the apartment, right before I hear Skye start to cry.

I hurry to her, rounding the counter and shifting in close. She doesn’t even question me being there, but instead falls into my arms allowing me to hold her.

Saying nothing I hold her, gently stroking her back and burying my nose in her hair. She cries until she is out of tears. Picking her up, I carry her to the couch, placing her on my lap and cuddling her. I grab the blanket and pull it over us.

With each breath I take I can smell her shampoo. Lavender and vanilla, two things I’ve decided I love simply because it reminds me of her.

“She hates me,” Skye finally speaks, her voice so low I almost miss her words.

“She doesn’t hate you sweetheart, she’s a teenager. Telling them no is like the end of the world.”

She shudders breathing deeply, her nose blowing a tickling breath over my neck. “You can run if you want.”

“What?”

“You never signed up for all this crazy. You don’t want our mess, you don’t do complicated. This is me giving you an out.”

“I don’t want an out.” I try to rein in my irritation. “You’re right, I didn’t sign up for this. I hate complicated and messy.” She tries to sit up but I hold her tighter. “But if keeping you means I get all those things too, then there isn’t another person on this planet I’d be willing to suffer through those things for other than you.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers as she looks up at me and the tears roll along her cheeks.

“There is nothing to be sorry for. I’m figuring out real fast that both you and Tori are hard to forget. I attempted in the beginning to keep my distance, knowing that you deserve better than the ass I’ve been for far too long. But one look from you, one smile, and I knew staying away was impossible. So instead, I’m trying to be the guy that deserves you. I know you two are a package deal and yes she is a handful, but she’s also amazing.”

Skye smiles.

“And you.” I feel a burning sensation in my throat that I try to swallow past. “You are the one I never planned for but have no intentions of letting go of. I’m here, don’t question that. I know I’m asking for a lot, but I need you to trust me. I need you to believe me when I say that I’m not looking for a way out. This may sound crazy but I like who I am when I’m with you. And if I’m being honest, I haven’t really cared much for the man I’ve been up until the moment you walked into my life.”

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