Page 96 of Torn In Two

Grayson:

Sure. Beach sounds great. Pick you both up at twelve?

It was dry and boring, but I clearly couldn’t be trusted with caps or exclamation marks or heaven forbid, GIFs. If I didn’t watch myself, I’d probably be sending her the love hearts for eyes emoji.

Would it be lame to pack a picnic? Would that seem like I was trying to turn her casual invitation into a date?

I so wanted it to be a date.

“Ah, screw it.” I left the house before I could talk to myself anymore. I still had an hour to kill before I needed to be at the clubhouse though, so lame as it might have been, I found myself at the shopping center, pushing a cart around, filling it with anything and everything I thought one might need for a date at the beach.

A day at the beach. Not a date. Women didn’t bring their children on dates.

Women didn’t date men they’d put in the friend zone either.

It didn’t stop me taking my cart to the register with it near to full and then packing it all into the trunk of my car.

I made it to the Slayers’ clubhouse right at twelve, and Kara and Hayley Jade were already standing in the doorway, waiting for me.

My heart squeezed at the sight of Kara, some of my unease over where we were headed dissipating at a single glimpse of her. Her long dark hair fell loose around her shoulders and down the back of a thick, cable-knit sweater. Leggings clung to her hips and thighs, and white sneakers finished off her outfit.

Last night she’d been a knockout.

This look was cute as hell.

Clearly, it didn’t matter what she wore, I found her attractive in anything.

Hayley Jade half hid behind Kara’s legs, an adorable pink beanie with a pompom on her head, and a set of Barbies in her hands.

I smiled as I approached them, bending down to talk to Hayley Jade first. “Whatcha got there?”

She didn’t say anything, but she did hold out the dolls. I inspected each one carefully. “It’s pretty cold out here today. Do you think they’re ready for the wind at the beach? Maybe they need sweatshirts like you and I have on?”

Hayley Jade cocked her head to one side and then nodded firmly, spinning on her heel and running back into the clubhouse, presumably to find a warmer wardrobe for her dolls. I straightened, heart thumping at the thought of facing Kara after what I’d done last night and praying she hadn’t actually seen me.

Even though we both knew full well she had.

The shrink inside me was shouting about delusions, but I was off the clock, so I told him come back later.

Talking to myself inside my own head wasn’t as bad as talking to myself out loud, surely.

I pasted a nervous smile on and rose to my feet.

Only to find Hayden and Hawk standing behind Kara, leaning on the doorway like her personal security squad.

“Uh,” I cleared my throat. “Morning. I mean afternoon? How’d everyone sleep?”

Hawk smirked. “We going to talk about last night?”

Heat spread across the back of my neck. “Uh, the part where I delivered Bliss’s baby safely and happily into the world? How are they by the way? Did they name the baby?”

Hayden sniggered. “I don’t know about them, but I was thinking more about what happened after that.”

I cleared my throat, wanting to crawl into a hole and die, even though the two of them were clearly enjoying torturing me. “The food was great,” I told Hayden honestly. “Top-notch.”

Hawk’s laughter was full of pure amusement at my discomfort. “That the only thing that tasted good to you last night, Grayson? When we left, you had your mouth on—”

“Ridge,” Kara interjected.

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