Page 40 of Shut Up and Bite Me

“Let’s go,” she murmurs to me, her warm voice wrapping around me like a blanket.

“Yeah. A-Anywhere with you,” I slur and grab her face, kissing her cheek.

Blinking a few times, I feel cold air on my arms, and as I open my eyes, I’m standing next to my car, Vivian holding the passenger door open for me.

Jesus, these time jumps are discombobulating.

She ushers me in, and I slump into the seat. A millisecond later, she’s behind the wheel and starting the car.

“God, why does it smell like roses in here?” she sneers, sounding disgusted.

“For you. God, I missed you,” I groan.

Even though I barely know where I’m at and seem to be losing time, I don’t miss the blush that spreads on her cheeks from my words.

“I missed you too, Grey,” she murmurs softly, almost too quiet for me to hear.

My thoughts fluidly flow from my mind to my lips, and even if I try to stop it, I can’t help but speak them into existence. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me, Vivian. I like you so much. I don’t want to walk away from you. Tell me I don’t have to.” I pause, waiting for her to say something as she pulls away from the curb, but she doesn’t, so I fill the void effortlessly.

“You’re so beautiful. Every single inch of you leaves me fucking breathless. Please, say something. Tell me to shut up. Tell me you don’t want me to stay. Tell me anything.”

She remains quiet, her brows furrowing as her lips part, like she can’t decide whether to tell me something or not.

Her next words leave me breathless for a whole other reason. “I’m scared that if I keep letting you in, your fate will be the same as Genevieve’s.”

“Vivian” I exhale. “I’m so sorry.”

She wipes a tear from her lashes. “It was a very long time ago.”

Reaching out and brushing her hair back so I can better see her face, I murmur, “I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere.”

A painful smile flashes on her lips. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you out of harm’s way. Besides, you won’t remember this conversation anyway. Not from the amount of wolf-ale he gave you.

“I’ll always remember everything when it comes to you.” Resting my hand across her thigh, I stroke my thumb back and forth.

“Are you happy with the life you’re building?” she asks, the complete topic change and seriousness of her question catching me off guard.

I don’t think I could lie to her right now if I tried. “No.” I take a deep, shaky breath. “Not anymore.”

“Why?” she whispers, glancing over at me so quickly I almost don’t catch it.

I don’t know what that guy gave me, but it’s like it removed every filter from my body, every thought immediately leaving my lips.

We pull into her long, winding private driveway, and she kills the engine when we pull up to the house.

“I went into finance because I knew it would provide a good financial and stable future. But even though I’m good at it, I hate it. But I chose a path that would be safe because that’s all I wanted growing up. It was Cheryl’s dream for me to do this and I worked tirelessly to honor that.”

“She would be proud of you, Grey.” She takes a shaky breath. “Let’s get you inside,” she murmurs before disappearing and popping up outside of my car door, pulling it open.

Stepping out, I wobble back and forth, trying to find my footing but failing miserably.

A laugh bubbles out of her. “This is going to be a lot easier my way. Just relax.”

“What do you mean?Ahh!”I gasp as she scoops me up into her arms bridal style.

“Hold on tight,” she smirks before the world around me becomes nothing but one big blur. “Here we are.”

She sets me down on the floor of our bedroom, and I try not to vomit everywhere from the whiplash she just gave me.

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