Page 83 of Crossover

“Have you no regard for your own goddamned safety?”

The sky cracked open with more rain, cascading to the leaf-covered ground like a waterfall, heightening the smell of damp earth and anger. With every word, a slight fog emerged from our mouths, from the battle of our heat against the cold air.

“I didn’t mean to complicate things by coming back,” I managed. “I just?—”

“Well, you fucking did!” Grayson took a step closer to me, leaves squishing beneath his feet. “Do you know how close you came to almost dying?” His fury crushed me, inciting a nervous gulp. “Or how about me having to take my eye off that man?”

He stepped closer still, and out of instinct, I stepped back.

“I didn’t want you to die!”

“What has this all been for if you run toward danger and get yourself killed, Ivy?”

“I came back, because the thought of leaving you out there alone, in trouble or bleeding out, I couldn’t do it!”

My hair, soaked with chilly water, clung to my skin. I stood rooted in place, transfixed by Grayson’s palpable anger. Water drops cascaded down his strong jaw and gathered on his eyelashes as he fixed me with an intense, unwavering stare. His fury seemed to crackle in the air between us, as tangible as the rain that drenched us both.

“If you had died”—he closed the distance between us until my back hit the tree—“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

My chest swelled, icy air hitting the bottom of my lungs as I stared into the eyes of a man who would literally lay down his life for me.

He could’ve died just to protect me.How many times would this realization feel fresh before it cemented into my DNA? How many men would literally kill or die to keep someone safe?

“I can’t protect you if you don’t listen to me, Ivy!” Grayson snarled. “Next time I tell you to?—”

My mouth crashed to his before he could finish his sentence.

I could feel his surprise in the way his mouth froze, his arms taking several seconds before his hands came up to frame my face. Around us, the rain pattered on the forest floor, and the chilly air frosted my skin into goose bumps, but Grayson’s warmth and his mouth were all that existed.

When he finally kissed me back, his lips were hard and angry. His hand snaked into my hair and fisted it, a few strands plucking from my scalp as he pulled away slightly, Grayson’s hot breath gliding over my lips.

“I can’t lose you.” He paused. “You’re everything to me.”

Everything. The word penetrated my skin and traveled to my heart, planting roots and growing inside of me.

Then, his mouth was on mine again, desperate and searing as he kissed me like a drowning man finally coming up for air. I clung to him, warming against his body, the slide of his tongue making my back arch.

I wanted the kiss to last forever. I wanted it to lead to more—so much more—but after a few seconds, Grayson’s lips abandoned mine, and his attention darted around the forest, a heightened look on his face as he scanned for any impending danger.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you in some dry clothes.”

48

IVY

“You’re bleeding.”

My eyes widened, spotting the blood dripping down his wrist that glistened in the dim light of the car. Now that I was looking closer, Grayson was favoring his right arm as he navigated the slick roads, one-handed.

“You said it was just a scratch,” I accused, remembering the moment I’d slammed into him and he’d grimaced. “But you’re really hurt!”

The rain pounded against the windshield as he smirked. “You should have seen the other guy.”

“Not funny.” I reached out, my fingers longing to inspect his arm, but frustratingly, it was the one on the opposite side of his seat.

“What kind of wound is it?” I assumed the blood had to be from the shots I’d heard, but maybe he’d gotten into a knife fight.

“Gunshot.”

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