Page 46 of Deceiving Grier

Tyler Innes would have been fine if all Grier wanted was someone to fuck and he wasn’t looking for any kind of real intimacy. But that wasn’t Grier. For him to really let go, he needed to be with someone he could trust.

And yes, the irony was not lost on me.

I wanted to tell him not to go, that Innes wasn’t right for him, but I had no right, and I knew it.

“Be careful,” I managed to somehow push out without choking on the words.

He nodded, then turned and walked out the door, leaving me alone and staring after him.

Chapter Nineteen

Grier

I’dmadeahugemistake.

I sat opposite Tyler in a dimly lit, mid-range steak house for less than fifteen minutes—which, probably not coincidentally, was the most time I had ever spent with him at one time—before I realized asking the man out had been something of an error in judgment on my part. After all, how could I have realized in the brief interactions we’d shared over the past few years—usually him buying a coffee at the café—that he was one of the most boring, self-absorbed people I had ever met?

Maybe I had been too wrapped up in how good he looked to notice before. Not that he didn’t look good tonight with his blond hair swept back from the sharp, high-angled features of his face. He was dressed in a fitted gray button-down shirt and dark charcoal pants that hugged his rounded ass, all of which were expensive and name-brand. It left me feeling incredibly underdressed in my jeans and a sweater.

Though, as the night wore on, I found I didn’t give a shit about whether I was dressed as nicely as him or what he thought about what I was wearing. Instead, I focused on the menu,willingour waiter to return to the table so we could order. The sooner Tyler had food in his mouth, the sooner he’d shut up—at least, I hoped so.

We’d barely sat down before Tyler had plunged into a monologue about school, what he was working on, his plans for the future and how it all tied into his five-year plan—and now I was listening to a detailed account of his five-year plan. All that, and Tyler had yet to ask me how I was, let alone anything else about myself.

We’d only ordered drinks so far. Would it be a terrible thing to try and bail before we ordered food? I thought about pulling out my phone and faking an emergency. I just wanted to go home…except Sawyer would be there. I doubted I could handle facing him after this fiasco on top of everything else.

I’d gone without seeing him for almost a week—no easy feat. The way I’d been tiptoeing around the house, waiting to venture out of my room until after I’d heard him leave, had left me feeling like an intruder in my own home. And I recognized that essentially hiding from the guy while sharing a house was not a great long-term solution, but I didn’t think I could keep myself together if I saw him.

I missed Sawyer. That was the worst part of all this. He’d lied to me—lied to all of us, really. He made a fool of me by letting me believe I had meant something to him, but I still missed the sound of his voice, the way he could make me laugh, what had seemed like his genuine concern for me. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed the feel of his hands on my skin, the taste of his lips, and the way his scent lingered on my pillow and sheets after he’d slept in my bed.

How pathetic did it make me that I still wanted him even after being lied to since I met him? I couldn’t even really be sure that the only reason he’d slept with me wasn’t part of his plan to get to spill the beans for his article. He said it wasn’t, but then he’d said a lot of things.

Seeing him tonight, before I’d left the house, was painful. As much as I hated to admit it, the anger from his lying had started to dissipate, leaving an aching sort of longing in its wake. But seeing Sawyer again had only intensified my reaction and fueled the desire inside me like oxygen to a smouldering fire that wouldn’t quite die, no matter how much I tried to stomp it down. I’d barely been able to look at him, to see my own longing mirrored in his ocean-colored eyes, afraid I’d fling myself into his arms and forgive him for everything.

Telling him I was going out, that I had a date, had been a defence, a desperate attempt to put some space between us before I did something stupid. I hadn’t expected him to look so defeated after I’d told him or that I would want to reassure him somehow, though I had no idea how I would do that, exactly.

The truth was asking Tyler out had been about Sawyer almost as much as it had been about me. After all, the reason Sawyer and I started messing around was supposed to be to give me the confidence to ask out the guy I’d been lusting after for the better part of my college experience.

So, when he’d come into the cafe, ordered his usual latte and said something flirty, rather than awkwardly flirting back, I’d said, “We should go out sometime.” He’d blinked as if surprised, but agreed. I’d pushed for the following night since I wasn’t working, and I was afraid if I waited too long, I’d lose my nerve.

Now I wished I’d kept my big mouth shut. I looked up from my menu in time for Tyler to stop talking long enough to take a drink from his whiskey. When he set his glass down, leaned back and smirked.

“Hey,” he said, “let’s skip dinner. Why don’t you meet me in the bathroom, and you can suck me off in one of the stalls?”

Gross.It took everything I had not to roll my eyes. Instead, I shifted in my seat so I could slip my wallet from the back pocket of my jeans. “Um, yeah.That’sdefinitely not going to happen.”

Tyler frowned and tilted his head a little to one side as if he couldn’t quite grasp what I’d said, and I wondered if he’d ever really been turned down before. Honestly, after even spending a small amount of time with the guy, I would be surprised if he ever got laid.

“Look,” I said. “We’re obviously not going to happen, so I’ll pay for the drinks, and we’ll call it a night.”

“What the fuck?” Tyler snapped, pushing back his chair and standing abruptly. A few people from tables nearby shot curious glances our way. “I don’t know what this game is, but it’s not a good look, seriously.”

“No game,” I said tiredly. I had a sudden need to be home in my bed with the covers pulled over my head. God, this had been such an epic mistake on so many levels. “I just don’t think anything is going to happen here. We don’t have anything in common.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “Christ, Miller, did you think we’d go on a date and be boyfriends right after? I just wanted to fuck you.”

“Believe me,” I shot him a tight smile, “I got that.”

“Fuck you, Miller.” Tyler turned and stormed off, leaving me alone, face burning with embarrassment. But at least he was gone, and I wouldn’t have to sit through an entire meal listening to the man talk about himself.

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