Page 117 of Life of the Party

“Is there?”

He shrugged. “It’s not all easy for me to say.” He brought a handful of my hair to his nose and breathed deeply. “You smell so good.”

“That’s a new one, too.” I smiled at him, sprawled on my stomach on the bed, half-covered by blankets. He was curled up next to me, tracing his fingers down my naked back and arms. It was so serene, such a wonderful, happy moment. I sighed contentedly, delighted he was back for good.

“The first time we met, at the club, I saw you first,” Grey admitted. “When I saw Riley there, it was the perfect excuse to come over.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And the whole time I told myself, ‘Grey, don’t do it. Don’t do it, Grey.’ But…I couldn’t stop. You just…you stood out.”

“I did?”

“Yeah.”

I shook my head, fondly remembering that first night. “I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you on that stage.” I giggled. “I felt like an idiot all night, trailing you around like a lost puppy.”

“Nah. You were cute.” He chuckled. I made a face at the word.

He smirked. “You were adorable.”

I slapped him playfully. Grey grinned, remembering something.

“Kiddo.”

“Don’t call me that!” I twisted around, giggling as we play fought until unwittingly, mid-wrestle, Grey grasped me by the elbow.

“Oh!” Abruptly I cried out, all trace of humour gone. He stopped immediately, regretful as he looked down at my arm.

“Sorry.” He frowned at the yellowish-purple bruise staining my forearm, the bruise he’d just accidentally grasped. His brow furrowed. “What happened here?”

“Oh,” I struggled a moment, trying to decide how to tell him. I chose to play it casual, shrugging like it was no big deal. “Uh…I took Charlie out last night, you know, to cheer her up about Zack, but they didn’t have any of the China White stuff, like you had, so we shot up instead.”

I watched as Grey digested this information. His eyes narrowed, his dark brow creasing. “Okay, wait a minute. You went out last night, to get heroin?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I wanted to cheer Charlie up.”

He considered this a moment. “Where did you go?”

“We went with Charlie’s friend Courtney, maybe you know her? She works at the Aurora. Anyway, we went to this Jack guy’s house—”

“Stop.” Grey’s face was suddenly hard, his body tense. He glared at me intensely. “Jack? As in, Jack Turcotte?”

“I don’t know his last name.” Instinctively, I cringed back from Grey’s heated stare.

“Big guy? Blonde?”

I nodded.

“Are you fucking serious?” Grey cursed. He dropped his head into his hands, shaking it in vexation. His entire form was rigid. I sat up in the bed, pulling the blankets over myself, watching him anxiously.

“What is it?” I wondered, biting my lip. “What’s the matter?”

“You went to Jack’s house, alone?”

“No, not alone. I was with Courtney and Charlie.”

At this Grey scoffed, rolling his eyes—but I continued, stupidly, wanting to be honest with him. “I didn’t really want to shoot up, I was scared of the needle, but then Jack did it for me. I only bruised ‘cause I was trying to pull away from him.”

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