Page 19 of The Secrets We Keep

“He hurt you,” Grayson rasps.

My heart clenches. “That doesn’t mean you go out and fight him.”

“He didn’t put up much of a fight,” he mutters.

I snort, making Grayson look up at me. His lips twitch when he sees my face. “I could see that,” I choke out. “Did you even give him a chance to?”

“Nope,” he smirks. “I didn’t think he deserved one.”

“Fair enough,” I shrug before going back to cleaning him up. His knuckles aren’t bad now that they’re clean, so I put a little antiseptic ointment on them. “All better.”

“All better,” he repeats hoarsely.

“Do you want to have dinner and watch a movie with us?” I ask before I think better of it.

“What?” He asks, shock lacing his voice.

“Uh, I just thought you might want to hang out with me and Asher for a bit. He has this current obsession with the Jurassic Park movies, so I hope that you like them. Anyways, I thought you might like to avoid everything downstairs for a bit. I understand if you don’t want to. I’m rambling, so I’ll stop now,” I groan as I start to pull away.

Grayson gently grabs my uninjured arm, stopping me. “I’d like that,” he murmurs, his beautiful hazel eyes finding mine.

I lick my lips and nod. “I’ll ask Chef if he can bring us up some food. Any requests?”

“I’m fine with whatever.”

I nod my head and then point over my shoulder. “I’ll go ask then.”

He chuckles as I back out of the bathroom, eager to put some space between us. I walk back into the great room of the suite and take a seat on the couch next to Asher.

“Do you two need anything?” Chef asks.

I look over at him and frown at the smirk on his face. “Could you please, bring something up for the three of us? We’re going to eat dinner and watch a movie.”

“No problem, sweetheart,” Chef murmurs as he pats Asher’s leg and gets up from the couch. “I’ll bring something right up.”

Asher waves at him without even looking away from the screen. I shake my head at my kid. He has a serious obsession with dinosaurs.

I hear Grayson exit the bedroom and I hold my breath until he takes the seat that Chef vacated. “I hear we’re watching Jurassic Park tonight,” he murmurs as his arm spreads over the back of the couch, his fingers skimming my shoulder.

Asher’s head whips in his direction and he launches himself at Grayson. It’s funny that he ignored me and Chef talking, but the second Grayson says something, he doesn’t care about the movie anymore.My heart squeezes at the sight of them.Grayson wraps his arms around Asher with a laugh.

“Is it okay that I join you and your mom for dinner and a movie?” Grayson asks him.

Asher beams up at him. “Heck yeah, it is!”

****

I open my eyes and stretch, taking in the great room of the apartment. It’s dark and the credits are rolling on the second Jurassic Park movie. I couldn’t say no to Asher since it’s technically the last true night of summer for him. Tomorrow night he’ll be going to bed early so he can get in a routine and be ready for school bright and early on Wednesday morning.

I turn my head to the right and suck in a breath at what I see. Asher and Grayson are both asleep.Asher’s head is on Grayson’s chest and Grayson’s arm is wrapped tightly around Asher. That’s it. I have to tell him.I can’t keep this secret any longer.

I don’t want to destroy this moment, but Asher needs to go to sleep, and Grayson and I need to talk, so I gently shake them both awake. They look around with the same sleepy eyes and give me the same sleepy smile.

“It’s time for bed, buddy,” I murmur softly as I reach out and brush the soft, dark curls off Asher’s forehead.

“Okay, mama,” he whispers as he sits up. “Thanks for watching movies with us, Grayson,” he says as he gives Grayson another hug.

“Anytime, Ash,” Grayson murmurs.

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