Page 81 of Grey

His eyes drifted to the clock that was nestled against the wall. “You have about two and a half hours to make a decision.” He looked at me expectantly. “That should be enough time, I think.”

Taking a deep breath, I nodded, agreeing with him. If this was Greyson, I wouldn’t have had the chance to think it over; I’d be on my back against the wall with my arms and legs around him, screaming for him not to stop.

Sigh. This was going to be hard. I wondered how tonight was going to unfold.

* * *

One of the things I loved about being in Australia was the drinking age limit. I didn’t need to be twenty-one to enter bars and purchase alcohol like how it was back home.

The place was shut down to exclusively host Jazz’s party. Drinks flowed. The music jammed heavily in the background. And for a while, I drowned in the music, in its hypnotizing beat, dancing like I had not a care in the world.

Liam’s hand roamed, cupping every inch of me, whispering sexy, sweet nothings in my ear. I smiled, giggled and laughed at some. And, from time to time, my smiles would immediately sour into a frown, rememberinghimagain.

Each day, I learned to crawl back into the woman that I had been, learning the ropes of coping with broken pieces of myself. Even though it was done in hardship, I slowly started seeing myself again. There was light in the shrouded veil of darkness. Each day it was a fight to let this light shine brightly through me, and I should congratulate myself at having the means to fight for me. For my own sanity.

Taking a short break from dancing, I took Liam’s beer and drained it with one long gulp. He gave me a wink while I grinned at him. This thing we were dancing around was heady sometimes. If I had any sense, I would have just taken his bait and let him devour me. But still, I was holding out. I knew he wanted me, and yet, there remained a large force that stopped me from diving into what the pleasures of his touch could deliver.

Checking my phone, I saw that Mom had called. Odd, she never called me this early, her time anyway.

As I excused myself to go outside, Liam immediately caught my hip, pressing me against his body. “You’re not going anywhere without me, Liv,” he possessively declared.

If I hadn’t had alcohol in my system, I would have had a nice, sassy remark to say back to him, but alas, the alcohol was making me feel good—too good. I felt light, airy and quite bubbly. Everything around me felt great, even Liam’s possessive arm around me felt right. Was I losing my mind? Most likely, but who was I to complain? Everything was dandy.

The cool air that welcomed my heated, sweaty body made me smile towards Liam. “Tonight was fun.”

He gave me a winning smile before we took a sharp turn at the side of the club where he hastily pushed me against the wall and kissed me like no one’s business, surprising me.

“Fuck—Liam!” I screeched in between his kisses. I wasn’t sure if he heard me because he gripped my ass then and roughly lifted my body, taking more control of the situation. He was hungry. God,he felt it.He was losing sense as he let his dick do the thinking for him.

“Liam!” I moaned with urgency. We couldn’t—I wouldn’t consider fucking against the wall outside the club. I wasn’t a slut he could fuck whenever and wherever he wanted.

But if it was Greyson, you’d happily let him fuck your brains out, no doubt, my thoughts interjected, catching me by surprise. The mention of Grey’s name brought me back to my senses. Shit.

“Not here, Liam.” I gently pushed against his chest, breathless. “Besides, don’t I have another thirty minutes or so?” I was buying time. I hoped he knew that.

He looked out of it, as if drunk from kissing me. “Thirty minutes,” he panted, closing his eyes. “Fuck.”

I felt bad, I truly did. I mean, I was responding to his kiss, so I couldn’t blame him for thinking I was good to go, ready to spread my legs for him to do as he pleased.But,I wasn’t there yet; I needed more time. Maybe a sign. Yeah, Ineededanother sign so that I wouldn’t feel too much guilt. Damn it. Guilt wasn’t supposed to be a part of this, yet for some unfortunate reason, it wasthere,eating me alive. “I need to make a quick call. Mom called.”

He nodded. “Tell Laura I said hi,” he exhaled, and before I got the chance to get out of his hold, he kissed me again. Thoroughly. “I want you. It pains me to think just how much.”

“I know, Liam.Thirty minutes.”

“It’s twenty-nine now.” He smirked, slapping my ass before I walked a few feet away from him.

With three deep breaths, I curled a string of my hair behind my ear as I took the phone from my small purse that hung low on my shoulder. Unlocking it, I tapped to call Mom back as I closed my eyes, listening to the ringing in my ear while remembering the scorching way Liam kissed me, and how my body had immediately responded to it. He would be just as passionate making love to me. I wondered how he’d take me. He seemed like the rough, sexy kind. Maybe sometimes slow… maybe not? The images of me sprawled underneath him sent me into a tizzy.Oh God…

“Hello?”

However, hearing a voice on the other end surely squashed all thoughts of sexy times with Liam. “Brett? Hey, it’s Livvy. I missed Mom’s call. I couldn’t hear my phone inside the bar. How is she? Everything okay?”

There was a loud silence on the other end before I heard a familiar sound of someone clearing their throat. “It’s Greyson. Laura stepped out to get breakfast.”

I could’ve dropped the phone at that point. Greyson. What the fuck was he doing there? Didn’t he move out somewhere closer to UCLA to be around his friends and school or something?

“Oh.” Yeah, it was all I could muster. What should I say next? Should I ask him to tell Mom to call me back? “Okay then—well…” I trailed off again, biting my lip, quivering inside. “Um.Ummm. I guess—congratulations are in order?”

“Thank you, Olivia. That’s very nice of you.” There was no emotion to his voice. It was as if he was reciting something, but there was no hint of anger, resentment or any obvious kind of enjoyment hearing from me.

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