“She’s out,” he says, his voice low as he takes a few steps to the bathroom door and tosses the shirt inside. “Though she is in the center, so you might have to fight a little for some space.”
What is breathing exactly?
Because my body instantly forgets how.
I knew Grizz had tattoos, and I knew he was strong as fucking hell, but there was nothing that could have prepared me for the finely tuned, god-like body that lives beneath his clothes, or the amount of ink decorating each inch of skin.
I can’t tear my eyes away. I’m lost in the patterns and pictures that twist and swirl across his abdomen with what seems like no rhyme or reason. Though I’m not even sure it matters, because there is something so quintessentially Grizz within the chaos of colors. They decorate from up around his neck and face, down past his belt line—two haunting eyes across his abdomen.
There are several beats of silence before I manage to drag my eyes away. “Sorry, I… uh… It’s fine,” I stammer, my tongue struggling to get around my words. “I’m used to Jovie’s bed hogging ways.”
He crosses the room and crouches down beside the fireplace, reaching for another log and tossing it inside. His back is almost as covered in ink as his front, and his muscles ripple as he moves, highlighting the pure strength within his body.
A sharp whistling sound fills the room, and Grizz looks back over his shoulder. “Crap. Storm’s rolling in quick. I need to run out and get some more firewood before it gets covered in snow and soaked.”
I nod, taking a step toward the door. “I’ll help?—”
“No, you won’t,” he growls, the air shifting in the room as he stands to full height, brushing his hands on his jeans. “This time, you’ll stay inside, out of danger.”
I shudder, the warmth I felt moments ago suddenly turning cold as we face off.
“You’re mad,” I murmur, my brow falling into a sharp frown.
I thought I’d felt a sharpness in his tone since shit had gone down at The Gallows, but I put it down to the stress of the situation. Turns out, it’s more.
He takes a step forward, closing the distance between us. “You ran into a fucking burning building,” he growls. “You didn’t even think, you just ran straight into the fire, not giving a shit what happens to you. You can’t do that!”
I cross my arms, fighting the lump forming in my throat. “What else am I supposed to do? Sit there? Hope that someone else cares enough to help?”
“I care!” The words feel like they’re coming from deep in his chest. “I fucking care.”
The room feels smaller now, the wind howling and rumbling around us as if the storm is coming from inside. From between us.
His chest rises and falls hard, his fists clenched at his sides.
“I had to get to her,” I shoot back, my voice cracking. “I had to get to Jovie.”
“I know that!” he snaps, stepping closer so there is less than a breath between us. “But what happens to her if you don’t make it out? You think about that? You just ran in there like you didn’t even care if you came back out.”
“I didn’t care,” I whisper, the truth falling out before I can stop it. “If something had happened to her… if I didn’t get to her in time… what the hell would’ve been the point of walking out?”
“And what about Jovie?” he says, exhaling and dragging a hand down his face. “What happens to her when you risk yourself next time and things don’t turn out so great?”
“You don’t get it?—”
“I do get it!” Grizz’s jaw tightens, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “I get what it feels like to have something that is so important, you would throw yourself on the fire just to keep it safe.”
The fight is draining as fast as it came, and for the first time since Grizz and I met, I see an emotion in his eyes that I would never expect.
Fear.
Fear for me.
“You don’t have to do it alone anymore.”
I blink, unsure I heard right. “There’s never been anyone else.”
“Well, now there fucking is,” he declares, the fear in his eyes transforming into something else.
