“You’ve been in my room!”
This time, it came out angry. The languid way he rolled the words off his tongue flipped the switch inside my chest. I swiped for the box, but Grayson kept it out of my reach.
“Give it here. That’s personal,” I demanded, eyes stinging with frustration.
“Why have you kept this?”
“Grayson! Give me the damn ring!” I swiped for it again.
“You have a ring and it’s not on your finger and I don’t see you with anyone else, so, what happened, Scott?”
“IT’S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!” I screamed, tears spilling over.
“Temper, temper,” he said coolly.
“You’ve been through my things,” I said, wiping roughly at my cheek. “You have one of my belongings in your possession. I swear to you, if you don’t hand it over now, I will —”
“What?” Grayson asked as he pushed his aura out around him and let it lazily drift between us. “You might not want to believe in me but that doesn’t stop me from being a God.”
Matt rushed into the room. “What the fuck is going on?”
I glanced over to him before looking back to Grayson, holding out my hand expectantly. He snapped the box shut but didn’t hand it over.
“Does he know?” Grayson asked. “Do any of them? Or is your failure a dirty little secret?”
“Grayson!”
He laughed and held the box out to me. I snatched it away quickly and gripped it tightly in my hand, knuckles turning white as his aura disappeared from between us.
“What is your problem?” Matthew asked, prepared to play the knight in shining armour.
“Just leave it, Holden,” I told him sharply.
Grayson picked himself off the sofa. “I can tell you exactly what my problem is.” He was toe to toe with Matt. “It seems like you’re a glutton for punishment.”
I attempted to push Matt away from Grayson, but he’d made the vital mistake of looking the God in the eye. Matthew may have been able to intimidate others, but he’d forgotten who Grayson was. The eye contact alone brought Matt to his knees with a thud on my wooden flooring.
“Grayson, stop!” I said.
He broke eye contact and Matt pushed himself off the ground, ignoring the hand I offered to help him.
“You think —” Matt began.
“Leave it!” I said, frustrated by both men. I shoved Matthew towards the door. “Just leave him.”
I didn’t look back as I left. Grayson had crossed a line tonight by rifling through my belongings. He continued to drag up painful memories that I wanted to bury and make my job more difficult than it needed to be.
People may have worshipped Grayson as a God, but in my eyes, he was nothing more than a monster.
“I thought you usually ate dinner alone,” Matt said the next night, when Grayson joined us in the kitchen.
The God smiled and ignored him before looking at me. I caught his eye, and he lifted his hand and gave it a small shake to indicate the cuff that hung on his wrist. It was a slight comfort.
“I thought I shouldn’t deprive myself of fine company,” Grayson answered, his eyes still on me. “And I’m curious.”
“Curious?” I repeated the word.
The mention of curiosity had pulled me out of my shell. It was a quality I thrived on. I was still furious at him for the stunt he pulled last night, but I was interested in what he was up to.
