“It’s okay. I knew you would come to your senses eventually.”
Rising up on my elbows, I looked at him as I wiped away the tears. “I don’t deserve you.”
Gray huffed out a laugh as he opened one eye to look at me. “I know, I’m a moody, angry bastard. I won’t apologize.” His hand tugged me to him, and I fell ungracefully ontohis chest as his good arm wrapped around me. “Football, you, family. That’s all that matters.”
“In that order?” I teased.
He kissed my forehead as he looked at the ceiling. “No, you first.”
Football was everything to Gray, more so probably than it was to Jett, and I didn’t think people realized that. “Football first,” I corrected.
“Football is going to be a few years of my life, Quinn,” Gray corrected. “You’re forever.”
I was going to burst into tears — he couldn’t say this to me without me bawling my eyes out. Knowing that, I hid my face in his shoulder as he stroked my back softly. “I don’t deserve that,” I mumbled into his skin. “But I promise that I will.”
I felt him kiss my hair, and we lay like that for a while longer.
“Quinn, you here? We’re home,” Anne called up the stairs.
“Shit!” Diving off the bed, I scrambled for my clothes as Gray lay naked on my bed, laughing at me.
“Do you want him to actually kill you?” I whispered furiously as I pulled on my leggings and then shoved them off as I searched for my panties. “Where’s my panties?”
Gray guffawed loudly as he swung his legs over the bed. “I’m going for a shower,” he said casually as I paused to watch his naked ass as he headed to the shower. “Coming?” he asked me over his shoulder.
“My dad is downstairs!”
“That a no?”
“You’re impossible,” I hissed at him as I pulled my sweater on. “He’s going toknow, Gray.”
“I never, ever thought he was stupid.” With a cocky grin, he closed the bathroom door, and I heard the water running. The door popped open again, and Gray looked me over. “Your sweater’s on backward,” he told me calmly,and I stared at him wordlessly. A knock sounded on my bedroom door, and I jumped.
“Quinn, we’re making lunch. Does Gray want anything?” Anne asked me from the other side of the door.
Gray winked as he laughed at me and closed the door again.
Well, this wasn’t going to be awkward at all.
Chapter 25: Gray
Heading back to school, I kept my hand tightly wrapped in Quinn’s. She was staring out the window as Jett drove us back, Ava in the front seat, talking to Jett about something. I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying. Even as I faced forward, my awareness was all on Quinn beside me.
My feelings toward Ava had softened slightly, as she had been a welcome support for Quinn these last few days. When she had offered to leave the room so we could all talk, my regard for her had risen as she openly showed respect for my family. For Quinn. She wasn’t eager to stay and learn the gory details; she had offered to give us, my family, privacy.
I had no doubt my girl was going to be including Ava in all her plans from now on. Sure, Quinn was cool toward most people because she was loyal to us and, as a result, she showed more wariness of outsiders than the rest of us. She knew people had an agenda, and she made it perfectly clear she was not their way in. But Ava? Ava had gotten past her walls, and I guessed she had a strong permanence in Quinn’s life now.
Which was nice. I guess.
Or until Jett dumped her. Or she dumped him. But until then, it worked, and maybe they would surprise me and stick — stranger things had happened.
My brother’s stare caught mine in the rearview, and I saw the eyebrow lift in question. We were twins, but sometimes I forgot how in tune we were. He knew exactly what I had been thinking about his girl. I gave him an eye roll in return, and he snorted out a laugh, which caused Ava to pause in her one-sided conversation and stare at him in question.
“What did I say that was funny?” she asked self-consciously.
“It was me,” I jumped in before Jett had to think on his feet. “I was pulling faces at him.”
Ava had turned to look at me when I spoke, and I saw her expression change as I told her. “Oh, okay.” She turned back to face forward, and once again, my brother’s demanding glare in the rearview had me biting back a sigh.
