Gray tilted his head to the side as he waited for me to walk around the side of the table.
“What?” I asked him as he crossed his arms across his chest.
“Nothing, have fun.” He winked as he walked past. I jumped a foot in the air when his hand slapped my ass, and the cafeteria hooted and hollered.
Bastard.
With my face on fire, I walked quickly out of the cafeteria and detoured to the coffee shop.
Me:Was that necessary?
Gray:Yup
Me:Why?
Gray:Why not?
I didn’t bother fighting the smile as I entered the coffee shop and placed my order. There was still so much for us to sort out. There was a lot of hurt to heal and things to talk about. I still needed to know who he had been with in the pool house, and I was reluctant to ask. Did it matter? Hadn’t too much happened since?
No. I still needed to know who she was. Callme irrational, call me jealous, call me insane. The need to know was as strong today as it was then. Maybe just less violent . . . maybe.
Gray wasn’t like Jett, who genuinely had never cared who he was hooking up with. Ash had made sure I knew who every one of his hookups was after we broke up. After they locked me out, I hadn’t been much better. I hadn’t slept around, but I hadn’t been a nun either.
Until Gray, until that night when he spent the night with me.
Afterward, I was hurt he hadn’t made a big deal out of it. Then I was furious that he shunned me. Then he was with someone else, and then none of it mattered because I was pregnant. After the miscarriage, I’d pretty much shut up shop and hadn’t been with anyone.
Until Gray. Again.
Always Gray.
Gray, who was the complete opposite of Jett. Gray never shared who he was with. He never bragged, and whoever his hookups were, they never boasted. Jett had once let slip that Onyx took Gray to his college parties now and then, and it was then that I realized he was sleeping with college girls.
Why would they want him?I’d wondered. Until the day in the bathroom when I realized I’d asked myself the wrong question. Whywouldn’tthey want him?
Was that who she was? A college girl?
I needed to know.
Me:Who was she? That day, the girl in the pool house?
He didn’t immediately answer, and I wished I could take it back even as I rationalized that he would be eating his lunch. Finally, three dots appeared.
Gray:Audrey. She was a casual fuck nothing else.
Me:Charming
Gray:The day you thought you saw her with me, I wasn’t. I was drunk and sleeping, she woke me up and I told her to get out.
I read the message a few times. I needed this to be true so much it scared me.
Me:Promise?
Gray:I’ve never lied to you before, not going to start now
Was there something wrong with me that reading that message gave me butterflies?
Putting the phone down, I looked up and saw him watching me before he walked toward me. Bending down, he caught my lips and kissed me soundly. In the coffee shop. In front of everyone.
