Page 14

CHAPTER 14

Grayson

I’d had every intention of driving home, but somehow, some way, I ended up in the parking lot of M’s Place. And I just sat there, staring at the faint glow of the sign against the dusk, watching the doors like somehow they would have the answer. Which clearly didn’t make any sense.

Maybe my sister was right. Maybe I wasn’t fit to drive. Maybe I should just relax my seat and take a nap until this fucking existential crisis disappeared.

I’d just about settled on reclining when I heard a knock on my window. I jumped up, noticing Henry on the other side.

Was I hallucinating?

I hurriedly rolled the window down. Against the oncoming night, he looked warm and inviting, chocolate brown eyes and shaggy hair blowing in the wind across his tan face.

His perfect, kissable lips parted just the slightest to tease my already sensitive psyche into oblivion.

Fuck, he was pretty.

But the warmth radiating from his gaze, from his fucking aura, settled something inside me I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

“Hey,” he said softly as I gaped at him like a lunatic.

This is becoming a habit.

“Hey,” I said, not sure what else to say. I felt on the brink of something, like at any moment my cracks would split and I’d never be able to piece myself back together.

And Henry must have sensed it too, because his eyebrows furrowed as he leaned into my window just the slightest.

“Someone said there was a guy in a Porsche just sitting here, like casing the joint. They wanted to call the police, but...”

Henry swallowed, his gaze flashing to my lips.

“I kinda had a feeling it might be you, and told Max as much.”

My gaze drifted to his lips, his jaw. The curve of his arm as he leaned against my driver side door.

“You covered for me?” I asked, my voice breathy, desperate.

I hated it.

Henry cracked a smile. “Yeah, I, uh... guess I did.”

“Oh,” I said, like an idiot. Completely dumbfounded by his presence.

“Bad night?” he asked softly.

I leaned back against my seat. “You don’t know the half of it.”

I watched Henry’s lips twist, listened as he tapped his fingers on the outside of my car door.

“I, uh... can give you a ride home. You look like you need it.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes as I looked up at the ceiling. I didn’t really need it. Two drinks wasn’t enough to put me under, but I couldn’t deny Henry’s offer made me want to say yes, if only because I selfishly wanted him in my proximity. I liked being around him, talking to him.

What was happening to me?

I wasn’t usually this... this... messy.

“You’re working, I—”

“Give me five minutes,” he said firmly, pointing at me with his finger like a teacher scolds a child. “Don’t move.”

I held my hands up in mock defeat. Something about the tone of his voice, the firmness of it, made my blood rush and my damn dick twitch.

Not now, buddy!

“Yes, sir,” I drawled as I watched Henry walk away, his dark jeans accentuating the delicious curve of his perfect ass.

A man could get used to a sight like that.

Focus, Gray!

I’d only just shut my eyes, when I heard his voice again.

“Get up, sunshine,” he said as he opened the door for me.

For a moment, I stared at him, against the sunset, lit up like some angel.

I’d never been one who liked to be bossed around or told what to do. Too stubborn, too overly confident, too bold. But something inside of me flipped a switch as I listened to Henry without so much as a protest.

Maybe I really am spiraling into chaos.

Hello pre mid life crisis...

I slid into my passenger door, letting Henry in the driver’s seat once more.

“I’m taking you home this time,” he said as he turned to look at me with an appraising gaze.

I sighed as I brought up the maps feature on my car, watching his gaze fall as he realized home was as easy as a few clicks.

“You could have told me that yesterday,” he mused as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“Yesterday, I was a bit... under the weather.”

“Mhmm. And what are you today, because you’re certainly not above it,” he bit out.

“I’m... in the middle of a rather unsettling storm,” I said sarcastically.

“Something wrong? You wanna talk about it?” he asked, his voice shaky for some reason.

I turned toward him, taking in the sight of him in my driver’s seat, his long, toned arms, the way he grabbed my steering wheel. The way his hair shimmered with streaks of gold as the dying sunlight poured in through the windows.

“A lot of things. But it doesn’t matter,” I murmured, feeling far too vulnerable and guilty for my own good.

The closer we got to the wedding, the more I seemed to be unraveling.

It seemed like no time at all when we’d finally come to my humble abode. The driveway was still empty, which meant my parents were likely still at my sister’s.

Whatever the case, I was glad for the moment at least to have the house to myself, if only to wallow in my sorrows and guilt. Alone.

Before I could open my door, it swung open of its own accord, and I looked up at Henry once more as he offered me his hand.

I wanted to take it.

I wanted to set my palm in his, feel that heat that seemed to brew between us when we touched. But I was also agitated and annoyed, and instead, I pushed it away, opting to get myself out of my car.

I wasn’t some damsel in distress, or a passenger prince, thank you very much.

Henry stepped back, giving me a wide berth to stroll up the driveway toward the door. I didn’t expect him to follow me.

But I didn’t dislike it either.

We stood on the steps of my porch for a moment, my keys in my hand.

“Do you... want to come in? For a drink?” I asked plainly. I was aware that we were rather close, though I couldn’t remember how that happened. Henry stood so close, it would have been easy to reach out and wrap my arms around his trim waist, would have been no trouble at all to slide my fingers through his hair and kiss him like my heart and my opinionated dick wanted to.

But the memory of the previous night reared its head yet again, making me remember just how I’d fucked myself with such behaviors before. I didn’t want Henry to think of me as some asshole who got drunk and went around making out with hot guys.

I mean, sure, I’d had my fair share of that, but Henry wasn’t just some guy. I wasn’t sure what he was really at the time. I could barely process my own feelings, let alone the sparks forming between Henry and I.

“I shouldn’t, really, I—”

“Not a drink, drink. I mean, like a... hot tea or something?”

Good God, what was wrong with me?

Had the martinis gone to my brain?

“I mean, I probably should get going. You’re okay and...”

“Henry...”

“I should go,” he said as he turned away, and I watched him once more like a tall glass of water, held just out of my reach.

And only then did I realize how thirsty I was.