Page 31

CHAPTER 31

Grayson

The hike to the falls wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I wasn’t the only one who was hungover and tired as hell. Leave it to my sister, who had a liver made of steel, to book a mid-morning hike the morning after we’d been drinking for the majority of a whole day.

I sucked down some more water from the cooler on site, trying not to be a total creeper, but I couldn’t take my gaze off Henry. I’d contemplated trying to talk to him, to apologize and tell him I was sorry, that I didn’t mean for anything to happen...

I still couldn’t remember exactly what happened, but all signs pointed to the obvious.

We slept together, and I didn’t even remember it.

I wanted to remember it. Wanted to recall the feel of his body pressed against mine. I wanted to remember the look on his face as I inched my way inside him. I wanted to remember the moment he called my name, shattering around me.

But there was nothing. Nothing where those perfect memories should be, and I hated it.

But what was worse, was that Henry wouldn’t even look at me. Instead, he avoided me like the plague and had taken up social interaction with his sister and Julie instead.

The Brideshead Waterfall raged behind me, a force of nature. It was beautiful, and the moment itself a stunning one, but I couldn’t enjoy it because I wished I could be spending it with Henry by my side.

“Henry giving you the cold shoulder over your drunk makeout?” Giselle asked quietly.

“What?” I nearly jumped five feet off the ground.

“Last night? The festival? You two could barely keep your lips off one another,” she said with a smirk.

“I... don’t remember.”

“That sucks,” she said taking a drink of her own water.

“Henry’s such a reserved person to begin with. You, on the other hand...” She crossed her arms, nodding toward him and Mia who were laughing about something Julie said as she animatedly moved her hands.

“Drunk or sober, you’re a total diva,” she teased.

“I am not a diva,” I snapped.

“You are the Susan Lucci of Jasper Springs, Gray. Dramatic as fuck.”

I scowled. “Am not.”

“All I’m saying is maybe you could learn a thing or two from Henry about slowing down.”

My sister had no idea how right she was, and I despised that.

“Yeah, well, it was just a drunk kiss, right. Not like it means anything,” I said.

Giselle pursed her lips. “It’s okay to not be okay, Gray. We’ve all been there.” Her words were sincere, but they only made me feel angrier. Worse.

“This isn’t my first rodeo, Giselle,” I growled, turning around to leave, running right into to object of my desire.

Henry’s eyebrows furrowed, and I wondered how long he’d been standing there.

“Henry,” I said softly, and he pushed past me.

“Excuse me,” he said as he headed for the cooler, breaking my heart once more.

But perhaps I deserved such things.

Susan Lucci, and all.