Page 135 of Lilah

"Don't argue with me."

"But-" I get cut off.

"I said don't."

"Okay," I agree softly. He leans down and places a feather-like kiss on the corner of my mouth. He places his hands back under the back of my sweatshirt and I sigh contently.

"You like that?" he questions quietly. Who doesn't like backrubs? I offer him a small nod and he places his other hand under my hoodie too.

"Can I make a rule?" he asks suddenly. I nod against him.

"We can't keep anything from each other," he says and I feel my muscles tense. What muscles? Not the strong ones that I don't have.

I automatically think of dad. Ican'ttell him. Thankfully, he can't see my face because I'm nearly in tears at the thought of breaking a rule already.

"Good?" he mumbles and I pause.

"Good," my voice just barely cracks.

"Jake talked about you a lot," his voice rumbles against me. A slight frown etches onto my face.

"He never talked about any of this," I refer to the whole 'fed' thing. I'm still not even sure what is going on.

"Or whatever you do is."

"I work as the head of the FAA," he explains and my head turns confused, "Federal Assistance Agency."

"So that's why some of those guys call you 'boss'?" I come to the realization, now looking up at him, very interested. He rolls his eyes and nods.

"I thought you were in the FBI?"

"We're branched off from the FBI. We hold our own regulations, separate from them. We're independent," he explains, "But we're trained the same."

"You know how the Titanic's sister ship was the Olympic? You're like the FBI's sister, the FAA!"

I couldn't be more proud of myself for remembering third-grade history. He holds a blank face but I know that he knows that it was good.

"But you really do catch bad guys and stuff?"

"We assist in failed cases, our own federal cases, fucked up ones, particularly dangerous ones, and some regular shit," he shrugs.

"Ooh. You do the dirty work," I smile. His eyes find my lips and the corners of his raise.

"There's that fuckin' smile," he pulls me closer to him, resting his forehead on mine.

"I don't want you to go that long without that smile anymore," he throws a big ole blush up on my face. I pull away in thought and also trying to get the attention off of my red face.

"Why didn't Jake tell me about this? Was he in it too?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"He was young but already eighteen. He wasn't allowed in field work, being so young, but he did a lot for us. He worked computers with our main tech guy, he helped Theo with the weaponry, and he trained harder than anyone I've ever known. He deserved to go out with us on cases more than anyone."

"He never wanted you to worry about him," Grey's thumb brushes over my cheekbone. So Grey knew about me all along?

"You knew who I was from the beginning?" Grey hesitates at my question. Then why was he so mean to me?

"I had only ever seen one picture of you and it was for a split second, years ago," he explains, "I thought you only looked familiar until you told me your name."

"But," I sigh, "why were you mean to me."