Page 89 of Not Her Day to Die

Isn’t it selfish?

Fuck!

But even if it is the most selfish thing in the world, it is too late, and Grayson knows it. He won’t be able to leave Sunday. Won’t be able to separate himself from her. She is an integral part of his very existence.

I need to go home. I need to see her.

Anxiety hits him hard and fast. Of how he could leave her alone when she is at her most vulnerable. How he pushed her away. The look on her face when he fled.

And what about Darius?

The last few days catch up to him. The aches of his body outshone only by the throbbing in his chest.

I miss her.

Mind made up, he organizes his desk and searches for the keys to the truck.

It is when he is in the middle of that, that he hears the distinct sound of the side door opening and closing.

No one should be here.

The restaurant is still closed; he plans to reopen once the dust settles.

Stiffening, he slides the drawer of his desk open, he grips the gun inside but keeps it out of sight.

It is only three beats later he hears her.

“Grayson!”

Grayson chuckles, his anxiety vanishing, he releases the weapon pushing the drawer shut.

“I know you’re here!”

The stomping is getting closer now. Grayson leans against the far wall behind his desk and folds his arms across his chest, waiting for her to find him.

The door slams open as she kicks it in.

Her curls are a wild mess, her cheeks a bright pink, a wrinkle present between her brows.

Sunday.

The sight of her alone affects him in ways he doesn’t want to admit to himself. He has buried his feelings so deep for the woman before him that it is nearlypainful.

And while they had been playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse, he is done.

Too much has happened.

He isn’t going to have any regrets.

Not anymore than I already do at least.

“–and you run away! Just as you always have!” She’s in his face now, he can see a sheen of sweat on her forehead, hear the anguish and concern in her voice.

Why did I leave again?

His brain short-circuits as her honeysuckle smell envelopes him. Subtle and sweet. Just like the woman before him.

She’s still laying into him—rightfully so—but he interrupts her.