Page 15 of Pretty When It Burns (When The Lights Go Down #1)

Chapter thirteen

"Power Over Me" - Dermot Kennedy

Mia

Brandon is arriving tomorrow. I keep telling myself that this is the distraction I need after everything that’s happened with Grayson.

The reality is, for the first time in weeks, it feels like things are finally settling.

Falling into place.

Maybe this is just what’s supposed to happen.

Rylee and I are relaxing on the terrace, wine glasses in hand, when my phone buzzes on the table beside us.

“It’s Brandon,” I announce.

“Well, see what he wants,” Rylee urges, motioning for me to put it on speaker.

“Hello?”

“Mia, hey.” Brandon’s voice fills the space. “Look, some stuff has been going down here and I feel like you should know what’s going on.”

“Okay…” I say hesitantly.

I prepare myself for the worst.

Is he cancelling the trip?

Did Grayson find out?

Are they fighting?

“So, we were all at lunch today and Eric kind of blew up at Grayson, calling him out on all the shit he pulled while you were here. Long story short, Lily brought Grayson the official divorce papers after you and Rylee left, Grayson just signed them, and now he’s packing to come see you, right now. ”

I almost drop my phone.

What the hell?

“Mia? You there?”

“I’m here, I think.”

“I don’t want to tell you what to do,” Brandon says gently. “But you either need to call him and tell him not to come, or…”

Rylee takes the phone from me. “Brandon, you tell him to stay far the fuck away from here!”

“I did, but he’s pretty insistent. I’m guessing the only way he’s not coming is if Mia tells him not to.” There’s a pause. “Ry, is she okay?”

It’s like my brain stopped knowing how to form words.

Grayson and Lily are officially divorced… and Grayson is coming here.

A week ago, if you’d asked me, that would’ve been all I wanted. But now… How am I supposed to know what to do?

“She’s breathing,” Rylee says dryly. “I’m gonna talk to her. I’ll call you back.”

She hangs up and places the phone back on the table between us.

“Okay, Mia,” she prompts. “You have to snap out of it now. We need to call Grayson, can you do that?”

I come back to reality.

“Yeah, okay.”

I grab my phone and search my contacts for Grayson. He answers on the first ring.

“Mia,” he says. “Hey, I’m so glad you called.”

“What’s going on, Gray?” I ask, my voice barely steady. “Did Lily really give you divorce papers? Did you sign them?”

“Yes,” he answers. “Mia, I’ve got to see you. I’m packing a bag right now, and then I’m on the next plane out to Dallas after the show tonight. I’ll explain it all then, okay? Just say yes. Please, Mia?”

Suddenly, I know.

Hearing his voice saying all these wonderful things, it’s like there’s not even a choice to be made.

“Yes.”

“You’ve got to be out of your fucking mind,” Rylee snaps when Grayson and I hang up, hurling a pillow at my head. “You’re seriously going to let him come here?”

“Rylee, I know it doesn’t make sense,” I try to explain. “But when I heard his voice, I just knew. I have to see this through—even if it breaks my heart. This could lead to everything I ever wanted, with the person I’ve wanted it with since I was fourteen.”

“Fuck,” she breathes. “Okay. We’re gonna get you through this. We’re gonna get you your happily ever after.”

Rylee begins gathering up our wine glasses and empty bottle, glancing at my phone.

“You need to call Brandon back,” she tells me. “Make sure to let him down easy, okay?”

I nod as she walks inside, picking up my phone again.

Brandon answers on the third ring.

“Hey,” he greets me. “You’re still breathing.”

“Barely,” I say, managing a small laugh.

There’s a beat of silence.

“Brandon…” I whisper. “Please don’t hate me.”

“You want to see Grayson.”

“I wish I didn’t,” I sigh. “But I have to see this through. I just have this feeling that I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I don’t.”

“I know,” he says softly. “If it were me and Johanna… I know.”

“I’m sorry,” I say honestly.

I am sorry.

But there’s never been a choice between them.

For me, it will always be Grayson—and now, I have a chance to find out if he’s still the one.

I pace around the living room later that night, glass of red wine in hand, waiting for Grayson. I couldn’t decide what to wear—the thought that it even crossed my mind is irritating—but I settled on a forest green silk tank top and shorts. It is the middle of the night after all.

The nervous energy flowing through my body is making me crazy. Rylee left to go meet a friend at a bar downtown, promising to stay away until morning. I’m alone for this.

After my fifth trip around the room, I sit on the sectional couch, place my wine glass on the coffee table, and sigh. Maybe he isn’t going to show after all. Maybe he changed his mind. He’s only been divorced all of a few hours, as it is.

I stretch out, pulling a blanket up to my chin, and close my eyes, just for a moment. I don’t even remember falling asleep.

It’s the knocking at my front door that stirs me.

What time is it? I rub my eyes and try to gather my thoughts when the knocking begins again.

Grayson.

I jolt up from the couch and race to the front door, but stop short at the hallway mirror.

I fluff my chocolate waves in a pathetic attempt to make it look less like I’d just been drooling on the couch two minutes prior.

With a small sigh of acceptance that this is as good as it’s going to get, I finally swing the door open.

“Hey, beautiful,” he murmurs.

He’s standing in the doorway, hair messy and eyes tired, and yet, there’s still that stormy, borderline dangerous look in them. He gives me a slow, drawn out once over. I can only identify the way he looks at me as something so much deeper than just want. It's an unmistakable level of desire.

“How’d you know green is my favorite color?”

Before I can breathe a reply, his mouth crashes into mine like he’s been dying to taste me.

Maybe he has.

It ignites something in me that feels intoxicating. Each movement is a silent confession of everything he’s felt but hasn’t said. I thought everything had fallen into place when we kissed in LA, but no… this is everything.

There’s no Lily.

No judgments.

No friends giving us their unwanted opinions.

Nothing holding us back.

This is us, just as we’re meant to be—together.

Unable to break our connection but wanting to move into the privacy of my apartment, Grayson leads me through the threshold, the door slamming behind us. The world around us blurs and time ceases to exist.

We pull away for a moment and his forehead rests against mine, our breathing ragged and uneven. Looking back into those eyes of his, I realize I’m not dreaming at all. He’s really here.

“I thought you might’ve decided not to come,” I admit.

“Getting to you was all I could think about,” he replies. “I’m sure I just played one of the worst shows of my career because all I could think about was getting on that plane. About you. Jake told me so—twice.”

A soft smile forms on his face, but it doesn’t last long. His lips are back on mine before I have any time to conjure a response. This man can’t keep his hands off me—and God, I love it.

We’ve already spent too much time holding back. Now, with nothing standing in our way, there’s no reason not to give in to everything we’ve both wanted since the moment we crashed back into each other’s lives.

I kiss him back with the same desperation, fully giving in to the ache in my core that hasn’t dissipated since I left LA.

His hands slip under the silk of my tank top, sliding up my stomach and over my ribs until his thumbs are brushing underneath my breasts.

My nipples tighten instantly, begging for more.

“Jesus, Mia,” he whispers next to my ear, his voice rough, like it’s painful for him to hold back. “Tell me this is real. Tell me I get to touch you.”

“You’re already touching me,” I gasp as his thumbs roll over the hard peaks of my nipples.

“Not enough,” he growls. “Not nearly enough.”

I want him more than anything. But something twists in my gut—a flicker of caution under all that burning desire.

“I have to ask,” I begin, not really sure I want to hear his answer as I create some distance between us by sitting on the couch. “As happy as I am that you’re here—what is this, Grayson? You just got divorced today. I need to know what this is before I let myself feel things for you—again.”

“Mia,” Grayson says, his eyes softening. He joins me on the sectional and places a hand gently on my leg. “I was unhappy for a long time. Way before we kissed. I was going through the motions for so long, I didn’t realize I was sleepwalking through my own life… until you.”

He pauses, then adds, “I shouldn’t have kissed you in LA. Not then. But I meant it. I’m crazy about you. I just… I needed to wake up. You woke me up.”

I understand what he means—going through the motions when you should be really living, doing the same things you always do because it’s comfortable.

I don’t want to live like that anymore either.

I want to get everything I’ve ever dreamt of, and there it is, sitting right in front of me, telling me it wants me, too.

“I am,” I say softly. “I’m crazy about you, too.”

Relief washes over his face. But something simmers in his eyes, something tense brewing again.

“I have to be honest with you about something,” he says.

“What?”

“The thought of you and Brandon together—I couldn’t bear it. It almost broke me. I don’t want to think about you with anyone else. Don’t put me through that again. You’re mine, Mia.”

I nearly melt at his words.

You’re mine.

I don’t want to be anyone else’s. Doesn’t he know that?

All I can do is nod.

He moves closer, the distance between us disappearing—for good.

“I want to hear you say it, Mia,” he murmurs, his lips brushing against mine, the faintest hint of contact sending a full-body shiver down my spine.