Page 26 of Shattered Souls
My responding sigh is heavy, weighed down with the truth I don’t want to admit aloud. However, Grayson’s hard stare tells me I won’t get away with another vague non-answer.
My teeth sink into the tip of my tongue, biting back the truth even as my gaze drops, unable to meet his as I confess, “I’ve never felt so helpless. There isn’t a single thing I can do to help my daughter. To protect her. To bring her home. What am I supposed to do, Grayson?” I throw my hands out to my sides and gaze up at him imploringly. “What. Am. I. Supposed. To. Do? I’m genuinely asking because I don’t have a fucking clue. My baby girl ismissing, and I’m going to class, taking self-defense, and having dinner with your fuckingdadlike nothing is wrong.”
Releasing my chin, his fingers skate down the column of my throat until his hand rests at the base and his thumb rubs tight circles over my pulse point. His gentle yet domineering touch sears into my skin like a brand.
“Firstly.” His rough voice is gravelly against my skin. “You are doing absolutely everything you need to be doing.” My lips part in protest, but his eyes narrow in a silent warning not to interrupt. “Youarehelping your daughter. By looking after yourself, you arehelping.” His thumb continues to rub soothing strokes. “She needs you to take care of yourself right now so you can take care of her when we bring her home.”
Eyes burning with unshed tears, I close them.
“Look at me.” My eyes snap open at his demanding rasp, and I instantly fall into the dark pools of his irises. So stoic. So steady. Grayson’s ability to hide his emotions has always grated on me, but now… Now, I stare into those depthless orbs, and instead of searching for answers to what he’s thinking, I steal strength from his steady gaze. Strength that I use to tape, super glue, and staple all the shattered pieces of myself together. It’s a temporary fix. A Band-Aid on a gaping wound. A belt to an amputated limb.
But at least I’m not freely bleeding.
“There she is.”
I don’t know when Grayson became someone who could soothe my jagged edges—at least, without the two of us attacking one another and ending up naked—but that’s precisely what he’s achieved.
And I’m too wrung out to question it. To worry about what it might mean. To throw up the mental roadblocks I usually do when I sense him inching closer to my heart.
“Come with me.”
Although it’s phrased as a demand, there is a hint of a question behind it. Just enough hesitation for me to know he’llleave it be if I refuse. Sucking my bottom lip between my teeth, I search his gaze before glancing around me. A few students hurry between buildings; otherwise, we’re alone, the cold weather preventing anyone from dawdling outside.
“Okay,” I acquiesce, turning back to face him in time to catch the flash of accomplishment that crosses his features before he turns away to open the back door. He places our backpacks inside before opening the passenger door and waving me into his sports car. The cold leather of the seat penetrates through my tights, chilling the backs of my legs, and I shiver as Grayson slides in behind the wheel.
With the press of a few buttons, heat blasts through the vents, and a moment later, my seat heats, and I sink deeper into it. Grayson fires off a text on his phone before he pulls out of the parking space, and as we drive out of campus, I stare out the window.
A moment later, the sound system in his car announces an incoming call from Logan. I turn to stare at the console as Grayson answers. “The whole point of messaging you was to avoid a phone call,” he drawls.
Logan scoffs on the other end. “You tell me you’re taking Shortcake off campus, and you expect menotto question if you’re kidnapping her.”
A semblance of a smile twitches at the corners of my lips, gaining momentum when Grayson huffs his irritation. He must see my response because he flicks his gaze my way, eyes narrowing in warning, however there’s none of his typical hostility. Instead, his eyes are alight… almost as though he’s amused. I find it intriguing—I find everything about Grayson intriguing. He’s an enigma. A puzzle that, just when you think you’ve figured out how to solve, you realize it’s more complex than you initially anticipated.
“Shortcake, you there?”
Logan’s voice pulls my attention back to the console. “I’m here. Don’t worry. There was no kidnapping involved. I came of my own free will.”
“Are you sure?” he enquires, unconvinced. “Pizza is the code word. Saypizza,and I’ll come rescue you.”
“You realize I can hear you,” Grayson drawls as I chuckle.
“I promise I’m fine,” I assure Logan.
Logan makes a noise as though he still doesn’t believe me but relents. “Fine, but if you change your mind, send me a pizza slice emoji, and I’ll come and rescue you from Grayson’s grumpy ass.”
“I’m hanging up now,” Grayson grumbles, pressingend callin the middle of Logan’s protests.
With a smile still on my face, I relax into my seat and ask, “Where are we going anyway?” We ended up at the forgotten church the last time we were alone, and my blood heats at the memory, my core clenching at the idea of a repeat performance. Grayson and I may have our issues, but fucking is most definitely not one of them. And the way he manages to make me forget while he’s chasing me… pinning me down… stretching me…
“To see Gran.”
That instantly wrenches my thoughts from the filthy gutter they’d tumbled into.
“I go and sit with her every week,” he continues. “She has advanced dementia, and most of the time, she doesn’t know who I am.” Tight lines form around his eyes, his knuckles whitening around the steering wheel as he stares steadfastly out the front windshield.
My hand moves to rest on his forearm, and I feel his muscles flex beneath my fingers. “You’re a good grandson,” I murmur.
His head whips in my direction, eyes flaring with so many fractured emotions—doubt, grief, weariness. It suddenly hits me, and I don’t know why it didn’t before… the weight of theresponsibility that he carries on his shoulders. That he hasbeencarrying… since when? Since he was eighteen?
