Page 138 of Unspoken Hearts
“I need to get to Golden Hour,” I mutter, looking out the window behind her to see the rain coming down in sheets once again. “But I can walk.”
“I can drive you,” she offers, handing Aspen the plastic cup.
I frown. “Oh, no. You have your hands full already.” I touch Aspen’s soft braid. “I can walk.”
“Don’t be silly.” Hazel snatches her keys off the bench. “I’ll tell Holden to come back and watch this little rascal.”
“What’s a rascal?” Aspen questions, blinking up at me.
My heart melts a little as Hazel walks outside, shouting for Holden.
“You’re the rascal. It means that you’re cute but cheeky.”
“Am not,” she chimes back, a glint of mischief in her eyes. Hazel comes back in, followed by Cole’s drenched self.
“Change of plans. Holden is tied up, so Cole will take you.” Hazel hands him the keys, eyeing him closely. “No drifting. No speeding. No—”
“Drive boring, got it,” Cole drawls, taking the keys and winking at me. “Let’s go, Macie Moo.”
Groaning, I pull my bag on my shoulder, following him to the door. It swings open. I almost trip over my foot when Grayson’s gaze lands on mine again. My heart jolts as we stare at each other.
“Macie,” he starts, glancing at Cole and Hazel.
My mouth opens, eyes flaring wide.
Grayson shuts the door behind him. He looks as rough as I feel inside. Unshaven, with unkempt dirty blonde hair, eyes that are wired and exhausted simultaneously as if he’s thriving off of only caffeine, avoiding my stare.
I can’t read his expression.
Mouth parting, I blink up at him, trying to figure out if he’s really here, or if I’m imagining this.
Have I gone this insane? Or maybe I’m so tired that I’m hallucinating?
“Macie.”
My breath hitches as the silence cracks between us. Swallowing, I leap forward, right into his familiar arms.
The last of my soul shatters, the glass holding in my emotions collapsing into a thousand pieces as I let out all the tears I have been holding onto over this past week. Eyes buried in the crook of his neck, I hear Grayson splintering as well, his own face pressed against my skin, his chest palpating with mine.
I hear the others walk off, giving us some space to talk everything out, but I can’t move. It’s like when you thought you’d lost one of your most prized possessions, and you’ve searched days for it, and once you find it, you break apart with relief.
That’s how I feel with Grayson being here, holding me again. I’ve lost my family, and to lose one of my closest friends as well…
“I’m so sorry.” My sob tears through the air, and he pulls me tighter against his larger frame.
“I’m sorry, too,” he squeezes out, his grip on me firm before loosening. I hadn’t realised that my feet were off the floor, but Grayson puts me back down, looking at me with glassy eyes that match my own. “I shouldn’t have stormed off like that,” he says at the same time I murmur, “I should have told you everything earlier.”
A smile appears on his face, a huff escaping his chest as Grayson drags a hand across his face, wiping it clean. “Let me talk,” he whispers. “Please.”
I nod.
Exhaling slowly, Grayson’s chin rises, eyes unmoving from mine. “I’ve been friends with you for so long, Macie.” His hands slide back into his pants, shoulders squaring a little as I nod in response. “You remember how I told you the day I met you at school, this little under fed girl, that you had to stay away from my brothers.”
“Gray…”
He shakes his head, silently asking me not to interrupt him, so I don’t, but my heart aches.
“I never liked sharing as a kid. Call it middle child syndrome, but I never liked being the second child. I never got anything new, or any first chances.” He drags a hand through his hair, scuffing it up even more as my chest rattles wildly. “I know that’s selfish of me to think, but it’s how I felt about you and Laynie. You two weremyfriends. Not my brother’s. You were the two people I had that nobody else did in my family.”
