Page 83 of Lessons In Grey

I glanced towards the sink as I forced myself to straighten. Two scotch glasses, an empty popcorn bowl, and a small candy dish. My brows furrowed as I turned back to him. “You didn’t drink?”

He pulled the dish towel off, dried his hands, and placed it on the counter. “You’re my vice, baby, I don’t need anything else.”

Shit.

Breathless, I glanced to the elevator and back. “I took too long—”

“They were so happy,” he smiled, “but they had to get home so they wouldn’t miss class tomorrow. Do you know how often they’ve skipped? I’m shocked their credits still count.”

“They go out on ‘day-dates’,” I explained, rubbing my arm. “Ash said too many people go on dates at night that they wanted to go during the day to make up for the crowds.”

He smiled softly. “It’s a good plan in theory, I just don’t want them having to redo their last year of college.”

They wouldn’t. They were both excelling in their classes so their professors were more lenient. “You have a class to get to in the morning too,” I reminded him.

He shrugged, walking over. “I don’t mind being tired.” Hiseyes trailed over me slowly, making me squirm under the heat of it as they worked their way back up until they finally found mine. “Did you enjoy your bath?”

I turned, leaning back against the table to give my leg some rest. “I definitely needed it.”

He came to a stop before me, his eyes hooded. “Good.”

Shit, I could barely breathe. My mouth was going dry, my hands were digging into my arms. Could he finally see what he had been waiting for? And if he did, what had it been? Me moving out? No, it wasn’t that simple, it had to have been something else. Something deeper.

God, would it even be right? I felt like nothing had stopped in years. Like I had been looking down the barrel of a loaded gun and now it was unloaded, and I had no idea what came next. What was supposed to come next?

My heart slammed as the panic rose. “You heard what my dad said, Grey, and this…this thing in my head, it won’t just go away. It’s here. This is what it’ll be like forever.”

He nodded, his eyes falling to my lips. “Then let me take care of you.”

I released a breath as he took another step forward, sliding one hand across my cheek, his fingers teasing my hairline. “It’s not easy. It’s going to be very,veryhard, some nights it’ll be impossible.” I needed him to hear it. I needed to know that he heard me say it.

He slid his other hand around my hip, his fingers sliding teasingly under the hem of my sweatshirt, his thighs pressing against mine, his hips. Everywhere his body touched set mine on fire. My stomach was flooding with warmth, arousal spreading between my thighs. Fuck, I needed him.

“Is that why you stayed?” he asked, his voice low, worried. “Because you believed that you deserved it?”

I swallowed, my heart thudding, my eyes burning. “They wouldn’t have left if I hadn’t started that fight. If I would havejust kept my mouth shut—”

“Emily, listen to me,” he instructed evenly, “it is not your fault.”

“They would have stayed,” I argued, tears slipping down my cheeks. “They wouldn’t have had a need to leave.”

“It’s not your fault.”

I inhaled a shaking breath. “I started shouting. They weren’t listening to me. Mom and dad weren’t listening to me. Charlie, she tried, but they thought she was yelling too.”

“It’s not your fault,” he repeated softly, enunciating each word.

I searched his eyes, unwavering, sure. The belief there was undeniable. “They should have stayed.”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said again.

I shivered as if my body were physically accepting the words as their own.

I never wanted to grow attached to him. I didn’t. I was afraid. Afraid for so many reasons, but for one in particular. I didn’t need him suffering with me.

But the more time I spent with him, the more I realized that I had been caught in his orbit for a very long time. Maybe since long before we ever met. Maybe since before the world had started.

I shook my head ever so slightly, studying those eyes,mylifeline to this world. “It’s not my fault,” I finally said, something real and tangible shuddering through me.