Page 60 of Crossover
Grayson’s eyes locked with mine, a fierce intensity burning within them. “If someone lays hands on you, their heart will no longer have the privilege of beating.” His words, laced with a possessive undercurrent, sent heat through my stomach.
I swallowed, trying to ignore the unwanted sensation.
“Now, let’s go.” Grayson removed the silencer and shoved it into his hoodie pocket before tucking the gun into the back of his waistband. “We can’t afford to be here when the police show up.”
“But…” A man just died. Possibly even a serial killer, responsible for all those women in the missing persons posters. “We have to give the police our statements.”
Okay, sometimes, as soon as words leave your lips, you realize how stupid they sound. But I seriously didn’t need Grayson’s incredulous look.
“Would you like me to text Daniel our address while we’re at it?”
I pursed my lips, annoyed at his condescension. “We should get gas,” I said. “It will be suspicious if we parked at the pump, but never got any.”
A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Look at you, thinking like a real criminal mastermind.”
That earned him another glower.
As I watched Grayson pump gas, I couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles stretched his fitted hoodie, the way he constantly scanned our surroundings for any hint of peril. I wanted what just happened—witnessing him murder another person—to snap my hormones and feelings into submission. If anything had the power to do that, seeing Grayson take a life should’ve done it.
And yet, as we buckled our seat belts and drove off, I found myself grappling with a troubling realization. Seeing a predator get killed, watching Grayson protect me with such ruthless efficiency…it didn’t have the effect I wanted it to. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Instead of being repulsed by his actions, I felt a strange sense of fascination, an inexplicable draw toward him. The way he protected me, the way he eliminated the threat without hesitation—it stirred something deep within me, something I couldn’t quite define.
And that thought, more than anything, terrified me.
If I wasn’t careful, I’d lose the battle against my own emotions and fall deeper into a dangerous attraction.
34
IVY
The car’s engine hummed as Grayson navigated along the dark, winding road. His attention darted to the rearview mirror and side mirrors, a nervous habit he couldn’t shake since we left the gas station turned crime scene. With a sigh, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
“Seth,” Grayson said, his voice low and urgent. “I need you to wipe all surveillance cameras in our area immediately. There can’t be any trace of me or Ivy here.”
My eyebrows shot up. Some man had the power to wipe proof of our existence from the earth? Why didn’t Grayson mention this sooner?
I stared at him with a gaping mouth as Grayson disclosed our location to Seth, without revealing the details of what had transpired.
When he ended the call, I wasted no time pressing him.
“If he has the ability to do that, why don’t we just have him do that everywhere we go?”
“If I get any indication from Seth or Barry’s team that Daniel’s tapping into camera feeds, looking for us, I will. But for right now, I’m keeping our location on a need-to-know basis,” Grayson explained, his focus never leaving the road. “I trustSeth. But I don’t trust him, or anyone, enough to tell them every place we’ve been; it’ll make detecting our next location too easy. If I need him to wipe something, he’s one phone call away. Meanwhile, the plan is to keep our head low andinconspicuous.”
He took the time to shoot me an accusing look.
I cocked my head. “Then, don’t take me to a gas station with a standard-issue rapist waiting in the shadows.” I arched my eyebrows, ignoring the whitening of his knuckles at the wordrapist. Based on the tension in his neck, I wondered if Grayson wished he could’ve killed the guy slowly. “And for the record, if you think I’ll get attacked and not defend myself, your expectations of me need realignment.”
To be “safe,” Grayson skipped the original motel he had planned on, opting instead for one in the next town, and as we drove, I couldn’t muster the energy to interrogate him further about his covert tactics. Oddly, I realized I did trust Grayson to keep our locations safe. Or as safe as he could keep it, given the circumstances.
What troubled me more was how natural it felt back in that bathroom, when Grayson flashed an amused smirk at the damage I’d caused that guy. And I’d stood by and had a conversation with himafterseeing him shoot a man in the head, as if we’d been discussing a blown tire on the interstate, not attempted rape and homicide. The whole thing was the oddest level of intimacy I’d ever had with another human, leaving me feeling…well, very unsettled.
After Grayson paid for the motel room, unlocked the door, and set my go-bag on the floor, he swept the inside to ensure it was secure. I stood there for a few seconds—the room smelling like cheap cleaning products—before twisting my fingers together in a knot of anxiety.
“This doesn’t change anything,” I announced.
Grayson stepped close to me, his hands slung casually at his sides—apparently less bothered by what happened between us than I was.
“What doesn’t, Kitten?” His deep voice caused the butterflies in my stomach to betray me by taking flight.