Page 48 of No Pucking Way
The car had that nice new leather scent, but when I inhaled, I caught another scent of his aftershave. It made me want to lean over and press my nose into the smooth shaven skin above his collar. A faint hint of a tattoo peeked over the collar, just a line, and it made me curious. There were no tattoos visible the way he normally dressed.
He turned and met my gaze, and it felt as if the two of us were intimately close. There was an amused sparkle in his eyes, like he noticed me noticing. “Yes, Kennedy?”
“Questions,” I said, my stomach flip-flopping. My gaze flickered toward the driver.
Greyson handed me a remote, and as he held it out, he pressed his thumb to one of the buttons. A soundproofing screen slid up between us and the driver.
When I gripped the remote, our hands lingered together for a second. Then I dropped it between us. I didn’t feel like I really needed to stick to public places with Greyson.
Somehow, Greyson felt like he was dangerous to everyone else…but safe for me.
“The mafia?” I asked. “Really?”
He nodded. “Did Carter, Jack, and Sebastian mention we were all mixed up with the mafia for a while? We all had our reasons. I can show you mine.”
He pulled out his cell phone, and I leaned in to him as he pulled up a series of photos.
In them, he was much younger—but still handsome: a tall, muscular teenager with a hint of baby fat still in his cheeks and a wide, open smile. He had his arms around two younger girls, who had deep olive skin and curly dark hair. They grinned out from the photos.
“Alli and Alexa,” he told me. “My half sisters. This was when I was sixteen…maybe the happiest I’ve ever been, despite everything. They were eleven and nine.”
“What was despite everything?”
“Our mom is an alcoholic,” he said matter-of-factly. “She was sober when she had Alli and Alexa, thank fuck. But then she fell off the wagon again. Their dad split—can’t blame him—and I went looking for mine as a way to keep the lights on. He was this mafia thug. Not much of a paternal type. But I proved I could be useful, and he did let me come work for his organization.”
“Where are they now?” I tried to do the math, then asked, “How old are you, anyway?”
“I’m twenty-three,” he told me. “The same as you, probably.”
“I wish I knew when my birthday was,” I told him.
He hesitated for a second. “We’ll find a day to celebrate. We’ll make it good.”
My lips parted, not sure how to answer. I wasn't sure I wanted a birthday if it wasn’t the real day. But he was already answering my earlier question. “They’re eighteen and sixteen. Alexa is going to my old high school and doing a lot better than I ever could. Alli graduated and she is rocking her freshman year at Yale.” He grinned, pride evident across his face. “They are about a hundred times smarter than me.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re quite smart, Greyson,” I told him, laying my hand over his on the cell phone. His eyes met mine, and I was keenly reminded all over again of how close together we were. A charged moment seemed to pass between us.
“After all,” I added, determined to lighten the mood, “You’re obsessed with me.”
He let out a laugh. “True.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of the fact he didn’t deny an obsession. “Show me more photos. I like baby-faced Greyson.”
His brow dimpled. “Baby faced?”
He showed me a few more photos. In one of them, Alli was sitting on top of a wooden sign that said, Blue Creek Estates. In the background, the edge of a trailer was visible, along with a bike on its side.
A strange feeling jolted me.
Something like… longing? Nostalgia? I wasn’t sure exactly what that felt like. I’d never had a past that I could be nostalgic about.
I raised my gaze to find him watching me closely.
“Where were these taken?” I asked. “Is that where you grew up?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Only the finest trailer park with the finest people.”
I had the strange feeling I should go find it. “Is it still there?”