Until You (Off-Limits)

My hands tremble as I read through the information Nemesis members found on Peter Simmons.

He found a job. He applied for over fifty, but in the end, he got a job at a small convenience store not too far from my old house. In the months that we’ve been tracking him, he hasn’t committed a single crime. Based on his phone records, all he seems to be doing is trying to contact his daughter, who won’t speak to him.

I bite down on my lip and send out a request for his financial records dating back the last twenty years. I’ve spent so many years being angry that I’ve never wondered why. I’ve only ever been concerned with making him pay for what he did.

His rationale won’t matter. Nothing will ever make his crimes forgivable. But now that the anger has turned into a dull pain, I’m wondering why. Why did he rob us? Why did he kill my parents?

I click the window away before the memories have a chance to claw at me. I don’t want to let the anger consume me all over again. I can’t.

I close my laptop and push it further down my bed. I grab my phone instead, hesitating for only half a second before deciding to text Ash.

Nyx: You know how you always tell me you want me in your bed? Tonight I find myself wishing you were in mine.

I didn’t expect him to reply immediately, but he does, and he sees straight through me.

Ash: What happened?

Nyx: It’s nothing… I just feel a little lonely, a little hurt. Memories overwhelm me tonight, making it just a little harder to breathe.

Ash: Is this about your ex? That douchebag never deserved you, Nyx.

Nyx: It’s not. It’s some other stuff. It’s not important.

Ash: Hmm, what can I do to make you feel better? If I were with you, I’d take you in my arms and kiss you until I’m all you can think about… but since I can’t be with you, I’ll have to settle for more puns.

Nyx: Oh no, not the puns

Ash: We make a great pear.

Nyx: Oh wow, that one is kind of cute. So your mind isn’t all filthy, huh?

Ash: Tricked you! What do a cock and a Rubik’s cube have in common? I’ll tell you… The more you play with them, the harder they get 🙂

I laugh and shake my head, my mood lifted. He always does this to me. Every single time I’m down, he cheers me up, and he does it with ease.

Nyx: I have one for you… I cherry-ish you

Nyx: Seriously, you’re amazing, and I’m so glad to have met you

Ash: Me too, baby.

The sound of knocking on my bedroom door startles me, and I nearly drop my phone. I walk up to the door and open it, finding Gray standing in front of me. He’s wearing a T-shirt that does nothing to hide his muscles, and I love seeing him like this, so undone.

“Hey,” he says. “I can’t sleep. Do you want to hang out? I don’t know, we could watch a movie or something?”

I smile and nod at him, trying my hardest not to ogle him. Those gray sweatpants have me licking my lips. “I couldn’t sleep either,” I murmur, slipping out of my bedroom, my phone in hand. Gray grins at me and wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me along to the living room.

He pulls me on the sofa with him and hooks his arm around me, my head on his chest. I should probably pull away, but I don’t want to. Being in Gray’s arms like this… it’s exactly what I need tonight.

He turns the TV on and pulls me closer as he changes the channel, putting on some late-night news show.

I pull my legs up on the sofa and turn, so I’m closer to him. He looks at me and smiles, his eyes dropping to my phone. I didn’t even realize I was clutching it so tightly. A tinge of guilt has me unable to meet his eyes. Just a few minutes ago I was texting Ash and enjoying every second of it, but now that I’m sitting here with Gray I realize there’s nowhere I’d rather be. Ash and I have been getting closer and closer, but then there’s Gray. Lately things between us have been different… I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there are little touches that didn’t use to be there, and sometimes he looks at me as though he knows what I’m thinking, as though he can see straight through me.

Grayson frowns and leans in, taking my phone from me. “None of that,” he murmurs. “When you’re sitting here with me, I want your attention.”

My eyes widen, and Grayson smirks. He leans in and brushes my hair out of my face, his gaze lingering. His eyes drop to my lips, and my heart starts to race.

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” he asks.

I drag my eyes away and shake my head. “It’s nothing… I was just thinking of my parents, that’s all.”

He nods and opens his arms wide. “Come on,” he says. “There’s nothing a hug won’t make better.”

I blush and lean in, wrapping my arms around his neck. Grayson tightens his grip on me and shifts on the sofa, lying down and pulling me along, so I end up on top of him. He places one hand on my lower back while the other finds its way into my hair.

My heart starts to race, and I bury my face in his neck. This is just a hug to him, but to me… it’s so much more. The way his body feels against mine, big and hard against my soft curves. Gray has no idea how stupidly handsome he is, how he affects me.

“Ari, you’ve grown into a woman they’d be so proud of. You’re beautiful, clever and kind. You’re everything they could want you to be.”

I nod, my eyes falling closed as Gray plays with my hair. He smells so good, and being in his arms is a strange experience… it’s got me feeling excited and peaceful all at once.

“You’d have loved my Mom,” I tell him, my voice soft. Gray tenses underneath me, and I smile as I tell him all about her. The way she used to walk me to the playground no matter when I wanted to go, the stories she’d make up for me before bed, the way she’d pretend to have random illnesses so Noah could diagnose and cure her. I lie in Gray’s arms as I tell him all about Mom, the memories making me smile instead of cry for the first time in years.