Until You (Off-Limits)

I love moments like these. I love the tranquility. Nothing but me and the tapping of my keyboard. The rain outside just adds to my sense of peace.

This is one of the reasons I love staying with Noah. Being in this house always takes me back to a time when things were simpler. To a time when Noah and I were just students doing all we could to ensure a better future for ourselves. Back then, the company I now run was nothing but a dream, a simple concept that I didn’t think would ever come to fruition.

So many years have passed since Noah and I met, and so much has changed, but our friendship has always stayed the same.

As has this. The search for my parents. I still don’t know who they are, or why they left me in front of a church as a baby. I’ve considered dozens of scenarios, and the ones I keep clinging to are the situations in which they had no choice. Maybe they were too poor. Maybe my mother had me too young and wasn’t allowed to keep me. I don’t know, but I have to find out.

My eyes scan the medical records in front of me, and I’m unsure what I’m hoping to find. I’ve exhausted all leads I had, and at this point I’m looking for a needle in a haystack.

I’m startled when the doorbell rings and check my watch. Noah isn’t meant to come home from work for another hour or so. I rise from my seat and walk to the front door, finding Aria standing in front of me, completely drenched with mascara running down her face, her hair sticking to her cheeks, despair filling her eyes. She looks up at me, and the sob that tears through her throat guts me. She steps forward and throws herself into my arms.

“Grayson,” she says, her voice breaking.

I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly. The sound of her despair goes straight to my heart. “What happened, Ari?”

She’s crying so hard she’s almost choking on her sobs. I lift her into my arms and carry her into the house, kicking the door closed. Her entire body feels ice cold and she’s shivering. I’ve never seen her in this state before, and I don’t know what to do. I’m worried sick, and my heart hurts just seeing that look in her eyes.

I lead her to the sofa and sit down, placing her on my lap. Aria tightens her grip on me, her arms wrapped around my neck and her face pressed against my throat.

I grab the blanket from the sofa and throw it around us, trying my best to warm her up. I can’t tell if she’s shaking because she’s cold or due to the force of her tears. I bury my hand into her hair and hold her tightly, unsure how to console her.

“Aria, what happened? You’re scaring me,” I whisper, one hand in her hair, the other rubbing her back soothingly. Every muscle in my body is on high alert, ready to do some serious damage to whoever made her cry like this.

“Gray…”

She sounds heartbroken, and she’s crying so hard that she’s unable to get her words out. I hold her tightly, her body pressed against mine. She’s clinging onto me like I’m her lifeline, and it kills me. I’ve never seen her cry like this, not once.

“Ari,” I whisper. “Please, tell me what happened. Tell me why you’re crying. I can’t make it better if you won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

She shifts in my lap, and I loosen my grip on her as she draws herself up in my arms, tucking her knees underneath her chin, her cheek resting against my chest.

“Was it Brad?”

She nods hesitantly.

“Did he hurt you?”

She nods again, and I start to see white. I force myself to stay calm, but I can’t keep my body from tensing.

“Where? Where did he touch you?”

Aria shakes her head and turns to face me. Her eyes are red and swollen, and dark mascara lines run down her face in a way I’ve only ever seen happen in movies. Seeing her like this makes me want to put Brad six feet under.

She places her hands on my shoulders and shakes her head. “I’m not physically hurt, Gray,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. “He… Brad, he… he cheated on me.”

She bursts into tears at that last word and hides her face in my neck, her arms wrapped around me. I hold her and stroke her back gently, my thoughts whirling. What the fuck? Who in their right mind would ever cheat on Aria? I knew Brad was a dimwit, but fucking hell, I didn’t think he was this stupid.

I hug Aria as her tears continue to drench my shoulder. She hasn’t lived an easy life, not in the least, yet I’ve always known her as the girl with the perpetual smile on her face. To see her like this, with tears in her eyes? It both shocks and angers me. Brad will pay for this. These tears of hers will cost him everything.

I hear the door slam closed and tighten my grip on Aria. Noah freezes when he walks in and finds her in my arms, the sounds of her sobs breaking the silence in the house.

His eyes widen, and he rushes up to us, alarmed. His eyes meet mine, and the rage in them startles me. “What did you do? Why is she crying?” he asks, his voice raised.

His tone makes me tighten my grip on Aria involuntarily, protectiveness washing over me. She trembles in my arms and shakes her head, unable to get the words out.

I cradle her head gently and glare at Noah. “It wasn’t me. It was Brad.”

Noah freezes. I see the guilt he struggles to hide, and it hits me right in the chest. I’d never do anything to hurt Aria. Rather than assuming something must have happened, he assumed I hurt her. Me. I can’t even blame him for his assumption. No one knows me better than Noah. He knows about my criminal record. He knows I’ve beat someone up to the point that he’ll never be the same again, and he knows I still don’t regret it. He knows what I’m capable of.

I stroke Aria’s back, her breathing slowly calming. Noah sits down next to us, and Aria turns to face her brother. I recognize the helplessness in Noah’s expression. He can barely stand to see her like this either.

“Brad,” she says, her voice breaking. “He’s been seeing someone else all along.”

Noah’s hands shake as she finally tells us both exactly what she walked in on earlier today, the things she heard and saw. Noah clenches his jaw and listens patiently, but I know he’s already plotting Brad’s demise. I know, because I am too.

Noah raises his hand to her face and pushes her hair out of the way carefully. “You’ve got me, Aria,” he says. “This is your home. Gray and I, we’re your family. You don’t need Brad. Fuck him, okay? Fuck that asshole. I never liked him anyway.”

Aria smiles at his words, but another tear drops down her cheek. Noah looks at me, and I nod. Brad’s going to pay. He’ll regret hurting Aria the way he has.

I’m going to hit him in ways he won’t ever see coming. He’ll never recover. I won’t stop until his life is in pieces, and even then, it won’t be enough.