All The Wild Ones | Wildfire Series

A Resolution

NESSA

A single text from Madie saying they arrived in Fresno wiped all the sexual tension from the room, and now Grayson was pacing by the door, rubbing his chest. My anxiety about the situation must have leaked into him because he seemed unnerved.

But he was also the cool, calm, and confident Grayson Everett, so of course, he was trying to hide it.

"How was your class earlier?" he asked, glancing over at me. I was curled up in his bed, half-hiding beneath the covers, drowning in the smell of him. There was a lamp on at his desk, but beside that the room was beginning to grow dusky. The late afternoon clouds had rolled in. A misting of rain fogged the windows.

I sighed. I didn't really feel like talking, but I knew he was trying to distract me. And I didn't want to make him feel bad.

"I hate biology."

He paused, frowning. "Isn't that asshole in Bio with you?"

"Jonathan?"

"Yeah," Grayson grunted. "Him."

I smiled at his sullenness.

"He is. But he leaves me alone now."

"Good." Grayson resumed pacing.

"He doesn't really want anything to do with me after that day in the commons. When you got all pissy."

He shot a glare at me, and I couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"I thanked him for leaving me at the gala. Because then another guy showed up who knew how to treat me a hell of a lot better," I whispered.

Grayson turned slowly to look at me, an unreadable expression on his face. His lips twitched. "You told him that?"

"I did."

Grayson ducked his head then, but I didn't miss the shy grin that peeked out. It warmed my heart for a moment, distracting me from the ache of not knowing what was happening with my friends. But then my phone buzzed, and all of my anxiety came rushing back. I snatched it up before groaning in frustration.

It was just Piper, wondering if she could borrow a dress I'd left at home. I was surprised she even bothered to ask; I wouldn't have known either way.

My phone buzzed a second time, shooting tingles down my spine. But it was still Piper.

Piper: Mom is making me ask.

Well, that explained it.

Me: Sure, go ahead.

I tossed my phone back onto my and exhaled loudly, expelling all my worries.

"Just think about something else," Grayson said quietly. I heard the sympathy there. "Try to go to your happy place for a bit, Adler."

I sighed. "It isn't that easy."

I'd have to figure out where the hell my happy place was first. I loved to daydream. To reimagine the world, to mix fiction and reality. Pretend I was a Bridgerton or that I had the brains of Irene Adler like Grayson thought I did. I liked to dream. But dreams were filled with more wistfulness than happiness.

"Of course it is," Grayson replied, unbothered.

"Fine. Then what's your happy place?"

A smirk flashed onto his face before getting masked by a solemn look, lips in a straight line.

I arched my brow. "I just assumed that you would say something poetic about football or music or something. But your mind went straight to the gutter, didn't it?"