All The Wild Ones | Wildfire Series

Grayson: Brown Eyed Girl

G R A Y S O N

I'd accomplished the first step in a very important mission.

I was in Nessa's room. Well, I was in the doorway to her room. It was close enough. Only one more foot to go.

Of course I'd been in her dorm room before, but this was different. This room was a harder-to-reach part of Nessa. It held backstories and memories, and something told me she didn't just let anyone in. Something told me that I was the first guy in a long time to play football with her brother in the backyard.

I still couldn't believe my luck, honestly. I wasn't sure what had convinced her to let me come over, but I wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

Nessa's brisk pace and sudden fidgety motions as she walked into her room ahead of me told me she might be having second thoughts, but I forgot all about that when she let out an exasperated sigh.

"I told you I wasn't going to be any good at the guitar, Gray."

Gray.

A smirk stretched onto my face. I tipped my guitar next to me and leaned against the doorway's frame. Nessa turned to face me and jumped a little bit like she hadn't thought I would still be there or something.

I wasn't going anywhere.

But she'd have to figure that out for herself.

"Did you just call me Gray?"

Fuck, it sounded good, too.

She raised a brow. "Like that better than Everett, huh?"

"Yeah. I mean, everyone calls me Gray. But I'd never heard you say it before."

She frowned, lips twitching as some internal dialogue went on in her head. I felt left out. Maybe one day I would figure out precisely what was going on in her beautiful brain, but until then, I would just have to ask.

Watching her, I tipped my head to the side. "Why are you making that face?"

That face—the curious one—immediately fell. "I'm not making a face."

"Yes, you are," I insisted, pushing off the door frame and walking into the room. After kicking the door shut behind me, I leaned my guitar next to her bed.

"What's your middle name?" she asked suddenly—a changing-the-topic tactic if I'd ever heard one. But I shook my head, not eager to divulge that information when it would only lead to other questions I wasn't ready to answer. "I deserve to know," Nessa added. "You call me Adler all the time."

"My own little Irene," I said with a smile. "A dangerous girl like no other."

She snorted, denial in her tone. "I'm not dangerous."

She had no clue, did she?

"You get my blood pumping," I said. "Trust me when I say that's dangerous."

Just looking at her in that little skirt did strange things to my heart, things that would likely have my cardiologist concerned.

I flopped back on her bed with a sigh, making myself comfortable like I had that night in the dorms. I stared at the ceiling, relieved that I didn't find a boy band or another celebrity staring back at me.

But even if there were...that would be one more thing I knew about Nessa. And I'd be grateful for that. Just by being here, in her room, she was giving me a big glimpse into her world. And I supposed...I supposed I could do the same.

"It's Wilder," I admitted.

"What?"

She seemed to have forgotten what we were talking about. Maybe I might have been able to drop the topic, but it was too late now. So I repeated myself.