Revenge Is Sweet

56 - Wanderlust

𑁍𝚂𝚘𝚙𝚑𝚒𝚊𑁍

He's home late tonight. I hear the front door open, but he doesn't call out to me.

Instead, I hear heavy footsteps head up the stairs.

I stay seated, crisscross on the ground in the living room. It's completely dark in the house, my only light source being the tv's glow.

Clementine and her kittens surround me, one of them chirping at me as she stumbles over. She likes to sit in my lap.

I smile and keep my attention on the kitties instead of the sound of the water rushing through the pipes in the walls. Maybe from his shower.

We have six kitties in this house now. That's Clementine, Remi, Callie, Nacho, Mary, and Jane.

I reach over to pick Callie up, setting her down on my lap like how she wants. When I do it, Nacho pounces on my knee. He doesn't like it when his sister is taken away. He likes to go with her.

Nacho joins Callie in my lap. Clem ignores her children in the meantime, letting me watch over them while she gets her sleep.

Clem isn't deprived of sleep though. I've made sure of it. Sometimes I'll take the kittens into a different room, leaving Clem wherever she is to give her time. Clem never really minds unless she's feeding them.

Greyson stays upstairs for a while, doing his own thing. It feels like an entire hour has passed before he comes back down to find me in the living room.

Which, honestly, it probably has been an hour. Greyson takes long, long showers when he comes home late.

There's never any trace or clue on his body that tells me what he's been up to when he gets out of his shower. Only rarely is there a new bruise or scrape, but I don't look at those.

His hair is still damp when he steps through the doorway of the living room. I pause my game with the kittens to look up at him.

We stare back at each other in silence, the silent question hangs over our heads.

Do you still love me?

He never actually asks me, but I can tell by the way he looks at me when he comes home. He doesn't smile but he doesn't frown either. It's this soft little look that holds the question.

And every time, I look up at him and smile softly.

I've asked him once and once only about where he goes. And he said one thing. 'These ones deserve it, honey. I promise.'

I always thought of death like the most unfit punishment for everything. No one deserves to die, and all.

But I still haven't asked him about it again. I don't share my philosophy with him.

So, when I smile softly at him tonight, he starts coming closer. He steps over and bends down to sit crisscross beside me, reaching over to grab me and lift me to switch me over to sit in his lap.

I take Nacho and Callie with me when he moves us. His arms wrap tightly around my waist, hugging my back close to his front. So much so that I slouch a bit when he leans over me, dropping his chin onto my shoulder.

I lift my arm back to touch the back of his head, turning my head to kiss his temple softly. "Are you okay?" I ask him. I really just want to know if he's hurt anywhere.

"Indestructible." Is all he says.

And it's terrible, but it makes me huff out a laugh through my nose with a soft smile.

"Nacho missed you." I lift the little orange kitten up to him.

Greyson smiles softly at Nacho. "It doesn't look like it." He points out. Nacho desperately tries kicking out of my grasp. He doesn't like to be held much.

I huff at him as I lean forward to set him down. He runs to his mom immediately.

Instead of grabbing Nacho again, I grab two kittens. Mary and Jane. They're twins—The only calico cats in the litter. The rest are either black or orange.

I pass them both off to Grey. He smiles to himself as lifts his head from my shoulder. He holds Jane in his palm and Mary in his forearm. I let out a quiet sigh as I look off to the rest of the kittens.

My mind has been roaming all day. Grey's been gone all day, so it's only fitting.

I wanted to tell him the news this morning, but that was when he told me he'd be gone today. I figured I should hold back until he got home.

He's home now.

"Grey," I lean my head back against his shoulder.

"Mm?"

"I've been thinking." I stare at nothing in particular, leaning back lazily against him. "Remember when you told me to tell you when I decide where I want to go?" My voice lowers so much, I'm almost whispering. He doesn't mind.

"Did you decide?"

"I want to go nowhere." I confidently grin.

Grey raises a brow with a growing smile. "Nowhere, huh?" He repeats. "That mean you want to stay here?"

"Sometimes."

He still smiles at me. "I'm not following you, honey." He admits with a soft kiss to my cheek.

"I want to drive." I tell him on a quiet hum. "I want to drive and I want to only stop to sleep."

Greyson nods at that, thinking for a long moment. "What about the cats?" He challenges.

I shrug softly. "Go with us."

"Go with us?" He laughs as he repeats my answer.

"Clem likes the car." I quickly offer. Who's to say the kittens won't like it too?

Greyson smiles at me. "Where do you want to go first, Soph?" He murmurs, leaning in to kiss my jaw.

"Virginia." I decide without hesitation. Greyson groans when he realizes why I want to go to Virginia first.

Our only friend is there. Of course I want to go see him first!

"And after that?" Greyson coaxes with a sigh. I don't think he likes the idea of going back to Virginia again. It's understandable.

"I want to see New York." I admit on a soft hum. "Maybe Vermont next." I offer quietly.

"You wanna travel the country?" Greyson laughs quietly. At least he's not shutting the conversation down completely yet.

I shrug. "I don't know." I admit. "Maybe after Vermont we come home for a while?" I suggest with a grimace, wondering if he's even going for this.

Grey nods to himself. "Okay."

I stare. "Okay?" I repeat. "Okay, what?"

He laughs. "Okay, we can talk more about this." He offers. "We'll figure out exactly where we want to go. I need to save up a little bit more money before we take a huge trip like that too." Grey adds with an unconcerned shrug. I bite my lip, already growing excited.

I love the idea of wandering. There isn't really a goal, we're just going simply to go. It's something I've never been able to do before. I've always had some sort of direction in life, whether I liked it or not.

I can hardly wait to start my wandering journey with Greyson to start. Not only will I wander, but I'll do it with someone I love and trust. The first man I've ever trusted.

Greyson hums quietly at me as his hand slips around the upper part of my neck, urging me to tip my chin up so he can lean over me and kiss me softly. When he pulls away, I grin at him and lean further back against him.

Another thing I love.

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1287 words :))

*Edited*