Dabbling In Sweetness

Chapter 37

The night was silent as I lay fast asleep in my room. It had been a week since I had last seen Grayson. Aurora had visited me once but said nothing about him disappearing. She was leaving and assured me that things between his uncle would be settled. I'm not sure what she was planning, but I nodded along. However, she had left an ominous statement. All she had said in her sultry voice was, "If he ever comes back from what he found out, stay by his side for me." I didn't know what it could have been but I nodded. The days grew longer even when I spent time with the group, my mind always drifted to where Grayson could be. I wonder if he was hurt or if he needed help. I worried too much for my own good.

However, everything changed when I heard a thump in my room. I woke up abruptly and saw the figure looming over me, close to my desk. I was about to yell when he placed a hand to cover my mouth. Dread took over me and I wanted to cry, but the smell hit me first. He smelled familiar. The figure stumbled away from me. The desk light turned on, and there was Grayson looking up at me, leaning on my desk. I could make out his features through the dim light. An audible gasp escapes my mouth as I see him looking the worst I have ever seen. He seemed battered up and bruised as if he had been hit by a car. I stood up in a hurry and rushed to him.

"Did you just let someone pummel you and not put up a fight?" I ask as I grab his face.

He winces in pain and grabs my wrist to stop. I look into his eyes as he looks into mine. I can see his eyes fill with fear and sadness as he asks, "Aren't you afraid of me?"

Now I understood why he had rejected me that day. I knew why he was asking this because, at the end of the day, the world and each other saw us as different people. I was the good girl who could do no wrong and he was the bad boy seeking the approval he could never get. He wanted to be more than just an image and I wanted to be more than just an image too.

"Should I be?" I thought to myself before the answer quickly came. If this had been any other person, I knew I would have already been screaming my head off for help. Hell, I'd be under my bed crying. But this wasn't just anybody. This was Grayson Archer.

I grabbed his bloody hand and placed a light kiss on the knuckles. "Never," I whisper into the silent room.

And that was all he needed. His lips were on mine in seconds. My whole body is filled with the adrenalin you get from a roller coaster ride. More specifically, the ride that takes you to the very top and then drops you without any notice. At the moment, you're filled with fear and excitement, but by the end, you either love it or hate. I hated the ride, but I loved the feeling Grayson was causing to erupt in me.

The kiss was a soft kiss, a lingering one. However, I didn't let it last long. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer, deepening it. He lifted me up in one quick motion and pushed me toward the nearby wall, where I wrapped my legs around his waist. I wanted him as close to me as he could possibly get.

I could feel the emotion radiating off of this one kiss and felt like I had been electrocuted. I wasn't sure when the exact moment was when I fell in love with him, but I couldn't go back from it now. It could have been the moment at the ball, maybe Thanksgiving, maybe the carnival, or longer than that before I even realized it. Before I allowed myself to admit it, the feelings had always been there. If they hadn't been, there wouldn't have been so many "almost" moments between us.

He moves his lips to the nape of my neck and I could feel the suctioning from them, sending a tingling sensation throughout my body and effectively driving me crazy. I run my hands through his hair and feel him groan a little at the action. His hand grazes my thigh with roughness from the cuts, creating goosebumps. I tense a little as he reaches my mid-thigh, but it doesn't go further than that. Instead, he slides it back down. He moves his hand up and down, teasing me.