Grayson's Heart

Chapter Eleven

"Happy birthday," Em says, stroking my chest. I look over and see it's midnight. I  let out a little chuckle and kiss the top of her head.  "Thank you my dear."

"Won't your parents get upset?" She asks. Ah shit. My dad is ex-military and an FBI agent and I still wasn't as scared of him as I was my mother. "No....it'll be fine," I push through my teeth in a bold face lie. Em lets out a small half laugh knowing well enough that my parents would not be happy to say the least. I kiss her softly on the forehead before we both drift off. 

*********

That damn ringing needs to stop or I'm going to lose my mind. I blindly reach over towards the nightstand nocking something over. I vaguely register the phone that is now in my hands and answer it without checking the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" I hear my dad's voice demand through the line. "Oh shit," I curse my eyes snapping open as though someone just dumped a cold bucket of water over me. 

"Oh shit is right Gray. Where are you? You're mom is freaking the hell out and you know how she gets about this kind of stuff," He hisses through the phone. I hate that tone of voice. Why can't he just yell at me now and get it over with. "I'm so sorry Dad, I'm at Emerson's place. I'll be home as fast as I can." I hear him take a deep breath, "you better Gray. You have a lot of explaining to do when you get home."

The phone hangs up and in some universal irony I hear another male voice. This time from the other side of Emerson's door. I immediately begin shaking Em to get her to wake up. "Hey honey, I heard something fall are you okay?" Her dad asks and as though in slow motion I see Em stirring awake as the door to her bedroom opens. We're both fucking naked and her dad is about to walk in.

He calls her name but when there is still no response he lets the door swing open. I watch as he looks at her bed and sees four leg imprints and the confusion grows on his face. It gets worse as his eyes continue their journey up the blankets before making eye contact with me. "Oh good God!" He shouts loudly. Loud enough that Emerson snaps into a sitting position. She seems to take a moment to take inventory of the room and read the tension. She looks at her dad and then to me. She does that about three times before she lets out a shrill screech.

Her father swings the door shut and she looks over to me in shock. "He's going to kill me! Is he going to kill me? Is he going to kill me Em?" I asked her tripping over my pants as I attempt to pull them on. Before she could answer I couldn't stop my rambling. "My dad's going to kill me, your dad is going to kill me, and my mom....oh God my mom!"

She scrambles to get dressed as well and before you know it we're both rushing down the stairs. We pause when we see her dad standing at the doorway drinking his coffee. "You get home safe Grayson," her dad says as he opens the door, not really giving e the option for anything but leaving. "Thank you sir," I say quietly waving to Em as I leave.

I rush out the door and head to my car that's parked on the street. I quickly start up the car and make my way towards my house, breaking multiple traffic laws.

I pull into my driveway and I'm in such a rush to get into my house that I forget to unbuckle my seatbelt. I take a breath in the hopes of calming my nerves and take the time to undue my seatbelt and walk to the front door. Before I can even grab my keys the door opens and my dad has his arms around me. For the first time in my life I feel his breath shudder. I was far to young and they don't tell me  lot about it but I know enough to grasp how hard it was on both my mom and my dad when me and my mom were kidnapped.

Guilt washes through me and I don't hesitate to wrap my arms around him too. "Please don't ever do that to me again Gray. I can't do it again." I nod against his shoulder, not caring that I can barely breath. He releases me and gestures for me to come in. 

As soon as I walk in I hear her. When I make it down the hallway into the living room I see my mom bent over on the couch sobbing. "Mom-"

Before I can finish she already has me in her arms. "Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going?" I shake my head because I honestly don't know why I didn't tell anyone. "I...I don't know mom. I wasn't thinking. I was so worried about Emerson and I couldn't think," is the only thing I can say.

She hugs my for a few moments longer before her tears start to fade and her breathing evens out. "Is she okay?" 

I nod solemnly, guilt plaguing me. Of course she can tell so she makes me sit across from her. "I know you feel bad honey but we just want to know you're safe at all times. After what we went through with Derek and then those men? Your dad and I almost lost you twice Gray. We almost did not survive that. If we had lost you....Gray you are the best thing to happen to your father and I and I need you to know that as your mom I'm always going to be worried about you. I'm glad you did it because Emerson needed help, I just want you to be more mindful next time," she says holding onto my hands.

I nod and reciprocate the hug she stands to give me. "Also happy birthday baby."

"Thank you mom," I reply giving her a solid squeeze.

*********

Soooooo, it's been a long time. I really don't have any good reasons or excuses I can give. It's been way to long. I'm working on another book that I got sucked into so I will try to keep my updates mildly consistent on Grayson's Heart. I will definitely try to keep the updates a lot closer together in time range.