What A Secret Looks Like | ✓

25: tessa

I'd been woken up by the sound of the front door rattling and my first thought is that someone's trying to break in. I mean what else would it be? I've been a light sleeper for years, so it doesn't take much to wake me up.

I look under the bed, gambling on the hope that Grayson will be like the millions of Americans that hide bats under their bed. There's a flood of relief when I see the metallic glint from my phone's flashlight.

The sound is still coming from the door, and all I can think of is that what if the man came back? It's a completely irrational thought considering what are the odds he'd know where I am? That doesn't stop it from occurring though.

I stand around the corner of the door in the dark because I know where I am in the room, but if someone's breaking in, then odds are I'll have some advantage.

The door creaks open and I see the brief movement of someone coming in, thanks to the lights from the hallway. I swing the bat, connecting with the person coming in.

I'm not sure where I hit them, but I hear the sound of them falling to the ground. "Mother fucker," Grayson's voice groans and confusion warps through me.

"Gray? What the hell?" I demand as Grayson lays doubled over on the floor.

"That's kind of what I'm thinking," He groans, and the bat I found under his bed clatters to the floor.

"Holy shit are you okay?" I ask, dropping to my knees beside him in the dark as he curses under his breath, "I'm so sorry."

He tries to laugh, but I don't find what's funny about this. "You know, I think I underestimated you. I never thought you would swing a baseball bat at me."

"In my defense, I thought someone was breaking in because of the fumbling." I try to explain, reaching for the light switch and flooding the room with light as Grayson clutches his side.

"Tess, I gave you my keys. I assumed you would have left the door open so I tried to open it. I keep a spare in my brief case, hence the fumbling," He explains, coughing lightly. I can't believe I just hit my boyfriend with a bat.

"Why didn't you just call me? I'm so sorry, can I do something to help?" I ask as he takes a deep breath.

Grayson gets up, grimacing as he laughs again, "I didn't want to wake you up, but seriously remind me to never get on your bad side." He jokes, grabbing onto the wall for support.

"This isn't funny," I try to justify as he holds his side where I'm assuming I got him.

"Are you sure you've never played sports? I think you could have hit a home run with that swing."

I go into the kitchen in the freezer, and grab a frozen bag of carrots before walking out into the living room where Grayson is unbuttoning his shirt on the couch. When it slips off, it reveals the angry red blotch on his side that's starting to color already. "Are you okay?"

He shrugs the shirt off carefully, "Yeah," Gray replies. I sit next to him holding the ice pack to it as he sucks in a deep breath, "Tessa, I promise I'm fine."

I don't exactly believe him though because he looks like he's in pain. 'Well no shit, you swung a fucking bat at him,' I scold myself inside my head as Grayson's hand covers mine holding the ice pack to him. It creates an interesting feeling as one side of my hand is cold and the other side is warm.

"Bella, listen to me. I'm fine. You just took me surprise." He insists, and his term of endearment causes me to look up seeing his pale green eyes and the smile on his face.

It takes me a few moments to reply, "I'm sorry." Despite his smile, Grayson looks exhausted from what he did today. I'm sure all he wanted to do was shower and go to sleep, not be physically attacked. I lift the makeshift ice pack up off his side, seeing the harsh red color contrast against his skin. I trace my fingertips over it, gently circling the cold area as he sucks in a breath, "Sorry." I repeat, pulling it back, but Grayson rests his hand over mine again as he chuckles softly.