E L James - 04 - Fifty Shades Deeper 5k62w

Fifty Shades Deeper Chapter 1 “Where is your tie?” My father asked me softly, walking into my room with a firm grace that I most certainly did not inherit. I rolled my eyes while his back is turned, a trait I have taken from my mother, but of course, with his strange ability to read minds and see through the back of his head, he knows I’ve done it and turns to glare heatedly at me. I try the trick my mom always uses, grinning sheepishly, but to no avail, apparently I’m not as appealing as she is when I do it and he just clears his throat at me. “Top drawer.” I finally say, giving in under his glare, a small amused smile plays at his lips, the same shape as mine. I look just like him, soft copper brown hair that always cooperates with me and grey eyes, tall, broad and strong, but I am in no way like him, everything about me is just like my mother. “Was that so hard Jason?” He asked, grinning, his straight white teeth gleaming in the early sun that shines through my balcony windows. I roll my eyes again, matching his amused smirk with my own. “When do you need to be at the college?”

He asks as he walks over to the drawers and pulls out my dark blue tie, then throws it at me to put on. I have a special talent at tying ties thanks to him and his years of teaching me how so I looked smart at all his events he took us to. “Tomorrow.” I mutter, knowing I was going to start some kind of argument, I normally did with my sarcastic mouth, as my dad put it. “What time?” He asked again, his tone a bit dryer than before. I flopped down into my desk chair, showing my lack of grace by almost toppling to the floor, which my dad smirked at, but quickly masked it with his blank, intimidating face. I grinned up at him, knowing he couldn’t be mad at me when I did something stupid, it reminded him of when I was a kid, falling over everything and walking into things, it was my endearment. I finally gave in to him. “Ten o’clock.” I answered, turning the chair to face my Mac. “Are you going to take that with you?” He asked, meaning my computer. I shook my head. “No, I have my laptop.” “So I can sell this when we empty your room and redecorate?” He teased. “Very funny.” I replied. “Don’t you have work to do or something?” I could feel him smirking so I turned to face him. “It’s your last day here, you think I would miss that? Besides, we’re leaving in an hour.” My eyes widened, “But it’s only eight o’clock now, we have all day to go.” “If we were to drive it would take hours.” He countered. “But we’re not driving.” I reminded him. He smirked once again and nodded once, then left my room. I shook my head at him and rolled my eyes, knowing he would hate it. “Don’t roll your eyes.” I heard him call from down the hall way. How does he do that?!

Ten minutes later, after I had finished packing the last few bits I would need into my bag, my mother came, smiling warmly, the smile only she could do. It was one of those smiles that could melt even the coldest of hearts, so being mad at her was practically and impossibility. “Breakfast is ready.” She said. “Thanks mom.” I reply, smiling down at her, being a good foot taller than her, just like my dad. “Are you all ready to go?” She questioned, looking around my almost empty room. I nod at her, picking my last few bags up and leading her out of my room and down into the dining room, where my dad, my older brother Ted, and my older Sister Grace are sitting at the table, eating and talking. When Ted sees me, he grins widely. “There’s my little college bound brother!” He calls, making Grace turn to smile our moms smile at me, she is the spitting image of her, apart from the Grey eyes; Ted is the only one who got our moms bright blue eyes, although he too looks like dad. Ted finished college last year, he went to Princeton for three years, and is now working for dad at Grey Enterprises, Grace is going into her last year at Dartmouth with me, which makes my first year a little less intimidating, knowing she will be there. “Come eat.” My dad orders, not looking up from his blackberry, he is probably checking his emails, like he usually does. I take my seat opposite Grace and eat my breakfast. “Are you scared?” She asks me after a few moments of silence, I look up and see her face is excited, she loves college, if she could, she would stay there all summer, but our parents want us all home during the holidays so we can go away together as a family, this year we went to Egypt. I shake my head, grinning at her. “Should I be?” I tease, and she nods mockingly.

“Oh yes, be very afraid Jay, Dartmouth is a hell hole.” She jokes, using my nickname, I was names after my dad’s good friend, Jason Taylor, he worked for dad for years apparently, but he left a while after Ted was born to spend time with his own daughter, Sophie, although we don’t see her much now because she moved to England with her mother, Taylor on the other hand is like an Uncle to us. Grace doesn’t want to work at Grey enterprises; she wants to open her own dance studio, yes, she loves to dance, she is studying the form, art and mechanics of dance at Dartmouth, who knew? No doubt she will open one, with the help of our dad; we can do pretty much anything we want. I on the other hand, want to open my own art studio, have classes, students of my own, exhibits, shows; the lot. I have a love of drawing, painting, anything like that, Ted is the only one of us who took our fathers business ambition, Grace and I inherited the creative gene from someone else, mom say from her mother, our grandmother, she loves creative things like art and dance. “Is Taylor coming to new Hampshire with us?” I asked, Dartmouth is in new Hampshire, my open day is tomorrow so we’re going up tonight to stay in a hotel. “Yes.” Dad answered, and as if on cue, someone knocks on the door, Ted gets up to answer it and moments later he leads Taylor in. “Sir.” He greets dad, h always did this, saying it is because of habit. “How many times do I need to tell you Taylor, call me Christian.” My dad smiles warmly up at his old friend. Taylor smiles back and nods. “Ana.” He greets my mother, who gets up to hug him tightly.

“Taylor.” She replies. “Are you sure it’s okay for you to come with us?” She asks. “Of course, just like old times.” He grins, mirroring my dad’s smile at memories us kids are unaware of. “We need to leave shortly, the Jet Is ready and waiting.” Taylor says in his business voice, sometimes I think he still likes to work for dad, and would jump at the chance if offered. “Thank you Taylor.” He says to his friend. “Get ready.” He tells the rest of us, also using his no nonsense business tone. I run upstairs to grab my phone and when I come back down Taylor has already put all of our bags into the back of his RV, and is ed in the front by Ted, who is the closest to Taylor. Grace and I climb into the back seats of the Audi a4 when dad pulls out in it, then we make the twenty minute drive to where the private Jet is waiting for us Once we are on the Jet and seated, mom and dad sat together, Taylor and Ted together and Grace and I are sat next to each other, the engines roar and soon were flying high over Seattle to New Hampshire. “You’ll get your class schedules tomorrow and a tour again.” Grace tells me as we fly. “Will I get a chance to see you during breaks?” I ask, hiding the little nagging fear from my voice, I was closest to my sister, she always reassured me. “Of course you will, I don’t have as many classes this year, so when you have breaks there is a good chance I won’t have a class.” She assures me. “I don’t know why you’re worrying, we’re going to be living in the same apartment, so I will see you every night.” She laughs, making me roll my eyes at her. It was true, dad rented out our own two bedroom apartment for us so we didn’t have to live in the college dorms, which I am slightly glad about, and knowing our dad, the apartment would not be some cheap, shabby thing. Most of the necessities are already there waiting for us; furniture, food, entertainment, so all we had to do was move in when college starts in three days.

When we land in New Hampshire airport there are cars waiting for us which take us to the hotel we’re staying at. Its twelve o’clock now so we have lunch at the hotel then settle down in our room’s sitting area. “Who’s coming tomorrow?” I ask. “Just you and Grace, I have some business here and Ted is coming with me, your mother is going to visit a publishing house to talk to the manager, offer an arrangement of merging their company with the small one in Portland, and Taylor is…” He trails off, looking up at Taylor. “I can accompany Jason and Grace.” He offers. “Oh yes, come with us.” Grace grins at Taylor. “That’s settled then.” My dad smiles. “What are we doing tonight?” Ted asks. “We thought we could all go out to dinner together?” Mom says. “Sounds great.” I reply, we go out as a family for dinner once a week normally, and they are always the best dinners because we’re back together as a family, no work business, no college, just us five, well, six tonight including Taylor.

Later that evening, after our family dinner we head back to the hotel, Grace fell asleep in the car on the way home, but I manage to keep my eyes open, although I am more than tired, travelling, even just a few hours of flying, always makes us tired, mom and dad on the other hand seem like the don’t need to sleep at all, all our lives, they would be awake when we go to bed and up before we are the next day. When we get back to our room, Grace groggily walks with ease into her room, if that were me I would have walked into the coffee table, but she has our dad’s elegance. I make my way into my room

and clamber out of my clothes and sink into the warm hotel mattress. “Good night, see you in the morning.” I hear my mom murmur through my door, making me smile before I give in to sleep. “Wakey, wakey!” I hear Grace Scream, banging into my room and jumping onto my bed. I groan and roll over. “How old are you?” I tease. “We’re leaving in half an hour, get showered and dressed freshman!” She says, leaving me alone in my room. I sigh once more and slide out of my bed, into my ensuite bathroom and into the shower. Once I’m dressed, to my dad’s approval, I walk out into the sitting room where everyone is waiting for me. “You’re lucky, you took twenty eight minutes, two more minutes and I would have been in there to drag you out.” Grace says in her mock stern voice, matching our dads, which always amuses us. “Well I’m ready now.” I reply, grinning at her. “We’re going, good luck today and have fun.” My mom says, hugging us both, dad hugs us both quickly and smiles down at me, then they with Ted to do their business. “Shall we go then?” Taylor asks. We nod then head down to the car park where a rented car is waiting for us, a BMW x6, which makes me laugh, we never have a shitty old car, even when we have to rent one. “I will wait for you in the car while you do your tour and get your schedules.” Taylor tells us while we drive to the college. “We won’t be long, an hour at tops, feel free to go grab a coffee, I have your number.” Grace says, smiling warmly at him and Taylor nods. Once we get to the college, my heart is pretty much in my throat and my stomach is full of butterflies, nervous isn’t even the word here, but using my dad’s trick, I mask that with confidence and make my expression ive, this is the only way I will get through the day.

“See, wasn’t that bad, was it?” Grace asks when we leave the college grounds and spot Taylor, waiting for us just like he said. “Not really.” I grin at her. “Did you make any friends?” I laugh. “Grace, it wasn’t even my first day, the only person I spoke to was the lady who gave me these.” I said, waving my schedules in her face. “You will when you start classes on Monday.” She smiles warmly. “What are we doing over the weekend?” I ask. “Moving into our apartment I guess, Mom, Dad, Ted and Taylor are going home Monday when we go to college.” She informs me. I nod at her as we climb into the back seat of the car, and Taylor takes us back to the Hotel to wait for Mom, Dad and Ted to come back. When they get back to the hotel later that night, bringing dinner with them, I get the same usual questions; how was it? Did you have fun? Meet anyone you like? Grace tells them about it all, while I read through my schedules and teachers names. “Jay?” Teds voice snaps me out of my bubble and I look up at him. “Yes?” “Tomorrow, you and I are going into town, okay, and no excuses.” He grins evilly. Great, whenever Ted gets that look, I always end up in some kind of trouble

Chapter 2 “Ted?” I shouted over the club music. He has dragged me out to three different clubs and has decided to stay in this one. I don’t even like clubbing, it isn’t my scene. “Come on, there are some people I want you to meet.” Ted says, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the bar. “Ted!” Some people shout, greeting my brother, slapping him on the shoulder in their friendly manner. “This is my brother, Jay.” He introduces me to the three men standing before us. “Nice to meet you.” I say, gripping each of their hand when they hold them out to me. “So are you in the Grey business as well with Ted?” One asks. “No, not yet, he’s just starting college.” Ted answers for me, and my jaw tightens at the ‘not yet’ bit, he knows I don’t want to work for Grey Enterprises. “Dartmouth I take it?” Someone else asks. “Yes.” I answer him. “I go to Dartmouth, second year, but I work part time with your brother, for your father.” He grins at me. “My names Eric.” He tells me. “Perhaps I’ll see you around.” I smile back. “Bet on it!” He laughs, taking a gulp of his beer. “Want a drink?” Ted asks me. “Just one.” I warn, since I was the designated driver for the both of us. He wanders off and gets served straight away by the red headed girl at the bar, I roll my eyes, anything for good looks these days. “So are you moving down here?” Eric asks me. I shake my head. “I have an apartment here for college time, but I still live back in Seattle.” I inform him. “On your own?” “No, my sister, she’s in her third and last year, is sharing the apartment with me.” “Nice.” He grins. “Here you go.” Ted says, handing me my drink, a beer, my first one. I take a gulp and shudder at the taste. “Beer Virgin?” Eric asks,

and I grin at him. “It grows on you.” He informs me. “I hope so.” I laugh, taking another gulp, and true to his word, it starts to taste nicer as it goes down, the bitter after taste not as potent. As the night progressed, Ted drunk more and more and let loose, I stayed by the bar with Eric, who is telling me all about Dartmouth. “The professors are great, although some of them will try and make you quit.” He says. “Really? Why?” I ask, still holding my empty glass. “To suss out the weak ones.” He shrugs. I laugh, and someone taps me on the shoulder, I turn to see a short, slim brown haired girl smiling at me. “Are you waiting to get served?” She asks. I shake my head at her, words failing, which isn’t normal for me, I’m normally a fine speaker. “Do you mind if I squeeze past you, there’s no room anywhere else?” She grins, showing off perfect white teeth. “Yes, sure, go ahead.” I practically stutter. “Are you just going to ignore me then?” Eric grins at the girl. “Eric?” “Who else?” Eric laughs. “Oh my god I haven’t seen you in two years!” She exclaims, pulling Eric into a tight hug. “I know, how’s Victoria?” “She’s fine, she works for a private beauty Salon now in Portland.” The girl tells him. “Wow, that’s great for her, tell her I said hi when you next see her.” She nods and smiles at me, then holds her hand out to me. “Oh, this is Lillian Heirs, Lily, this is Jason Grey.” Eric quickly introduces us. As I go to take her hand, she snatches it back. “Grey? As in, Grey Enterprises?” She almost glares. “Yes, well, my father is the CEO, I don’t work there though.” “Oh, well it was nice seeing you Eric.” She smiles at our friend, quickly orders her drink and heads back off into the direction of the dance floor. “Did I do something wrong?” I ask Eric, a little bemused at her attitude. “She has a grudge against all you Greys, she doesn’t like your brother either, don’t worry.” Eric assures me, but it just heightens my curiosity. “A grudge? What for?”

I question. Eric shrugs and takes another sip of his beer. “Something about her mother or whatever, she doesn’t really talk about it, all I know is, she has no intention of befriending Ted, or you it seems.” I nod, and watch her dancing with her friends. “How do you know her?” I ask. “I dated her sister, Victoria for a while, we broke up because of distance, but I’m still close with the two of them, and Lily lives here, same as me.” He informs me. “What time are we leaving?” I ask Ted when he comes back over to me and Eric. “Soon.” He promises, I roll my eyes, knowing that his soon can range from two minutes to an hour. I decide to mingle a bit, ing Eric as he moves across the dance floor, the loud music pounding in my ear. “Excuse me.” I apologise when I knock into someone. The girl turns to face me and her smile quickly fades into a bored line. I sigh, and stop following Eric to talk to Lillian Heirs. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m not-“I try to explain but she holds her hand up and cuts me off. “You don’t need to know what my problem is, Mr Grey, all you need to know is to keep away from me.” She snaps in a sneer. “Have I done something wrong?” I argue back, feeling the heat rise as she makes me more angry. “Ask your father.” She replies then turns away from me and disappears into the crowd. “What a stuck up, pompous, rude, arrogant-“ “You okay there little brother?” Ted’s laughing voice interrupts my angry outburst. “Fine! Come on, we’re going home!” I shout at my brother and head to the door. Once outside in the night air, I take a deep breath and calm down. Who does she think she is, instantly hating me because of my name?

God! “Alright, let’s go.” Ted saunters out of the club and s me by the rented car. “What were you so pissed at anyway?” He asks when we climb in and I start the ignition.

“Eric introduced me to Lillian Heirs.” I said through gritted teeth, I have my father’s anger issues it seems. Ted burst into a fit of laughter. “She is something, isn’t she?” He howled. “You can say that again.” I mutter as I drive slowly down the town road. “The first time I ever met her, I was invited to a party with Eric, a work thing, and she threw her glass of water in my face because I said I wanted to be like dad.” He grinned fondly at the memory. “I don’t know why she got so fierce, dad is a good businessman.” He defended. I shrugged and turned the corner, and stalled the car when I had to emergency break as two people fell out in front of my car. “What the fuck?” Ted yells. “Stay here.” I order and unbuckle my seat belt and climb out the car. “Get the fuck off of me!” I hear a girl shout. Walking round to the front of the car I see a guy pushing a girl down on the ground, trying to get on top of her. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” I shout and push the guy off her, he falls easily, not seeing me coming. The girl scrambles to her feet and stares at me. “Get in the car Lillian!” I shout when I recognize her, she doesn’t question me or throw insults, she runs and jumps into the back seat of the car. The guy has recovered himself and is walking back over to me, I just glare at him, refusing to move. “What you getting involved for kid?” He sneers, getting closer to me so his nose is practically scraping mine. “I suggest you back off, Mason.” I hear Ted say as he saunters over to stand next to me and gently pushes the guy away from me.

“Grey, what are you doing here?” Mason asks, a little less colour in his face. “Showing my brother around.” Ted says simply. Mason gulps quietly, but I hear him. “Tell you brother not to get involved in my business.” He snaps. “Don’t go around harassing girls, and he won’t.” Ted snaps back, proving that he too, is just like our dad. “Whatever.” Mason growls then stalks off back towards the club. “I could have handled him.” I mutter to Ted. “I know, Masons a pussy really.” Ted laughs. “Come on.” I punch his shoulder playfully and get back into the car, almost forgetting Lily in the back until she clears her throat. “Where are you heading?” I ask her, looking at her in my rear view mirror. “I can walk.” She mutters, hugging herself. “Obviously.” I reply sarcastically, and she looks down, making me feel bad. “Look, just let me give you a ride.” I say, my tone softer than before. “The college dorms.” She replies. “They let you stay there during the summer?” Ted asks. “No, I only moved in two days ago.” She replies, her tone less than friendly. “First year?” Ted asks, ignoring her. “Yes.” She replies. “Same as Jay here.” Ted says, patting my arm as I drive towards Dartmouth. As we’re driving, Ted falls asleep, the alcohol and late night kicking in. “You okay?” I ask, glancing at her in the mirror. “Fine.” She replies, almost angrily. “You’re welcome.” I say sarcastically, annoyed at her tone. “I was fine!” She shouts. “If being dragged to the floor and attacked is fine, then yes you were!” I shout back, glaring at her in the mirror, so I see the tears spring to her eyes. “Fuck, look, I didn’t mean it, okay.” I try to apologise. She stays silent for a little while. “Thank you.” She eventually says after a few minutes. We pull into the Dartmouth dorms car park and I get out to open her door for her. “Here you are.” I say as she climbs out. “Thanks for the lift.” She mutters.

“No problem.” And I can’t help but smile at her. She starts to walk towards the building and turns to face me over her shoulder. “This doesn’t mean I like you Grey.” She smirks. “You either, Heirs.” I laugh, then get back into my car and head back to the hotel, with a softly snoring Ted next to me. I wake Ted up when we get to the hotel and he groggily follows me in, its two am now and the hotel is quiet. “Did Lily get home okay?” He asks, almost falling into the elevator behind me. “Yeah.” I nod. “Was she alright?” “I think so, who was that Mason guy?” I ask, frowning at Ted. “Just some Jerk who was dating her two years back, I met him when I first met Lily, he’s no good.” He informs me. I nod, taking in the information; crazy jerk ex-boyfriend. When we let ourselves into the hotel I have to throw my hands over my eyes to hide from the horrible sight inside. Mom is sitting on the kitchen counter, dad in between her legs and they’re kissing like teenagers. “God, didn’t you guys get enough of that when you were younger?!” I cry. They don’t even have the decency to pull apart, they just giggle and laugh. “I’m going to bed.” I groan, Ted follows me to his room, laughing softly at our love struck parents. “At least they don’t argue.” He points out, and I just wave my hand at him and close my door. Once I’m in bed I close my eyes eagerly, letting sleep was over me, and I dream about an oak tree and a girl laughing.

Chapter 3

“Grace!” I shout when I feel a pillow smack into my face, waking me up with a start. “You didn’t wake up when I called you.” She shrugged innocently. “So you hit me?” “Oh don’t be such a baby, get up, we’re moving in today.” She grins. “I thought we were moving in tomorrow?” I ask. “Tomorrow is Monday, that’s when college starts, so it would make more sense to move in today, don’t you think?” She laughs. I nod and point at my door, signalling for her to leave, which she does, leaving me alone again, I look over at my alarm clock, “Shit, six thirty?” I groan, wishing I could go back to sleep, I only had three hours last night. “Morning.” Mom and dad say at the same time when I come out of my room and into the kitchen to get some breakfast, which makes me shudder when I last night. I laugh to myself about it, knowing Ted is right about them not arguing, I’m lucky they’re so in love. “What’s so funny?” My dad asks, and I just shake my head and accept the plate of egg and toast my mom offers me. “Are you ready to move in to the apartment?” She asks, sitting down beside me with her coffee. “Eat something.” My dad tells her, which makes her laugh out loud but she gets some toast too. I roll my eyes at them and their inside jokes, I will never understand them. “All I have to take is my luggage I brought here; the rest was taken

there by Taylor, right?” I ask, eating my food. “Yes, it’s all ready for you two.” Dad answers. “Are you going home tomorrow?” Grace asks. “We’re going to fly back later tonight when you’re both settled, I have a meeting tomorrow morning I can’t miss, is that alright?” He replies, looking warily at us as if he didn’t want to leave us here alone, which knowing him, he didn’t; he is way protective. “And we have a surprise for you both.” Mom grins sheepishly, which means she isn’t too sure about it herself, I bet it was dads Idea. “We got you a car each, so you can get around here and don’t have to worry about renting one.” Yep, definitely his idea. “Thanks.” We both grin at him. We’ve learnt over the years that you just have to accept the gifts. “They’re parked in the apartment car park.” Mom says. “Great, thanks so much.” Grace smiles her daddy’s girl smile at them both. “Wait, you didn’t get us ridiculously expensive ones, did you?” I asked, just imagining the looks we would get driving into college in a Audi Spyder. “No.” My mom laughs, knowing what I meant. “We got you less conspicuous ones.” She assures me. “Grace, we got you an Ice blue Mini convertible, you said you liked them.” Dad tells her, which she squeals with glee at. “And you have a black bmw m6 convertible.” Mom says, wiggling her eyebrows. “You could have gone a little more low key, but I’m not complaining, thank you.” I smile. “Hard top?” I ask cheekily, and dad nods, knowing I’m not keen on soft top convertibles, whereas Grace loves them, especially on minis. “Is everything to your liking?” Taylor asks, grinning at us as we let ourselves into our new apartment, where he is waiting. I look around, it is large and spacious, the kitchen s onto the living room, both having a cream and black colour scheme, the sofas are

black leather and the carpet is soft and cream. “We thought a plain look would suit the living room and kitchen, but the bathroom is black white and red, and your bedrooms are decorated the way you described.” Taylor informs us. “Thank you Taylor.” Grace says, and I smile at him. “Right, we’ll let you two settle in, we need to get back to the hotel and grab our stuff so we can catch the jet.” Mom says, hugging us both closely. “We’ll be back next weekend, okay.” Dad says, also hugging us briefly. “See you then.” I say. “Ring us when you’re home.” Grace adds. “Give me a call If you have any trouble.” Ted says quietly to me and pats my shoulder. “Will do, see you later.” I reply. “Thanks again Taylor, will you be back next week too?” I ask. “Of course he will, if he wants.” Dad says, inviting him. “I will.” Taylor grins at us. “See you in a week.” Mom says, closing the door behind her, and Grace and I are alone. “This place is really nice.” She grins, I nod in agreement. “Let’s go check out our rooms.” I suggest. I walk down the right corridor and Grace goes down the left, there was no chance in having a small apartment when it came to dad looking for one, no, we have a large one with bedroom on opposite sides. I open the door to what I think It’s my bedroom but is in fact my bathroom, just like the common one, it is black and white, but instead of red décor it has dark blue. I turn and open the door opposite and walk into my new room. It was just how I liked it, plain, using black, brown and creams as the colour scheme and one wall is all window which shows the city, and very modern. I smile, liking my new room then close the door and walk round to see Grace’s. Hers is similar to mine, having cream and black as its main colour theme, she has a wall wardrobe that her bed is tucked into. She has already started to unpack her things into the wardrobe.

“Hey, did you see your bathroom?” She grins. “Yes, do you have one?” I ask. “Yes, it’s ensuite.” She replies. “Very nice.” I grin. “Do you like this then?” I ask, meaning the whole apartment. “Yes, it’s very modern isn’t it.” She smiles. I nod. “Want to cook or order dinner?” I ask. “I really fancy Chinese food.” She muses. “Take away it is, I’ll order it.” I laugh, walking out of her room and towards the kitchen. Just as I go to dial in the number from the list of take aways that mom must have put on the fridge, my phone started ringing, showing a number I don’t recognize. “Hello?” I answered anyway. “Hey, it’s Eric, Ted gave me your number, hope you don’t mind?” Oh, it was Eric. “No it’s fine, what’s up?” “Wondered if you wanted to hang out tonight, college starts tomorrow.” He asked. “Me and my sister are about to order some Chinese food if you want to , we’ll probably just watch tv or something.” I shrugged, even though he cant see me. “Sounds great, tell you what, I’ll pick up the food and you guys just give me your share of the money when I get there.” He offered. “Yeah, alright, just grab whatever, a bit of everything.” I laughed. “See you in a bit, text me your address.” He said before hanging up. I quickly tapped in the address and sent it to his number then saved him in my phone. “Who was that?” Grace asked, coming out in her pyjamas. “My friend Eric, he’s coming over with the food.” I told her, grabbing myself a can of coke from the fully stocked fridge and settling down on the cold leather couch. “Eric? You mean that guy who works with Ted and Dad during the holidays and weekends?” She asked, looking slightly pink in the face. “Yeah-“ I didn’t even get to finish my answer before she ran back into her room, emerging ten minutes later fully dressed again. “Making an impression for somebody, Grace?” I tease. “Shut up.”

She snaps, but has a shy smile playing at her lips Its fifteen minutes later when someone buzzes our door. I get up and look out the camera to see a black and white image of Eric standing there with two bags of Chinese food. I buzz him in then open the door for him, a minute later he steps out of the elevator and walks in. “Hey.” He greets, setting the bags down on the kitchen island and turning to face me. “Thanks for that, here’s our money.” I say, handing him thirty bucks. “Cheers.” He puts the money in his back pocket. Grace saunters over to us, using the same walk our dad does and smiles brightly. “This is Grace, my sister.” I introduce them, rolling my eyes. “Nice to meet you, I’m Eric.” Eric says, shaking Grace’s hand. “You too.” She grins. “Alright, let’s eat.” I say, grabbing three plates and dishing it out. “So I heard you gave Lily a ride home Saturday night?” Eric asks while eating his food, we put a dvd on for background noise while we all ate, Grace made sure she kept conversing with him. I nodded while I swallowed my mouthful of noodles. “Yeah, some guy called mason was giving her trouble.” I replied. “Are you two friends now?” He grinned. I laugh. “I wouldn’t say friends.” “She’s going to feel like she owes you, she’s that type of girl.” Eric sighs. I shrug. “She doesn’t owe me anything, I was just being a nice guy.” “Always the nice guy.” Grace winks. “How are you two getting to college tomorrow?” Eric asks. “We drive what about you?” Grace replies. “Walking, unfortunately. My cars in for repairs this week.” “Want a lift?” I offer. “Sure, thanks.” He grins back. “Do you live far?” I ask. “No actually, I live just round the corner, I can meet you here in the morning if you’d like?” He compromises. I nod and finish my food

before taking it into the kitchen to wash it, while I’m in there; Grace takes the time to really talk to him, put on the Grace charm. “Right, I better head home, see you guys in the morning.” He says, waving as he heads out the door. “He’s cute.” Grace says as soon as the door closes. “Geez Grace, you don’t need a toy boy.” I tease. “He’s only a year younger than me!” She defends. “Right, well, I’ll leave you to your teenage hormones, I’m going to bed.” I laugh, walking towards my room. “Night little brother!” She calls after me, I roll my eyes and chuckle. Once I’m in my room I let out a big sigh of air. My first day of college tomorrow. Bring it on.

Chapter 4 For once I was awake before Grace. College starts at nine and it just turned six o’clock. I get ready in half an hour, showering and dressing into casual dark jeans and a grey t-shirt and converses, once I’m done, leaving my wet hair to dry naturally I go and knock on Graces door, I wouldn’t dare just walk in like she does to me, just in case she is up and getting dressed or something. I hear her shuffle around then open the door with a sleepy face. “Morning.” I grin. “Thanks for waking me up, I forgot to set my alarm.” She yawned. “No problem, you want breakfast?” I ask, turning to walk towards the kitchen. “Yes please.” She calls after me. I start making us pancakes and by seven o’clock they’re done and Grace comes out wide awake and fully dressed. “Eat up; Eric will be here in ten minutes.” I tell her, ing her plate to her across the island table. She eats her pancakes quickly then goes to brush her teeth, which I find weird, I always brush my teeth before I eat, otherwise you can feel the food that is still kind of stuck in your teeth wash around, it just makes me feel sick. I wash up our plates and put them on the rack to dry and the buzzer goes, I know it’s Eric so I grab my bag of the sofa and go over to the door and press the speaker button. “We’ll be down in a minute.” I say. “Come on Grace.” I call into the apartment so she can hear me; she comes out of her room with her bag and follows me out the door. “Hey.” I say when we come out of the buildings front door and see Eric sitting on the wall waiting for us. “Morning guys.” He greets. “My car’s in the underground car park.” I explain, waling

round to the door that goes in under the building where all the cars are parked, the driving entrance is on the other side of the building. He follows Grace and I inside and blows out and impressed whistle when I click my keys and the sleek black bmw m6 convertible flashes to life. “You Greys never fail to impress.” He winks. “What can we say, we aim to please.” Grace laughs, the saying is like our family motto or something. “Are you coming in Jay’s car?” Eric asks her, but she shakes her head at him, and walks over to her mini. “And miss out on driving my new baby? No way.” She grins before climbing in and driving out of the exit, I wave as she goes. “Want to get a coffee before college?” Eric asks as he climbs into the car beside me in the enger seat. “Sure.” I agree, starting the engine and driving carefully out the exit. “Can I have a plain white coffee?” I ask the speaker at the Starbucks drive through. I look over at Eric and raise my eyebrows expectantly, wanting his order. “A vanilla latte.” He answers my silent question. “And one Vanilla Latte.” I repeat his order, the woman who is speaking to us tells us to drive round to collect. I the dinks over to Eric, who places them in the two cup holders then drive towards the college. I laugh when Eric takes a tiny sip of his drink and he raises his eyebrows at me, so I answer his look. “Not only do you have the most girlish coffee I can think of, but you sip it like a lady.” I tease and he grins. “Don’t judge my coffee Mr plain and simple.” He defends, laughing. I pulled into the college car park and took one of the designated spaces, noting the looks that the students threw my way when they saw my car, I just smirk and grab my bag and walk with Eric into the main quad. “What do you have first?” He asks me, I

pull the schedule out from my back pocket and examine it, I chose a few classes, some for my own taste, and others for my dad’s. “Introduction to fine art.” I read off the paper to Eric, who snorts. “You are nothing like Ted.” He notices. “Nope, I have no interest in working for Grey Enterprises either.” I inform him, correcting Ted from the other night when he said I wasn’t yet working there, I never would. “I didn’t think you did, you’re different, Grey, I like it.” He grins. “We aim to please.” I smirk. Eric sees someone past my shoulder and waves, grinning broadly. “Lily!” He calls. My heartbeat quickens up, I haven’t seen her since I gave her a lift home, I turn to look her way to see her walking over to us, a small smile playing at her pink lips. “Hey Eric.” She greets then looks at me. “Hello.” She says politely, all though I have a feeling it was forced. “Lily.” I greet. “What do you have first?” Eric asks, either not noticing the tension or choosing to ignore it, the latter being more likely. “Introduction to fine art.” She says, smiling. /Oh god…/ “Same as Jay.” Eric says, fake surprise smothering his voice. “Oh really, I didn’t think you would be into that sort of thing.” Lily says disbelievingly. I smirk at her, she was just like everyone else, assuming I was going to be just like my dad. “You obviously don’t know me well enough, miss heirs.” She rolls her eyes, hoping I wont see, but of course I do, I’ve had practice. “Well now you two can get to know each other better.” Eric grins, patting my shoulder. I glare at him, but he just keeps smiling. “I suppose I owe him that much.” Lily sighs, and smiles at Eric once more before walking off in the direction of the art block. “I see what you mean by she thinks she owes me.” I say, watching her as she disappears through the double doors of the building. “This won’t be

it, she will keep thinking she still owes you, she has a problem with it.” He shakes his head and smiles sadly. There seems to be more to Lily that meets the eye, and I have three years to figure them out.

Chapter 5 I said goodbye to Eric as he went off in the direction of the business block, which was no surprise to me since he was so dedicated to my father’s business. I followed the direction in which Lily went and made my way into the art block. Not a single wall was bare; they were covered in bright colours and pieces of art done by previous students, all seemingly talented. I took a deep breath, this kind of décor was refreshing to me, I had never been in a place with not a single white, plain wall, and I was used to plain. This was a pleasant change. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” A quiet voice came from beside me; I looked out of the corner of my eye to see a waterfall of brown hair. “Speaking to me, Miss Heirs?” I tease, a small smirk pulling at my lips. “Considering we will be spending the next three years together, I thought it would be better if we were on speaking .” She shrugged. “I feel honoured.” I laughed, looking down at her. She looked up to meet my gaze, her pink lips pulled into a very light smile, and her brown eyes, the colour of chocolate, almost sparkled. “You should, I don’t have much tolerance for Greys.” She says, her smile faltering slightly. I frown. What is this grudge she has against us? “Well, I hope I can change your mind, Grey is but a name.” “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” I hear her whisper. “Shakespeare.” I note. “My favourite.” She replies, blushing slightly. “Why didn’t you study English? I heard Shakespeare is one of the main units.” I ask. “I prefer the visual beauty of Shakespeare, the

image that runs through your mind when you read it, rather than the written meaning.” She answers. “Good answer.” I nod. Lily turns and walks down the hall, making me follow. “Are you excited?” She asks when I catch up with her in a few steps. “I suppose.” I laugh, excitement was something I haven’t truly experienced since I was younger, now it was just anticipation. “I am.” She grins. I smile to myself, this is the longest and most civil conversation I have had with her, and it was quite nice. “What kind of art are you most fond of?” I ask. She thinks for a moment, her brows creasing together, then smiles when she decides. “Pencil art has got to be my most favourite, it’s the most simple, yet detailed.” She grins. I nod. “What about you?” She asks. I think, most art forms are enjoyable, whether it is painting, drawing or moulding, but the one art form that stands out to me is glass moulding. “I like glass work.” I say, feeling slightly embarrassed for some reason. “I went to a glass museum when I was younger, it was beautiful, and everything glittered.” Lily replies, almost speaking to herself rather than me, memories taking over her thoughts. “I haven’t had the chance to go to one yet.” I say. “You should.” She smiles at me. A smile. How simple, yet so cementing. I liked Lillian Heirs; we were going to get on well. We walked into the large classroom, for some reason I expected a lecture hall, but instead it was a load of chairs placed in a circle in the middle of the room. “Do you want to sit with me?” Lily asks shyly, not meeting my gaze, I have a feeling this is less of her owing me, and more of her not wanting to be alone just yet in a new place. “Sure.” I smile and sit beside her in the circle. Several more students come in and the circle, then a man in his early thirties, it seems comes in and stands in the middle of the room and turns slowly a

few times and studies each of us, and I do the same to him. He is tall, broad, with a short goatee, and wavy, messy dark hair, wearing casual clothes. A typical artist it seemed. I smirk when he finishes his slow turn and lands his dark eyes on me. “A Grey, in my classroom?” He asks, a disbelieving smile on his lips. “Have you taken a wrong turn and lost your way from the business centre?” He asks mockingly, making me glare at him. He walks closer, so he is looking down at me. “Your father has given a lot to this college, we are very thankful.” He says, with not a trace of sincerity to his voice. “Then you should be happy to have me in here, a pleasure I’m sure.” I grind between my teeth. “Of course, Mr Grey.” He smirks. I can see him and me getting along well… or not. “So it’s not just me who holds a grudge against you guys.” Lily whispers to me. “None of you know me!” I spit out, having my mood completely ruined. He takes one more final turn and smiles in satisfaction. “My name is Professor Alaric.” He finally introduces himself. “Names and something interesting about yourself.” A girl with short blonde hair and a round face stood up first. “I’m Ella, and I’m originally from England.” She said with a perky voice, she was quite cute, in a young girl kind of way. The next person was a tall, strong boy called Alex who was the quarter back in his last high school. We continued around the circle until it came to Lily. She stood up and cleared her throat. “I’m Lily, and I…”She thought for a moment before deciding on her interesting fact, which I was quite interested in hearing. “I’ve never swam in the sea.” She shrugs then sits down. That was it, that was her interesting fact? “And finally, Mr Grey.” Professor Alaric came to focus on me over his fashionable glasses. I smirk and stand up. “My name is Jason Grey, and I can’t cook, not even microwave meals.” I say nonchalantly. Professor Alaric raises his eyebrows before chuckling

lightly. “Very well, it’s a good thing you aren’t majoring in home economics, I hope you are better at art though.” He says as I sit back down in my chair beside a silently laughing Lily. “I like to think I am.” I say to him then turn slightly towards Lily. “What are you laughing at Miss Heirs?” “You can’t cook, at all?” She asks. I frown, it’s not that hard to believe, I’ve never needed to learn nor have I had the interest in doing so. “You’ve never swam in the ocean, the two of us are extremely peculiar it seems.” I note. Lily freezes and her soft giggle disappears. “I don’t like the ocean.” She whispers, whether it was meant to be out loud or not, I couldn’t tell, but I didn’t question her further. After we were all well introduced and made comfortable in the class, we were split into groups of three, we were to draw one another, I was grouped with Lily, and a small, scrawny boy, whose name I didn’t quite catch. “Who is drawing who?” The boy asked in a heavy French accent. “How about I draw Jason, he will draw you, and you can draw me?” Lilyoffers, to which the boy nods and starts scratching his pencil across the paper, gazing intently at Lily. “Get into position, Grey; I want to draw you while you draw Luc.” Lily commands me, smirking slightly. I turn in my chair so I can see Luc drawing Lily clearly and start to sketch him. I can feel Lily’s eyes on me and the hour and fifteen minutes that we have to do this go extremely slow, I swear I could sense every time she blinked. Before I can even finish my sketch Professor Alaric is clapping his hands to get our attention. “Alright, great first class, if you could all put your names on your paper and the name of the person you were drawing then hand them to me.” I quickly write my own name and Luc’s onto the back of my paper in my clear calligraphy font and follow behind Lily over to him, I get a quick glance and see that her picture of me is almost

finished, and extremely good, it makes mine look like a five year old has done it, she wasn’t kidding when she said she liked pencil art. I hand Professor Alaric my paper and meet his gaze, but he doesn’t glare or smirk at me this time, just a smile. When I leave the classroom, only realising how strongly it smells of paint and old fabric overalls when I step out into the clear air of the hall way, Lily is waiting by the door for me. “You didn’t need to wait.” I grin and fall into step beside her as we head out of the building. “I kind of owe you.” She smiles. I grimace, how much is she going to ‘owe’ me? How much am I willing to take? “I’m meeting my friends for lunch so I’ll see you back here for our next class, okay?” She says, already heading in a different direction. I nod and wave. “See you in an hour.” She calls over her shoulder. That girl has some major mood swings I bump into Eric in the student canteen and grin when I reach him, happy to see a familiar face. “Hey, how was your first class?” He asks when he sees me. “Great, want to go out to get food?” I ask, looking around me at the crowded hall. Eric nods and follows me out to the car park. The rest of the college day goes by pretty quickly, every class apart from Professor Alaric’s has a seating plan, and only one of those am I close to Lily. I didn’t even get to say good bye to her because she was out the door before I had left my seat. We had a few conversations throughout the day, but most of the classes were in silence, and others with music. When I got home after dropping Eric off at the corner of my road Grace is already waiting for me. “Hi Jay, how was your first day?” She asks like a mother. “Not too bad.” I answer, taking a soda from the fridge and chucking one to her. “Dad called, he won’t be able to come down until Saturday, so Mom and Ted are staying at home until then.” She tells me and I shrug. “What are we doing for dinner tonight?” I ask.

“I was thinking I could make us something instead of take out?” She offers, and I smile. “You know what we haven’t had in years?” I ask, already tasting it on my lips. “Egg and beans on toast.” I say, it used to be my favourite dinner as a kid, we would have it when mom and dad worked late, it was quick and easy. “Now I really fancy that!” Grace laughs, heading over to the fridge. “Why don’t you invite Eric over?” She asks, trying to sound casual. “Would you like that?” I laugh. “Shut up.” She says a small smile at her lips and a soft blush on her cheeks. I text him anyway, asking if he wanted to come over. He agreed and ten minutes later he was buzzing our door, Grace let him in this time. “Hey guys.” He greets when he comes in. “Hi, want dinner?” I ask, nodding at him from the sofa where I am seated, Grace is scurrying around the kitchen cooking. “Sure, what are we having?” He asks Grace. “Egg and beans on toast.” She says proudly. Eric laughs and looks at me. “Of all the things you two could afford to eat.” He says, bemused. I smile but say nothing, taking the plate Grace hands to me. We eat and watch a movie, not talking, it’s quite homely and to be honest, great. My mind drifts to Lily, I wonder what she is doing right now? What is she eating? Would she be watching a movie, who with? Questions race through my head and I realize, I want to answer them all.

Chapter 6 Eric ended up staying with us for the night, already having his outfit and books with him, which seemed all too convenient to me, but he denies any mention of it being pre planned in his head. I let him get changed in my room and head into the living room to wait and my phone rings as I sit on the couch. “Hello?” I answer. “Morning, Jason.” I hear my father’s deep voice on the other end of the phone. “Dad.” I reply, knowing he was ringing for a reason, he never rung just to say hello. “I need you to do something for me tonight, at eight o’clock there is going to be a meeting dinner at the Alicresto hotel, you need to be there to accept the business transcript from an old friend of mine.” He informs me. I agree, it’s not like I can say no to him. “Great, thanks.” He says then hangs up. “You’re welcome.” I mutter to myself as Eric coms out of my room. I drive us to college and once again we stop for coffee, he gets his girly drink and I get my plain one. “Did you and Lily get on?” He asks me as we pull into the car park of the college. “Weirdly enough, we did.” I it, grabbing my bag and climbing out of my car. “I told her you weren’t too bad.” He winks, as if he had done me some big favour. “I’m still trying to figure her out.” I laugh. “She’s a tough nut to crack.” He says, and something dark es over his features. I shake it off, it was probably nothing. “What are you doing tonight?” I ask, changing the subject as we head into the main campus. “It’s my mom’s birthday, we’re going out tonight.” He grimaces, obviously dreading the event. I frown. “Why, what’s up?” He asks when he sees my mood change.

“I have to go to this dinner tonight, a business meeting for my dad.” I groan. “I didn’t want to go alone.” I it. “Oh, so you wanted me to be your date?” He teases, winking at me. I groan. “You know what I meant!” I laugh. “Wish I could, that’s my kind of thing obviously, working for your dad and all, but I can’t get out of this, my mom would skin me alive if I skipped for a work thing.” He says, shuddering at the thought of his angry mother. “Hey, why don’t you invite Lily?” He suggests with wide eyes. I raise my eyebrows at him. “Are you serious, I said we’re getting on okay, not really well” I say. “Yes, but she owes you, ?” He winks. She owes me? Oh yes, her issue with owing people. I could use that against her, of course I could. Should I though? Hmm. “I’ll ask her.” I tell Eric. “You can now, there she is.” He points over towards the college dorms and there she is, coming out the main door. “Alright, I’ll see you at lunch.” I say, already walking away. “Later.” He calls after me. Lily sees me heading in her direction and shoots me a small smile, not too friendly, but not too off Standish. “Hi.” She greets when I reach her. “Hello, how are you today?” I ask in my business voice. “What do you want?” she asks, catching on instantly. “Am I that obvious?” I grin. “I obviously know you better than you think.” She says, meaning my words from the day before where I said she didn’t know me. “This doesn’t mean you know me any better, I’m just bad at hiding some things.” I defend. “Well?” She raises her eyebrows, ignoring me. “What do you want?” She asks. I shrug. “I was just going to invite you to this dinner thing tonight…” I say nonchalantly. “Dinner thing?” She asks suspiciously. “Well, it’s a business dinner with another company my Father is dealing with.” I tell her. “I’m stepping in for him to get the contracts for him, but they always make a big event out of it, so I can’t just go, pick up the papers and

leave.” I say. “You think I would accompany a Grey, to a Grey enterprises business dinner? Are you okay up there?” She asks while tapping my head. “Oh come on! I’m not that bad, you said so yourself, and the dinner will be nice.” I try to convince her, but she doesn’t seem to consider it. “You owe me.” I say, feeling dirty using that against her, but it seems to work. “Fine.” “Fine?” “Fine, I will come with you.” She says, rolling her eyes. “Thank you.” I smirk. We walk in silence for a while, and make our way into Professor Alaric’s class room. “What do I wear?” She suddenly asks out of the blue, a worried look on her face. I laugh at her face and question but stop when she glares at me. “Not jeans.” I warn as I pull out my sketch pad. “Great… I don’t think I own anything Grey worthy.” She mutters, but I just smirk at her and start sketching. “Well, is she coming?” Eric asks me when I meet him for lunch. “Yes.” I reply. “The ‘you owe me’ angle?” He asks. I nod. “Harsh.” He gasps with wide eyes. “What? You told me to!” I defend. “Dude, I was joking.” He laughs. “She will have fun, she hardly ever leaves those dorms anymore.” He tells me. “Well tonight won’t be what I would call a great night out. It’s just dinner.” I say. “Well, make it a great night.” He says, waggling his eyebrows. I frown at him. “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” I ask. Eric looks confused for a short moment then nods frantically. “Yes, yes I am.” “You want me to hit on Lily?” I ask. “Well, I wouldn’t say hit on her, just make it a fun night, you know?” He confirms. “This dinner isn’t for fun, it’s for business.” I tell him, taking my order from the counter of subway we were currently in getting lunch. Eric grabs his sandwich and follows me to a table. “Why don’t you do something after it?” He suggests. “Like what, I’ll be in a suit, and she won’t be in jeans.” I tell him, wondering if she’ll

wear a dress, and what type of dress. “I don’t know, a quiet drink or something.” He shrugs, taking a hug bite of his food and eating with his mouth open. “Charming.” I frown. “And it isn’t a date, Eric.” I remind him. “Do you want it to be a date?” He asks. “If I wanted it to be a date, I would ask her out on one.” I inform him. “Whatever Romeo, come on, we have to go back to college.” He laughs and stands from the table with me right behind him. “So what do I wear, I’m being serious.” Lily asks me again in our next class together with Mrs Weathers, who likes to do her classes in silence with classical music in the back ground, so speaking was a bit daring considering she was an unstable woman, she shouted at her desk on our first lesson together. I smirk, wanting to repeat my jeans comment, but decide against it. “Do you own any dresses?” I ask. She nods. “What kind of dresses?” “Well, I have my prom dress from high school, but I don’t think that will work, I have a few I bought for my holiday during the summer, a couple I wore when we went out to a fancy restaurant?” She offers. “One of those will do.” I nod. “Great, where shall I meet you?” She asks. “I’ll pick you up outside the dorm building at half seven.” “Okay.” She says just as Mrs Weathers head snaps up and glares at us. “Stop trying to get me in trouble.” I tease in a whisper when she looks away. “You don’t need me for that Mr Grey, you seem like trouble all on your own.” She whispers back. “Me? Trouble?” I ask, smirking at her. She looks back at me and I swear I can see a hint of pink on her cheeks. “Very much so.” She finally says.

Chapter 7 At exactly half past seven I’m waiting outside the dorm building waiting for Lily to come out. I don’t have her number to text her and tell her I’m waiting so I hope she comes out, and doesn’t stand me up. Six minutes after half past the main door opens and there she is. Wow. She looks beautiful, wearing a floor length black v neck dress that sweeps in the wind as she walks towards the car. And she said she didn’t have a dress suitable? “You look amazing.” I say when she lowers herself into my car. She smiles at me and looks down my body then back up. “You clean up nicely too, but I expect nothing less from a Grey.” She replies. “I’ll take that as a compliment this time.” I smirk and start driving. “Where is the dinner?” She asks when she notices im heading for the boarders of the city. “The Alicresto Hotel.” I inform her and her mouth forms an O shape. “What?” I probe. “The Alicresto Hotel is like, the most expensive hotel in new Hampshire.” She laughs. “Did you expect anything less?” I tease. “No, I didn’t.” She laughs. “Don’t complain then.” I say. “Did you hear me complaining?” She counters and laughs. “Not yet.” I mutter and smirk. This was so easy, the conversation just flew. “What time will it finish do you think?” She asks. “I’m expecting about nine, half past maybe, but I want to take you somewhere after, a surprise.” I tell her. “A surprise? Why?” She looks wary and untrusting. “Don’t worry, alright?” I say, pulling into the Alicresto Hotel and driving towards the valet strip. I the keys to the boy who is waiting for my car and wait for Lily to reach me after another staff member

opens her door. “Ready?” I ask and hold out my arm for her to take, which she finally does, feeling out of place at the Hotel, much like myself, I hated coming to these kind of events. I am greeted by a few business men I recognize when we walk out of the lift on the sixth floor at the dining suit. “Jason Grey, how nice to see you!” An elderly gentleman says, clapping my shoulder. “Mark, you too.” I smile. “Mr Grey.” Another man, about thirty years old holds out his hand for me to shake. I take it and shake it surely. “I’m James Hadelen.” He introduces himself. “Nice to meet you.” I say. A few others are waiting in the lobby as well but I make no effort to say hello. “How have you been Jason?” Mark asks me; out of all the people here, he was the one I was most familiar with, he had worked with my father for quite a few years and I had met him at a business event when I was younger. “I’ve been great thank you; I started my first year at Dartmouth the other day.” I tell him. “Wonderful! And who is this young lady?” He asks, looking beside me. “Oh, excuse me, this is Lillian Heirs, a friend of mine.” I tell him. Lily holds out her hand and Mark shakes it, smiling warmly at her. “Wonderful to meet you Miss Heirs, I hope you don’t get too bored tonight; you know how these meetings tend to go.” He says with a booming laugh and Lily s in with her soft giggle. The door to the dining suit is opened and we file in to take our seats. I pull Lily’s one out for her and slide it in as she sits down then sit down beside her. “That was very gentlemanly.” She points out to me as everyone sits at the long table. “I am a gentleman.” I say and she snorts a laugh.“I couldn’t really say you were a lady though.” I tease and she laughs. The man of the hour walks into the room and greets everyone, I recognize him instantly as an old friend of my mothers. “Jose!” I call when he looks right at me. “Jason! Good to see you, although I was

under the impression it would be your father here to take the contract and celebrate with us.” He says. “He had other arrangements.” I inform him. “Very well, welcome.” He grins. He comes to sit beside me as everyone starts their own conversations. “I didn’t know it was you who my father was doing business with.” I say to him. “I never thought I would, but he and your mother made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, so now, my photography business is part of Grey Enterprises.” He grins. “I didn’t think artists were sell outs.” I hear Lily mutter from beside me, Jose looks past me at her. “You are?” He asks kindly. “This is Lillian Heirs; she’s on the same art course as me.” I say. “Well Miss Heirs, most artists aren’t, but in this growing world, art is losing its status, we need to make ends meet somehow.” He tells her, Lily stays quiet. “How is Ana?” He suddenly asks, turning back to me. “Oh, she’s great, her publishing business is going great.” I tell him. “Now that you’re partnering, she’ll probably ask you to do some photos for her.” I laugh. “She knows I would happily do that.” He says. The food is brought out and we all eat, minor conversations being spoken amongst everyone. “Are you okay?” I ask Lily, who had been sitting in silence the whole time. “Yes.” She says. “Are you?” “I really want to get out of here already.” I laugh, I hated business things. “How long do we have left do you think?” She asks. I turn to Jose and clear my throat, interrupting the conversation he was having with the man beside him. “Sorry, but did you have a contract for me?” I ask. “Oh, yes I do, you want it now?” He asks, raising his eyebrows. “Yes, I’m really sorry it’s just I have get Lily back to the college dorms, they have a curfew.” I say, making an apologetic face. “Oh of course they do! Forgive me, here it is.” Jose says, pulling out the contract and handing it to me. “Thank you, I’ll give it to my father this weekend

when I see him and have him send the copy back to you.” I tell him. “Thank you, and thank you both for coming, lovely to meet you Miss Heirs” He says to us both as we stand to leave. “You too.” Lily says with a smile. “I’m so glad that’s over!” Lily suddenly bursts out when the valet hands me back my keys and we get in my car. I laugh and look over at her, and she blushes. “What, I felt so awkward.” She tells me. “Me too.” I it. “Really?” She looks disbelievingly at me. “I thought that’s what you Greys did best?” “I keep telling you, I’m not my dad, okay?” I strain, how many times do I have to say it? “Okay.” She smirks, but I know she doesn’t quite believe me, yet. “Shut up.” I laugh. “Where are we going now?” She asks. “Oh, yes your surprise!” I say loudly, as if I had forgotten. “I can’t do that now; I have to get you back before the doors are locked at the dorms.” I wink. “Oh shut up, we still have an hour before they lock.” She laughs. “I know.” I grin and turn down a back road that heads towards a private beach. “What’s down here?” Lily asks, not being able to see any further than my headlights allowed. I don’t say anything as I pull onto the sandy parking space. I step out of the car and walk round to Lily’s side to open her door. She looks down at the sand and back up at me, a confused look on her face. “Come on.” I say with a grin. “Where are we?” She asks as she carefully takes my hand and climbs out of the car. “This is Ana Bay. A sea front that-“I started to explain. “Your family owns it, I take it.” She smirks. “Yeah.” I say sheepishly. “My father bought it years ago for my mom, and that island out there,” I say, pointing at the spec of land out to sea, illuminated by the solar lights that were scattered around the island. “That’s Ana Isle, my mom’s thirtieth birthday present.” I say. “Wow, my dad got my mom a gift certificate for her thirtieth.” She grins.

We walk slowly down the sand to stand close to the water, which shimmered a dark blue under the night sky. “I love it here, I haven’t been here in a while though, it’s also one of the reasons I wanted to go t Dartmouth, because it was near here, I had somewhere to go if I wanted to get away for a while.” I tell her. She stays silent. “I wish I had somewhere like this to go.” She finally whispers. “Well, you’re welcome to come here whenever you want.” I smile. “Thanks, but a beach isn’t exactly my comfort zone.” She mutters with a soft smile. “Oh yes, you’ve never swam in the ocean.” I . “Why?” I ask. “I had a bit of an incident in one when I was younger.” She shudders, she actually looks sick. “Don’t worry; I won’t make you go in the water.” I say, and she relaxes slightly. “Thanks.” “I actually brought you here for this.” I say, and point over at the white wooden gazebo that was lit up with white fairy lights wrapped all around it that was down the beach to the right. Lily turns and spots it and takes in a sharp breath. “Wow, that looks… Beautiful.” She says with a grin. I take her hand and start pulling her towards it. “A drink.” I inform her as we sit at the small table in the centre of the gazebo.” I pour her a glass of wine and then myself, ing her the glass I relax into my chair. “I’m impressed.. again.” She smirks as she sips her wine then makes a face. “I knew you wouldn’t like it, which is why I also brought these.” I laugh as I place two cans of soda on the table and she laughs, but takes one anyway. “Very impressed.” She adds. “We aim to please.” I wink. “I can’t believe this; it’s so nice out here.” She sighs, then looks out at the water. “The sound doesn’t even bother me now.” She smiles softly. “It used to bother you?” I ask, sipping my own soda, discarding my wine. She nods. “I haven’t been to the beach in so long because I couldn’t stand the sight of the water, even the sound made me uncomfortable, but right now, it’s

just…” She struggled to find the words. “Nice.” She finally finishes on. "Did I ever mention fairy lights are one of my favorite things? They remind me of christmas, and they make everything look so much better." “Like I said, you’re welcome here any time, with, or without me, okay?” I ask and she nods. “So, has this night been a complete bore?” I ask. “Not at all, I could have done without the business meeting, but I guess that comes with your world.” She smiles, and I grin. “Are you saying you want to be a part of my world?” I tease. “You know what I meant Jay.” She laughs. “Not everything in the land of Grey is that bad.” I defend and she smirks.

Chapter 8 “Not your end at least.” She says. “My end?” “Of the Land of Grey.” She quotes, and smiles. “How so?” I ask with a grin. Lily sits straight in her chair and looks at me pointedly, studying my face closely. After what seems like hours, but could only have been a minute, she smiles a soft, shy smile. “You’re not as driven as your dad, but you want to work for everything like him, I’m guessing you’re more like your mother, is she nice?” She asks and I nod, listening to her contemplate me. “I thought so. You try so hard to prove that you’re not a typical Grey, you want to be more than that.” Her voice gets quieter. “That’s why it’s not so bad your end of the land of Grey.” She finally finishes in a soft voice. She’s still leaning over the table, looking right into my grey eyes with her brown ones, I could so easily lean forward and kiss her soft pink lips. “You got all that from looking at me?” I ask with a smirk. She shakes her head and laughs softly. “No, I pay attention to people.” She tells me. “Why do you have such a grudge against us?” I decide to ask, still wondering what it was all about. “Eric said it’s something about your mother?” Lily frowns and sits back in her seat and places her soda back on the table and looks out at the sea. “Partly.” She whispers. “Care to explain?” I press. “No.” She says with an edge of finality, but not so much that it meant she would never tell me, she might do eventually. “Okay.” I smile and she returns it, then goes back to looking at the water. “Why have you never swam out there, really?” I ask. The sea looked beautiful, there was a quarter moon, curved perfectly and shining brightly onto the

smooth water, glittering on the odd small crash of waves as the tide moved, the water was black against the pale sand. “I told you, I had an incident when I was younger, I can never look at the sea the same way.” She whispers. “Although, tonight it looks so pretty.” I smile, a plan building in my mind. I casually slip my shoes of and bend down to remove my socks and roll up my tro legs to the bottom of my knees. “What are you doing?” Lily asks when I stand and start walking out of the gazebo and over towards the water. “This is one of my favourite feelings, as a child I would spend ages just doing this.” I say as I pad into the cold sea water, going a few feet in so the water pooled around my ankles. “It’s a strange homely feeling for me.” I say. To my pleasure, she leaves her seat and slowly, warily walks closer to me, keeping a safe distance away from the water edge. “What does it feel like?” She asks, an expression on her face that reminds me of a small child deciding on whether they should pet the new dog in case it bites. “I can’t explain it; it’s something you have to experience for yourself.” I hint. She looks petrified. “You said you wouldn’t make me get in the water.” She says horrified. I shake my head and quickly step towards her. “No, no, no.” I say, holding her arms. “I don’t want to make you go in, that’s not what I meant at all.” I say sincerely. A little bit of fear leaves her eyes, but not all of it. “Is it cold?” She asks. I smile. “A little bit, but it feels different on your feet than it does on your body.” I say and release her, stepping back into the water.“Because feet have tougher skin, the cold water is actually a pleasant feeling.” I didn’t notice Lily remove her shoes, but she carefully and very slowly extends her naked foot forward and lets the soft tide wash out and touch the tips of her toes. When the water touches her she takes in a sharp breath and pulls back her foot. She holds her breath for a few seconds then lets it go with a

shaky laugh. “It is a nice cold.” She confirms with a giggle. “I told you.” I grin, amazed that she even did that. She lets out another hard breath and grins widely, obviously proud of herself. I step out of the water and grin back at her. “Well done.” I say, and she surprises me but jumping and hugging me, her arms tight around my neck. After regaining my thoughts I put my arms around her waist and hug her back. Seconds later she realises what she’s done and steps away from me. “Sorry.” She stutters, blushing deeply. “Don’t worry about it.” I laugh and head back over to the gazebo to put my shoes and socks back on. Lily follows me and takes her seat again, a soft pink still on her cheeks. “Are you hungry?” I ask, considering we didn’t really get to eat at the dinner. Her stomach answers for her and she blushes harder. “I take that as a yes.” I chuckle and she giggles in return. “Let’s go get some food.” I say, standing and offering her a hand, which she takes and rises from her seat, but releases my hand straight away. “What time is it, is anything even open?” She asks as we head back to the car. I look at my watch and see we’ve only been here an hour. “Half past ten.” I say. “Shit!” She stops and gasps. “The dorms are locked at half ten!” She threats. I shrug. “Nothing we can do about that now.” I say and continue walking, with her quickly following. “But I can’t get in, what am I going to do?” she asks. “What time are they unlocked?” I ask. “Half five.” She says. “Well, you’re welcome to stay at mine, don’t worry, I live with my sister.” I quickly add when she eyes me warily. “And I can take you home at six so you have time to get ready for college?” I suggest. “Well it looks like I don’t have any other option.” She sighs, and I laugh. “You sound so grateful!” I say with fake enthusiasm. Lily groans and laughs. “I know, I’m sorry, I am grateful, promise!” She grins. I open the car door for her and close it behind her, and get in the driver’s

side. “What do you want to eat?” I ask. “McDonalds.” She says with a very serious face. “Really?” I question. “Yes.” She assures me. I turn the car on and head towards the food strip where the McDonalds drive thru is. “Have you ever had one?” She asks when I pull into the queue, only two cars in front of us. I stay silent, even I’m surprised. I’ve never eaten a McDonalds. “Wow, I’m not surprised.” She laughs as I drive forward to order. “What do you want?” I ask her. “Can I order?” She asks. I nod, uncertainly. She grins and leans over in her seat so the man at the window can see her. “Hi, can I get two double cheese burger meals with chocolate shakes, please?” She says chirpily. “Sure thing, that’s seven eighty nine please.” The man says, his name tag says Steve. “I got this.” I say to Lily and she sits back in her own seat. I hand Steve a ten dollar note. “Keep the change.” I say and he thanks me and goes about gathering our order while I drive round to the next window. When I get the food I it to lily and park up. “Looks like we’re both doing something new tonight.” She grins. “You faced your fear and I’ eating unhealthy, greasy food.” I laugh. “The best kind of food!” she shouts loudly with her fist in the air. “I take it you eat this a lot.” I tease. “Are you calling me fat?” She asks, fake shock on her face. “Well… If the dress doesn’t fit.” I say, looking her up and down and she blushes slightly. “I’ll have you know, this dress fits me perfectly!” She says and pokes her tongue out at me. “Oh, I know.” I wink. “Shut up and eat.” She warns. I smirk and take my very first bite of a McDonalds burger. I chew and swallow and smile at her. “You like?” She asks, eating her fries. “It’s gross and amazingly delicious at the same time.” I say and take another bite. She nods as she chews a huge bite of burger. I laugh at her face and she throws me a questioning look. “You look like a chipmunk.” I tell her and she almost spits her chewed up food out

when she bursts out laughing. “Lovely.” I say. She swallows and chokes out a laugh. “Shut up!” After we finish eating I drive us back to mine and Graces apartment and we head up. “I don’t know if Grace will still be up or not, but you can borrow something of hers to sleep in.” I say, unlocking the door and letting her in. “Will she mind?” Lily asks as I close the door behind me. “Will who mind what?” Grace asks as she comes out of her room, making Lily jump. “Oh, hi.” Grace says, smiling warmly at Lily. “If she borrows something to sleep in?” I ask. “Not a problem.” Grace says, taking Lily by the hand and drags her into her room. I shake my head; Grace is too friendly, so much like out Aunt Mia. When they come back out, Lily is wearing a pair of Graces pink bed shorts and a white vest top, and I have to it, she looks cute, and sexy. “So then he ran into the glass door!” Grace says, finishing a story she was obviously telling to Lily in her bedroom. Lily laughs and sits on the couch next to me and Grace Slumps into the arm chair. “Please don’t tell me you told her that story.” I groan, and Grace nods. When I was about ten, I was running away from Ted in a game of tag and didn’t notice the conservatory door was closed and face planted the door. “No wonder you have a flat face!” Lily teases. “I do not have a flat face!” I defend and she laughs. “I’m kidding.” “Well, I’m going to bed, see you guys tomorrow.” Grace says and leaves us alone. “I guess you’re not the only nice Grey.” Lily its and I smirk at her. “You can have my bed.” I tell her and she frowns. “The couch is comfy, don’t worry I say as I lie down and use my feet to kick her off onto the soft carpet. She lands with a soft thud and she lets out a little ‘offt’ sound. “Well, suit yourself.” She says, standing up proudly and walks down the wrong corridor.

“Wrong way.” I call and she quickly runs back and goes into my room and I laugh at her. She sticks her head back out my door and calls to me, “Cool room Jay!” and she closes the door again.

Chapter 9 I take my shoes and socks of, putting my shoes by the front door and my socks in the empty washer to await more dirty clothes and hang my jacket and suit blazer up on the hooks by the front door then lay back down on the cold leather, letting it cool my hot skin through my remaining clothes. I pull the brown throw over me from the other sofa and settle under it, and close my eyes. I lay like that for a few minutes, but no difference comes over my mind or body; I’m not tired yet. Giving up, I push the throw off me and stand up in the darkened room, padding over to the lamp and turn it on to a dim setting. I stand there in silence for ages, staring at nothing; I do this a lot, my mind just goes blank and I space out, it happens when I have something on my mind. Shaking my head I sit on the arm chair and rest my elbow on my leg and my chin on my fist. I can’t get her out of my mind! I groan out loud. Why is she so interesting to me, everything she did tonight kept me on my toes, how she so suddenly came out of her shyness and tight shell and acted like a young immature teenager.She even opened up to me and told me some things about her, granted she wouldn’t tell me exactly why she disliked my family. I wonder if she’s asleep. My voice of reason panicked at where my thoughts were going; what are you doing?! It screamed at me, but I was already on my feet and heading towards my bedroom. I placed my ear gently against my door and listened, but heard nothing, so I slowly turned the door handle, careful to not make any noise, and stepped into my room. She was curled up in a

ball under my duvet, pulling it tightly to her, covering her whole body apart from her face, which should have been a clear relaxed mask, but instead she was squinting her eyes hard and her mouth was pulled into a troubled line. She looked angry and scared. For a second I wondered if she was still awake, but she let out a soft sigh and mumbled something I couldn’t understand. I silently sat myself into my desk chair and turned it to face her, I could see her perfectly from the moonlight shining in from the glass wall. She looked amazing even like this. “Don’t…” My heart stopped beating and my breath halt in my throat, thinking she had woken but she just rolled over onto her back, stretching out her limbs and pushing the cover off of her a little, to reveal one of my plain white t-shirts. I smirked despite myself, she looked cute in my clothes. “Please…” Her face screwed up again. “No..” Was she having a nightmare? Sympathy grew through me, I’ve only ever had one nightmare before that I can , my family lay dead at my feet and I’m holding a bloody knife. “Help me!” I snap out of my thoughts at Lily’s panicked scream, but she is still fast asleep, though her face is contorted with sleeping fear. I don’t know what to do?! She starts to shake softly, wrapping her arms around herself. Don’t touch her! My voice of reason scolds me, but I’m already out of my chair and hovering over the bed. Should I? Shouldn’t I? Why do I feel so protective of her all of a sudden? ‘”I fell in love with your mother the moment she fell into my office for an interview.”’ My dad’s voice fills my head. Oh shut up, that is nothing like this! I groan inwardly, unable to take it any longer when Lily lets out a choked sound and very carefully lower myself onto my bed next to her and ever so gently place my arm around her and pull her towards me, making sure not to wake her. Lily stiffens when I have her beside me, and I think she’s

awakened, but a second later she mumbles again and sighs and relaxes under my arm, turns around and throws one arm over my stomach and rests her head on my chest, and pulls in a deep breath, then lets it out in another sigh, fast asleep. I keep my arm around her, ing her against me. What am I doing? What if she wakes up like this and freaks out? Oh god, we’ve known each other barely five minutes and I’m already sneaking into bed with her! She was having a nightmare… the voice reasons. Yes, she was. What about? I tighten my arm a little, and look down at her sleeping face that I can just see, but her face is at complete ease, no worry or fear on it. Maybe I’m helping? I rest my chin on her head, smelling her soft hair; it smells like vanilla, my favourite smell. I close my eyes and relax, letting sleep come, finally feeling tired The light of the early morning sun wakes me from my deep sleep and I wonder for a second where I am, feeling legs entangled with my own and someone lying across my chest, arms holding me close. I look down sleepily and Lily; she’s still fast asleep, cuddled up to me with my arm still around her. I look over to the clock, its half five in the morning, I said I would drop Lily off at home for six. I carefully pull myself free of her, making sure not to wake her and gently lay her down on the bed, putting a pillow where I was to her head, then silently leave the room. That was the most peaceful sleep I have ever had…I turn the kettle on and start making coffee when I hear my bedroom door open and my heart starts racing. What the fuck? “Morning.” Lily yawns, walking into the living room and sees me in the kitchen. “Good morning, do you want a coffee?” I ask, and she nods, coming over to sit on one of the bar stools. I notice she is still wearing one of my t-shirts, which is long enough to cover her butt, but when she sits I notice a pair of black boxer shorts and I raise my

eye brow at her. “What?” She asks when she notices me. I nod at her body and she blushes. “Sorry, I didn’t think you would mind, your sisters pyjamas felt weird, I couldn't get comfortable in them…” She trails off. I laugh. “No, I don’t mind, you look cute.” I say, feeling weirdly confident with her. She blushes again but can’t keep the smile from her face. “How did you sleep?” I ask when I hand her a cup of hot coffee. She takes a sip and smiles, “Really well actually, a little rough at the beginning, I kept waking up and falling back asleep, but that’s normal for me, but then I just fell into a really deep sleep, no dreams or anything!” She says proudly. No nightmares you mean. “Good to hear.” I smirk. “What about you?” She asks, drinking more. “Best night’s sleep I’ve had in while.” I say. “Must be your apartment.” She laughs. Or each other. “Do you still want me to drop you off at the dorms?” I ask, the clock says its five to six. Lily nods and finishes her coffee and places the cup down on my counter. “I’ll go get dressed quick.” She says standing up, I frown at her. “You’re going to put your dress back on?” I ask and she nods. “Keep those on, there’s no pointing changing into that dress again just to change once you get in.” “But I can’t walk outside like this?” She says waving her arms at her bare legs, which, now that I looked at them, were very sexy. I walked past her and into my room and bring out a pair of my pyjama tros and throw them at her. She grins and tugs them on, having to roll them over several times at the waist to keep them in place. “Very nice.” I smirk at her, she looked so cute in my clothes… I drive us to the college dorms, and pull up right outside the door at ten past six. “There you are Miss Heirs, door to door service.” I smirk at her. “Thank you Jay, really, I appreciate it.” She says sincerely. “Oh look, a flying pig.” I say nonchalantly looking out her window and she laughs and hits my arm softly. “Shut up, I’m not that

bad!” She laughs making me in. “You’re welcome.” I finally reply and smile at her. She blushes and opens her car door. “Thanks for letting me borrow these too.” She says, meaning my clothes. “Another thing I owe you for.” She says. I frown, does she think she owes me for everything I do for her? “Well, I’ll keep that in mind next time I have the fancy of wearing a girls clothes to bed.” I grin and she giggles. “See you later, Jay.” She says as she walks off to the dorms, allowing me to watch her go. Her butt looks nice in my pyjamas… I wave when she turns to wave at me just as she’s going through the doors. Well, that was an interesting night…

Chapter 10 “Hello?” I answered my phone when it woke me up on Saturday morning. “Morning sweetie.” I heard my mother’s voice say. “Mom?” I was still half asleep. “Did I wake you up?” She asked with an amused tone. “Well, yeah, what time is it?” I ask, looking around me to find my alarm clock. “Half seven? Mom, it’s a Saturday!” I groan and flop back into my pillows. “We’re just getting the Jet to New Hampshire.” She says with exasperation and a hint of a laugh. This woke me up, of course they were coming down at the weekend! “What time are you landing?” I ask, climbing out of my bed reluctantly. “Nine o’clock.” She tells me. “Do you want me to pick you guys up?” I offer. “No it’s fine, your dad has organized that.” Figures. “Okay, well I’ll see you in a few hours then.” I say. “Okay, love you Jason.” She says with her sweet motherly voice that I can’t resist. “Love you too mom.” I chuckle then hang up. “Grace!” I shout, coming out of my bedroom, thinking she is still asleep but Is in fact up and dressed and eating breakfast at the kitchen island. “Morning.” She grins when she sees my surprise. “You’re up early.” I comment. “Mom and Dad are coming, of course I’m up, I made you pancakes by the way.” She says, smirking at me. “I forgot.” I it and sit the opposite side of the island and dig into my breakfast. “Thanks.” I tell her, meaning the food. “No problem, oh, and Eric is on his way over.” She informs me. “Why?” I ask, Eric hadn’t rung or texted me. “He wants to talk to you about something, I don’t know, he just rung the house phone, how did he even get the number?”

She questioned. “We have a house phone?” I laugh, not knowing that information. “It’s right there.” She says, pointing to the now obvious phone hanging on the kitchen wall beside the fridge. “Oh.” I say, very intelligently. “Get dressed; he’ll be here in five minutes.” She says, taking my empty plate from me and putting it in the dish washer. I shrug and disappear into my room again to dress. Just as I come out of my room Eric lets himself in through the front door. “How did you get in?” I ask, not hearing the buzzer go off before. “Someone was coming in the building just as I got here so I came in behind them, and your door is unlocked.” He points out. “The security obviously isn’t the best here.” I say. “Dad won’t be happy to hear that, will he?” Grace chuckles, coming out of her room and ing us in the living room. “Isn’t your dad coming down this weekend?” Eric asks. I nod. “Yes, he’ll be here with our mom and Ted soon.” I say. “Cool.” He replies. “Oh, I bought you this.” He adds, handing me a take away cup of coffee. “Thanks.” I grin, taking the cup. “I would have got you one but I didn’t know what you liked.” He apologises to Grace. “I’m not a big fan of coffee, only when I fancy it, a latte normally.” She says. “Like our mother.” I say. Grace, Eric and I are all sat on the leather sofa talking when someone knocks at the front door and Grace leaps up to answer it, letting in our parents and Ted. “Mom!” She squeals, hugging her tight, then moving over to throw her arms around dad, who has a soft touch for her and swings her around, laughing. I get up and hug mom too, and give dad a man hug, you know, the pat on the shoulder hug, but Ted grabs me to him and gives me his famous bear hug. “Good to see you little brother.” He laughs, letting me down and giving Grace a softer hug. “Come in.” I say, stepping out the way to let the past. “Eric is

here.” I add. “Mr Jackson.” My father greets, recognizing Eric. “Sir, Mr Grey.” Eric stutters a response. “Hey Eric.” Ted comes in and pats his friends arm. “Ted, good to see you again.” Eric grins, already seeming more comfortable. “Eric, this is my mother.” I introduce. He shakes her hand and grins. “Nice to meet you Mrs Grey.” He says. “You too, Eric.” She smiles her warm, motherly smile. “What do you want to do today, anything planned?” I ask. “We we’re thinking a family lunch later, at the park, you can both bring a friend from college if you’d like?” My mom offered. “Sure, sounds good, Eric, want to come?” I ask. He grins. “I’m Grace’s plus one, but I know who you can invite.” He says with a wicked smile, not noticing how Grace blushed at his statement. “Oh really?” I ask, already knowing where he was going with this. He wanted me to invite Lily, and sure, I would have, we’ve gotten super close in such a short time, it’s weird, but I know she doesn’t want to meet my dad. “Invite Lily.” He says anyway. “Lily?” Ted over hears. “Lily Heirs?” He asks. I nod. “I thought she hated you.” He says disbelievingly. “We sorted our differences.” I say through clenched teeth. “Well, by all means, invite her.” My mom agrees and I have to groan silently. She is going to laugh at me when I suggest she comes. I let myself in to the college dorms seeing as the door is open and walk down the first corridor, I Lily saying she lived in a single, which were on the first floor, number twenty seven I think. I ed several doors until I came to the right one and took a breath before knocking. Seconds later it opens to reveal Lily, to my relief, I let the breath I was holding out. “Jay? What are you doing here?” She asks, stepping back to let me into her small single room. I look around, her bed is neat and made with a pale white, blue and silver bed spread, her walls are plain but covered in photos and little hanging decorations, she also

has white fairy lights surrounding the room. “I came to ask you something.” I say, sitting in the spinning desk chair, while she sinks onto her bed. “Well?” She presses when I don’t continue, grinning at me. I find it so strange how she went from hating me to not.“Are you busy this afternoon?” I ask. She shakes her head, still grinning. “My family is down, Ted, my mom, and my dad, we’re having lunch in the park, Eric is coming too, but you’re also invited…” I say carefully and watch as the grin slowly slips from her face. “Lunch, with your family? Your dad?” She asks, repeating me. “Are you crazy?” She eventually shouts. “Why would I have lunch with them?” She asks angrily, I really wasn’t expecting her to be angry, unwilling yes, but not angry. “Calm down!” I say firmly. “Calm down? I am calm!” She shouts. “Looks like it.” I say sarcastically and catch her lips twitching into a smile, but she stops it. “Jay, you can’t be serious.” She says more quietly. “Look, I wasn’t going to invite you because I knew you didn’t like them, but Eric insisted.” I say. “Fucking Eric!” She snaps. “Wait, you don’t want me there?” How did I manage to put my foot in it? “No, of course I want you there, I just meant because you would be uncomfortable.” I defend. “Are they expecting me to come?” She asks after a moment of silence. “Well, they don’t know you hate them.” I say with a little grin, hoping she wasn’t going to blow up again. She lets out a heavy sigh. “Why do I feel like I have an obligation to go?” She questions. “Because you owe me.” I joke with a laugh. “I guess so, alright I’ll come.” Whoa, I was kidding. “Do I have to wear anything special?” She asks, and I shake my head. “What you have on is fine.” I say, she looked nice in her light blue thigh length summer dress with white flats. “When is it?” She asks. “In ten minutes, I’m meeting them at the park.” I answer. “Alright, let’s go.” She says, standing and leading us out of her room, grabbing

her keys as she goes. “There they are.” I say, pointing over to the group of people all sat on a large blanket, laughing together. Lily grabs onto my hand tight. “Is that him?” She asks, nodding at my father. “Yes.” I nod. “I don’t know if I can do this Jay.” He hold gets tighter so I hold her hand properly in mine and pull her closer to my side. “Just don’t think about it, don’t see him as Mr Grey, see him as my dad, okay?” I ask, and she nods slightly. We reach my family and Eric who all look up and smile. My mom gets to her feet as we reach them and holds her hand out to Lily. “You must be Lily; I’m Ana, Jason’s Mother.” I smile; my mom was always one to break the ice. Lily smiled and shook my mom’s hand. “It’s lovely to meet you.” She says in a quiet voice. Then my dad climbed smoothly to his feet, using the grace and charm I lacked and stood close to Mom, putting his arm around her. “Miss Heirs.” He said in greeting, and Lily just nodded, tight lipped but not rude. “Come, sit.” Mom says, taking her seat once again beside my dad, snuggling close to him. I whisper into Lily’s ear when we sit down opposite Grace and Eric who are laughing quietly together. “So far so good?” She smiles and nods. “Your dad makes me nervous though.” She its. “That’s just what he’s like, ignore it.” I chuckle and pour us both a drink. “So Lily, what course do you do at college?” My mom asks, I send her a silent thank you for being like she is. “The same as Jay.” Lily stutters. “You want to be an Artist then?” My father asks, but not in a cruel way, he genuinely sounded interested. “Yes, a sketch artist.” Lily answers more bravely than I anticipated. “Have you got many finished works?” He asks. “A few sketches, but nothing spectacular.” Lily seems to be getting more comfortable. “I’d love to see some.” My mom adds. “I love looking at art.” “Oh, no, they’re really not good.” Lily blushes. “Nonsense, there is no such thing as bad art.” My dad

smiles at her. Why is he being so nice? Lily just smiles a shy smile back and sips her drink. “That could have gone a lot worse than it did.” I grin when I drop lily off. “Your mom is really nice.” She grins. Her and my mom hit it off, they spent half an hour talking about art museums, all the ones they wanted to go and visit. “My dad?” I press and grin. She shrugs. “I still don’t have an impression of him, he was being nice, but it seemed forced at some times.” She says, her grin falling, but I didn’t blame her, once you have a solid opinion of someone, its hard to change. “Oh, come in with me for a second.” She says, stepping out of my car when I park up outside the dorms. I follow her inside and back into her room. “Here, give this to her.” She says, handing me an A3 sized sketch of the Eifel Tower and the city below it and a cloudy sky. “She says she loves Paris.” “Thanks, I’ll make sure to give it to her later.” I grin. We stand in silence for a little moment. “I’ll see you later.” I say quietly, suddenly dreading the idea of going. “Yeah.” She mumbles, looking in my eyes then down my face, resting on my lips, which is all the invitation I need to kiss her, so I do.

Chapter 11 She wraps her arms around my neck instantly as my lips crash to hers, her hands tangling into my hair, pulling me as close as she can to her. I moan as she kisses me back with as much ion as I am, I wrap my arms around her waist, my fingers digging into her hips as I push her back into a wall, wanting to be closer than I already am. I feel her moan into my mouth as she opens her lips for me and I give her what she wants. I fabric under my fingertips suddenly feels all to alien and I want it off of her, I want to touch her skin. “What are we doing?” She asks in a raspy breath in-between kisses as my hands tug gently at her clothes, not going too far. I kiss her hard, pushing my hips to hers, a raw fire taking over me completely. “You tell me.” I reply in a similar voice. “Do you want to stop?” I ask, not knowing how I would feel if she did. She kisses me back, moaning loudly as she removes one hand from my hair to grasp one him and hold me close. “No.” She says in a powerful voice as she bites on my bottom lip, making me groan. I can’t take it anymore so I pull her clothes from her, throwing them to the floor, forgetting them. My hands return to her hips and her hot skin feels like electricity beneath my fingers. My hand skims over the side of her panties as my they travel down from her waist to her thighs and back up. “Please.” She begs into my mouth. I grab her thighs and pull her up so her legs are wrapped around my hips and turn to lay her on the bed, staying between her legs as I lower myself down with her, moving my lips down her jaw, biting gently and sucking as I go down her neck to bite at her breast bone, making her whimper.

She grabs at the bottom of my shirt and rips it off of me in a blind panic and runs her hands down my naked chest, resting her hands on my belt, waiting for me, I groan and press me hips harder into her, letting her know I wanted this. She takes the hint and starts unbuttoning my tros and helps me slip them off. We’re both left in our underwear, kissing each other like our lives depended on it. I slide a hand up her back, feeling the curve of her as I go, coming to her bra and easily undoing it and letting it go loose, which she then shrugs off. I kiss her breast as she moans quietly for a moment before pulling my hair gently and brings my lips back up to meet hers. Her hands travel down my back, her nails leaving a sharp tingle as she trails them down to the waistband of my boxers, tugging at them slightly. “Are you sure?” I ask as she tugs harder. “Yes, Jay, please.” She gasps out, releasing my boxers to remove her panties. Seeing her completely naked beneath me, looking as beautiful as she did right then, took any doubt away, I wanted this girl, right now. I stripped from my underwear and got back in-between her legs, my erection resting across her pelvis and I kiss her. I bite at her lip and she moans again, and I can’t wait a second longer. I rise on my knees and sit back onto my feet, placing an arm around the bottom of her back, lifting her with me and slowly lower her on to me, her eyes close as we fit into place. We sit still for a moment, breathing heavily, her eyes now open, looking into mine, her hands gripping the top of my arms tightly. I let out a low hiss as she starts to move, leaning back to feel as much of me inside of her as she could, letting her head fall back as she hardened the pace, so I placed my hands on her hips and used the grip to move with her, making her thrusts stronger. I pushed her forward so she was laying down on the bed beneath me again

and took the lead, pushing myself into her over and over again, rotating my hips, making her dig her nails in and let out sharp moans as she moved her hips to meet mine. I lower my head to kiss her neck, biting and sucking in the spots that make her whimper into my ear as she wraps her legs around me, making me go deeper into her. “Jay..” She breathes out, and it’s almost my undoing, but I hold on, not wanting this connection to end just yet, but her legs tighten around me as I feel the muscles inside her spasm out of control as she reaches her climax, and it’s too much for me as I let go inside of her with one last hard thrust. We lay together, me still inside her, catching our breath, holding on to each other. She trails kissed along my shoulder, running her fingers up and down my back, relaxing my muscles. I ease out of her but don’t dare move away. We look into each other’s eyes, not saying a word. Her skin is burning beneath my hands, giving a tingling sensation in my fingers. She looks beautiful, sexy, breath taking. I lower my head and kiss her softly, rolling onto my back and bringing her to lie on top of me, kis her jaw line. “Are you okay?” I ask my voice quiet.She kisses the corner of my mouth then kisses me deeply, smiling into it. “I guess that’s a yes.” I laugh softly into her kiss; feeling sparks where her lips meet mine. “Where did that come from?” She asks, gazing down at me. I shrug, not entirely knowing myself. “It was your fault.” I joke in a whisper, making her smile. “You didn’t need to reciprocate.” She adds. “I couldn’t help myself.” I say truthfully. A small smile played at her lips, as if she didn’t know if I was being truthful or just saying it, but she lowers her lips to mine, not kissing me, just brushing them against mine. “Is my debt paid to you now, Mr Grey?” She asks, running her tongue across my bottom lip gently. My heart drops a little when she says that, is that what she was doing, /‘owing me’/? I gulp and look

at her, her eyes are gentle, but I can see the question there, she still felt like she owed me, like she needed to give me something more. I barely did anything for her, but yet she was so unsure as to when she paid me back, but she did that so long ago just by talking to me on our first day. I smirk at her and shrug. “It’s up to you Miss Heirs.” I say, wanting her to figure it out, I couldn’t tell her she didn’t owe me; she needed to know it herself. I smiles softly back at me as she kisses me again, harder and harder until she bites onto my bottom lip and slips her tongue in, meeting mine, and we’re gone again… I open my eyes and for a moment forget where I am. It’s dark and I’m warm, too warm. I move slightly and realise there is someone beside me, wrapped over me like a blanket. I collect my thoughts and it’s lily, her face is tucked into my neck as she lays half over me, her legs tangled with mine, our bodies completely naked. I look at the wall and can see in the low lighting from the street lamp outside that the hands on the clock say its half two in the morning. We must have fallen asleep after we had finished the second time. I smile to myself, ing how she felt. Her arms around me tighten and her breast move across my chest, I take in a sharp breath as her hand moves to scratch across the side of my ribs, which tickled slightly. Lily’s head raises and her sleepy eyes meet mine. “Jay?” She asks, not sure If I’m really here or not, I nod and smile at her. “I thought you left.” She says, bringing a hand up to caress my cheek. “No.” I whisper. “Don’t go.” She says, holding back a yawn. “I won’t, go back to sleep.” I laugh softly. Her hand trails down my cheek, down my chest, and down my thighs, then back up as a mischievous sparkle lights her eyes. “I’m not tired anymore.” She says in a husky voice, making my muscles tighten as her hands continue their travel across my lower body. “Lily..” I say warily.

Was this what she wanted or was she trying to /‘pay me back/’. She cuts me off with a deep kiss, and climbing on top of me. “Tell me you don’t want this.” She pants in-between kisses, and I can’t help but kiss her back and grab her hips. Fine, if she wanted this, then I would give it to her. Lily bit into my collar bone as she climaxed again, pushing down hard onto me to meet my final push as I finished inside her again, saying her name in a hiss as I did. She rolled off of me, panting and slipped her hand into mine. “You’re crazy.” I say with a laugh, catching my breath as she rolls onto her side, kissing my chest several times. “You could say that.” She laughs, laying closer beside me. “You can sleep now if you want.” She giggles. “Don’t know if I can now.” I laugh. Where did this Lily come from? she was so timid and shy normally, but tonight she’s been a completely different person. “Good.” She winks up at me. I smirk and run a finger over her eyelashes, making her close her eyes. She lets out a contented sigh as I continue to run my finger gently across them. “My mom used to do this to me when I was a little kid, it helped me fall asleep.” She says softly. I kissed the top of her head and continued to do it. “Good night.” I say. “Good night Jay.” She yawns, smiling as she drifted off beside me.

Chapter 12 I woke up, feeling colder than I was last night, and no weight on me, which gave me the instant knowledge that Lily was not lying with me. I opened my eyes, squinting in the sunlight streaming through the now open curtains. Sitting up a little in bed I see Lily sitting at her desk, running a pencil over paper. “Lily?” My voice makes her jump and she spins round in her chair, the hand holding her pencil jumps to her heart, which is now covered in a light blue sweater, which goes well with the black skinny jeans she has on. “Oh, morning.” She says, calming down over the mini fright I gave her. “When did you wake up?” I ask, sitting up straighter in her bed. “An hour ago, I didn’t want to wake you.” She smiles. “You could have, I wouldn’t have minded.” I say, grinning at her. She giggles and puts the pencil down on her desk then gets up and comes to sit beside me on her bed, resting her head on my shoulder and wrapping one arm around my chest. “Last night was…” I started, but struggled finding the words. “It was-“ Lily interrupted me with a kiss, soft and simple. “Shh, you’re welcome.” She says, kissing me again. You’re welcome. I kiss her back, losing track of my thoughts as she kisses harder, gripping my chest with her fingers and swinging up to straddle me. “I like paying you back.” She says through a wicked grin. “Is that what this is?” I ask, hiding the hurt from my voice completely, masking it with amusement. “I still feel like I owe you more.” She says between kisses, her voice low and seductive. “All I did was give you a ride home and got rid of Mason.” I say, gripping her hips, lifting her

sweater slightly. “You have no idea how persistent Mason was before, now he doesn’t even speak to me, so you did me a very big favour.” She slipped her sweater off over her head. “A big favour deserves a big thank you.” She winks. “What are you doing today?” Lily asks when I’m finished getting dressed. I go over and stand behind her at her desk, where she is sat, continuing sketching. I look down at the picture and see it is of a woman, she looked very pretty, with long wavy hair. “That’s really good.” I comment, Lily looks up at me and smiles. “Thank you.” She replies. “Who is it?” I ask, rubbing her shoulders gently. “My mother.” She says, and her voice cracks. “She’s pretty.” I say. “Yeah.” She sighs. “She was pretty.” “Was?” I ask. “She died when she was thirty eight.” She gulps. “I was nine.” I wrapped my arms around her, not saying anything. After a short moment of silence Lily giggled a little. “You didn’t answer my question.” She says. “Hmm?” I had forgotten the question. “What are you doing today?” She repeats. “Oh, right.” I laugh, “I’m hanging out with Ted today, we’re getting lunch I think.” I say. “I would invite you but-“ “But I’m not the biggest fan of Ted.” She laughs, standing up and turning to face me. “Can I see you later tonight?” I ask. “Sure.” She smiles, and kisses me on the corner of my mouth. She follows me to the door and smiles warmly at me when I open it. “See you later, I’ll call you.” I say, heading out. “Bye.” She says, closing the door. What a night. “So you stayed in her dorm, and nothing happened?” Ted asked me, surprise written all over his face. I decided not to tell him the whole truth, things like that were best kept to yourself. “Of course not, I told you, we’re just friends.” I laugh. “I’m even surprised by that, when she met me she didn’t even give me a chance.” He

chuckles. “I’m more persistent than you are Ted.” I say. “No doubt.” He laughs, and then a serious look comes over his features. “I meant what I said when she was something else, Jay. She’s been through a lot; that I know of.” He says. “What do you mean?” I ask. “It’s not my place to say, but do you know about her mother?” He asks. “About her, not being…” I didn’t want to say it. “Dead.” He adds for me. I nod. “Well, when she died, Lily was left with her step dad, because her real father had moved to New Zealand and couldn’t afford to have her, so her step dad became her guardian.” He says gravely. “Dad worked with him, years ago, and knew he was a… forceful man. He hated things not going his way.” I shouldn’t be listening to this, Lily should tell me all this herself. “Well, four years on, her step dad was charged with her mom’s murder.” Murder? Holy shit! “No one believed it was him, but he was the only person they could point the finger at, only he and Lily were with her mom the night she died.” Stop listening! “So why does Lily hate the Greys?” I ask, not wanting to know the answer. “Because dad was on the defendant team, he gave a statement for her step dad.” Ted says with no emotion. Fuck, my dad stood up for him? No wonder Lily hates him. “Don’t take it the wrong way, dad had no idea about Lily. She was kept in the shadows the whole time, people forgot about her over those our years, and her step dad never mentioned her to dad at work.” He says, reading my expression. “He probably doesn’t even know Lily is the step daughter of the man he defended.” “Did he lose?” I ask. “Yes, he’s in prison.” Ted says. I nod, not knowing what to say. When I say goodbye I fish my phone out of my pocket and see the time, half four. I dial Lily’s number and ring her, feeling nervous after hearing all of that from Ted. “Hello?” She says, answering the call.

“I’m coming to get you; I’ll be there in ten minutes.” I say. “Okay, bye.” She giggles and hangs up. I climb in my car and head for the dorms, a lump in my throat. “Hey.” She grins, climbing in my car. She looks beautiful in a red and white short summer dress and white cardigan, her long brown hair in a loose braid down her right shoulder. “Hello.” I smile, feeling shy again, which is ridiculous. “Are you alright?” She asks, noticing my attitude. I nod and smile at her, then start driving. “Where are we going?” She asks, resting her hand on my leg, sending shivers down my spine. “To the beach again.” I say, smiling at her, which she returns, the fear that was in her eyes the last time I took her there is no longer present. “It’s a good thing I’m wearing sandals then.” She giggles. Once we get to the beach, I park up and open her door for her, and she doesn’t let go of me, so we walk hand in hand down the beach. Instead of sitting under the lit gazebo, I take her a little past it to where a few beach chairs are, and we sit on a twin one together. “It’s so beautiful here, especially with the sunset.” She sighs contentedly, leaning her head on my chest as we cuddle up on the chair, my arm around her shoulders. “It sets right behind Ana Isle.” I say with a grin. It was why my father chose it. “I’ll take you there one day.” “I’m not so keen on boats.” She laughs. “I’m sure there are other ways of getting over there.” I say evilly, and she looks up to glare playfully at me. I smile down at her, but the information Ted told me earlier weighs my smile down, so I have to force it. She sits up and turns to face me, so she is in-between my legs. “What is wrong with you, you seem different.” She asks; concern on her face. I shake my head. “Jay, you can tell me, you know that right?” She asks, and I can’t help myself. “The same goes for you, you can tell me

anything.” I say, looking at her pointedly and her smile slips a little, but she nods shakily. “Then tell me.” I say quietly. “What do you know?” She counters, so I tell her what Ted told me. She gulps. “How does he know all that?” Ted had told me he looked her up when he first met her, wondering if there was anything in old news stories or records of our father that mentioned her or her father. When I told Lily she nodded like it made sense. “What else do you want to know?” She asks, not meeting my eyes. I feel bad for making her feel like this, I take her chin in-between my fingers and make her look at me. “Nothing you don’t want to tell me.” I say, and kiss her softly. She takes a deep breath and begins. “My mom and dad split up when I was one, and she remarried two years later, just after my third birthday. Mark Evans was everything she wanted at the time.” She must have kept her real dads last name, which would explain why a lot of people forgot about her like Ted said. “At first it was perfect, I didn’t my real dad because I was so young, but I knew of him.” Lily took a deep breath and swallowed back the tears that were pooling at her eyes. “Mark was just like any normal step dad until I was five, he started to drink, and when he would come home, he’d take me up to my bed, and tell me a story, and then he-“ She was cut off by a sob. I hugged her. “You don’t have to tell me Lily.” I said, panicked by the story and her reaction, I didn’t expect this. She shook me off and wiped the tears away. “No, I have to.” She says determinedly. “He abused me every night for years, told me it was because he loved me the same way he loved my mom. That it was the right thing to do. “Whenever I said I didn’t want to, he would accuse me of not loving him, that I was ungrateful, and at that age, I couldn’t bare the thought of him thinking that, in case he left me and my mom like my dad did.” She took another deep breath.

“Then, when I was nine, he came home, drunker than usual, and I knew what was coming, so I held on to my mom and started crying, but this made him angry, he was blind from the alcohol. So angry… He went for me, but my mom got in his way and he hit her to the floor, and then kicked her over and over again.” She swallowed back the sob that was desperate to come out. “All I was screaming, I didn’t see the blood that was splattering everywhere, I didn’t see my mom lying on the floor, all I saw was black, and heard the screaming. But then it went silent, and so cold.” She closed her eyes, as if she was back in that moment. “He dragged me out of the house, I how sticky his arms were, covered in blood. We lived by the sea, he dragged me over the garden wall and onto the beach, right into the water.” Her eyes tightened. I didn’t realise that I hadn’t been breathing the whole time. “He tried to drown me.” She says after a moment of choking sobs. “But then he stopped, and pulled me out of the water. He kept repeating ‘no, no, we can fix this’ over and over again, like he was trying to soothe me.” I never expected this… “He ran in the house and took out clean clothes, cleaned himself of all the blood, got us both changed and threw our old clothes in a bag and set fire to It back out on the beach, then covered the ash with sand.” She opened her eyes. “He called the cops himself, completely sober. Sometimes I wonder if he was actually drunk, if he even had an excuse. He told them he had taken me out for the evening to the fair on the pier, and when we got home we found my mom.” She spat out in a venomous voice. “They didn’t question it until four years later, when I was thirteen.” “And my dad gave a defending statement.” I said for her. “Mark worked with your dad until he married my mom, then quit to come and live with us, but he was still in your fathers good books.” “I’m so sorry.” I

say. “You’re right Jay, you’re not you father, I get that now.” Lily sighs, finally looking at me, her eyes red. “My dad would never have done that if he knew the truth.” I say, sure of it. Lily nods. “I know, but it’s hard to forgive, you understand?” She asks and I kiss her. “I met Mason a year later.” Her story apparently not over. “I was fourteen and living with foster parents, and he was everything I looked for, strong, protective, loving. He helped me get myself back, he helped me not be afraid of being touched by men anymore. It took a whole year, but eventually I could let him touch me. He was patient, but then it came to sex. I was still afraid of it. We broke up because he wanted more and didn’t want to be patient anymore to get it. But he never left me alone, he kept bugging me and bugging me, until that night, when you saved me from him, he was drunk and getting in my face, saying he was going to take what I owed him, but then you turned up.” She smiles up at me, something I couldn’t place in her eyes. “You’re the first person I’ve had sex with since Mark, the first guy I’ve actually felt protected with, in all senses.” I can see the blush creep up her cheeks, and I’m overwhelmed by something, so I do the only thing my mind can think of, and that’s to kiss her with all the strength I have.

Chapter 13 Awaiting… when you get here me, I might have new chapters by then A