GRAYSON

Waiting for my drink order at the end of the counter, I saw her.

"Hey."

Nessa froze. She had on this cute apron, her hair tied up behind a bandana thing, a stack of cups in her hand. Slowly, she raised her head to look at me.

She blinked.

"Seriously, Grayson?" she hissed after overcoming a bit of surprise.

"Seriously, Adler?" I shot back. "This is where you work?"

Her expression shifted, and she dropped the cups on the counter.

"So this... isn't you stalking me?"

Skepticism weaved into the question.

I laughed despite myself. "No, this isn't me stalking you. This is me coming to get you a coffee for later when I try to bribe you to hang out with me instead of studying."

"Oh." She ducked her head, busying with organizing cups that didn't look like they needed organizing.

Leaning against the counter, I tried to catch her eye. "So you're telling me that I've been spending God knows how much money on caramel macchiatos when you could be getting them for free?"

Her head whipped up, and I flashed a smile to show her I was kidding. It was never about the money.

She gave me a shy grin in return. "Yeah?"

Standing, I nodded and shoved my hands in my pockets. "Manipulative, like your namesake. I dig it."

Nessa's mouth popped open in indignation, but I cut her off.

"You still get done at five?"

She nodded.

"Okay, I'll wait over there until you're done." I pointed to an open corner, which housed a comfy armchair flanked by two exposed-brick walls and a floor lamp.

There were only twenty minutes left of her shift; I might as well stay and walk her back to Ackley Hall. Grabbing my drink, I turned around before she could protest, finding my way to the corner.

I heard Nessa's huff behind me, so I wasn't surprised when four minutes into those twenty I had to wait, a text popped up on my phone. From her.

Nessa: Stop staring at me.

Me: I wasn't staring.

Alright, I might have been watching her a little bit. Her face was just so expressive when she talked to people, ringing up their orders. Customer service Nessa had a different look about her.

Nessa: I'm going to spill something if you keep doing it.

Me: Do I make you nervous?

Nessa: Of course not.

The blush on her face told a different story, but somehow she made it through the rest of the shift without spilling anything. I handed her the coffee on our way out the door, grateful that it'd stayed somewhat warm for the walk to Ackley Hall. She murmured a little thank you after taking a sip and then looked over at me.

"Do you work anywhere?"

I shook my head. "I work at a golf course over the summer to save up, but during the year, I can't because—"

I cut myself off, having nearly exposed shit I didn't want to expose.

Because stress. My moms didn't want me to have a job during the school year. Just like they didn't want me to play football. Just like they didn't want me to take too many classes. Just like they didn't want me to do anything.

"Because of football?" she finished for me.

"Yeah, football."

***

Convincing Nessa to study in my room was my first win of the evening. Turned out Madie and that Bren guy had stayed at the hotel yesterday and planned to tonight as well, meaning that my leverage to keep Nessa with me had vanished. Undeterred, I used popcorn and my series set of Sherlock instead.

It didn't take long for studying to get pushed to the side.

"You cannot compare me to her," Nessa said, jabbing her finger at the TV. "She's basically blackmailing the British government. All I did was swindle you out of a few cups of coffee."

I laughed at the scowl she'd trained on Irene Adler.

"Yes, but you both possess a certain sexual prowess, don't you think?"

We were sitting side by side on my bed, and she elbowed me in the ribs. "Shut up, Grayson."

Would love it if you made me, Nessa.

It was a good night—the best of nights. We ordered a pizza instead of going to the student union for dinner and then spent twenty minutes fighting about who would pay for it. Nessa won, but only because she threatened to leave me otherwise, and I wasn't about to let that happen. She seemed content, maybe even happy, curled up in my bed with laughter and little smiles slipping out occasionally.

It was after midnight when she started drifting, fighting to keep her eyes on the TV.

"Just sleep," I encouraged.

"I should go back to my room," she mumbled.

I shook my head. "Just stay and sleep."

And she did.

It was harder this time, making myself cross the room to sleep in Brodie's bed. Away from her. It felt so good to have Nessa rest beside me, so comfortable and soft and perfect. But it was also dangerous to the things I promised her. And I had to remind myself of the end game.

But my restraint not to hold Nessa close vanished when I woke up in the middle of the night to find her crawling into the tiny twin bed with me.

"Adler?" I croaked. "What are you doing?"

My question was barely coherent, jumbled like my brain.

Arms circled my neck, and I automatically pulled her closer.

"Bad dream."

She breathed the two words against my bare chest, and I inhaled the fruity scent of whatever hair product she used. After regaining more awareness, I decided to scoop her up and bring her back over to my side of the room. We didn't both need to sleep in Brodie's bed, and she'd probably appreciate the smell of mine more, anyway.

"You're okay," I murmured while sliding in next to her, getting back into a position where I could hold her.

Nessa turned on her side, her head coming to rest on my chest again.

"But are you?" she whispered, dark eyes finding mine in a dim room.

I found it hard to swallow.

"Of course." Without thinking, I pressed a light kiss to the top of her head. "Never better, darling."

A lie and truth, all in one.

Sleep pulled and pushed the rest of the night. The haunted look in Nessa's gaze stayed with me, even when I tried to close my eyes. I must have drifted off at some point because the next thing I knew, I was jolting awake to the feel of something on my neck.

Nessa. Nessa's breath. Nessa's lips, her whole face, nestled into me. And just like I'd known it to be, it felt dangerous. Because as I came to, I realized that Nessa and I were touching in far too many ways. Her leg curled over my hips, my arm asleep beneath her shoulder. A manicured hand rested on my chest, right above my heart, and my hand had planted itself very firmly on her ass.

The yoga pants that she fell asleep in were leaving very little of her curves to the imagination. And god, it was a great ass.

Sun streamed through the single window in the room, letting me know that it was morning. And I reveled in the warmth of it for a second, debating my options. I didn't want to get up, didn't want to disrupt this. But I also didn't want her to wake up to find us tangled like this.

"Grayson?"

Too late.

She shifted in my arms, and I quickly withdrew my hand from her ass.

A breathy chuckle hit the base of my neck. "I felt that."

I wasn't sure if she was referring to the jolt in my cock from feeling her lips graze my skin or my wandering hand. I assumed it was the latter.

"So much for our deal," she said, laughing. Sleep remained lodged in her throat, and there was something about it that I loved.

"Deal is still on, Adler. I can't help what I do in my sleep."

More breath on my skin. More of her lips, so close to mine. A gasp as she felt what it was doing to me. I waited for her to jump out of bed, but that moment never came.

"You climbed in with me, if you recall," I added.

There was a long pause before I felt a slight shrug. "I guess I can't help what I do in my sleep, either."

She shifted, and I could tell she was attempting to rearrange so we wouldn't be touching in so many goddamn places. But the result was a lot of brushing up against each other in more places, and I grabbed her by the waist as a moan crawled out of me.

I gritted my teeth, breathing through them. "Just stop. Stop moving."

She did, and I unclenched my jaw. Pulling back, I looked down at her.

Which was a mistake. It was early enough that Nessa's hard exterior hadn't been fastened back into place yet, and the girl in my arms was one who I'd always known existed. Her eyes were wide and sheepish, and her smile was petal-soft. The lightness of her breath was doing all sorts of things to the rhythm of my heart, but it was nothing compared to how it affected me to see such open vulnerability in her expression.

"Do you want to talk about your bad dream?" I asked quietly, afraid I'd scare her.

And apparently, I did. That was the ticket. That was what pushed it too far for her. It wasn't the touching or my blatant morning wood—which honestly had nothing to do with the morning. No, it was my simple question that sent Nessa scrambling out of bed.

"I should get back to my room," she said, all breathy and rushed. "I'd like to say goodbye to Bren before he leaves. And be there for Madie, too. Besides, you have practice soon, right?"

I grabbed my phone to look at the time.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Okay, well, then." Nessa's hands were fluttering about now, trying to flatten her hair even though it looked perfectly fine. "I'll see you later, Everett."

I sat up, watching her practically sprint to the door. "Running away from me right away in the morning and reverting to calling me Everett? You're tough on my ego, Nessa."

She tossed a smile back. "Your ego can withstand a blow."

I could think of other things that wouldn't mind a blow right now.

Shoving my thoughts to the side, I shook my head and gave a half-hearted grin as Nessa walked out the door. I might want a blow, but I definitely didn't want to blow this. The progress we'd made this weekend was almost too good to be true, so I let her go. For now. I could think about what the hell that was later. Currently, it was time to jerk one off quickly before heading to meet up with the team.

The athletic center was the last place I honestly wanted to be on a Sunday morning, but Julian would kick my ass if I didn't show. And I was curious to see if Brodie would make an appearance. It wasn't an official practice or anything—Coach wouldn't even be there—so if Brodie wanted to come, nothing would stop him. Even though he was still suspended from the team after Professor Evans told Coach what happened with Madie in Western Civ.

And sure enough, there he was. The very first person I saw when I walked into the lobby. Brodie was tossing a football in the air while waiting around. Lazily. Like nothing was fucking wrong. Like he hadn't bailed every time I tried to talk to him for the past month, avoiding our room like the plague. Like he hadn't pulled some fucked up shit with Madie.

He gave me the cold shoulder when I strode past, so I turned to Jules instead, grunting a hey.

We weren't morning people.

Turning back to Brodie, I hoped to catch his attention this time. And that was when I saw him.

The guy who Nessa sang for. A guy who had her trust before I did, one who grew up in an abusive family only to pry the girl he fell for out of a toxic relationship. And I had a pretty damn good hunch that he'd learned someone was fucking with her again. He had fire in his eyes as he stared Brodie down. And holy shit, was that a gun?

Brodie tossed his football into the air again. Only it never came back down.

Bren snatched it out of the air, and Brodie spun around.

"What the—?"

"Hey," Bren said, tossing the football over his shoulder casually. Only there was nothing casual about how he was glaring. "Brodie, is it?"

Fuck.

💗

Chill out Bren, you're scaring Grayson.

xoxo amelie