My heart's had such a workout tonight.

Grey took multiple turns and shortcuts to lose those guys. Ten minutes into chasing us and we lost them. I didn't care what their motives were, but I knew Grey wouldn't let them get anywhere near us.

After experiencing that, I gained a better understanding of how Greyson beat Eddie in the race. Eddie had the faster bike, yes, but he didn't have the control over it like how Greyson had with his. Grey was an expert at any speed.

So when Grey realized that Eddie couldn't handle riding his bike at top speed, he used that to his advantage. He let him win the first race. Then he tried his damn near hardest to convince to agree to a rematch. But with more money on the line, of course. And his father's bike.

I mentally rolled my eyes at that last one. I still wasn't over that.

Anyways, you could say that Grey practically conned him. I would be mad at his methods of making extra cash if I didn't know that Eddie was a complete asshole who probably had that coming.

Grey took us back to his place instead of mine after we took the long way back into town, ensuring we weren't being followed again.

His mom was already asleep, so we snuck. Not that she would mind me coming over to their place at this ungodly hour, but we honestly didn't want to wake her up.

We tiptoed up to his room. Grey flicked on the lights, and I planted myself on his shaggy grey rug in front of his bed.

I watched Grey stash the money in this mini lockbox that he kept hidden inside an old shoebox.

"You want to spend the night?" he asked when he was done.

"Sure," I had responded with a shrug. We had sleepovers all the time-no big deal.

"Okay, cool." He gave me a soft smile. "I'm going to take a shower. You can take one after me if you want and pick out anything of mine that you want to wear."

I smiled back. "I know. Thanks."

He nodded, grabbing the towel hanging from the back of his door, and he left.

I laid down on the rug starfish style, staring at the ceiling.

A lot has happened in the past 24 hours. My brain had failed to process it all.

I pulled my cellphone out of my back pocket, holding it above my face. I reread the text my mom sent me.

She didn't say much, but the shock of hearing from her hadn't worn off. My eyes skimmed the lines a few more times. It was like I needed to commit it to memory, as if it could self-destruct at any moment, being erased forever like it didn't even exist.

This didn't feel real.

But never mind the whole potentially rebuilding a relationship with my mom thing. I had a little sister, and she's been missing from my life for almost 12 years. I could have spent so much time with her. We could have grown up together.

How come no one allowed me to see her? Especially since she was sick.

I wanted to meet her more than anything, but I knew that pretty much came like a package deal. My mom would be included, and I had to think about what I wanted for us first. Do I keep my distance from her for the rest of my life? Or do I somehow try to work on forgiving her for leaving me and slowly build back up a relationship?

I took a deep breath hoping to control all the emotions fluttering underneath the surface.

So much to think about.

"Hey," Grey said, scaring me out of my thoughts and causing me to drop my phone on my face.

"OW!" I whispered harshly, rolling over to my side and holding the bridge of my nose with one of my hands. I glared at my stupid phone lying on the ground a few inches away from me.

Greyson chuckled. I looked up to glare at him too.

That was a quick shower. Or maybe I spent way more time in my head than I realized.

Grey leaned against the doorway, wearing only black joggers, which hung dangerously low on his hips. There wasn't a shirt in sight, so he showed off a slightly impressive six-pack. Okay, it may be more than somewhat impressive, but I would never verbally admit that. His ego was big enough. With the towel draped over one shoulder, he began to dry the droplets of water that were still clinging to his hair.

"Can you spend a week without dropping that phone on your face?" he said teasingly.

I heard the words leave his mouth, but I couldn't answer him for whatever reason. My eyes were focused on the droplets that he missed, which were sliding down his chest, to his abs, and all way down to...

OH MY GOSH! WHAT AM I DOING? WHAT AM I THINKING?!

I quickly averted my eyes, looking anywhere else.

"Mia. Seriously, are you okay?" Grey's voice was soft, but there was some concern in there. I watched his feet walk over to me in my peripheral.

It took no time before he was crouching down in front of me. Grey scooped me up into his arms and placed me in his lap. Wrapping one around my waist, he used the other to remove my hand from my face.

I forgot about the stinging pain at the bridge of my nose because all I could think about was the smell of his body wash taking over my senses.

I swore no guy has ever smelled so good, like fresh laundry mixed with spice and everything nice.

Okay, okay. I was convinced that the tiny vibrations from the cellphone hitting my face must've done something to my brain. That was the only logical explanation I could think of right now. Who was I kidding? That didn't even make sense.

"Your nose is kind of pink." Grey lightly tapped it with his pointer finger. I flinched. "Does it hurt?"

A little. I wrinkled my nose at him, causing him to laugh under his breath.

He kissed the top of my nose and then pulled back.

Our faces were mere inches apart. I watched his blue eyes scan my face before they made contact with my brown ones.

Grey smirked then he snuggled me closer to him. Leaning his forehead against mine, I watched him shut his eyes and sigh. "What's going on in that head of yours tonight, Mia? What are you thinking about?" I felt his breath against my cheek.

You're so close. Too close.

This reminded me of last summer when...

I left that thought incomplete, shoving Grey's hands off me and scrambling out of his lap. My butt landed on the ground with a light thud.

Grey's eyes fluttered open, looking at me, but his face remained neutral, not giving away anything. Sometimes, I wish I could read his mind.

"I um... I'm going to take a quick shower. Yup. Right now!" I got up, bolted for the bathroom, and softly closed the door.

I stood in front of the mirror, staring back at my reflection. I leaned over the sink and said to myself. "What are you doing, Mia? Agh!"

God forbid there would come a day when my reflection talked back.

There was a light knock on the door a few seconds later. I cracked open it and saw Greyson standing there. He held up some clothes. "I realized you didn't bring anything in with you. I thought you might want these."

I opened the door wide enough to take them. "Thanks."

"Um, and if you want to give me your dirty clothes, I could wash them and have them ready by morning."

I nodded. "Just a sec." I closed the door again.

I stripped down to my birthday suit and folded my clothes into a neat pile. I debated whether or not I should give him my underwear and bra. I dangled them up in the air, thinking about it.

Grey's seen my laundry before. Grey has done my laundry before. Once when I was sick and lying in bed. The other times were after a party when some idiot spilled alcohol on me or when the soda can exploded on me downstairs. Not to mention during all the other spontaneous sleepovers we've had. This wasn't the first time I've gotten offered a free laundry service. It worked in my favor when I put them on to leave in the morning, and they're fresh and clean.

So this shouldn't be a big deal. I had no reason to freak out. I shoved my panties and bra between my clothes. Then I grabbed a towel from the linen closet, securing it around me.

Opening the door, I placed my clothes in Grey's hands. "Thanks," I said, avoiding contact like the weirdo I couldn't help but be.

"Sure thing." He winked before walking away.

I shut the door, clenching my fists around the top of the towel. "Pull yourself together," I mumbled. I placed the towel over the shower rod, pulled back the curtain, and got in.

Ten minutes later, I was out of the shower with what I hoped was a clearer head.

I came back to the room to find Greyson sprawled out on his bed, deep in thought. He still had no shirt on, but the sheets draped across his stomach.

In the back of my head, like way wwaayyy way in the deep corners of my brain, a part of me felt a pang of disappointment. Damn.

Grey's eyes flickered to me, hovering by the doorway.

He pulled the sheet up on the empty side of the bed like a silent invitation.

I joined him, resting my head on the opposite end of his king-sized pillow.

"I've been thinking," Grey started.

"That's never a good thing," I interrupted him.

"HA!" He poked my belly, and I slapped his hand away, giggling. "But seriously, I've been thinking."

"Okay." I waited for him to share more.

Grey rolled onto his side, and we were face to face.

"So you know how our lease for the apartment technically starts on the first of July?"

"Hmm."

"Why don't we move in early? Why wait till August? We can move in on the first of July, find a job for the summer that we could potentially do throughout the school year, and settle in before everything gets crazy hectic."

I thought about it. I'd have to break the news to Dad, who hasn't seemed too eager about me leaving him. He's had all year, heck, my entire life to prepare for this moment, but he still wanted to pout and be all glum when I brought it up.

Then there was my job. I wanted to give them a two weeks notice. But a one week's notice will have to do.

Grey was dying to quit his job. I wanted to see what he would do next for cash. That will be interesting. Leave it to Grey to be full of surprises.

"You know, that's not a terrible idea," I told him.

His face broke out into a grin. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm dying to move in. It only makes sense to move in next month. I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner."

"Okay then, it's settled. We'll be at our new place by next Friday." Grey held up his hand for a high five.

I grinned back, slapping his hand. "This is going to be so cool. I have so many ideas on how we should decorate the place!"

"Oh no. Here we go again." Grey dramatically flopped forward onto his stomach, burying his face into the pillow.

I lightly kicked his thigh with the ball of my foot. "HEY! My ideas are good!"

He lifted his head. "If you say so."

"You'll see!" I fired back.

"Whatever you say," Grey chuckled.

I rolled my eyes, resting my head back against the pillow.

Grey already had his eyes closed as he got more comfortable.

"So, are you gonna turn off the lights or what?" he whispered.

"Nope."

"It's going to be so annoying to sleep with them on."

"Oh well. I'm too lazy to get up and do it." I yawned.

Grey sat half up. "Rock, paper, and scissors?" he suggested. "Loser has to turn off the lights."

"Fine." I sat up too. "Best 2 out of 3?"

"Yup."

We played, and I unfortunately lost.

"HA!" Grey said, repositioning himself. "You know I always get what I want. I never lose."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I got up and flipped the switch, encasing us in darkness with nothing but hints of the moonlight coming through the blinds.

Luckily, I knew his room well enough to get back into bed without tripping over anything. Not that there's a mess on his floor to trip over anyhow. This guy was an absolute neat freak.

I felt Greyson throw some of the sheets my way, and I slid under them.

It was quiet for a little while, and I knew I would drift off to sleep in no time.

"Good night, Mia," Grey murmured with a yawn.

"Night, Grey," I mumbled with what little energy I had left.