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Grayson Hale is the perfect gentleman, it seems.
“I don’t want to be a bother.”
Grayson’s voice drops low when he speaks again. “You’re never a bother to me, Riley.”
Oh…
His words send a jolt of electricity through my veins. I’m never a bother to him? Grayson has been so sweet to me, that his actions are almost unbelievable at one point.
Boys like him don’t exist. Not really. They are only appear in books.
In real life? Boys like him are not meant for girls like me. We don’t get the good guys. We get the rich and cruel jerks. Arrogant and brutish.
Boys like Grayson Hale go for the good girls. The ones without a scandal attached to their names. The ones with pretty hair, pretty eyes and pretty smiles. The sane, down-to-earth, sensible girls.
Not the unlucky girls, like me.
My life is in shambles, and I am a mess, ruined.
Grayson presses his fingertips on my lower back, carefully directing me toward his white Bentley. He opens the door for me, and I get in. After making sure I have my seat belt on, he closes my door and walks around to get to his side.
“Aren’t you supposed to go home with Oakylnn today?” I ask, when he starts the engine.
“No,” he simply states, reversing out of the parking lot.
No? That’s it? I’m learning new things about him. Grayson is a man of few words.
“But she said—
“What she said doesn’t concern us,” Grayson interrupts softly. “I’ve never given her a ride before, and if she really wants to come over for dinner, she can drive there on her own or with her parents.”
His words pique my curiosity. “Have you ever given any girl a ride before?” I don’t know why I asked the question out loud, but the moment the words are out of my mouth, I want to take them back. I mentally slap myself for being so weird, but I can’t help but be curious about Grayson.
There’s so much I don’t know about him. He doesn’t speak a lot; he’s rather quiet and aloof. He doesn’t have my friends, except for Oaklynn. At lunch, if he’s not with her, he’s alone, sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, with a book in his hand.
I know he likes to read. I always find him with a new book in hand. It seems he doesn’t care much about sports. I’ve seen the basketball captain trying to recruit him numerous times, but he always politely refuses. Even the football team wants Grayson to join. With his build and height, he would be unstoppable on the field.
But Grayson Hale is a loner. A bossy, handsome loner.
I know, even boys like him have secrets. I wonder if his secrets are as dark as mine.
“I’ve never given any girl a ride before,” he finally responds after a long minute of silence. I notice the way his gaze slides over to me quickly, taking in my reaction before he goes back to looking at the road.
I can’t help the way my heart goes pitter-patter. “I’m the first?”
“You are the first,” he confesses, his voice dropping low.
I don’t know why…but I like that. I’m not supposed to be feeling this kind of way: the warmth in my chest or the fluttering in my stomach. But Grayson seems to have an undeniable hold on me and my reactions to him are unexpected.
Grayson is not a rash driver. He’s calm behind the wheel, both attentive and patient. Responsible. We don’t talk for the rest of the drive, so I take the time to study him. His stubbled jaw, long lashes, brown eyes and full lips. There’s a tiny slit in the corner of his right eyebrow. It makes me wonder how he got it. Was he injured badly? Did it hurt for a long time?
When Grayson turns into my driveway, he finally breaks the silence.
“You’re staring.”
“You do it too,” I accuse without any heat.
“I do it in a less obvious manner.”
