“He’s just looking out for his daughter.” Greyson smiles as I push my bedroom door open.
I groan, letting go of his hand and close the door behind us. “Welcome to my humble abode.” I grin, gesturing around my bedroom.
“Purple, why doesn’t that surprise me?” He grins, taking in my room.
Yeah, purple is the only way to describe it. It’s my favorite color, so of course pretty much everything in my room needs to be purple—minus the bed, dresser, and a few other things that are white.
“Hey,” Greyson says, catching my attention as his hands come to rest on my cheeks. “How are you feeling?”
I sigh, leaning into his touch. “I’ve been better.”
There’s no doubt that my eyes are red and puffy from crying so much, but I didn’t care, He’s seen me cry enough times as it is already.
Greyson smiles, removing his hands from my face. Wrapping his arms around me, he pulls me close and squeezes the hell out of me making me giggle.
And right now, it feels like nothing else in the world matters because I’m in the arms of one of the men I feel most comfortable with.
Chapter 37
Lilly
“What’s with the popcornobsession?” Greyson asks, gesturing his head toward the bowl where my hand is currently scooping up a generous handful.
“Comfort, I guess.” I shrug, shoving the handful into my mouth.
“You guess?”
“Hmm.” I mummer through the mouthful, trying to downplay the significance.
I wasn’t lying, not really. Whenever I had popcorn, I felt safe. It’s strange to admit, I know—it’s just food. But it’s a comfort for me, it’s safe…and it’s not going to hurt me.
I can see in Greyson’s face that he isn’t going to let this go, he wants to know the truth, but am I ready to tell him? I don’t want to burden him with more of my problems.
And I have a mountain of problems.
I don’t know how long he’s been here—hours—but it feels like minutes, seconds even. There’s nothing I hate more than time speeding by when I’m with him. If I could slow time down, I would. I’d slow time down and cherish every second I could with him. Because every second spent with Greyson is another second I love living.
I love living as it is, but when he’s around, he makes me feel alive, and makes mewantto live.
Taking a shaky breath in, I play with the fray on the edge of my comforter. “When I was younger, Elizabeth would always bring men home,” I begin, feeling like my skin is crawling already. “Most of them were decent.”
“Most of them?” He sits up straighter, grabbing my hand and squeezing at it, letting me know that he’s there.
“His name was Clive,” I feel sick even saying his name. “I was thirteen and puberty hit hard, my boobs had practically grown over night, and he noticed.”
Oh, fuck did he notice.
“He’d make subtle comments about how the boys were going to love me when I grew into my skin, and a bunch of other disgusting stuff a fifty-year-old man shouldn’t be saying to a thirteen-year-old.”
Types of things a man should never say to any girl,ever.
“Lil-Bug.” I feel Greyson’s thumb swipe over the wet spot on my cheek.
Fuck. What’s with me and crying?
“I told Elizabeth about the comments he’d been making, but she called me a liar.”
“What the fuck?” He hisses.
