Beautifully Broken (7 page)

Gray had only ever dated one
person, well besides Hannah. Bobby Jo Levingston, the red headed firecracker
who was a bitch to everyone imaginable, especially me. Gray’s friendship and
mine was their final undoing. He dated her for six months before she started
making my life a living hell, and in return Gray made hers one. Apparently, she
had forgiven him. I couldn’t help but watch as his blue eyes looked into hers
while they stood grinding together on the makeshift dance floor. As quick as I
went to turn away, his gaze caught mine. I could see the sadness and apologetic
look in his eyes, but I was pissed and I wasn’t giving in that easily.

His hand was on my arm
before I could make it past the small doorway into one of the rooms. I held my
face away from him, not wanting to cry. I could feel the tears welling up
behind my eyes, but I was damn sure not going to let him see that.

“Bennett, look at me. I
didn’t know you would be-” his voice cut off.

I snapped my head around
quickly sending me off kilter. After regaining my sense of balance, I stared
deep into his ice blue eyes. “YOU’RE SORRY? You didn’t know I was going to be
here, right? That’s what you were going to say. You made me feel like a
complete asshole for blowing you off today and then you come here, with HER?” I
pointed in the general direction of where Bobby Jo was standing. “How dare you.
How dare you Gray. She treated me, your best friend, like absolute shit the
entire time you guys were together and now you’re just going to what? Take her
home? Get her drunk and then sleep with her?” I unleashed years of frustration
on him. I couldn’t stop myself. It was something he had to hear.

“Bennett, please just talk
to me. Not like this, let’s go home and talk. Please!” He had me wrapped in his
arms so tightly; I couldn’t squirm out of their hold. I tried to push against
his chest but nothing happened. “Bennett you have to talk to me,” he whispered.

I was about to give in when
I heard
his
voice. “I believe she asked you to let her go.” His
voice was powerful and in a second Gray’s arms dropped to his sides with his
hands balled into fists. I knew what was about to happen. I positioned myself
between the two of them and tried to calm Gray down.

“Who the Hell are you?” Gray
puffed.

“I’m the guy whose house you’re
in. I’m also the guy who is going to have to hurt you, if you try to man handle
her again.”

“ What the Fu-, oh I
remember you. You’re the guy who ran into her at school. I knew you were going
to be trouble. This has nothing to do with you, so butt the fuck out.” Gray
reached for my hand but I was instantly pulled behind Raylon’s muscular frame.

“I told you not to touch
her.” Raylon poked his finger into Gray’s chest.

“STOP BOTH OF YOU!” I
screamed as loud as my lungs would allow. I put a hand on each of their chests
trying to separate them. “Raylon you need to back off. You don’t understand
enough to get in the middle of this.” I looked up at him with a sympathetic
look in my eyes, hoping he would see that I was sorry that I had to choose. “As
for you,” I pushed Gray towards the front door, “you don’t get to come up in
here with another girl around your arm, and then try to protect me. It doesn’t
work that way Gray. You can’t want all of me one minute and then only some of
me another. It’s not fair.” I looked into his eyes and I could see that my
words were breaking his heart.

He hung his head before he
finally spoke back. “I was upset Bennett. I wanted to bring you here with me
but you blew me off,
all
day. I thought we had an amazing night together. I
was so excited to get done with testing this morning and get back to you. I had
a whole day planned out. Then you just brushed me off, like nothing happened. I
know you feel it Bennett. I’m not stupid, I can see it in your face.” His hands
clutched onto the sides of my face as he stared into my eyes.

“Nothing was going to happen
with Bobby Jo, I swear it. I was just trying to make it so every waking
thought, in my God damned head wasn’t consumed with you.” He threw his hands up
in the air exasperated. “Fuck Bennett, what am I supposed to do?” His hands
fell to his sides in defeat.

I reached for his shoulder
to turn him towards me, but he evaded my touch and started walking towards the
stairs. “Tell Vince I’m going home. I’ll get a hold of you tomorrow. Good night
Button.” He was down the stairs before I could even catch my breath enough to
speak. Why did things have to be so complicated between us?

I made my way back in to
find Hannah, when Raylon stopped me in the small hallway leading to the common
room. “Are you okay?” He sounded truly concerned, but I just didn’t have the
patience to deal with this kind of situation tonight.

 “I’m fine, but I need
to find Hannah. I’m sorry.”

I moved around him and
Hannah was standing waiting for me by the first bedroom on the right. “You
ready to go Calamity Jane?” She was joking, but I couldn’t help but swallow
back the lump starting to form in my throat.

 “Just get me out of
here, please?” She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and pushed our way to
the front door. I didn’t look back to see if Raylon was looking my way.
Honestly, I didn’t care.

The car ride was eerily
silent. I couldn’t process what had happened through my drunken haze to have a
coherent thought. Hannah knew not to push it; she just kept the radio up enough
for some background noise. A little bit later we pulled into my driveway and I
couldn’t help but notice that Gray’s truck wasn’t in the drive.

A part of me was almost
hoping he would be waiting for me. I should’ve known better. When Gray was
upset or mad, home was not the first place he went.

I waved good-bye to Hannah.
My wobbly knees carried me to the side gate leading to ‘our’ backyard. I wanted
to go straight to the tree house. That was where I felt the safest, and right
now I was feeling anything but. My vision was still blurry making me stumble
across the grass in search of the ladder. I could barely make out the shadowy
figure, when my knee slammed right into the edge of it.

“Ouch!” I cursed under my
breath. I reached out and grabbed hold of one of the metal slats. I pulled up
my leg to go climb, but fell again. This time I fell onto the grass.

“Son of a bitch!” This seemed
impossible. I reached out one more time determined to at least get half way up.
I made it to the second step before slipping again and falling flat on my back
onto the wet ground. The sprinklers must have just gone off before I got home
because my ass was slowly getting wet. I gave up and decided just to lay there
in my drunken haze, not caring about anything.

I heard a laugh and
immediately sat up looking around. When I heard it again I searched the dark
backyard, stopping when I saw his face through the doorway of the tree house.
He was here. Wait, what was he doing here? And who did he think he was laughing
at me?

“Oh you think this is funny,
huh?” I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. It was kind of funny.

“If the roles were reversed,
you know you would be laughing your ass off.” He extended his arm out for me to
take his hand. I tried more than once, but failed miserably and fell back onto
the grass laughing hysterically. After Gray stopped laughing at me, he finally
came out to help. I reached my hand out for him to take it, but in a second he
had me in his arms and he was walking up the ladder.

Once we were inside he sat
me down on the couch and went to the mini fridge, coming back with a bottle of
water for me. I nodded in appreciation and gulped down half of the bottle
before taking a breath. As I leaned forward to set the bottle down on the small
coffee table, I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist. He pulled me back
onto his chest and kept his arms where they were. I rested my head back against
him wrapping my fingers through his.

“I like this.” I mumbled.

“So how much did you drink
tonight there, lil miss?’ It came across like a joke, but I knew he was being
serious.

“Not a whole lot.” I lied.

“Uh huh, I bet. You seemed
pretty tanked when I showed up.”

“How would you know? You
were busy with your paws all over that redheaded skank.” My hands flew over my
mouth realizing what I had just said. “Sorry Gray.”

“Trust me Bennett, I noticed
you.” I knew he was rolling his eyes.

“Where’s your truck Gray?” I
turned my head slightly to listen for his response.

“Uh, I was drinking Bennett,
I took a cab. I can’t afford to get popped with a DUI right before I head off
to the police academy.”

I felt like an asshole for
even asking, now that I thought about it. “Me too. Well, not the cab part but
the drinking part for sure.” I giggled.

“I figured as much.” He
chuckled.

“Whatever Gray, I’m aloud to
drink if I want to.”

His arms squeezed my waist
tighter before letting go completely. Just as I was turning to object, his lips
crashed into mine. In an instant I was on my back on the couch with Gray
hovering above me. There was pure lust in his eyes as I pulled his face back to
mine. Our kisses started out soft and gentle, familiarizing ourselves with one
another again. But they quickly turned heated. When my lips fell open, Gray
took full advantage.

Our tongues massaged one
another’s in a loving motion. Our pace became faster and he began nibbling my
bottom lip, slowly moving down to my chin. He kissed me along my collarbone,
making my heart rate skyrocket. Every inch of me was a live wire and on fire,
for Gray. I pushed my hands into his hair and gave a small tug. He responded by
peppering kisses all down my sides while slowly lifting my shirt up.

I heard the zipper on the
side of my halter-top and froze. I was suddenly very nervous for what was going
to happen next. Gray must have sensed my nervousness because his lips were
suddenly on mine. This kiss was different. I could feel the yearning pulling at
him. My worries melted away as we intertwined our tongues again. I raked my
fingernails down his back, and found the hem of his shirt. With one swift move
I was pulling his shirt over his muscular back and head. Once he discarded his
shirt on the floor, I continued to run my hands over every crevasse and muscle
I could find.

My insides were yearning for
him to touch me. I wanted to feel him all over me. His fingers fell to the
button on my pants, and I wiggled them down my hips and off my legs. He gently
laid me back down and hovered above, just staring at me. I was all of a sudden
feeling very insecure. I didn’t move a muscle, even though my mind was yelling
at me to cover up. He slowly shook his head and leaned in right next to my ear,
“You are absolutely stunning.” He kissed right below my earlobe and I could
feel it all the way in my core.

I could feel the wetness
starting to pool in my panties as I wriggled underneath Gray, wanting him to
touch me anywhere and everywhere. I’m guessing Gray could sense my anticipation
because in the next second, he was ripping my halter from the zipper up and
throwing the shreds that were left, on the table next to us. Our kissing became
more intense and I pushed my hand down to his waistline while he was
preoccupied with my mouth. I fumbled with the button and zipper, mostly due to
my inebriated state but also because of my nerves. Gray laughed under his
breath and reached down to give me a hand.

A moment later his pants and
boxer briefs were on top of my clothes on the wood planked floor. Our hands ran
across every inch of each other’s bodies. I wanted to know every last part of
him, while committing it to memory, in case this was our only time together.
Our breathing became more rapid as he slowly entered me. He pulled back a
little bit to make sure I was okay and with a nod from me, he pushed himself in
further.

I could feel my walls
starting to clench around him and I knew I wouldn’t last long. Gray stayed at a
steady pace and never took his eyes off of mine. It was the most intimate
moment I would ever share with a man, and I couldn’t believe that the man I was
sharing it with was Gray Weston.

We both found our release
together a moment later. Gray pulled out of between my quivering legs and laid
his head on my chest. As our breathing began to even out, I reached for his
face for him to look at me.