He shudders like he’s having a second orgasm.
For a moment, neither of us moves. The room is thick with the scent of sex and the sound of our breathing.
Then, very softly, he says something.
“What?” I murmur, dazed.
He doesn’t repeat it.
He just pulls out, dresses fast, and leaves me there, dripping, trembling, lost in a haze, with no answers at all.
Chapter 19
Charlotte
I dress slowly, feeling like I just got knocked unconscious. Like I walked out of a fever dream.
Grayson left me wrecked, bottom up, drooling, completely unraveled. And alone.
As my clarity steadily returns, my thoughts run faster. Panic sets in.
I gave him everything. Every moan, every tear, every humiliating part of me. And I thought it would be enough.
That last moment, I could have sworn his walls were down for good.
I was wrong.
I’m always wrong when it comes to that man.
Once my legs stop trembling and my breath evens out, I find a bathroom and wash away the sin. I tame my hair. Dress again.
And cry. Soft at first. Then harder.
Until the mirror blurs with tears and I’m clutching the sink just to stay standing.
When I can breathe again, I leave and find Atticus, sitting cross-legged on the front stoop, sword still holstered.
Grayson’s truck is gone, along with any hope he just needed a minute to gather himself too.
Atticus looks up at me, his face full of innocent worry. “You okay?”
I nod, trying to stay composed for him. He doesn’t need to know or worry about his sister.
“Grayson seemed mad,” he says. “Did he try to kiss you and you denied him?”
I chuckle and shrug. “Yeah, bud. Something like that.”
He nods seriously. “When I find the right girl, our first kiss will be magical.”
“I bet it will,” I whisper.
It’s strange to me, but before, that would have warmed my heart. But now? I worry for my little brother. Worry someone will break his heart and he will feel the excruciating pain I’m feeling.
“Maybe a girl like Brax dates,” he muses.
I hold back a smile and ask with genuine curiosity, “Why them?”
He shrugs, slightly bashful. “They are nice to me… pretty. They like to look at things in my room.”
