by Tiffany Jade
"I thought you said we had special guests arriving?" his voice is hard and cold as he keeps his icy stare on me.
I look to Serafina who smiles at me. She thinks she's won.
"I was clearly mistaken, my love," she says the words staring straight into my eyes.
I look to Dax behind Gray and his eyes are definitely not void of emotion. He looks like he could kill me himself. Right here.
Grayson moves from the step and heads our way. I had always found it funny when books described the way a man moved as predatory, but I was seeing it in front of me now and it was far from funny. He stops a few feet from me and looks me up and down. I deeply regret my leggings, oversize tee, and sneakers as he shakes his head.
He grabs Serafina's hand.
"I've had enough of welcoming our," he pauses and looks right past me to Dean, raising an eyebrow "guests. I think I'd like a drink."
"Of course babe!" Serafina sends me another of her fake smiles and winks at me. "I guess we will see you at the Masquerade Ball tonight. I'm expecting quite the outfit change Liviana darling, since apparently you are my competition." She giggles at the word and looks me up and down.
Grayson chuckles.
I try one more time to meet his eyes but he turns and leads Serafina back up the stairs with his hand on the small of her back. I look to Dax, who is now looking at me with confusion.
He tips his head at me and unable to say anything I glance down the hall towards where a set of guards are trying to lead us to our room, then I look back to him with what I hope is a 'Oh my God please forgive me, we need to talk,' expression. I repeat one more time, glancing down the hall then back at him. After a moment of staring he finally gives me an almost imperceptible nod and then proceeds to follow Grayson and Serafina up the stairs.
I can only hope.
"Please ma'am, your room is this way."
Dean takes my hand again as we follow the guard down the impossibly long hallway. He says nothing to me but he squeezes my hand in support.
After a few turns and realizing I am hopelessly lost, we finally arrive at our assigned room. The last one of course. As far away from the party as possible. A nice little dig from Serafina considering what she was expecting of Dean. The only bright side is that a glass door that leads out to a courtyard is right next to ours, some fresh air might be useful to clear my head before tonight.
The door closes behind us as the guard leaves and Dean throws himself down on the couch in the center of the room.
"Well that could have gone worse!" He rubs his hand down his face with a halfhearted laugh.
"Could it have? Like really?" I notice our bags have already been brought in and head to see how much of my stuff survived the search I'm sure it went through before reaching me.
"We could have gotten shot like right when we walked in!" Dean exclaims, like that's actually impressive.
Well, present company I guess it probably is.
I start pulling out nicer clothes to change into just in case we end up needing to go somewhere before the masquerade when there is a quiet knock at the door.
"It's probably your dresses." Dean stands to answer it but as soon as he cracks the door he is shoved back into the room.
"What the fuck?" Dean moves to block me from the intimidating, but admittedly handsome, man at the door. He has Grayson and Dax's jawline...and nose. Definitely family.
I pull Dean back as he gets ready for a fight.
The man sticks his head out, checking down the hall before popping back in and shutting the door.
"Who the fuck are you?" Dean demands, the man meets his gaze and rolls his eyes before looking to me and smiling. Gray's smile too.
"Okay, I get it now." He says.
"Seriously, last chance my dude." Dean tenses back up.
"Down boy. We gotta make this quick. We disabled the cameras down this hall, but they will have them back up quick." He reaches out his hand to me. "Come on!"
I stay in place, to his chagrin.
"Seriously Liviana," he shakes his hand at me again. "Let's go!"
"Who are you?" Dean nudges me back a bit away from the hand reaching out for me.
"Oh shit! I've forgotten my manners." He nods his head in a low bow. "I am Nathaniel Moretti, cousin of Thing 1 and Thing 2 up there," he points at the ceiling towards the second floor. I smile at the nickname for the boys...fitting.
"And what do you want me for?" I ask, coming forward.
"Daxon wants to talk to you. But we have to hurry." He checks his watch. My heart jumps.
"Three minutes left. What do you say Liviana?"
Daxon got the hint! He was willing to talk to me! Or kill me! Yay!
I look over to Dean, who doesn't look 100% convinced, but he nods.
"Go." He waves towards Nathaniel. "This is your chance." I finally take Nathaniel's hand, he peeks through the door again and before I can think anymore we are rushing down the hall.
Chapter 28
Nathaniel leads me down the hall and then turns the opposite way of the way we had came. Through two sets of doors and up a flight of stairs. My God this place is a maze.
He realizes I'm out of breath and laughs while pausing in the stairwell.
"You good Liviana?" he asks, now showing me the same playful smirk I'd seen on Gray's face a million times.
"Call." Breathe. "Me." Breathe. "Liv." Breathe. He cracks up again.
"You can call me Nate!" he shakes my hand and then pulls out his phone.
"We have to wait for my brother to switch the glitch to the upper hall so we have a second. Catch your breath." He motions for me to sit on a stair and pride be damned, I take a seat.
"How mad is Dax?" I ask, as he begins typing on his phone.
"Livid." Nate responds. I flinch. "Oh not at you," he quickly recovers. "At Serafina. You, he doesn't know what to do with you right now."
"Understandable," I murmur as my heart rate starts to calm down.
"Now he was livid with you, you hurt his brother. But he says he saw something in your eyes that made him think he needed to give you a chance."
"Thank God," I cross my arms on my knees and put my head down.
"How mad is Grayson?" I whisper the question. Nate stops typing and sighs. I peek up at him through my arms and he looks down at me for a minute.
"Do you really want the answer to that?" I nod and he sits down next to me. He looks at me, really looks at me, studying my face for a minute.
"Do you really love him?" he asks, watching my eyes which instantly fill with tears. He nods, not waiting for me to answer.
"You better have a damn good explanation then because I have never seen him like what he was last night." His phone vibrates and he stands.
"What do you mean? What happened last night?"
"Let's go!" He shoves his phone in his pocket and grabs my hand. A finger over his lips to quiet me and we are back to the rush.
A minute later, he ushers me towards a door.
"This is it," he whispers, motioning for me to go in.
"You aren't coming with me?" My mind starts reeling. Maybe this was a set-up. Was it really Daxon in this room waiting for me? Or had Serafina gotten to the boys' cousins and she was just going to get rid of me early? Did I really have any chance of backing out at this point?
"I'm just security ma'am," Nate grins with a tip of his head. "Go! I'll be back to get you back to your room." He motions again and I turn towards the door. "Oh and Liv?" I turn again to face him.
"He loves you, I think you know that. But if you are here to hurt him, I'll kill you myself." I nod. I know he isn't joking.
I go to speak but he shakes his head.
"Go." He turns the knob himself and gently shoves me into the room before shutting the door behind me.
Dax stands waiting for me. We are in a small office. White walls, white desk, white couch. Sterile looking. Not the warm colors and rich woods the boys mom had in the rest of the house. This room was clearly design
ed to make people uncomfortable. And it worked well.
Daxon stays quiet as I stand in front of him getting increasingly nervous. As my silence continues, he crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at me. Was this whole thing a bad idea? Were they even going to believe me when I told them about Serafina's plan? I guess there was only one way to find out.
"Serafina is going to have you and Grayson executed at the wedding." The words spill out of my mouth before I can even think about them. Daxon's eyes light up in...amusement?
"No shit Sherlock." The voice comes from behind me. I hadn't even heard the door open, but now I can feel his presence. The air in the room gets thicker. The scent of him floats behind me and warms me up.
He's been drinking, I can smell the liquor mixed in with his cologne. I can feel his anger too. I want to turn around so bad, see his face, but I'm frozen in place. My senses going haywire as all the emotions of the past few days choose right now to kick my ass.
I bite back my tears and look Daxon right in the eyes.
"We came to help." I stand as straight as I can and my voice only slightly cracks.
"Us or Serafina?" Dax asks, meeting my gaze head on. I wince at his question.
"Do you really have to ask?" I knew it had been coming but hearing the words of mistrust still hurt.
I feel Grayson step closer to me and my body tenses. I had been dying to be close to him and now that I was, all I could feel was the heat radiating off of him from his rage. Stopping myself from facing him again I close my eyes and take a steadying breath.
I feel the breeze as Grayson walks past me, careful not to touch me at all. I open my eyes again to him standing where Daxon had been.
The ice cold eyes from earlier are gone and now burn into me. I take in his disheveled appearance, so different from just a bit earlier when I had seen him.
His hair now holds the indent of his fingers running through it too many times. His brow is furrowed over those angry eyes but now I notice the bags under them. Like he hasn't slept in days.
His tie is gone, the top two buttons of his shirt now popped open exposing his chest and neck tattoos. Also exposing his heartbeat, which is racing. His hands clench and unclench at his sides, but he crosses his arms when he sees I'm watching.
My gaze falls over to Dax who's expression has actually softened. I give him a weak smile, desperate for any amount of kindness I can get right now.
Nathaniel said he loves me.
Let's hope he's right.
"Speak Plus One." Grayson barks into the silence. I jump at the sudden noise but the insult pulls me out of my stupor.
"Plus One?!" Daxon's eyes widen at the anger in my voice. Grayson's lips pull up into a smirk.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Would you rather we addressed you as Dean's escort?"
"You fucking dick," I whisper the words as I walk towards him. His smirk grows. Dax starts fidgeting.
"Excuse me?" he asks, entertained. I reach him and shove against his chest. He's burning up.
"You! I'm fucking here for you! You arrogant, idiotic, egotistical, stupid, cold-hearted, son of a bitch!" His eyebrow raises and he grabs me by the hand that is shoving against him with every word.
"I did this for you." I keep my voice low as I look him right in the eyes. He begins to chuckle. A dark sound bubbling up from him. He drops my hand as he steps closer to me. I step back, but he follows.
Back step.
Back step.
Until he has me against the wall.
"What Liviana?" he asks, his voice a cold whisper in my ear as he leans down. "You fucked Dean just for me?" His hands land on either side of my head so I can't walk away.
"You ran away with him when the job was finished just to come back and try to fool me into walking into your trap again?" I look over his shoulder at Daxon who has moved closer but isn't stopping him.
"Look at me Liviana." He growls at me. I meet his eyes.
"Or was that all part of the plan too? No it had to be just to get me to fall in love with you and then you disappear with him so I'm beaten down enough for my father to control. That's it right? So why are you here with him now? One last dig?" He pulls a hand back and balls it into a fist before slamming it far from my head but close enough to feel the vibration.
"GRAYSON!" Dax yells and pulls on Gray's shoulder.
I don't even flinch. He thinks I went with Dean willingly. He thinks this was all set up by his father?
Grayson closes his eyes now, shrugs his brother off and takes a deep breath. I turn my head to see if I can duck under his arm, but instead I'm met with a tattoo I had never seen before. It had to be new because I had traced the lines of those tattoos a million times before. It's a crown. A Queen's crown. I stay in place.
Grayson's head comes back up and as he opens his eyes I get a glimpse of the pain. He sees me looking at the tattoo. His lips twitch.
"Your plan worked Queen." His voice slightly shakes as his name for me leaves him. His eyes are wild now. His breathing erratic. Before I can say anything his lips are on mine.
His kiss is punishing, angry, and rough. Full of emotion. But I kiss him back. Pouring my own feelings into what I'm hoping is not the last time I feel his lips on mine. His lips begin to soften as he realizes I'm responding. His hands stay clenched at the sides of my head so I reach out to touch his face but he jumps back.
He clears his throat and straightens up. Dax fake coughs, letting us know he's still there.
I wipe the tears from my eyes as I watch the hardness creep back onto Grayson's face.
"It's so not what you think Grayson." I walk towards him now. I felt the emotions behind the ice. I'm even more determined now.
"HA!" he exclaims as he turns away from me and heads for the door. "Sure Liviana. Tell Dean thanks for letting me borrow you one last time, but you're all his now." I roll my eyes at him and jump in front of the door.
"Grayson just listen!"
"Dax, can you move her please?" Daxon shakes his head no.
HA! I celebrate internally just a bit, one of them is listening at least.
Grayson huffs and reaches out to move me himself but I grab his hand. In his surprise I'm able to pull him away from the door.
"I didn't leave with Dean," I tell him. I see Dax smile.
"Stop fucking lying Liviana!" Angry Grayson comes back and he shakes himself loose from my hand and grabs my shoulders.
"I went after you! I tracked your phone and came to get you! Daxon went to your sister's house to find you!" His grip on my shoulders tighten. "I wanted to tell you everything. I was going to stop all of this from happening as long as you wanted me. I would have left all of this behind. Everyone..."
"HEY!"
"Shut the FUCK up Daxon!" Grayson's hands shake.
"I heard the meeting with your Dad. You had me on voicemail for the whole thing." I didn't mean to say it, but it slips. Grayson's eyes open wide.
"I was trying to get him to stay away from you for long enough that I could hide you. That's all. I tried to convince myself I could do what he wanted me to. I couldn't. I had to come for you. But you! You left with him. I was at the diner. I missed you by minutes." My eyes fill with more tears, he really came for me.
"Gray," I try to talk but he shakes his head.
"I found your phone on the booth." He pulls my phone out of his pocket, the screen shattered.
"What the—"
"I threw it." I nod. Clearly. He stares at the phone in his hand.
"The waitress told me you two looked happy. That you leaned on him and walked out together."
"Grayson, he drugged me." Gray's head flips up and Daxon is at our side.
"He what now?" Dax asks.
"I wasn't leaning on him cause we are some happy couple. He drugged me and I was out. He had to practically carry me out of the diner." Expecting Grayson to calm down, I'm surprised when his hands drop from me and the fire is back in his eyes. He heads for the door. Daxon too.
"Where are you g
oing?" I ask them, confused.
They both look at me and speak simultaneously, "To kill him."
"NO!" I rush to the door again. They both look at me now, pissed.
"Move Liviana," Dax demands.
"Let me finish, please! I promise Dean is on our side." I reach for a hand from both Gray and Dax, dragging them from the door.
"Sit." I motion towards the couch. Daxon sits, Grayson doesn't, shocker. He stares at me instead. Stepping closer to me.
"You didn't go with him willingly?"
I shake my head.
"You guys weren't together?"
I shake my head again.
"Are you with him now?"
I roll my eyes, he glares and pulls me into him. I look up into his piercing gaze.
"Are you with him now?" he repeats himself, enunciating each word. His voice barely above a whisper, but clear as day.
"No." I wrap my arms around him. A huge breath comes out of him.
"I'm so sorry." He pulls me in tight and I'm finally back in his arms. The familiar smell and warmth of him engulfs me and for the first time in what feels like forever I feel truly safe.
"Oh my God, I'm so fucking sorry." He whispers again and squeezes me.
"You called me an escort." I mumble into his chest and grin as he chuckles.
"All the stupid shit I just said and that's the one I'm never going to live down huh?"
"Pretty much." I look up and smile as I look into his eyes and finally see my Gray again. I stand on my tiptoes to reach his lips. This time he kisses gentle. Small little pecks all over my lips and then proceeds to place them all over my face. I giggle.
"I missed you." Now I squeeze him and he smiles.
"What about me?" Dax pipes in. I turn in Gray's arms and try to walk towards Dax but Grayson holds on tight. Daxon rolls his eyes and walks over to give me a hug. Grayson then quickly wraps me back up.
"Go away for a minute bro." Grayson smirks a different kind of smirk than the one I had been seeing. The kind that makes my body heat up.
"Fuck off dude. I want to know what’s going on! We only have a little bit longer before we have to be at a meeting."
Grayson shrugs. "Suit yourself then." With that he grabs my face and bends down to kiss me. Now with passion instead of anger. His right hand tangles into my hair and gently tugs enough to make me gasp.