Chapter 20
GRAYSON
I don’t just want to kiss Jessica Wilkinson.
I want to ruin her. Slowly. Thoroughly.
God, the things I’d do to her… she’d beg me to stop, then beg me not to.
And that’s before I even get her naked.
My cock’s been throbbing since the second she walked in.
Sitting in my office like sin wrapped in silk-
If Aria wasn’t in the next room, I’d already have her pinned to the damn desk, swallowing her moans between my teeth.
“Is she jealous?” Aria asks, eyes locked on the office door like she’s trying to see through it.
Tch.
My jaw twitches.
Fucking wish she was.
At least jealousy would mean she felt something.
Anything. Even hate would be easier than this silence.
Honestly? I’m just glad Jess showed up.
Rogues hit, and I got delayed. Couldn’t get to her. Whole time, my chest stayed tight like my lungs forgot how to work.
If something had happened to her mom that day…
I wouldn’t have forgiven myself.
“Grayson?”
My head snaps.
Aria’s bluffing. I see it in her posture. That little smirk. That fake confidence.
We ran into each other once last week and now she thinks she can toss out “babe” in front of Jess like she has a claim.
“Don’t do that again,” I say, voice low, even.
Her brows lift. “Do what?”
“Use that name again in front of Jess and I’ll make sure your tongue forgets how to shape it.”
- GE.
She crosses her arms. Posturing. “It’s not like you corrected me.”
Aria’s right. It’s pathetic. Pathetic that I even entertained the idea-
that maybe, if she saw another woman touch me, Jess might feel something again. But if it were her? If I saw Jess in someone else’s arms, laughing like she used to with me? I’d lose it. I’d fucking level the room.
Aria and I were together for a year. But the moment I felt the bond with Jess-
really felt it, like fire in my bloodstream–I walked. Didn’t ask for permission. Didn’t wait to be understood. I don’t give a fuck how it made Aria feel. Because once you know who you belong to, everyone else turns to ash. It’s Jess.
Or it’s no one.
“I’m here because your father asked me to be,” she says, like that name still holds fucking weight.
“He said you were looking for a Luna.”
I stop mid–stride.
Shoulders square. Jaw locked.
My molars grind like I’m chewing through bone.
He said what?
A low breath hisses through my nose. My fists curl at my sides, knuckles popping one by one.
Of course he fucking did.
That manipulative bastard never stops.
Always playing god, pulling strings behind my back like I’m some broken thing he can steer into obedience.
“Looking for a Luna?”
I’m not looking for shit. I’ve already found her. She’s ten goddamn feet away, sitting in my office with her arms crossed like she’s trying to shield herself from me.
“You see, Grayson,” Aria purrs, tilting her head, letting her damn fingers crawl across my chest.
I grab her wrist before she fucking convinces herself I’m still the guy she can play with.
“Oh, feisty.”
I blink.
“What happened to you?” she chuckles. “You used to be such a baby.”
I fucking hate being touched. Especially by women who aren’t Jess. It crawls under my skin. Makes me want to rip my own shirt off just to get rid of the feel of it.
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12:45 Wed, 30 Jul & G.
Chapter 20
第71%面
“You used to be so good,” she says. “So obedient. Always ready to please. Now you’re just… angry.” Her free hand presses into my stomach, fingers moving in slow, suggestive circles, nails dragging enough to leave heat behind. Her hand drops lower. My grip on her wrist tightens hard enough to make her fingers tremble.
“Don’t fucking touch me like that again,” I say.
“You sure?” she says, her eyes drifting to my mouth. “There’s a storage room at the back of this hallway, Grayson. I miss our little adventures.”
That’s it.
I shave her back.
Hard.
Her back hits the wall with a thud that echoes down the corridor.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I growl. “Not now. Not ever. You don’t get to put your hands on me and pretend it means something. You don’t get to pretend I was ever yours.”
She laughs. A short, breathy sound that’s all teeth.
“Still intense,” she says, brushing her hair back from her face like I didn’t just slam her into a wall. “It’s Jessica, right?”
My whole body stills.
Her smile widens–too proud.
“She’s your mate.”
My eyes snap to hers. Wide.
Fuck.
“Oh,” she breathes. “I was guessing. But that face…”
She laughs–low, satisfied, victorious.
“God, you always were terrible at hiding anything real. That’s why I knew it couldn’t be me.”
I take a step back without meaning to. Just one.
It’s enough.
She tilts her head, eyes glittering.
“Does she know?” she asks. “That you’re keeping it a secret? That you’re ashamed to say it out loud?”
I clench my fists, but I still can’t look away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She pouts–dramatic, mocking. “You’re not a good liar, Grayson.” She takes a slow step toward me. Her fingers hover near my chest again.
I catch her wrist–rough this time. I shove her back into the wall, full force. She hits with a sharp sound, breath knocked from her chest, but she still fucking grins through it.
“There he is,” she whispers, voice thin with delight. “The version of you that doesn’t care who he breaks.”
I could kill her right now. My whole body is screaming for it.nOne move and her throat’s mine. One blink and I’ll slam her through this wall until she stops breathing.
My fists shake with it. My teeth ache from clenching too hard.
“Play nice, Grayson…” she says, breathless, smile widening again. Then she leans in, lips near my ear. “…or it’s her who gets hurt.”
It takes me a full minute to gather myself, to get my heart rate down, to stop imagining the sound her skull would make against the floor if I hadn’t walked away.
When I finally move, it’s stiff, mechanical–I open the office door and step inside
I don’t hear anything they’re saying.
I don’t need to.
I already know what this is.
Aria’s the prime candidate.
The perfect Luna.
At least according to my father.
I sit there, jaw ticking, barely listening to the words circling the room like vultures, because all I can think about is Jess, and whether she’s still here, and whether that look on her face earlier was her closing the door for good this time.
The second that damn meeting ends, I don’t waste time on pleasantries or excuses–I’m halfway down the hallway before the door even clicks shut behind me, practically running, heart in my throat, hands still shaking, just hoping–fucking praying that Jess didn’t leave.
That she’s still here.
That I still have a chance to make her stay.
When I was finally outside of my office, I didn’t even pause–I reached for the door like if I hesitated, she’d vanish.
But the moment I stepped in, everything stopped.
She was there.
Curled up in the chair, her body small, quiet, head resting against her folded arm on the desk.
The book I gave her sat open beside her, spine cracked, pages softly bent like she’d been reading it until her eyes gave out.
Her breathing was slow. Even. A soft snore slipped from her mouth, barely audible, but somehow loud enough to punch a hole through my chest.
She looked peaceful. And for a full minute, I couldn’t move. It’s like something inside me stirs every time I’m looking at her.
Someone told me she’s been training harder lately–pushing herself to the edge, refusing to rest, throwing herself into the gym like it’s the only place she can still fight back after what happened.
hate that I wasn’t there.
Nhate that she felt like she had to handle it without me.
But most of all, I hate that I’m the reason she ever thought she was alone.
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