** ** ** ** ** **

The sun shines through my bedroom window warming my heavy eyelids. The events of last night come back in fragments; the last thing I remember is falling asleep with Grayson wrapped around me. I roll over expecting to find him but instead the bed next to me is empty.

Thank God.

I have no idea how I was going to face him after everything that happened last night and I’m grateful I don’t have to. Maybe if I hide out in my apartment long enough he’ll just forget about me, the idea of which is far more appealing than the idea of explaining my past.

Noises come from outside my room so I slip my slippers and robe on and walk out to find Demi. I find her standing in the door way with a cup of coffee in her hand, her hair a complete mess. I randomly wonder where she slept last night since she hasn’t moved in yet.

“G’morning sunshine,” she greets, watching me watch her from the hallway. She’s way too perky in the mornings. “How did you sleep?” I smile weakly, “Fine, thank you.” We both know it’s a lie. Well kind of.

I turn to pour some coffee into a mug and I can feel Demi’s eyes on me. “Are you ok?” I can hear the concern in her voice and I contemplate lying to her but then decide against it. She has been such a good friend and she deserves my honesty at least. “I don’t know.” My head and heart are both in disarray. “They came by to fix the door his morning,” Demi says, interrupting my failed attempt at sorting through what I’m feeling. Then I remember that Grayson kicked my door in. “Did they stay here all night?” I look around the apartment expecting to find Brody or Grayson passed out on my couches.

“They left about an hour ago,” she replies.

“Where did you sleep?”

“In the guest bedroom,” she hesitates, “With Brody.”

I sputter and almost choke on my coffee. “What? You shared a bed with Brody?”

She blushes and I immediately feel bad for interrogating her. I’m just surprised. Demi does have a boyfriend after all.

“Well yeah, after Grayson fell asleep with you, I told Brody he should just share the guest bed with me. No reason for him to sleep on the couch. They decided to stay since we couldn’t lock the door.” She looks away but I still see her cheeks flush a deeper shade of red. Does she have a thing for Brody? I always thought they couldn’t stand each other? Interesting…

It then occurs to me that Grayson spent the entire night with me, making sure I was ok. A new wave of embarrassment washes over me as I remember how they all found me. “I’m sorry for scaring you Dem.”

“You scared me to death girly,” she whispers, her eyes glazing over with unshed tears. Guilt ripples through me and I pull Demi into a hug, hoping she’ll know just how sorry I am for scaring her.

She shakes her head. “Ok, enough with the mushy stuff. We’re having a girls’ day today so go get your ass ready. Manicures, pedicures – the works!”

“That sounds perfect,” I walk into my room. I strip and step into a scorching shower. The tension in my shoulders dissipates and my cluttered feelings float down the drain with the water. When it feels like my skin might slip right of my bones I switch the water off.

I check my phone, disappointed to find nothing from Grayson, and find Demi waiting for me in the kitchen. “You look hot,” she says, eyeing my black sundress and brown cowboy boots. I giggle, noticing that we’re wearing the same thing, “Of course you’d say that.”

She smiles, grabs her keys and motions me to the front door. We drive into the next town, where I’m told the shopping is better, and hit up a few boutique-type places.

“How does this look?” Demi holds up a skin-tight red dress that cuts off at her knees.

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack.” She grins.

“I think Tommy will be preoccupied with trying to get you out of that dress, rather than worry about how hot you look in it.”

“Good, maybe it will make him want to have sex with me.”

“Whoa! That’s too much information!”

“Sorry,” she sighs, her expression glum.

I walk around to where she’s standing. “Is everything ok?” I ask sincerely.

Demi’s lip quivers and she shakes her head. “No,” she murmurs. “Something’s going on with Tommy and I don’t know what it is. He’s been so distant lately. I can’t remember the last time we…you know…”

Actually no, I don’t know. My sexual expertise is minimal at best. Not that she needs to hear that. “Then that dress is perfect. There’s no way he won’t want to rip it right off of you.”

Her lips tilt up into a half-grin. “You really think so?”

I nod quickly. “Absolutely. And it’s on sale.”

Her mood picks up in a flash and soon we’re walking out of the store with more bags than we can carry. We throw them in the car and walk to the nail salon. After getting our fingernails and toenails painted, we grab a light lunch at a little bistro. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun and I take advantage of the reprieve. Thoughts of Grayson don’t pop into my head once and the rest of our day continues to be care-free.

I love every minute of it.

Chapter 11

~ Grayson~

Another week flies by. Another seven days since I last saw her. Seven days since I left her sound asleep on her bed after crying in my arms.

I wanted to talk to her so badly after she saw me and Rebecca in the cafeteria last week but Brody stopped me. I felt the need to explain myself, like I owed it to her to explain. That need in itself messed with my head because I couldn’t understand it. I was at war with myself the last time I saw her, knowing my selfish actions had a lot to do with the mess we found her in.

Since then I’ve tried to keep myself occupied with my classes and an arduous training schedule, but at the beginning of every day and at the end of every night, she’s my first and last thought.

It’s ridiculous.

Crazy.

Foolish.

Irrational.

Illogical.

To be so completely consumed by someone else, someone who you’ve only known for almost three weeks and sworn to stay away from. I should’ve known physically staying away from her would be the easy part. I didn’t anticipate that she’d end up taking residence in every space and every piece of brain matter in my head. It’s driving me crazy but what I don’t know is whether it’s a good crazy or a bad crazy.

I roll out of bed and rub my hand over my face. Thinking about all this has me mentally exhausted, just like last nights' football game left me physically exhausted. I thank God that it’s a Saturday and that I have nothing planned for today. My body is stiff and sore, evidence that I played hard last night despite my current distracted frame of mind.

I get up to take a shower when there’s a knock at the door. “Come in!”

The door opens and Brody’s large frame fills the space. We’re the same height and the same build, the only exception being that he has sandy blonde hair and I have dark, almost black, hair. Anyone could easily mistake us for brothers if it weren’t for the obvious differences in hair color.

“Hey bro,” he says, “How’s the shoulder?”