Gray by Shaw Hart

Eleven

Gray

When I wakeup the next morning with Nora spread out on top of me, I think that maybe I’ve died and gone to heaven. Her hair is in my face and I gently brush it away. When I catch my scent on her skin, I can’t hold back any longer.

I kiss her shoulder, her neck, her pulse point and Nora groans in her sleep, her hips starting to rock on top of me.

I can feel how wet she is as she grinds on me but I know that she must be sore after last night so I wedge my hand between us, my fingers finding her clit and applying pressure.

“Gray… yes, don’t stop,” she moans.

As if I could.

I growl, slipping two fingers into her and curling them to find that spot that drives her wild. She presses down, grinding on the heel of my palm as her breath starts to come in choppy pants.

My cock is aching and having her squirming on top of me doesn’t help, so I gently roll her onto her side on the mattress, still moving my fingers inside of her as I bend down and kiss a path from her neck down to her perky tits.

Her head falls back, her mouth open in a silent cry and I bite down on her nipple as she goes over the edge. My thumb circles her clit, trying to prolong her pleasure for as long as I can.

I nuzzle my face into her neck as she starts to wake more fully and pull back to meet her eyes.

“Hey,” she whispers and I smile down at her gently.

“Hey.”

“Last night really happened?” Nora whispers and I tense, wondering if she regrets it.

“Yeah, it did,” I whisper back.

“And this morning… that wasn’t a dream?”

“Nope.”

“Hmm,” she hums as her fingers circle around my thick length and I groan, my eyes rolling back in my head.

Nora laughs, the sound like a siren’s call as she rolls me onto my back and licks a path down my chest.

“Nora,” I moan, her name the only word in my head as her lips wrap around my tip. “You don’t have to do this.”

She only takes me deeper into her mouth and I shut up, letting her do whatever the hell she wants to me.

I’m still on edge from her grinding on top of me and it doesn’t take long for me to feel the familiar tingles at the base of my spine.

“Fuck… I’m going to come,” I warn her and she takes one last suck of my cock before she slides up my body.

“I want to be on top,” she says huskily as she rolls her hips and takes me into her body.

“Yes, fuck,” I hiss as she sinks down, taking all of me.

She’s so tight, so fucking wet, that I swear I see stars. I have to grit my teeth to keep from coming inside of her the second that she’s fully seated.

“So big,” she moans, circling her hips and I try to think of math or baseball stats. Anything but what she’s doing to me.

Her nails dig into my chest as she starts to move and I can’t stop myself from looking then.

She’s gorgeous.

Her thick brown hair is mussed around her face and shoulders, her cheeks are flushed, her mouth slightly parted as she moves. Her eyes are glazed and filled with so much lust that it threatens to burn me up.

She bucks her hips, lifting and falling on my length in a steady rhythm but when I lean forward, taking one of her nipples into my mouth, she starts to grow unsteady. I can tell that she’s close now and thank fuck because so am I.

Two more thrusts and she’s falling over the edge, her pussy clamping down around me and taking me with her.

“Shit,” she says against my shoulder and I nod, too out of breath to form words.

“Oh shit!” she says, louder this time and I frown as she jumps off of me and races into the bathroom.

“Uh, is everything okay?” I call, starting to follow her and she mumbles something that I don’t catch.

“I forgot about my meeting! I’m going to be late!”

I turn and head for the kitchen then, thoughts of trying shower sex with her disappearing as I move to make her breakfast.

She comes into the kitchen a few minutes later, her hair only partially dried. She’s got her black business skirt and blazer on, her shirt still untucked and I pass her the bagel that I made for her and the bag of nuts.

“Thank you,” she says, kissing my cheek and bolting for the door.

“See you tonight!” I call and she waves as she rushes out.

I grin as I eat my own breakfast and get ready for the day.

I basically skip into work an hour later and that catches everyone’s attention right away but I can’t even be annoyed by Rooney’s sly grin.

“So, you finally told Nora then,” Ender says as soon as he catches sight of me.

“What gave it away?”

“The fact that your face looks like it’s about to split in two from you smiling like that.”

I laugh at that and Ender smiles.

“I’m happy for you. So, how did you finally ask her out then?” he asks.

“Looking for tips, Ender?” Rooney asks as he joins us.

“Not from you,” Ender says as he crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe.

“Well, just so you know, no one asks people to go steady anymore.”

Ender grins at that and I laugh but suddenly his words hit me and my stomach drops.

The truth is that I didn’t really ask her out. I mean, I did, but does she know that? We didn’t actually go to the romantic restaurant that I had booked for us. Grabbing tacos with the puppies was still fun, but was it obvious enough that it was a date?

We did have sex after but even that was casual, especially this morning. Does she know how much I want her, how much I’ve always wanted her? Does she think that this was just a friends with benefits thing? Or that I was blowing off steam?

My good mood has plummeted and I try not to panic.

This has to be an easy fix. I’ll just go home tonight and lay my cards on the table. Then we can be sure that we’re together.

“Here’s the schedule!” Maxine calls as she and Ames hurry in the front door.

She giggles, swatting his hand away and I want that.

Harvey is off today so Rooney hangs out with us as Ames disappears into the back office with Maxine. I’m sure that he’s just trying to stay away from the room and any sounds that he might hear since Maxine is practically a sister to him.

“I’ve got four clients today. A rib, two on the feet, and finishing up that sleeve,” Rooney says as he passes the schedule to Ender.

“I’ve got a chest piece and…”

“Two tramp stamps,” Rooney says, cackling evilly.

It’s no secret that Ender hates doing tramp stamps. I wince at him as he sighs and passes me the sheet of paper.

“What do you have, Gray?” Ender asks and I smile.

“A half sleeve and a chest piece.”

“Lucky bastard,” Ender groans as he heads into his room.

I smile after him and head into my room to get ready for the day. All day I practice in my head what I’m going to say to Nora when I get home tonight.

Ender is in a terrible mood as the two giggling girls leave. It’s just me and him left in the shop since everyone else finished and left already.

“That bad?” I ask and he grunts.

He checks his phone as we lock up and head across the lot toward my car. Usually Ender walks to and from work since he lives so close but this time he stops next to my car.

He’s glaring down at his phone and I watch him curiously.

“Everything alright?” I ask.

“Nope. I need a ride.”

“Sure, to where?”

“Sayler’s place.”

He yanks the passenger side door open and I wonder what the hell is going on. The car ride to Sayler and Coraline’s place is filled with tense silence.

I park and Ender is already out of the car and headed for the front door.

“Okay then,” I mumble, wondering if I should wait here.

I debate for a minute before I start to follow after him.

I only make it a few steps before my phone rings and I pull it out to see my brother’s name on the screen.

“Hey, everything alright?” I ask as soon as the call connects.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I was going through the house stuff and well, we should talk about some of it. Are you still at work?”

“No, I’m just headed home now.”

“Well, I talked to the realtor and she thinks that we should spend the money to fix the place up before we sell it. Well, first she asked if I was sure that I didn’t want to keep it since real estate is such a good investment and this part of Rosewood is really trending up. Do you want the house?”

“Fuck no,” I hiss out and he kind of half laughs.

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Do you?”

“No. I think we should tear the place down and rebuild though. It might actually be cheaper since Dad didn’t keep up on any of it and the roof needs to be replaced along with at least half of the pipes.”

Jasper sounds exhausted and a pang of guilt hits me. I’ve just left my brother to clean up another one of our father’s mess.

“I’m sorry, Jasper,” I whisper and the line goes silent.

“For what?” he asks after a beat and I swallow.

“For hating you so much for the past seven years. I know that you were just doing what you thought was right, what you thought would be able to provide for us and I’ve been an asshole. I was so mad at you for leaving me with him.”

“I didn’t have a choice. Not if we wanted to eat.”

“I know. I know that, but I still kind of blamed you.”

We’re silent as those words sink in and I take a deep breath.

“Did you even want to join the military?”

“It was a job,” he says after a minute and I feel like an even bigger asshole.

I’ve been holding a grudge against my brother for years, blaming him for leaving me with our dad, and here he was working and fighting, doing a job that he didn’t even want to do to provide for me.

“I’m sorry, Jasper.”

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault. You were just a kid.”

“So were you.”

We are silent as I lean against the side of the building, staring blankly across the street.

“I can come home and help you with the house.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, I do. It isn’t all your problem, Jasper. I’ll talk to my boss tomorrow and see when I can take time off.”

“Thanks, Gray,” Jasper says after a minute and I can hear the emotion in his voice.

I can only imagine everything that he’s been through in the past few years. I don’t know how he doesn’t hate me for the way that I treated him. I was so mean to him and he was sacrificing everything to give me a better, more stable life.

“I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Yeah,” he says and we hang up a minute later.

I lean against the building for another minute, staring up at the starry night sky. The apartment building door bangs open and I look up in time to see Ender carrying Cat over his shoulder. He heads past me, nodding in my direction as he grabs Cat’s keys from her and I laugh as I watch them go.

I forgot that tonight was girl’s night. That means that Nora is probably upstairs too. For a second, I think about going to grab her just like Ender did, but I don’t want to interrupt her night. I know how much she looks forward to hanging out with her friends every week. Looks like I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to have that talk with her.

It’s probably for the best. I’m not in a great place mentally or emotionally right now.

I sigh as I head back over to my car and head home.