Beyond What is Given(84)

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe not to piss off the gods. Not to make choices that bring you more suffering than fate has doled out, because then they just keep it coming.”

And then they f*ck with your transcript.

“And what happens when you obey the gods? Is there still suffering?”

They wake up your boyfriend’s comatose girlfriend just to watch the drama.

“There’s always suffering,” a guy answered ahead of me. “But it’s how you deal with it that matters.”

“Interesting point.”

The discussion droned on until the professor dismissed us. I gathered my books and exited with the crowd. The sun stung my eyes as I made my way into the parking lot.

“Sam.”

I pivoted to see Grayson leaned up against one of the support pillars, looking good enough to eat in that uniform. “What are you doing here?”

He brought his hand from behind his back and handed me a small bouquet of flowers. “Grayson.” I sighed and took his offering. I brought them to my nose and then lightly stroked the blue and white petals. “How did you get Rocky Mountain Columbine?”

“State flower of Colorado, right?” he asked.

I nodded. “I love these.”

“Yeah, I remembered.” He gave me a shy smile that shattered my walls.

“Thank you, but shouldn’t you be flying?” It was already ten a.m.

“Yeah. We’re in academics right now.”

What? He was skipping academics?

“Then you’d better go! You’re going to be in a ton of trouble.”

“I don’t care. I’m going to prove to you that I’m not leaving. If that means meeting you out here every day after class to show you that, I’ll do it. I probably can’t afford to overnight the flowers every day, but I can be creative.”

My fingers tightened on the delicate stems. “You can’t. You’ll lose your spot on the OML, get set back a class, or kicked out of flight school if you miss too much. You know that. You won’t get North Carolina.” Everything he’d been working for would be thrown away.

His jaw flexed twice, and then he shook his head. “I don’t care. I want to be where you are, and if you can’t believe me, then I’ll have to prove it to you. I’m not leaving you, Sam.”

“What about Grace?” I whispered.

He looked away and back to me. “I don’t know. I’ll tell her about us the next time I see her. I’m being as honest as I can with you, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve lived without Grace for five years, and I’m thrilled to have her back. She’s my best friend. But I don’t think I could live without you for five days. Hell, it’s been like twenty-four hours and I’m already on my knees here.”

A smile spread across my face. This was Grayson, who’d pulled me out of my self-destruction and stayed with me after he knew my darkest secrets. He had faith in me, wasn’t it only fair that I return it?

“Okay.” I nodded.

“Okay, you’ll trust me? Or okay, I’d like to see you out here every morning?”

I knew it was against the rules, but I leaned up on tiptoes and pressed my lips to his, nearly knocking his cover off his head. “Okay, I’ll believe in us.”

He lifted me off the ground and kissed me with far more tongue than he should have in uniform. I was definitely not complaining. “Get your butt to class, now, Grayson.”

“I’ll see you at home?” There was still something shaky in his voice.

“I’ll be there, I promise.”

He stole another quick kiss with a smile that could have dropped any of the panties on campus, because it was certainly about to drop mine. “Go!” I lightly pushed him, and he backed away grinning before turning to sprint to his truck.

Gods, fate, suffering be damned, I loved that man.



“Hey honey, would you take the potatoes out of the oven for me?” Grayson called from the backyard as he flipped the steaks.

“Sure thing, sugar-lips!” Jagger called back, and Paisley smacked his chest with the back of her hand.

“I think he meant me.” I laughed and opened the oven. Sunday night family dinners were my favorite part of the week. I only wish Ember lived closer so she could be here.

“Hey, don’t ever doubt our bromance, Sam. We’ve come a long way in the last year. He even speaks in multiple-syllable sentences now.” He saluted me with his open beer as I pulled the potatoes out and set them to rest on the stovetop.

“No more grunting, either,” Josh added, offering me a beer.

I shook my head, not wanting to stress out Grayson. We’d been back to our state of normal for a week and a half, and it was glorious. I hadn’t moved into his room yet, but I slept in his bed every night. Our bed.

Other than the random phone calls and texts, which I did my best to maturely swallow, we were just…us. It was this beautiful bubble that I couldn’t help but feel was about to pop. Once a pessimist, always a pessimist.

“I think we’re ready,” Grayson said, putting the steaks on the table to rest. Josh brought over the salad, and I popped the potatoes onto a serving plate. I was midway to the table when Grayson’s phone dinged with another text message. My stomach clenched, but I ignored it. Or at least tried to.