The Rules Regarding Gray (28 page)

“Can you get to your bathroom with the phone?”

“Umm…” Gray said curiously. “Yeah. I’ve gotten damn good at crutching and carrying things, but … uh … why?”

“Just go.” Jasper listened to her as she moved. She said “shit” three times, he distinctly heard her run into something, and when she finally blew out an exasperated breath, he started laughing. “You made it in one piece I take it?”

“Barely,” she muttered.

“Good. Now close the door and grab that vanity chair that sits in there and set it in front of the full-length mirror on the back of the door. Put the crutches against the wall. You won’t need them for a few minutes.”

“M’kay. Now what?”

“Now sit in the chair.”

She sighed. “Okay?” She sounded confused.

“Now slip your pants and underwear off and spread your legs open.”

She gasped at that.

“Do it, Gray.”

She paused, and he listened to her breathe. “I could just lie—”

“You won’t.”

He heard the sound of fabric rustling, and when she sighed again it was nervous.

“Keep your eyes on that mirror and slide your finger inside your pussy.”

“I can’t do this,” was her breathless reply.

“Yes you can.” He gave her a moment, remaining silent as he closed his eyes and imagined the sight.

She cried out, and he knew she was touching.

“Are you wet?”

“Yes.” Even more breathless.

“Fuck yourself with your finger and listen to me.”

She moaned quietly. It was the only response she gave him.

He licked his lips, ignoring his arousal that was straining against the front of his underwear as he lay on the bed in his grandmother’s spare room. “You are so incredibly beautiful.”

She whimpered, but it sounded more anguished than anything. She didn’t believe him. He knew that, and he hated it.

“I’ve never, in all my life, been so attracted to a woman as I am to you. Tell me you understand that.” He kept his voice warm and calm, trying to soothe her with his voice.

“Hmm-mm,” she whimpered out.

“Come on, Gray. You must see it. I don’t hide it from you. Do you see that wet pink skin you’re touching?”

“Yes.”

“I thought I was going to lose my mind yesterday morning when I finally touched it, and last night when I finally tasted it, you can’t imagine what that did to me. Look at yourself in that fucking mirror, and tell me you understand how much I want you.”

She cried out again. “I understand.”

“Good girl. Are you going to come for me?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her breaths lurching.

“Look at your face.”

“Ah… God, please don’t—” Her quick breaths said she was touching herself and she was doing a damn fine job of getting herself there. Her lurching voice said she was truly terrified of looking at her own face while she did it.

“Look,” he demanded. “I love your eyes, I love your lips, I love your tits, I love your pussy, and your bottom, and your belly. I love to look at you. I get hard just thinking about the way you look, smell, taste, feel. I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

She was panting, and she whimpered—her quiet sounds coming out in a wavered barely controlled mewl.

“I can’t get enough of you. Every glimpse of you makes me want another. Every touch makes me crave more. Every taste makes me hungry.”

She cried out then, loudly unleashing her orgasm as he listened, and he gave her some time to pass over the peak of it, letting his cock throb in need as he listened to her release.

“What I need is what you see in that mirror. All of you. Do you
fucking
understand me?”

“Yes,” she whimpered again, and her voice sobbed out quietly as her orgasm tapered away.

Her breaths were deep and quick, and he listened as she inhaled and exhaled. “You okay, Gray?” he asked softly.

“Yes.”

He smiled. “I told you once I was blunt. I’m known for it. So when I tell you you’re beautiful, you’d do best to remember I wouldn’t be saying it if I didn’t mean it.” His words were almost harsh, but he knew she understood his meaning. “You are incredible, and no bitch of a little boy ever had the right to put his fingers inside your body and use his words to make you feel anything less than that.”

She exhaled slowly.

“Now I really do need to get some sleep. I have a hard on from hell, and I can’t quite bring myself to masturbate in my grandmother’s home.”

She laughed quietly at that. She was just fine. “Good night, Jas.”

“Good night, Gray.”

* * * *

“What the fuck do you want?” Jasper sneered at his father standing on the porch.

“What the fuck you think? I got stuff in there I’s owed, you fucking punk.”

“You’re not allowed to be here. This property doesn’t belong to you. I’m the rightful owner, as you well know, and if I need to call the cops again, I will. Get. Off. This. Property,” he seethed through gritted teeth.

“You worthless piece of shit. Wish you’d never been born. Only reason that bitch ever gave a shit about you was ‘cause of me.
I’m
the one who dumped your ass with her. You should be thanking me.”

Jasper’s fists balled tightly at his sides, and he glared at the monster standing in front of him. “You are such a bastard,” he muttered.

“I’m not actually. You are though. Or something like it.” His father smirked. “What’s it called when a mother leaves her own child because he’s so worthless she can’t stand the sight of him?” He laughed.

His dad was sober, and there was something oddly horrifying about the man to Jasper when he was sober. Sober meant there were no excuses for the hate. He just truly hated Jasper for reasons Jasper still couldn’t grasp. It hurt. It hurt to know he didn’t have to do anything to the man to make him hate him. It was just this inherent quality.

When his father tried to push past him, Jasper planted a hand on his chest and pushed back.

“I said get off this property.” His voice was low and furious.

And that’s when his father attacked. His fist connected squarely with Jasper’s jaw before Jasper’s brain even registered the movements, but Jasper recovered quickly, putting his fist into his father’s gut. His dad staggered back down the few steps to the polished paving stone walkway.

The ironic thing was the home was gated. Jasper just couldn’t fucking use the gate, because he didn’t have the access code, and he couldn’t find it. A service company had come out the day before and had eyed him suspiciously when he’d asked them to change the code. After studying his longer hair, his naturally tanned skin, and his casual dress, they’d refused. Without proof he was the rightful owner of the property, they weren’t going to touch the gate. But thanks to his grandmother’s lawyer, they had the documentation they needed in hand that afternoon, and he was now waiting for the damn company again, entertaining his dick of a father in the meantime until he could lock the fucker out for good.

“If you try to enter this home, I’ll stop you.” He stared at his father.

“And what are you going to do. Stay here. Live in her house? You think these people want you here?” His father’s face was a cruel ugly thing. “Do you know how fucking stupid you look standing in front of this house. You’re a fucking loser moke just like your mom—”

Jasper stepped back through the door, slamming it and leaning his back against it as he closed his eyes and doubled over with his hands on his knees. His father continued to throw down more racial slurs as his tirade continued, and as Jasper shook his head, his chest tightened. Why did it have to hurt? He just wanted to be furious. He could handle anger. But the hurt was what got him every time.

He dialed the police officer who’d responded the day before from the business card the man had given him. “Hi, Officer Bradley. This is Jasper Drees. I’m having some more difficulties keeping my father off my grandmother’s property.”

“Can’t say that’s a surprise, having met the man yesterday. I’ll head out now.”

Jasper didn’t bother engaging his father in conversation as he waited. The man stood out front, yelling and cussing like an idiot, and Jasper eventually sank to the floor against the door. He stared at the floor, and he stared at his phone in his hand. He pulled up Gray’s contact information, and he stared at it for a moment too. He didn’t want to pull her into this mess, but he knew all he really needed was to hear her voice. If he could hear her warmth, her emotion, her softness, he could handle this.

“Hi,” she answered.

“Hi.” He listened to the silence for a moment. “Tell me what you’re doing.”

She laughed awkwardly. “I’m watching a video on knitting and trying to knit something. It’s not going well. But, I did manage to knit something that looks oddly like a lumpy snake.”

He chuckled, and then he sighed.

“Jasper, what’s wrong?”

He gritted his teeth, and he shook his head. “Nothing.”

But then his father let loose a rather long and loud profanity laden string of words, and Gray gasped.

“What was—?”

“It’s nothing. My father’s here. The police are on their way. I punched him in the stomach, and I’m just trying to stay away from him, so I don’t do it again. I got a very stern warning from the police not to engage him in any altercation after I gave him a black eye yesterday.”

“Jasper—” She went silent. “Well, why don’t they arrest him?”

“They let him off with a warning yesterday. I’m hoping they’ll arrest him today. But it’s trespassing. It’s not like they’ll keep him for long,” he muttered.

She sighed. It was troubled, and he hated it.

“Tell me more about this snake.”

“Jas—”

“Please.”

She sighed again. “It’s not a snake. It’s a lumpy bumpy thing, and it looks stupid.”

He closed his eyes, imaging her sitting on his lap, straddling his hips and nuzzling against his neck. That’s what he needed. He needed to feel her skin against his, her breath against his neck, her warmth touching him. He was so homesick for her he could barely stand it.

“I thought I was going to make—”

“You fucking lava lamp motherfucker!” his father’s voice carried through the door as he pounded on it.

She shrieked in surprise at the sudden interruption, and he shook his head, covering the mouthpiece. “Fuck,” he hissed.

“Jasper, what the hell?” she asked. “And why the hell is he calling you a lava lamp?” She sounded angry, furious even.

He sighed. “It’s a rather derogatory way of referring to someone of my mother’s Hawaiian heritage,” he muttered, and then he stood walking away from the door. “I better go. I shouldn’t have called you when I did. Things are just so fucked up here—”

“No, please don’t let me go. Just stay on the phone. Please,” she begged.

He heard the police sirens at just that moment. “The cop is here. I need to let you go. I’m fine. I promise. I just wanted to talk for a minute.”

She was reluctant to get off the phone, and when he finally did manage it, he opened the door to find Officer Bradley arresting his father. None of it stopped his dad’s mouth, and he watched as Bradley shook his head in dismay as he put his dad in the car.

Ten minutes later as Officer Bradley was pulling out, the service company for the gate pulled in. “About fucking time,” he muttered to himself. He hated his life at the moment.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“What do you mean you’re going to San Diego?” Anna balked at her as she watched Gray shove a pile of laundry toward the bathroom with her crutches.

“He shouldn’t be there alone. I can’t stand that he’s—”

“Honey, you can barely even figure out how to move dirty laundry from your bedroom to your bathroom, and you’re going to travel alone? And do I need to remind you that you’re supposed to get fitted for the boot on Friday afternoon? It’s Wednesday!”

“I can be back by mid-day on Friday in enough time to get there.” She gave her laundry pile another shove.

Anna studied Gray for a moment before she scooped up the pile of laundry from the floor and marched toward the bathroom. “Did it ever occur to you that pushing a laundry basket across the floor with your crutches might be more effective than pushing the actual pile?” she commented sarcastically over her shoulder as she walked into the bathroom. “And you’ve got dirty underwear stuck to the bottom of your crutch.”

Gray looked down, and then she started shaking the crutch, trying to untangle the silky material from the rubber cap on the bottom of her crutch. It threw her off balance, and she nearly toppled over just as Anna exited the bathroom and caught her by the arm.

“He’s a big boy. He can handle this on his own. You, on the other hand, are one disaster after another waiting to happen. And you have your responsibilities right now that include taking care of yourself.” Anna studied her. “Have you told him you’re coming?”

“No. He’ll tell me not to—”