His Sweet Revenge

Chapter 10.

"We should get going now, Macy. Noah's father will be home soon. Please let Dave and Margaret know we stopped by. We hope this situation does not progress into something bigger for any of us and we hope you both can think hard about the things we've discussed tonight."

The elderly couple walk out of the house but Noah lingers in the foyer. I catch him there as I'm about to head upstairs.

Hale and Macy are still in the kitchen but I couldn't bear to look at their faces any longer so I decided to be gone.

"Playing dirty," I say, my muscles tense. "I should have expected it."

His smile is unfriendly. "Little Mikey wants the girl." He steps forward so he's in my personal space, holding a hand to his heart. I'm trying my best to not knock him out for calling me that. "Does she know who you are?"

I ignore his question. He's a couple inches shorter than me so I stare him down.

"She's so pretty, Wallace. I bet you wanna protect her, right? I bet you think about her a lot. Especially at night. Does she know how disgusting you are? Does she know about the things you've seen?"

I stop him from getting closer by putting my arm out. "Fuck off." He stares down at it, then back at me. "She means nothing to me. Leave her out of this."

He just laughs, void of any sound or humor. "No. I think I'm gonna fuck around with her. It's just as fun fucking with you as it was back then."

It's taking every ounce of self-control in my body to not beat the shit out of him right now but that look on my uncle's face holds me back. He clicks his tongue and smiles before he tries to slip out of the front door.

"Tell James I say hi."

Noah stops in the doorway and stares back at me. "Porsches don't need windows anyway, right?"

How does he know about that already?

"And here I was thinking he'd be smart enough to have a car alarm."

"Not everyone's a mastermind like you."

"So kind, Noah."

He scoffs before he leaves, slightly slamming the door behind him. I stand in the foyer for a few long moments.

"Grayson?" I turn around to find Layla standing at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes wide and curious as she wrings her hands. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," I say firmly before walking past her to go up the stairs. But her hands wrap around my bicep and squeeze and I can't believe I feel this way from her touch. Lightheaded and dazed.

She doesn't say anything, she just looks into my eyes and searches for answers I can't give her. And when I see that look, I suddenly don't want it anymore. Any of it. I just want her and the feeling doesn't make sense to me at all because I don't know her at all.

But Mikey does. Mikey knows her.

She's in my head, and I need her to get out.

"Please, just leave it alone."

She lets go of me and I suddenly wish she hadn't. I want her touch, I want to know what it feels like on my bare skin. I want to know what her hair feels like when it's in between my fingers and what her mouth feels like when it's on mine. I want to know how she feels.

But then she nods, pulling me out of my thoughts and I'm surprised to see it.

"Grayson? Can we talk?" It's Hale, I can hear his footsteps approaching.

I sigh and I step out towards him. Layla retreats back up the stairs.

"Outside." He points to the front door. I walk down the porch and sit on one of the chairs.

Hale sits down on the swing and rubs his chin, thinking something over and I'm really not in the mood to have a conversation right now.

"You can't be the one protecting her," he says, his voice low. "You shouldn't be the one protecting her."

I don't respond. We both welcome the silence.

"The next time you get physical with someone it better not be because of her. Macy is confused. But she hasn't seen the way you've been looking at her. I have."

I swallow, clenching my jaw. "He was hurting her."

"If you're telling the truth, a punch would have been enough. You didn't have to say those words and try to do the other thing."

"I'm sorry." It feels odd saying those words. I'm not sorry for what I did, but I'm sorry for what it caused.

"I wish I could believe you," he mumbles and for the first time in my life, it hurts to talk to him. My uncle doesn't deserve this. He's supposed to be enjoying time with his fiancé before his wedding. Not dealing with my shit. Or dealing with me at all. "In my heart, I knew what would happen with you two if you came and yet I brought you here anyway." Then he scoffs. "Not even a week in and you're already getting into fights for her."

"I'll stay out of her way, I promise." And I'm really trying to mean it.

"I hope you mean that." Hale walks off back towards the door and stands right in front of it with his hand on the handle. "You know what these people think of you, why are you trying so hard to prove them right?"

I stare up at the sky. "Maybe they are right. You don't know who I am, what I'm capable of. You said it yourself."

"You have so many good things going for you. College, new friends, a new life."

I don't want any of that. I want them to fucking pay. I want to watch them burn.

"Don't ruin it, Grayson. It may be hard to believe but I do care about you."

My shoulders ease down because I know this is the end of our conversation. "I'll try my best."

I don't want to be here tonight so I go upstairs and grab my keys from my nightstand. The chain is still in my back pocket after I put it there when I caught Layla watching me.

I pull it out and shove it into my duffel bag.

"Going somewhere?" It's Layla's cousin, Iris, standing on the porch.

I nod.

"What were the Andersons doing here?" She asks. Lord, not you too. Why do these people think I'll be forthcoming?

It's rude, but I ignore her and make my way to my car. I really can't deal with any more talking tonight.

I watch her slip into the house before I drive off.

Kade opens the door, surprised to see me. All I have to tell him is that I've had a bad night and he grabs a bottle of liquor from his parent's liquor cabinet and takes me to his roof. We pass the bottle between us and sit up there in silence for hours.