Grayson

Chapter Two

Grayson went to the bar and ordered a shot of whiskey. He downed it quickly and the bartender happily refilled it and Grayson sipped this one more slowly as he sat at the bar and his mind wandered. Visions of family flashed through his mind and he was struck by a sudden loneliness so cold and so sharp that he quickly downed the shot, hoping the strong whiskey would burn the images away.

He wasn't sure how many shots he downed before finally his mind began to get fuzzy and he could no longer feel the full force of his loneliness. He turned on the barstool and saw Holly's dark eyes watching him. He gave her a nod and she sauntered up to him in her tight blue dress. The top of the sleeveless dress was so low that her ample chest was clearly visible and not much of her breasts were left to the imagination.

She put her hands on her hips and angled her chest toward him.

"Well if it isn't Grayson Fields. How you doing, lover? I haven't seen you in here in a while. I was starting to think maybe you forgot about me." Grayson gave her a wide drunken grin and shook his head.

"I could never forget about you, Holly, honey." he replied. Holly smiled and if Grayson wasn't three sheets to the wind he would have noticed the predatory gleam in her eyes. Holly was thrilled to see Grayson back and even more thrilled to see that Grayson was drunk. Grayson didn't fool around with her or any of the other girls when he was sober but when he got drunk it was a whole different story and the story usually ended with her making a good bit of money.

"Shew, darling, my legs are tired. I've been on my feet all night." she purred as she laid her hand on her forehead and feigned exhaustion.

"Well that jus wont do 't all will it?" Grayson asked his voice slurring in his drunkenness. "Have ya a seat." He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up onto his lap. She laughed and threw her arm around his neck, spilling his whiskey as her elbow bumped it on the bar.

"Sorry about that, handsome." She said placing her lips against his ear. "Sam, my handsome man here needs another whiskey." she called to the bartender. Grayson shook his head. His drunk body was on fire and screaming for the woman in his lap.  Hell his brain was so fuzzy that he couldn't even remember her name at the moment but she was warm, she was willing and he was damn lonely.

"Why don't we head upstairs?" he growled. Holly was thrilled. Oh yes she was going to make a lot of money tonight if the way his big hands were roaming across her body was any indication.

"I am in your arms, big guy… Take me where you want me." she replied before nibbling on his ear. Grayson stood quickly, wobbled slightly on his drunk legs, waited a moment for his head to stop spinning and then started for the stairs hoping he was heading for the right set since his highly intoxicated eyes were seeing several.

"Hey new girl!" a fellow drunk yelled from a back table.

"Her name's Allie." another man shouted. "And she's mine." Grayson froze in his tracks and sobered instantly. Had they said Callie? He turned his head quickly toward the talking men and saw the woman they were referring to. She was short and thin with tiny curves and bright red hair….

"Allie. The perfect name for a perfect angel." The first drunk said. Grayson felt a pain so deep in his chest that he wondered for a moment if it was going to kill him. He sat Holly, (he remembered her name now), down on her feet and she pouted and laid her hands on his chest.

"What's the matter, Grayson?" she whined. "I thought we were gonna have some fun."

"No. No, I changed my mind." Grayson replied pushing her away from him and starting toward the door.

"Gray, don't leave me." Holly said hoping to entice the drunk man to come back. Grayson froze again. All he could hear was Callie's sweet voice five years ago begging him not to leave.

'Gray you can't leave me here. You're all I have.' Grayson felt his heart breaking in his chest again just the same way it had five years ago. The same way it did anytime he thought about Callie. He turned on Holly welcoming the anger that welled up inside of him. Anger he knew what to do with.

"Don't you ever call me by that name again!" he snarled as he stuck one large finger in her face. Holly cowered beneath him. Grayson was easily the biggest man she had ever met. He was taller than any man she knew, his shoulders more broad and his muscles larger. She knew from seeing it with her own eyes that his body was covered in thick rolling waves of muscle from all the hard labor he did on the farm and had not an ounce of fat on it. She had never thought to be afraid of him before but with the look currently in his eyes she could easily imagine his large hand closing around her neck and strangling the life from her….. His hand was big enough and his arm powerful enough to do it without much trouble.

"I'm s..s..sorry." she stuttered. Grayson realized everyone was staring at them and he quickly turned and stormed out of the saloon. It wasn't until he had locked himself inside his hotel room that he allowed himself to pay attention to the thoughts running through his mind.

Callie. His Callie. Of course by now he was sure that she was not his anymore. She had never officially been his but words like officially didn't matter when you were in love. Callie had been his since she had been five and he had been ten and he had gotten stung by several honeybees while saving her puppy from the swarm of angry insects. Callie had been so happy to have her puppy back and he had bravely hidden the pain he was in because he liked the way she looked when she smiled. It made him happy.

She had noticed the large red welt on his hand and the other on his cheek and she had scolded him for not telling her. He smiled as he thought about the way her face had flushed as she'd pointed that tiny finger up at his face and he had actually been frightened of the tiny five year old. She then had surprised the hell out of him when she had pressed a kiss to the angry sting on his hand and then stood on her toes to press her lips against the one on his cheek. She had blushed and taken off running after that, mumbling a thank you and holding that scraggly pup in her arms.

Grayson had stood there feeling like a swarm of bees, or maybe it was butterflies, had taken up residence in his stomach. He had been very happy that none of his other friends had been around to see a little girl kiss him but that didn't mean that he minded the kiss… No he hadn't minded that kiss at all.

From that moment on that little blond angel had been his. He had beaten up many a boy for saying or doing the wrong thing to her. He had dried her tears when her mothers drinking made her cry and he had stood by her, steady as a rock, when her father had died. He had listened to every horrible story she told him about her worthless mother and stepfather and he had waited and prayed for the day when she would be old enough and he could marry her and take her away from those people.

Then Phillip had died and Grayson's entire life had come falling down around him.

Grayson's stomach turned over and he knew the whiskey was looking for a way out and he ran to the washbasin and emptied the contents of his stomach inside. He looked in the mirror and noticed the paleness of his face. He didn't know why he'd drunk that much tonight. He always ended up sick when he let himself drink that much.

He threw himself down in the bed. He had to forget about Missouri. Forget about his family. Forget about Callie. His family had made it clear he was no longer welcome and as pretty as Callie had been at sixteen, he knew she was probably even more so now at twenty-one. There was not a doubt in his mind that by now some lucky man had swooped in and claimed her as his own

. Grayson growled at the jealousy he felt at that thought. He had no right to be jealous. He knew the sacrifice he'd been making the day that Phillip had died in that dirty bedroom at the saloon.

"Damn you, Phillip. You took everything from me, you selfish bastard." Grayson said cursing his dead brothers ghost and then he slipped off his boots and covered his head with the blankets hoping to get some sleep.