ϟ Grey ϟ
A day after touching down in Miami, we've settled in where we've been put to stay and have been introduced to the unit we're assisting for the rest of the week.
It pisses me off the looks we get because we're young. If we were fucking bad at what we did, we wouldn't have the job we do.
It doesn't piss me off as much as the fact that Azalea is obviously hiding something from me. And not letting me touch her. And the way she had ignored me for a full fucking week. And one day.
The girl doesn't fucking understand that I've thrown everything I used to do all away for her. It's not like I did shit with a girl every night or anything but I had the occasional hookup and 'fun.'
It's different going as long as I have without hooking up and not even wanting to.
Unless the girl is her.
And I know that Jonas catching me and her in that room together hurt her. Him being the fucking idiot he is just had to add the 'another one?'
The only other one beside Azalea that had been in that room with me was a random girl that had followed me into the back room. Did we do shit? Hell no, I kicked her drunk ass out. But did Jonas just happen to walk in there? Yeah.
But I'm not a liar and I do want to fall in love with her.
Who wouldn't want to?
I don't have a damn clue what the feeling is like to love someone. I don't even think that word has ever left my lips before but with her, I can feel it being a possibility.
If I don't fuck things up first.
Even now, for the first time in my life, I think I miss her. I think; I don't know what that feeling is. But I feel like I'm missing something and it isn't the fucking scrunchie on my wrist or our weaponry.
Her stupid random comments.
Fuck, even her laugh has my heart feeling like a dumb blubbering bitch.
I take another sip of my fucking milkshake.
Goddammit.
Roman looks at me with a calculated gaze. I glare back at him.
"Are you mad at your milkshake?" Jai asks from beside me and I loosen my grip on the cup in my hand.
"No."
"They're ready for us to be there," Roman chimes in.
"They can fuckin' wait."
"They've already been waiting for almost an hour now. You've got a long lasting milkshake," Jai chuckles. I feel my jaw tick as I rise from my seat.
Arriving at the unit's HQ I walk into the meeting room and they're all there. Jai and Roman follow soon after and take their seats along one of the tables.
"Joshua Vander," I speak out, picking up his file.
"He's been on the run since early last year," I continue. And apparently you fucks can't catch him, that's why we're here.
"Hold up," a guy sitting at one of the tables say suddenly. I feel a scowl form on my face at the interruption. A guy, probably in his mid-thirties, leans forward at his table, his eyes on me.
"They expect us to listen to some twenty-something year old who's wearing a scrunchie and drinking a milkshake?" he asks out. What the fuck is everyone's deal with the goddamn scrunchie?
I sit my milkshake down. I guess the title FAA that rests on the fucking board behind me doesn't mean shit to him.
"If it bothers you that much," I keep my voice calm, "go ahead and don't listen to me. Then get your fucking ass killed, see if I care."
"It'd be under your mission," he tries back. Everyone else remains quiet.
Like that would fucking hurt me.
"Not my responsibility. You don't follow my orders, that's your own fucking fault. I'm only here to win the chase that you couldn't," I look down at the ring on his ring finger. The idiot who has someone waiting for him at home can't even swallow his pride enough to listen to someone younger than him.
"Who says we couldn't catch him ourselves?" his face turns redder and redder as he gets mad.
"The fucking time limit between the date the warrant was set and now," I look at the original warrant date, "almost two years ago."
"Fuck you," he sneers. Being as old as he is, I would've thought he'd be less of a prick. Guess not.
"What the fuck do you know? I've been in this unit for over ten years, I know what the hell I'm doing!" he stands up and I pick up my milkshake, taking another sip.
"Well damn!" Maxon chuckles. The one Azalea said had a nice fucking ass.
"Why didn't you tell us that!" he says sarcastically, "If you're so good, where is he?"
The room remains quiet.
"Oh, don't tell me you don't know," Jai chimes in, shaking his head.
"Now sit the fuck down and shut up," I give him one more glare before going back to explaining what the fuck we're going to do to catch the guy.
~~~
In a quick two days, we find his location and have our means of catching him planned and memorized.
Jai hands out the padded leathers.
Her voice fills my thoughts.
'Don't get stabbed. Or headbutted. Or hurt. Please.'
I grit my teeth and yank a jacket from Jai's hands whose eyes widen in surprise. I pull on the jacket and sit her scrunchie down on the table, pushing the thoughts of her out of my head.
"You're wearing-"
"Shut up," I cut off Theo as we get into the SUVs.
On the ride, my mind drifts off to her.
Her soft sighs when I kiss her neck. Her body shimmying excitedly when she sees me. Her soft skin. Fuck.
I get a surge of adrenaline when we pull up to Joshua's hideout. A fucking shack in the middle of the goddamn swamp.
"If I get ate by a damn 'gator, I'm gonna be pissed," Jai mumbles as we get out of the cars and sink our boots into the deep mud.
"Is now a bad time to admit I'm scared of reptiles?" Theo's voice comes from behind me. The guy she said had pretty fucking eyes.
I hope one bites him in the fucking ass.
We execute our plan exactly as it was written.
Being nearly soundless, we walk through the front part of his shack. Guns lay all over his shabby couch. Not taking any chances, I motion for them to be taken out before we head into the back of the run-down place.
We find Joshua and a hooker both asleep on a mattress that sits on the floor. I walk in the room first. The woman's breathing catches my attention.
She breathes at an abnormal pace for anyone who's sleeping. Or awake; it's way too fast. I look at Joshua. I just barely see his arm twitch and I know that they know we're here.
I hold my arm up to the guys behind me. His lower arm twitches and he shoots up in a flash, a gun positioned in his hand.
Instead of firing, he grabs the barely clothed girl beside him and holds the gun to her head. The guys fill the room and he looks at us all.
"Drop your guns, o-or I'll kill her," he warns shakily, obviously fucked up by the fact that he's been caught.
Wanted for four counts of second-degree murder, two counts of arson, and armed robbery.
He won't hesitate to kill her. I nod to the floor and we place our guns down slowly, kicking them to the bed.
"She doesn't have anything to do with this Josh," Jai speaks and with the silence in the room, we hear the safety on his gun click off.
"I don't give a fuck," he shakes his head, pressing the gun further into the girl's temple. Being the only one slightly out of his range of view, Roman slowly moves behind Joshua. He keeps his eyes on me as he takes his other gun out the back of his pants.
"You don't want to do this, just let the girl go," Jai warns, seeing the position Roman is in.
'I've got the shot,' Roman nods to me and I look back at Joshua, then the gun in his hand. His finger rests on the trigger, slightly pressing down on it.
I give Roman a single nod and roll my eyes internally at the amount of paperwork I'm going to need to fill out after this.
He takes the shot and Joshua falls to the ground, the girl still in his arms who's now crying her eyes out.
My eyes find the guy who loved to fucking argue with me earlier.
"Clean this up," I nod at the body on the floor and his face falls as my lip rises in a small smirk.
Clearing the shit-shack of paraphernalia, guns, and whatever else, we leave the swamp.
"We're in Miami, let's party," Maxon groans, climbing up into the dark SUV.
"I'm up for it," Theo nods, along with the rest of the fucking people in the car. They don't have a shit ton of paperwork.
It's not like I have a desire to fucking 'party' in the first place.
Five and a half hours later, the finished paperwork sits on the table and the fucking idiots stare back at me.
"Now we go," Theo smiles and I scowl at him. I look up at the clock and see it's already three thirty in the morning.
The sooner I fucking sleep, then the sooner I can go home; to Lilah.
My mind wanders off to her. Sleeping in my bed. Fuck.
Maybe a couple of beers will make me think of something else.
~~~
Six beers in, I'm a little buzzed. That doesn't change the fact that I still want to fucking leave.
"Look," Linc slaps my shoulder, "you're having a good time, aren't you?"
The guy that Azalea said she loved his fucking hair.
"Don't fuckin' touch me," I glare at the fuck. I sink down on a couch in the VIP section.
"I think you need a good lay," Linc says and I hold back from punching him in the fucking face. I finish my seventh beer, grabbing another.
I feel someone sit beside me and my jaw ticks. I look to my left to see a blonde haired girl staring right back at me.
"What are you doing all by yourself?" she asks seductively.
Her hand slips to my arm and she runs her fingers over my tattoos.
I don't like to be fucking touched.
"I think I should join you," she whispers, her lip rolling into her mouth.
Months ago I would've found her 'attractive' and we probably would have hooked up.
Now all I see is someone who is not Azalea. And that's not what I want.
This girl's hair is too dark of a blonde to be Azalea's hair color. Her eyes are bright blue instead of that fucking wild green. The girl beside me is too tall and too leggy to be who I want. This girl's smile can't make my heart beat faster than it's supposed to. And she sure as hell can't turn me on by using that voice or showing me what's down her shirt.
I stand up and walk away from her.
Not what I want.
I fall onto my bed at the hotel and with my clothes on and everything, I sleep.
I wake up with a slight headache and a pissy attitude. We all pack up our shit and board the plane, hangovers and all.
No one talks to anyone and I wish they had hangovers all the fucking time. We land in Nashville and split from there. Most of the guys go home. I go to Mr. Terrip's.
Walking in the front, I'm met by the frail old man that Azalea loves so much. He peers up at me from his desk.
"Your Azalea is near the back," he nods to the back of the store.
My Azalea.
I see the back of her as she picks up a handful of books, rearranging them on the shelf that is eye level with her.
My heart does weird shit when she lightly shakes those fucking hips.
She turns suddenly and the books fly out of her hands. She shimmies happily when she sees me before extending her arms out, a wide smile on her face.
Her body finally touches mine.
"Did you miss me, Sugar?" That damn name passes her lips. It pisses me off how easily that name can make me get goosebumps.
I'm pretty fucking sure I did miss her. I just give her a little nod to which she giggles.
"C'mere," her hand falls to my back and I'm put in a fucking trance when her bottom lip rolls into her mouth.
"Did you catch your bad guy-fella?" she questions, sitting down on a couch in a clearing of the shelves, pulling me down with her.
"Or girl!" She says suddenly.
"I could just as easily be a wanted person. I've done so many illegal things, it isn't even funny," I watch her intently as she talks. The fact that she talks so much used to annoy the living shit out of me. Now I just like the sound of her voice.
And the wild shit that comes out of her mouth.
God, why did I miss her so much?
"Why are you being so quiet?" she asks, tilting her head in curiosity. A blonde lock falls across her face and barely a second passes before I'm getting it out of the way, scowling at how it was covering her from me.
"When do I ask for you to be my girlfriend?"
Being so close to her, I feel the intake of air she breathes in when I ask the question.
"I'm just slightly confused on why it is that you still want to be...um," she hesitates, "with me?"
Hell if I know. In case she hasn't fucking noticed, I've never been in an actual relationship.
I steered clear of the whole relationship thing. If you can't treat a girl right, why put her through your shit? But I can't fucking stay away from the girl in front of me. And I hope to God she's already been through the worst of my shit.
I'm learning. I watch the ways she talks to me and I try my hardest to mimic the softness. Except for times when I get pissed off.
I've gotten my first fit of jealousy. Still haven't gotten over it actually.
I'm drawn to her. So fucking drawn to her and I don't know why. My hands always need to be on her. I always need to see her. And I'm pretty fucking happy hearing her voice.
I look down at my hands that lay on the smooth skin of her bare thighs.
"Whenever you would want," she explains. I stay quiet.
"Don't ask me now," she blurts, "I'm a simple child, but I'd rather be asked without knowing you're going to ask me."
"You're not a child," I grumble.
"Right."
"I missed you," I admit just leaving out the 'a lot' part. Her mouth opens and a little gasp leaves her lips. Then her face morphs into the same one she has when she sees Bear. Her hand comes to rest on the side of my face and before my heart can do that shit it does when she touches me, she opens her damn mouth.
"You're so cute."
Are you fucking kidding me?
Theo's got pretty fucking eyes, Maxon's got the perfect ass for her, Linc's got the hair she fucking adores, and what the fuck am I? Oh, I'm pretty fucking cute.
"What?" her voice turns into a teasing one which only makes my scowl deepen, "you don't like being called cute?"
I can't tell.
"At least she doesn't think you're ugly," Mr. Terrip's weathered voice sings as he strolls by us which elicits a giggle from her.
"So where'd you go?" her words barely register as she presses herself up against me on the couch.
"Miami," I grunt out.
She looks at me for a minute, her eyes taking me in.
"I think you need a little hug," she says softly before leaning forward and wrapping her arms around my neck.
I trace the waistband of the back of her shorts before casually slipping my arm under her, picking her up, and pulling her onto my lap.
She fits right on top of me so fucking well.
My hand trails up the back of her shirt and she lets out a soft breath.
I run my fingers down that fucking sexy crease in the middle of her back, making sure to keep my eyes trained on her, taking in the way she tenses and slightly digs her hips down into mine.
Fuck.
She slightly leans closer to me and I press a kiss on her soft cheek.
"What are you doing Azalea?" A guy's voice says and she pulls away from me. I scowl.
"Giving Grey a hug," she explains simply.
"Yeah, while he's feeling you up?" the guy asks unhappily, motioning to my hand which is still under her shirt.
Who the fuck does he think he is?
"Aaron. He's not feeling me up," she rolls her eyes. I was slightly feeling her up.
I glare at him. She slides off my lap and I glare at him harder.
"The dickhead-" he starts and I start standing. She grabs onto the back of my shirt and keeps me down.
Why the fuck is her grip strong as hell?
"Don't start," she mumbles to me and I give her a scowl. She narrows her eyes at my look.
Who the fuck calls someone a dickhead anymore?
"Aaron, don't call him that," she tells him and my heart does stupid shit at her being the only person to ever defend me.
"You said he was a dickhead the last time I said he was," Aaron argues.
She said I was a dickhead?
"What the fuck," I turn to her.
"I only said that because that was when you were," she says apologetically.
I deserved it. I still do.
I treated her like shit just because I was too caught up in the fact that I could never be deserving of a girl as fucking perfect as her. Also knowing that she's Jake's little sister. I took out my anger on her. I deserve to be called worse than just a dickhead.
"He still is!" Aaron exclaims like he knows shit.
"He's taking advantage of you, Azalea. You're young and he just wants to get in your pants. How old is this guy anyway?" He hits a pretty big nerve in saying that I'm taking advantage of the one person who is my only chance at having for longer than a night.
"Who the fuck are you to say I'm taking advantage of her?" I stand, getting up real close to him.
"You don't know shit," I sneer down at him.
"Just because some guy shows interest in you, that doesn't mean he wants anything other than sex," he looks at over at her.
"You can't act like you know him, Aaron," she comes up close to him, the most serious look I've ever seen on her face. He pissed little Lilah off.
"You're naive, Azalea," He stresses.
"And you're being a freaking jerk! What is wrong with you?" She shoves at his chest. He pissed her off bad.
"You're going to get fucked over," they have their own conversation about me, acting like I'm not even fucking here.
"He's old and he only wants one thing," he adds. Goddamn, what am I? Fucking fifty? Shit.
"He's twenty-four!"
"Twenty-five," I lightly nudge her and she gasps, turning to me.
"Did you just have a birthday?" She asks.
"A couple weeks ago," I shrug a single shoulder. She furrows her eyebrows at me.
"And you didn't tell me, that's not nice."
"Azalea, focus," Aaron says and she turns back to him.
"He's twenty-five," she says.
"Yeah and look at him!" He motions to me and my eyes narrow.
"He's got a fucking sleeve! Drug addicts, criminals, and gang members have sleeves," he stresses.
"What the fuck do you know?" I look at his polo shirt.
Some fucking rich boy.
"You've been sheltered your whole fucking life, I can see it now," I sneer at him, "you wouldn't know the difference between real life and the shit your parents put in your head."
"And what? Let me guess? You don't have parents?" He mocks.
Is this guy fucking for real?
"Aaron, why would you say that? That's terrible to say," she places her hand on my back.
"Azalea, Jake wouldn't want you around people like this," he obviously hits a strong nerve when I feel her whole body tense.
If only this fucker knew.
Who the fuck brings up a dead family member like that?
"You know what your problem is? All you do is judge. Grey is nothing like you think and don't bring Jake up to win an argument against me. Sure, he may be rough around the edges and a little scary looking because he's a big guy but I bet you didn't know that he gives the worlds best hugs, he's got a darling puppy named Bear, and that he finds bad guys for a living!"
"He fiddles with my scrunchie when he's stressed," she lifts my wrist where her scrunchie sits.
"He's not very good at dodging headbutts," she says.
I frown.
"But he's considerate and he listens to me and he hugs me when I'm sad and he doesn't judge me, especially when I eat a whole entire pizza by myself," she finishes all in one breath and my eyes don't stray from her.
So I'm doing things right I guess.
Her hand falls down to my ass. She gives it a continuous pat that could nearly send me to fucking sleep. I don't even think about stopping her.
"I don't want you to get hurt, Azalea," Aaron's voice takes a softer tone.
"I know Aaron, I'll be okay, I promise. But if you don't want me hurt, then don't be mean to him," she says sternly.
I can't fucking believe I was ever so terrible to her. She's the one person who least deserves it.
"Same goes to you Grey," she says and my eyebrows furrow. I did jack shit to this fuck.
"Fighting in my store does nothing when it comes to me trying to get customers," Mr. Terrip walks by us, a couple of books in his hands.
"Sorry," she apologizes as he saunters away.
"What are you doing here, Aaron?" she questions.
"I came to see you Azzy," Aaron steps forward putting an arm around her. I feel the glare return full force along with a strong ass feeling of wanting to punch him in the fucking face.
She lifts her head, smiling up at him.
Glad that I'm just fucking sitting here watching them be all goddamn loving toward each other, what the fuck?
"I'm going," I walk forward, fed the fuck up.
"Wait, Grey," she calls out but I ignore her and Mr. Terrip's knowing eyes as I pass by him.
I can dodge a headbutt just fucking fine.
♢ ♦♢ ♦♢ ♦♢ ♦♢ ♦♢ ♦♢ ♦♢ ♦
I've just now realized how many time Grey says the F word (As some of you have noticed), like a lot. Anyways, thank you for reading!
*Not edited*
Word count: 3991
-Ashlyn Montgomery