I landed in an alleyway, stretching out my wings one last time before pulling them back in. They ached. I couldn't tell if it was because they were still recovering or because they needed to stretch out some more. Regardless, I was on the search for some wine.
I turned the corner, keeping my eyes trained straight ahead as the many civilians passed me by. It was incredible how completely unaware they were that something not quite human was walking by them on their way to work.
"Jordan?" I heard my name and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
Allison and Siena were at home, Suriel was with Michael and the Archangels, and Grey wouldn't have said my name. Who else in this city knows my name?
I peered through the crowd cautiously, narrowing my eyes when they landed on a familiar pair of almond shaped eyes.
Li. The man I'd met at the bar a while back when Grey had gone over to Siobhan's. My skin began to crawl at the mere thought of her name. I had to remind myself that she was gone, that I'd taken care of that problem.
He jogged up to me, his bronze eyes twinkling in the dimmed gloomy daylight. He looked happy. Perhaps a little too happy to see me. He'd given me his number in case I'd wanted to model for one of his art pieces, but I'd never texted him. Awkward.
"Hey Li, how are you?" I smiled politely.
"I'm well, and you?" He grinned cheekily.
He was cute. Boyishly cute. The kind of guy you wanted to take home to your parents, that your friends would all gush over. He was tall, not as tall as Grey, but taller than me, and had a lean build like a sprinter.
"I'm well. Sorry, I totally forgot to text you about the whole modeling thing," I laughed awkwardly, hoping he'd let it slide.
"No big deal. I know how intimidating that must've seemed. Modeling for a painting isn't exactly a nonchalant way to ask a girl out," Li chuckled, eyeing me a little through his eyelashes.
Oh wait.
Shit.
Was he asking me out?
"Wait, you mean-," I paused.
"I'm not very good at this, as you can tell. But unless you're still with that boyfriend of yours that was making you drink that night, I would like to take you out for dinner or something if you're interested," he smiled sheepishly.
Fuck.
Was I interested?
Not in anything more than friends, no, but I had to learn how to move on from Grey at some point, I suppose. And maybe something would come of this. Li seemed like a genuinely nice guy. And I didn't have anything left to lose.
"Sure," I replied calmly.
"What are you doing tomorrow night?" He questioned, sticking his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.
"I actually have a friend's birthday party I'm going to, but she might let you tag along if you want to?" I shrugged, pulling out my phone to text Allison.
"Sounds like fun. Text me your address and the time and I'll come grab you," he offered me a crooked grin.
"Perfect. I'll see you then," I smiled back at him as he walked away, an obvious little skip in his step.
I texted Allison and asked if I could bring a friend along to her party, to which she responded, 'what kind of friend?'
I then had to explain how I'd met Li, and how he was a decent guy and I wanted to give him a shot. Allison was beyond thrilled. In her words, 'anyone is better than Grey'.
My heart had squeezed a little bit at her words, but I hadn't replied. I hoped it wouldn't always be this way, but I knew it probably would be. Grey was it for me, and he always will be. He was the one I was meant to be with, and no one would ever compare. But that wouldn't stop me from trying.
At that, I turned on my heel and continued down the street to a little wine shop and grabbed a few bottles. The cashier had boxed them up nicely for me and I'd flown them home afterwards, cherishing the feeling of the wind blowing against my wings again. I'm glad they were healing nicely. As hard as it had been learning how to fly, I now couldn't imagine a day without it.
I landed in the courtyard and hurried up the iron staircase to the apartment, shifting the box over to one arm so I could knock with the other. I still didn't have a key here, and I wasn't about to ask for one. I was lucky to have a place to stay, I didn't want to push it. Vivianne was too nice to us as it was. However, she'd been on a business trip of some sort for the last week or so, so I hadn't really seen her since I'd arrived.
Allison opened the door and grabbed the box of wines from my hands, leaving me at the door empty handed.
"Hello to you too," I chuckled, walking in after her and shutting the door behind me.
"We were on our last bottle, and it was a Malbec. I hate dry reds. I hate reds. I hate dry. I thought I was going to have to drink it. Gross," Allison cringed as she cut the seams on the box.
"Glad I could be of service," I replied cheekily.
"Tell me about this boy. Is he like a serious thing or just a 'why not'?" Allison hummed as she unpacked the bottles from the box.
"More of a 'why not'. But he's really nice. He's from Beijing. I dunno, he's interesting. And I need to figure out how to move on," I mumbled the last part under my breath.
"What are you going to do if Grey's at the party?" Siena called from the living room.
Apparently, she'd been eavesdropping.
"Did you invite Grey?" I turned to Allison, who shook her head.
"Not after what he did. I'll never forgive him," she grumbled angrily, taking out her frustration on the corkscrew she was grinding into the cork on a bottle of chardonnay.
"I appreciate your loyalty, Al, but honestly. You don't have to be this mad at him for me. He did this to me, not to you," I chuckled, eyeing her as she cranked the cork out of the bottle with a pop.
"And yet, you're my best friend, so whatever he does to you, he does to me. Case closed. Now let's drink," she held up the bottle and then began to drink straight from it.
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the living room, sitting down in the armchair next to Siena as I had been earlier. She eyed me, thumbing through some magazine she didn't seem the slightest bit interested in.
"Even if she didn't invite him, he might still show up," Siena mumbled.
"How would he know about it?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Grey has his ways. And he's stupid overprotective of you. Wherever you are, he tends to follow," she flipped over a page rather loudly.
"I don't think he'll be there. He doesn't really like Allison. Right?" I frowned.
"I wouldn't bet on him not being there. I'd try to figure out how you're gonna keep Golden Boy safe from your ex," she replied coolly.
"Grey wouldn't do anything. And neither would Li. This is our first whatever, I'm sure he won't try to pull anything. And Grey-," I paused.
"Grey would most absolutely do something. Don't go all optimistic on me now, Jo," Siena smirked, sitting up on the sofa and tossing the magazine aside.
"You don't think he'd hurt Li, do you?" I scowled.
"I wouldn't put it past him. Especially if he knew you were on a date. Grey would do anything for you. Anything to get you back. I wouldn't put anything past him at this point," she clenched her jaw a little.
"He wouldn't kill Li, would he?" I felt my heart leap up into my throat.
"No, no. Grey has morals, even if they are a little fucked up. But I'm just saying, keep Golden Boy close tomorrow night. If Grey gets his hands on him, Li might get hurt," she explained.
I knew Grey was overprotective, but he'd never really been jealous. Maybe once or twice when I was with Riel, or Lucifer, or whatever his real name is. But I'd never actually seen him jealous. It made me wonder if what Siena was saying had any truth to it. I trusted Siena more than I thought I would seeing as I've only known her a short while, but I'd never seen Grey be anything more than overprotective, so it was hard for me to believe her. Nonetheless, I planned on keeping Li close. I didn't want to risk him getting hurt for the sake of who I thought Grey was. I obviously had no idea who Grey really was, or I wouldn't be caught up in this mess.
"I am proud of you though," Siena broke the silence and I turned to her.
"For what?" I furrowed my brows in confusion.
"Trying to move on. You're strong. I know how much you love him. I know you're trying to do this because you think it's what's best for you. And I'm proud of you for that. It's not easy," she pulled her lips into a gentle smile.
"Thanks."
"However, I still think there's something else going on here. So I would caution you against burning any bridges with him. I see the way you look at him still. You know you're meant for him," she sighed, her eyes boring down into mine.
"I can't wait around for him to learn how to respect me. I deserve more than that," I replied.
"I know. But I just want to remind you of what still exists, what could still happen. Li sounds fine, but you know he's not Grey. He will never be to you what Grey is," she narrowed her eyes at me a little.
"Can you both stop with this Grey nonsense, I want to get drunk!" I heard Allison yell out from behind us.
We both spun around to see her standing on the kitchen countertop, dancing to nonexistent music, and halfway through that bottle of chardonnay.
"I'm down if you are," Siena chuckled, eyeing me.
"Why not," I shrugged and walked over to Allison, taking the bottle from her and taking a long chug.
Allison squealed in delight and I heard Siena laughing in the background. I couldn't tell you exactly what happened that night, or when the nonexistent music became real music, but it was nice. For one night, I just let go and had fun with the only two people in the world that I could still trust.