Hold On To Me

by Towers, Terry

  With a groan, I rolled over to my side and snatched the phone from the charger and brought it up to my eyes. My tiredness quickly faded upon realizing that it was Grayson.

  Grayson: Good morning, did you sleep well? I was just doing some laundry and was thinking about you.

  Sitting up in the bed, I smiled as I replied.

  Riley: Laundry was making you think of me?

  Grayson: Perhaps I was thinking of you before the laundry.

  My smile widened. It seemed like all I did was smile lately—I’d be a fool to think it was just a co-incidence. He was so sweet. I really hoped this wasn’t some act. I’d experienced that type of behavior before. A guy acts like he really gives a shit and then next thing you know he flips the switch. He was only home for a few more days, and I was hoping to get to see him again before he left for work for another week.

  Riley: I slept really well.

  That was such a lie. Before I could continue, he’d responded.

  Grayson: Good, in that case I was thinking we could go and do something this afternoon or evening. The laundry is almost done so I’m all yours if you’re up for it.

  I’m all yours…. Mmm…. I really liked the sound of that.

  I didn’t even want to think about what I looked like this morning. Big old dark circles under my eyes no doubt, but that didn’t matter. I had full-coverage make-up and I got the feeling from him that he wasn’t the superficial type. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t do my best to look good, but it helped to relieve some of the jitters.

  Riley: I’m up for anything. What did you have in mind?”

  There was a long pause, long enough for me to slide out of bed and get the water running in the deep claw-foot Jacuzzi bathtub. A good bubble bath would really hit the spot and make me as good as new. Stripping down, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and slid into the water just as a response came in.

  Grayson: It’s a fantastic day. How about we go for a walk through the gardens?

  The gardens were amazing, though I hadn’t been there in years. It was just not a place that I gave much thought to.

  Riley: That sounds wonderful. What time? Did you want to meet there?

  Grayson: If you feel confident I’m not some crazy stalker I can come get you. Carpooling is good for the environment from what I hear. I was thinking perhaps 1pm.

  Laughing, I sent him my address and confirmed the time. Closing my eyes, I sank into the tub. I was setting the phone to the side when another text came in. Bringing it back into my line of sight I grinned, seeing he’d sent a couple pictures of us at the festival yesterday. We looked nice together. Saving the photos to my phone, I placed the phone on the stand next to me and sank deeper into the bathtub and closed my eyes, I had lots of time before he was due to come around.

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  “Mom! Mom!” I awoke with a start at the sound of banging on the bathroom door, the sudden movement making me slip in the tub, dunking my head under the water. I re-emerged stuttering and choking as I managed to swallow some of the water. It was so gross.

  The banging started again.

  “What! Ohmygod! I nearly drowned! What do you want Violet?” I yelled. I couldn’t even get a bath without one of my two eighteen-year old twins chasing me down.

  There was a pause at the door. “Fine, then I can tell the man downstairs waiting for you that you’re too busy to talk to him.”

  “Whoa! Wait! What?”

  There was no response.

  “What? What man? Violet.” I yelled a little louder.

  “The guy says he’s Grayson. He’s kinda cute, but I’ll tell him to go away.”

  “No! Shit. No! Don’t tell him to leave! Are you crazy? What time is it?” Grabbing my phone, I groaned, it was ten minutes to one. I’d slept in the tub for three hours! It was then that I took notice of how cold the water was and how prunelike my fingers had become.

  “It’s almost one. He said you had a date for one. And I’m not crazy.”

  Throwing my phone back to the table, I stood and pulled the plug. “Listen, tell him I’m just getting ready and I’ll be down really soon.” Pulling the shower curtain closed around the tub, I turned on the shower and as quickly as possible washed my hair and rinsed off. The shower was over in record time, though I doubted I gave the conditioner ample time to work properly. I didn’t have the time. This wasn’t a great impression, that was for sure. It’s not like I could blame the lateness on traffic. Damn.

  Turning off the shower stream, I stepped out of the tub and wrapped a fluffy, cream-colored towel around my body and another around my head, turban style. Plugging in my hair straightener, I quickly put some cream on my face and rushed to the bedroom. Trying to towel off as I went, I grabbed a pair of jeans from my dresser and an off-the-shoulder red blouse on a hanger from the closet.

  Getting dressed was a little more challenging than normal with my body being still damp, but I managed and raced back to the en suite bathroom to begin applying my make-up. Peering into the mirror I was relieved to see that I didn’t look as worn out as I had prior to my bathtub nap.

  Another ten minutes and I was as ready as I was ever going to be. Peering into the mirror, bright, hopeful blue eyes stared back at me. I could see the excitement reflected in the mirror. Hopefully today would go as incredibly as yesterday had. Just thinking about the way he kissed me sent a shiver down my spine.

  I grabbed my phone a pair of black ankle boots and a matching black cross-body bag before heading down the hallway and to the living room where Grayson was sitting playing on his phone. Glancing up at the star-shaped brushed copper analog clock on the wall opposite, I groaned, it was a quarter after one.

  “I am so sorry, Grayson.” Tossing my handbag and phone onto the armchair next to the sofa, I began pulling on my boots. “I kinda fell to sleep in the bathtub and it wasn’t until Violet knocked on the door that I woke up.”

  He frowned, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Let me get this straight, you fell to sleep in the tub.”

  I nodded.

  “For how long?”

  Finished putting on the second shoe, I lifted my hands so he could see my still-prunlike fingers, “About three hours.”

  He let out a low whistle. “And you lived to tell the tale. You live on the edge there, don’t ya?” He tucked his phone into the back pocket of his jeans as he stood. He looked fucking amazing, his jeans were snug against his thick, muscular thighs and the gray t-shirt he was wearing hugged his torso and showed off his chest.

  “Believe it or not I made it through. It’s a miracle.”

  Chuckling, he commented, “Good thing, otherwise I’d be stuck without a date today. I’d hate to have to go back to the dating site so soon. That would be rough.” Stepping up to me, he pulled me into his embrace and lowered his lips to mine. My heart began to thump rapidly in my chest as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed myself against him.

  “Oh, come on you two. Get a room!” A male voice interrupted our moment.

  I groaned inwardly as I reluctantly pulled away from Grayson to see the other twin, Christian coming up the stairs, his face distorted in mock disgust. “Would you prefer we go to your room and continue this?”

  “Shit, I don’t care just as long as I don’t have to see it.” Reaching the top of the stairs, he made his way to the kitchen without giving either of us a second look. He really couldn’t have cared less that he’d seen us in an intimate moment. I looked at the empty kitchen doorway for a second, they were getting so big and old. They were graduating high school this year and it was baffling to me how quickly Christian and Violet had grown up. It made me feel so old.

  “Sorry about that. That was my other kid; my son Christian. Him and Violet are twins.”

  “Very neat. Double trouble”

  “Yeah, you could say that.” Looking up into his eyes I wanted to fall back into his arms but refrained. We wouldn’t make it anywhere near the gardens if I began kis
sing him again. “Are you ready?”

  He nodded.

  Leaving the house, we walked to his large black truck in the driveway, parked next to my Camaro. “That’s a monster sized truck.”

  Leading me to the passenger side, he opened the door for me. The truck was high and with me being only five-foot-two it took some effort to pull myself up and into the vehicle. Grayson gave me a little boost, placing a hand on my backside to assist. I suspected he did that as much for himself as for me. Once in, Grayson closed the door and made his way around the front of the truck and got in. The height of the truck caused him no trouble as he pulled his six-foot frame inside.

  The conversation was free flowing and unforced as we rode to the gardens. I barely knew him, but with each second that went by it felt like we were tacking years onto our relationship. It was almost scary how easily we talked with each other.

  “Here we are.” Putting the truck into park he cut the engine and then looked over at me with a smile, that damned gorgeous smile of his that made my heart skip a beat. Leaning over, he gave me a quick kiss before straightening and exiting the vehicle.

  Not waiting for him to open the door for me, I hopped out and closed the door behind me, joining him at the front of the vehicle. Taking my hand, Grayson led me through the front entrance, which was an archway of greenery with small white flowers mixed throughout. The moment we stepped into the gardens we were overwhelmed with a mixture of sweet fragrances that teased the nose and colors which were stunning to the eyes.

  Everything was so beautiful here. I found myself feeling like a child, my gaze going everywhere and feeling the intense need to touch and smell everything. Each plot seemed more magnificent then the last. Some people had basic flowers while others had actual vegetable and herb gardens, while there were a select few that went over the top with their plots, combining several into one and turning it into a little getaway, with ornaments and even fountains, some with seating along the rim of the fountain.

  The fragrance of one particular plot drew me in. Lilies were my favorite flower; the scent was so pure and uplifting in my opinion. After bending and indulging in the fragrance of some particularly stunning lilies I straightened and found myself blushing when my gaze caught Grayson’s. Just him looking at me with an intensely heated stare made me feel tingly from the top of my head to the tip of my toes.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked pressing my palms against his chest and leaning into him. The lilies were in a private booth with a medium sized fountain in the middle of the plot, featuring a cupid who had his arrow pointed directly at us.

  “Nothing. Just you. You’ve got this way about you.”

  My brows knit as I looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

  Taking a step back from me he took my hand and led me with him to sit on the ledge of the fountain. “You’re so sweet and honest. It’s refreshing to be around you.”

  My cheeks heated up as I caught my lower lip between my teeth. “That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.” I was feeling a bombardment of emotions that threated to overwhelm me, but I kept them in check. Was I so damned broken that a compliment was enough to send me over the edge?

  “It’s the truth.” He leaned in to me, and just as our lips were about to meet a female voice called out his name in a high-pitched, annoying tone that made me wince. And just like that the moment between us was shattered. Looking over his shoulder I noticed a tall, slender girl, with blatantly dyed red hair at the entrance of the plot. My body next to him stiffened as I decided immediately that I didn’t like her.

  You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…

  6

  Riley

  “I can’t believe it’s you!” the mystery woman squealed as she came rushing toward us. “It’s been so long; I’ve been dying to see you.”

  “Wow, Brooklyn, what a surprise. When did you get into town?”

  Wrapping her arms around his neck she pressed herself tight to him, giving him a hug that was far too cozy and familiar for my liking. Crossing my arms over my chest, I raised a brow at Grayson as I looked up at him when the woman finally released her hold on him. Did she not see that she was interrupting a moment? Come on now. Not cool. Not exactly something I’d do; I’d at least have waited until the couple stepped away from each other.

  “I got into town the other day.” She ran a hand through her hair, smiling. “I was going to send you a message, but this is even better.” She took a second to give me a look and then focused back onto Grayson as if I was some sort of roach.

  To hell with her!

  “Well then.” Grayson paused a moment as if not sure how to proceed. Turning to me he motioned to the other woman. “This is my old friend Brooklyn. We went to high school together.”

  “Wow,” I chewed at my lower lip a moment. “That’s a long time.”

  “Oh, Grayson.” She gave his arm a playful slap. “Don’t be so modest. We were much more than friends.” She fixed her gaze on me. “We dated all through high school. On prom night, he proposed. It was so sweet, but as you can imagine, we were just too young for that and when we both went to college, we decided to just be friends, we’ve gotten together over the years, but it just wasn’t the right time.”

  It was hard for me to smile and pretend I enjoyed her little story, but I somehow managed to. “That’s unfortunate. That’s how life is sometimes, right?”

  “It is. But we remained friends and in touch.” She touched his arm again.

  Yeah, I got the message that she was trying to sell. It’s funny how women can sniff out another woman’s bullshit in a split second. I learned a long time ago that when you got that feeling in the pit pf your stomach to not ignore it, because nine times out of ten it was right and if you chose to ignore the feeling then that was on you. Putting on blinders was not an excuse for ignorance.

  They chatted for several minutes, while I kept out of the conversation, though I smiled and pretended that I thought this was as exciting a development as they did. Grayson was the one to finally bring the conversation to an end with a simple, “It’s been good catching up. We’ll have to chat some other time.” I liked the way he ended the conversation, it seemed final and didn’t welcome further correspondence.

  Brooklyn pouted as she nodded and gave him a final goodbye hug. “I’ll make sure to message you and we can get together and catch up more appropriately.” She gave him a flirty smile that made me growl a little inside, but the smile remained on my lips.

  “It was nice meeting you Brooklyn,” I called out to her as she was about to turn and leave.

  “Oh, yes. You too. What’s your name, by the way?” She laughed, the sound cold and sarcastic. “I’m so sorry, we got talking and Grayson completely forgot to tell me your name.”

  I met her shallow giggle with own of my own. “Oh, I know yours, that’s what’s really important. Though if you really want to know mine, I’m Riley.”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “It’s been a pleasure.” She spun and strutted her stuff as she exited the plot, swaying her scrawny ass with each step. There couldn’t be a person who was more the opposite of me.

  “She’s seems…. Great.” I had to choose my words carefully, that last thing I wanted was him to think of me as some sort of crazy jealous chick when we were just beginning to date.

  He grinned. “Yeah, she’s achieved a lot. I knew when we were kids that she was going to do amazing things.”

  “Amazing things how?” I was genuinely curious. I needed to know what I was up against.

  “She went to get a degree in psychology. She’s a family therapist now from my understanding.”

  “Stalker much?” I tried to keep my tone light and flippant, but at the same time I was curious. The more he knew about her present situation the more threatened I’d be. Conversely, as soon as I got the reassurance that I needed that he had zero interest in the woman the happier I’d be.

  Chuckling, he put a hand out to me. “No, no, it’s not
hing like that. Stuff just pops up on my social media feed from time to time. I spend some time online to relax before bed when I’m working.” He slight flush colored his cheeks. “Guilty pleasure I guess.”

  “Yeah, you don’t strike me as the type to be Twittering and posting selfies in Instagram or whatever.” Being that I had to market my own novels once I published them I was forced to spend time on social media—unfortunately it was a necessary evil in my field and I didn’t make so much money that I could hire someone to do it for me.

  His cheeks reddened slightly more. “Okay, perhaps I post a selfie or two.”

  I lifted a brow, my smile becoming genuine. “Don’t tell me you use those silly rabbit-ear filters and whatnot.”

  He looked as though he was trying to decide something and then pulled his phone out of his back pocket. Turning it on he flipped to the gallery and began to show me an assortment of enhanced selfies. His face was morphed into a dozen different things, including a cat and a hot dog.

  “Are you a tween?” As I asked the question a roar of laughter erupted from me. “Seriously? I mean, I’m not judging.”

  I was totally judging, but at the same time it was kinda cute that he could get silly like that and not take himself too seriously.

  He looked to be taking the ribbing in his stride, giving me a shrug. “Who doesn’t want to see what they would look like as a fire-breathing dragon?”

  “I can’t say that I have ever cared to find out what I’d look like as a dragon.” I cringed. “Maybe I’m just weird.”

  “Maybe.” Taking a step back from me, he brought his phone up and before I knew what was happening he’d snapped a photo of me. A couple minutes later I was looking at a picture of myself as a baby in diapers.

  “That is so not attractive.” Even before the morph it hadn’t been a good picture, the look of confusion and surprise wasn’t appealing in the least.

  He cocked his head to the side and grinned. “Looks kinda cute if you ask me. Now you know what our babies would look like.”