Chapter 62
Gray left Alyssa alone for the first time in three days. He didn’t like it. The tiger inside pressed at his skin, searching for a shift, in agitation.
“She’s fine. Try and focus on what we’re doing,” Stripes said.
“She’s alone.”
“Tynder is with her. She’s far from alone. If she can ever get him to shut up then we might owe her big time.”
“She’s great, isn’t she?” he said with a smile.
“She’s fantastic. I’m not sure what she did to make you so receptive lately.”
He frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Stripes chuckled.
“You have never done more than grunt a word or two. You don’t hold long conversations and you don’t like people. But for the past few days you’ve been talking, interacting and communicating more than you have in the past ten years.”
He didn’t realize he’d changed so much since Alyssa’s arrival. He didn’t know what to think. Her company brought out a new side of him. He enjoyed talking to her. She was funny and smart.
Her addiction for reality TV still puzzled him, but he laughed whenever she watched something and yelled at the TV like the characters on the show could hear her.
“Do you see anything?” Stripes asked, his gaze focused on the ground.
They’d been searching for anything to show that intruders had come near his home.
“No, nothing.”
“This doesn’t mean they won’t come back.”
Stripes was right. Eli and Lucas had made it known they wanted him out of the way. One or both wanted the pride and the only way to get it was to get rid of Gray.
“She needs to go home,” he said, once again thinking of Alyssa.
Stripes whistled low.
“How are you going to handle her being gone?”
He wasn’t.
“I’m going with her.”
Stripes laughed.
“I had a feeling that would be your answer. You’ve got it bad. If I didn’t know better I’d say you’re in love.”
His chest compressed. Love? Nonsense. He’d recognized his mate and needed to protect her. Wanting to spend his time with her did not mean he was in love. Her smile flashed through his mind. He loved when she smiled. It made him happy to know there was joy in her life.
That still didn’t mean he was in love. Grayson Green did not do love. Gray knew that since he’d been a kid. It had been drilled into him first by his family and then by the military. Love was an emotion that could destroy a person.
“I don’t do love.” He said the words more to himself than Stripes.
He didn’t need love. He had Alyssa.
“Emotions can be messy.”
Stripes sighed.
“That’s true. But love won’t hurt you. I think you loving Alyssa would only make you happier. You should think about it. We can’t help who we fall in love with, Gray.”
Stripes slapped him on the shoulder.
“Sometimes we fall and don’t even know it.”
Not Gray. He was pride leader. He was stronger. Tougher. Love made a person weak. It messed with areas of the heart Gray never looked at.
“I don’t.”
“Just remember that falling in love doesn’t make you less of a man,” Stripes said. “It makes you whole.”
“David?” Alyssa asked, confused. “What are you doing here?”
They’d gone into her house to pick up some of her stuff. After requesting last minute vacation time, she had gotten Gray to take her to her house. She’d inquired about her car, but apparently it needed a lot more work than just a tire replacement. They’d been inside the house for all of thirty seconds when her ex came out of her bedroom.
David stared at Gray with a shocked expression. Gray, on the other hand, pushed her behind him, his stance pure dominance.
“I need somewhere to stay, Lyssie.”
She winced. Had he always sounded so whiny? She stared at him through new eyes, wondering what the hell had been wrong with her to allow this man to do whatever he did and not send him packing.
“I’m sorry, David. You can’t stay in my house. We broke up over a year ago.”
David looked so confused she almost felt pity for him. Almost. But David had cheated on her repeatedly and blamed his ‘inability to feel adequate with women’ for his inability to keep his dick in his pants.
“Do you want me to wait until your guest leaves?” David asked, trying to see more of her without Gray in the way.
He just didn’t learn. Looking at David now, after being with Gray, she noticed two things. The first was that David was an immature, pathetic excuse for a man. One who gave women terrible sex, no orgasms and wasn’t faithful. The second was that Gray might not talk to her as much as David had, but at least she knew whatever came out of Gray’s lips was real. He didn’t sugarcoat. He didn’t try to buy her with words. He was rough, tough, and had a great cock. That was more than enough for her.
She grabbed Gray’s shirt and continued to peek at David around his side.
“David, you need to go.”
“But—”
Gray, who had been quiet for the past few minutes suddenly spoke up.
“You need to go. Now,” he said, his voice a mere growl.
David paled, took a step back but did not run out the door like she’d expected. Not a good time for him to decide and grow a pair. Considering he’d been such a dick during her entire relationship with him, she wondered why he was pushing things now.
“David, you really should go. We’ve been done for a long time now. I still don’t understand what you’re doing here.”
“Okay, I know we ended things awkwardly—”
She shook her head and laughed drily.
“I found you with your dick in my neighbor. Not sure awkward is the right word, but okay.”
“That was an accident.”
She laughed. The nerve of the man to give her such a sad excuse.
“Wow. You need to watch it. Falling and landing on a woman’s pussy will definitely get you into trouble. Some women won’t be receptive to a stranger’s penis up in their business.”
David flinched but gave her a pleading look.
“I just need to lay low for a while.”
She snorted.
“What did you do, sleep with your boss’s wife or something?”
He scrunched his face in a grimace.
“I didn’t really think he’d find out.”
Holy shit. What a fucking idiot! Thank God she’d finally decided to give David the boot before he’d brought that kind of bullshit into her life.
“I’m sorry for your stupidity, David. But you should go before Gray decides to take a bite out of your ass.”
David ran backward to the back door, tripping on his own feet and landing on his ass.
“He’s one of those shifters?”
“The really dangerous kind.” She nodded, smiling at David’s fear. Who knew she was such a sadist? “He’s really possessive too. Doesn’t like anyone near me.”
Gray glanced over his shoulder at her.
“If he isn’t gone in the next thirty seconds, I will not hold the tiger back.”
The smile fell from her lips.
“David, go. I’m trying to help you stay alive. Get out!”
David ran out of the house with the duffle bag he had set by the door in his hands. She raced to the open entrance to shut the door. When she turned around, she lost the air in her lungs.
“Why do you have that look on your face?”
He clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides, standing stiffly.
“Why did you wait so long to send him away?”
She blinked.
“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”
“If you didn’t want him,” he growled. “Why did it take you so long to tell him to get out?”
“Hey!” she snapped. “I didn’t invite him here!”
“He had a key. Clearly you gave it to him,” he threw back, his eyes starting to glow bright gold.
“Yes, I did. But we broke up and I got my key back. That means he must have made a spare without telling me. I don’t know why, but I didn’t give him permission to.”
What the hell? When did David showing up out of nowhere become her fault?
“You didn’t seem bothered that he was here. In fact, you appeared amused.”
He was jealous. She inhaled and let it out slowly. She didn’t have much experience with men being jealous. Okay, she didn’t have any experience with anyone being jealous. It was new. Refreshing. It was awesome!
“I wasn’t expecting him. You need to relax there, tiger. We came to see about getting my clothes. David is not important. I don’t want him.”
“I disagree. I know what I saw.” He said the words in a low animalistic growl.