He sees me eyeing his knuckles and shakes his head. “I regretted it the instant it happened…well, kind of.” Greyston runs a hand through his hair, tugging on it once he reaches the back of his head. “Shit. You must think I’m some kind of barbarian.”
“What?” I ask incredulously. “Not at all. I’m just…confused.” I laugh, scooting a little closer to him.
“After you left, I tried to go back to gathering your things,” Greyston begins. “The minute my back was turned, he started in on me about you. About us. I had no interest in speaking with him—he’s a twit.” My lips twist up into a smirk, and I fight a snicker. “I’m sorry, but he is.”
Shaking my head, I hold my hands up in surrender. “No. No need to apologize. I can clearly see that now. But, obviously you didn’t hit him just because he’s an idiot?”
Greyston chuckles, relaxing a little. “No, that’s not why I hit him.” He pauses and looks me in the eye, likely gauging my reaction to everything so far. “He cheated on you,” he says quietly, resting his left hand against the top of my car.
With a sigh, I lean my back against the side of the car. “He did.”
“With your roommate.” It isn’t a question; he’s telling me that he knows without a doubt.
Swallowing thickly, I glance at him through the corner of my eye. “Did he…did he tell you that?”
Greyston shakes his head. “No, I gathered as much from the way the two of you were arguing.” He pauses for a minute, letting out a quiet snort-like sound. “Well, that, and your ex-roommate showed up. She has issues taking no for an answer, doesn’t she?”
“Ew,” I say, feeling a little nauseous that Delilah tried to sink her teeth into someone as sweet and caring as Greyston. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Another pause. “I had already deduced that he’d been unfaithful, so when he started calling you out for being unladylike…” Based on his brief moment of silence, I have a feeling that Greyston is trying to sugarcoat whatever crass name Ben called me. “I know we’ve only just met, Juliette, but to hear him talk about you like that? Well, forgive me, but it pissed me off. You’re a sweet girl. You don’t deserve that.”
I swallow thickly and try to control the impulse to pull his face to mine and kiss him senseless. It’s really the most self-restraint I’ve ever shown in my life. “So you hit him,” I say in a raspy voice, knowing already that it happened.
“Well,” Greyston responds, his nose scrunching adorably and his eyes narrowing. “Would it be terribly juvenile to say he started it?”
I can no longer hold back my laughter. “While I think that defense only works in six-year-old court, I can totally relate.”
“He’s jealous, you know.” I draw my eyes to his, confused by what he’s said. He must see this and decides to clarify further. “Of what he thinks you and I are.” Chuckling, Greyston shifts and bumps his shoulder against mine playfully. “I say make him stew in it. Let him think what he wants.”
I can’t help but laugh and actually feel a little better about asking for Greyston’s help. When I originally called him, it was only to ask him to act as a buffer between Ben and me; it never once occurred to me to ask him to pretend to be my new boyfriend.
The metal of my car groans as Greyston pushes off it, my eyes, naturally, following him. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s take your stuff back to the house.”
My cheeks warm, and I bite my lip as I place my hand in his. “That sounds like a good idea.” I’m just about to hop into my car when I turn back to him. “Hey, thanks again for helping me out. I didn’t mean to use you like that. I just… Everyone else I know is aware of what Ben did, and I didn’t want to talk about it. To me, you were, I don’t know, safe?”
“It’s really not a problem. I was happy to help in whatever capacity I could. Come on, let’s go home.”
My heart starts fluttering, and I feel like I’m going to pass out. I realize that hearing Greyston call his own house “home” shouldn’t make my stomach flip, but it does. It’s been a pretty stellar couple of days.
Well, minus the Ben part.
When we arrive at the house, Greyston hops out of his sporty little black Lexus, rushing to help me bring my boxes inside. After we haul the boxes up to my new room, Greyston excuses himself to take care of a business call while I begin to unpack a few things.
I’m just setting the time on my alarm clock when I realize I should call my parents and let them know where I am. I don’t want them to worry.