He nods before flicking his blonde hair out of his eyes. “Will you, uh,” he drags his gaze across the room, “ask Mom to phone me when she gets home?”

“Of course.” We both know she won’t be home for a while. She never is.

Slapping the armrests, he rises to his feet. “I’m going out to meet up with a couple of old friends from high school.”

My attention is already back on the TV. “Have fun.”

“Don’t stay up too late,” he says, but the joke falls flat. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I hum in agreement, switching the channel again.

The front door sounds shortly after. The silence that follows drowns out the TV. It doesn’t matter how much I turn the volume up. It screams, clawing at my skin until I break down in a sob.

Everyone leaves.

“Willow?”

I release a startled scream and turn in my chair.

Grayson is approaching me warily as if he’s unsure if he’s welcome or not.

“I saw your brother get in a taxi.”

Standing up, I pull my bathrobe closed and tuck my hair behind my ear. “What are you doing here, Grayson?”

“I wanted to talk to you.” He holds his hand up as if he means me no harm. “I want to apologize for slapping you.” Swallowing hard, he comes to a stop an arm’s length away. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

I stay silent.

“We said some things in the heat of the moment that neither of us meant. You’re not a naive young girl. You’re funny and smart. You made me smile for the first time since…” He steps even closer until his smell surrounds me, woodsy and warm. “I get it. If I were you, I would march my ass over to my house and ask the same questions you did yesterday.”

I shake my head. “No, Grayson. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have asked you those questions.”

Surging forward, he cups my face. “In between all the crazy fucking, I’ve truly come to like you, Willow.”

“I got scared,” I whisper. “When I saw the article about Luca’s disappearance, I didn’t know what to thi—”

He shuts me up with a kiss, then whispers, “2.8 million kids run away every year.”

I smile despite myself. “Did you Google that?”

“After Chloe…”

I cringe. Of course, he googled every possibility after his daughter’s disappearance. I draw in a breath. “After Dylan’s arrest, Luca was troubled.”

“He’ll show up soon,” Grayson reassures me, dragging his nose down my cheek and jaw before pulling me closer, placing kisses along the column of my neck.

I melt into him, fisting his T-shirt. His scratchy stubble feels amazing against my skin as he braids his fingers in my hair.

“Please tell me I can fuck you now. I need to be inside you.”

“I’m yours, Grayson.”

His strong hands grip my hips and lift me up. He guides my legs around his waist, and my arms wrap around his neck as he carries me upstairs to my bedroom.