Gray

I hope this works.

He paused at the bottom of the stairs to Kelly’s unit. The buildings that housed all the former “Institute Women” as they were often called, were two stories high. Each one was self-contained, with everything they would need to survive. Talk had been made about making full apartment buildings, but the duplexes were faster, cheaper, and easier to build, without the eyesore that a full-on building would have been. The winding spaces between buildings were little more than one-lane pathways. Paving them wasn’t part of the plan, since it was hoped that within a few years they could begin to tear some of the buildings down and return the land back to something more natural, as the women birthed the children, found jobs, mates, or both, and moved on to something new.

Locating Kelly’s unit amongst the warren of hundreds hadn’t been easy, but it hadn’t stopped him either. Gray had friends in high places, including the ambassador to Cloud Lake. Andrew wasn’t just his boss, but also his friend. When he’d mentioned his plan, Andrew had been on board, and had found the necessary information. He’d confirmed that with Erika, who had only been too willing to help.

He’d not told Kelly’s best friend what he intended to do now, though. He didn’t want to risk word getting to her. Women could say they wouldn’t tell, but that often meant nothing when it came to one’s best friend. Gray knew they told each other everything. So he simply didn’t give an option.

Now he stood at the bottom of the stairs to unit G-7U. That meant it was in the G-block, one of sixteen lettered buildings. Each building contained twenty identical units. Ten per level. The U stood for the seventh unit, upper level. It was somewhat confusing, but easy enough to pick up at the same time. Finding it had been fun, but by now he’d begun to get used to finding his way through the maze. It was one of the places he had patrolled a few times when not on personal guard duty for Andrew.

Stop stalling, get up there and knock on her door.

Slowly, almost grudgingly, he overcame his nerves and lifted a foot, placing it on the bottom stair. The second came easier, and the third was barely an effort. He climbed the stairs and approached her door, his heart hammering like a heavy-metal drummer on a double bass, a constant thundering staccato more akin to gunfire than the traditional thump-thump one might expect.

“You can do this,” he muttered to himself. “It’s really not that hard. Knock on the door. Then just…”

Then what? Tell her he’d effectively stalked her? Actually broken a law by getting Andrew to look up her address? Because that would go over real well. Kelly would definitely want to see him then, once she knew the lengths he was willing to go to. How comfortable would she feel after that…

You really are terrible at flirting.

“I really am,” he said, his voice threatening to bounce off the walls and come back to haunt him.

Biting his lip, he turned to go, but something stopped him. Deep in his mind, a part of him that rarely tried to affect him anymore reached out and stopped him cold. His feet felt like they were encased in cement, anchored to the ground. A wall of thick, shining steel had appeared in front of him, so solid and real that he couldn’t press his arms through it, couldn’t latch on to the railing and pull himself forward to use gravity to topple himself down the stairs. He was stuck fast, with the only way out behind him.

His bear had made a stand. It wasn’t going to let him depart without knocking on that damn door, and speaking the words he’d rehearsed all morning. Which was pathetic, considering there was all of thirty-two of them.

“Fine,” he snarled, his eyes looking upward to the sky, as if his shifter resided somewhere up there. “You want me to turn around and knock on the damn door? I’ll turn around and knock on the damn door. Then the both of us can experience rejection.”

He spun on his heel, all resistance fading as if it had never been there.

“Gray?”

The bear shifter came to a slamming halt. At some point Kelly had opened the door and was now leaning on the door jamb with her arms crossed, a concerned expression on her face. “Is everything okay?”

“Um, yes?” he said, fumbling as his carefully prepared words went up in smoke, the inner dialogue he’d come up with crumbling to pieces as he failed to stick to the script.

“Oh, okay. I just thought I heard you talking to someone. You sounded angry.”

He smiled weakly. Shit. She’d heard him. Now there was no doubt that she thought he was insane. Great. Just great. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Maybe talk to her? It’s what a normal person would do.

Right. He could do that.

Hopefully.

“Uh, no. Just having a conversation with myself,” he said lamely.

Perfect. Couldn’t have done it better myself. Now there’s no way she’ll think you’re actually crazy.

His inner self snorted in derision and sarcasm.

“I see. I take it that it wasn’t a nice conversation?”

Ha. Gray told himself to shut up and continued his conversation.

“Well, not particularly. Part of me is stupid, you see, and I had to tell it as such.”

Kelly smiled. “I understand that. Better than you might think. What was it trying to do?”

“It wanted me to come up here and knock on your door.”

Bravo. Truly a remarkable work of art. I don’t think I could have made you look like more of an imbecile if I’d tried. This is just too good. Go on, show me how you’re going to turn this one around.

Kelly blinked several times in a row. “Oh. That was what the stupid part of you wanted to do?”

Gray nodded, having exactly zero idea of where he was going with it, or how to salvage the situation. “Something like that.”

“Umm, and so, if that was stupid, why were you going to do it?”

An opening presented itself, and he took it.

“Because it’s what I wanted to do.”

Kelly stood up a little straighter in the doorway. “So…you wanted to come knock on my door, but didn’t, because it was stupid?”

“You know, that line sounded a lot better in my head,” he admitted.

What?! Don’t you blame this on me! I had nothing to do with it.

Gray very forcefully shut off the running inner commentary and directed his full focus to Kelly. He was here, she was here, that was all that mattered now.

“I’ll bet,” she said with a laugh, her posture relaxing somewhat. “So, why did you want to come knock on my door then?”

He decided to go with the blunt approach. “I wanted to see you again. I had a lot of fun at the party the other day. I was hoping we could do it again sometime, just the two of us.”

There. He’d said it. The approach had been roundabout, but he’d finally uttered the words he’d strung together in his head that morning. So simple, and yet he’d agonized over the right phrasing for hours on end, coming up with a million variations on the same theme, before settling on this.

His fingers threatened to fidget nervously until he clamped down on them, forcing his muscles to relax while he awaited an answer. His stomach tied itself into knots, lit itself on fire, went through a car-crusher, and then a pressed-steel roller, all in the span of approximately three seconds, before repeating itself. Gray had never been this nervous before. Ever.

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

It wasn’t instant rejection. That was good, right? It meant there was at least a little bit of interest. Probably. Or she just wanted clarification before telling him to get lost.

She hung out with you for hours on the weekend. It’s unlikely she’s going to turn into a colossal bitch now.

It was probably true, but the knowledge that she’d been avoiding him for a month and a half on purpose still hurt. It was a bit of a gut punch that would take some getting over, that much was certain. But in the meantime, he needed to answer her question.

“Yes,” he said with as much confidence as he could muster. “I am. I know you were avoiding me, but I’d like to show you that Saturday wasn’t a fluke, that I am that guy.”

Kelly looked away, her jaw working while she thought, twisting her lips in several delicious-looking directions. The silence stretched on and on, and even the occasional glance at the curves of her figure as she leaned on the doorframe couldn’t stop him from getting anxious. She looked good though, with black leggings hugging her hips and legs, and a gray T-shirt hanging loosely from her shoulders that yet somehow still managed to emphasize her breasts. Bare feet rested just inside the door on the dark-brown laminate flooring that had been installed in all the units.

It was a damn good look.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but what did you have in mind? And when?”

Gray grinned. “Now, and I’m not telling you.”

Kelly sputtered in astonishment. “Now?” she blurted. “You can’t possibly expect me to get ready now!”

“Sure I can. You’re halfway there already. Throw on a shirt without food stains on it, and you’re good to go,” he teased.

“I don’t even know where I’m going!”

Gray grinned, starting to feel on his game a bit. “I know. Isn’t that fun!”

“No, no it’s not,” she disagreed. “You need to at least tell me where we’re going.”

“I don’t really. It wouldn’t be nearly as fun that way. I will tell you though, that it will be relaxing.”

She shook her head. “I need to put on a different outfit, do my makeup, things like that!”

“Nope. No makeup allowed. And that’s on top of my personal preference for going without. You actually can’t wear it.”

Kelly eyed him suspiciously. “Where are you planning on taking me?”

“Get changed, come on down, and I’ll tell you,” he said, flashing her a grin that was designed to drive her insane. Her curiosity was piqued and they both knew it. Now Gray was ruthlessly using it against her.

He stood in the doorway and weathered her glare until she sighed with frustration and caved. “Okay then, mister, what am I changing into?”

Gray was gracious about not lording his victory over her. “The pants are fine. A normal T-shirt you’re comfortable being seen in is just fine.”

Kelly shook her head and retreated inside, leaving the door open as an invitation for him to come inside. He followed, his eyes roving over the familiar landscape of the units. There was no difference between them, except perhaps if the occupants had decorated them differently. The layout was the same from one to the next, the colors, and the furniture. All exactly the same. He’d built enough of them to navigate them in his sleep if need be.

His date—and boy wasn’t that awesome, to be able to call her that!—emerged from her bedroom a few minutes later, a faded orange V-neck shirt having replaced the gray one, and her hair brushed and falling down around her neck in luxurious piles of wavy brown locks.

“Beautiful,” he remarked, drawing a slight pink flush to her cheeks and a shake of her head.

“I look drab.”

“Drab is the new fab though, didn’t you know?”

Kelly choked on her laughter, reaching out to steady herself as she got herself under control. Her hand landed on the wrist of the arm he’d shot out for support. Gratefully she nodded at him, still laughing at his terrible joke. Apparently Kelly had a sense of humor as warped as his own.

I wonder if she enjoys puns…

“Okay, mister. According to you I’m now fashion friendly and ready to walk the runways of Italy. Shall we go?”

“Well, Paris maybe,” he remarked, swaying back to avoid her swat, a smile on his face.

“Now, this is the part where you tell me.”

Gray shook his head. “Nope, not yet. Come on.” He opened the door and shooed her outside, closing it behind him. “Um, key?”

“I’ll do it,” she sighed, pushing past him and locking the door. “Now will you tell me?”

“Have you not figured out yet that I’m trying to surprise you? Can you give me this victory?”

Kelly looked equally ready to throttle him and also happily excited by the prospect of a surprise date. The gold in her eyes seemed to dance back and forth between the two options. Personally, Gray hoped it was the latter, but then again, he was selfish like that. At last the gold-flecks danced with happiness and she fell in beside him as he guided her down the stairs carefully.

“I’m pregnant, not made of glass,” she told him halfway down. “I can still climb the bloody stairs. Come back in two months and then I’ll let you carry me. But for now, just go down normally, got it?”

Gray looked up at her. “I never offered to carry you.”

Kelly growled and kicked one foot at him, which he easily dodged. “Tell me again why I’m going out with you today?”

He smiled. “Because it’ll all be worth it in the end.”

“We’ll see about that,” she said, a teasing smile on her face.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and together they walked through the winding complexes of buildings until they got to one of the few parking lots that had been installed. An unremarkable white van was the only vehicle in sight. None of the women who’d moved in had a vehicle, and most of the visitors were other shifters. Parking for cars or vehicles of any type besides those used to offload the construction supplies had not been a priority.

“Wait a minute,” Kelly said as their first destination became clear. “You drive?”

Gray nodded.

“But I thought all shifters hated technology.”

He shrugged. “Now you know why I wanted to get out of Cadia. Why I volunteered to come here.”

“You’re not an anti-technophile?” she asked, stunned.

“Not completely, no.” He grinned. “Besides, cars are fun to drive. My kin don’t know what they’re missing out on!”

“So one more time. Let’s clarify. I’m expected to get in to the car with you, and then go somewhere.”

“Pretty much.”

“This is the start of a bad horror movie, you know that, right? Where the dumb girl does something stupid that nobody in real life would ever do, because duh, it’s dumb?”

Gray frowned. “I just had it safety-checked the other day before I took it out to bring back Harden’s friends. It’s perfectly okay.”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant. I meant getting in to a car with someone I don’t really know. That’s the dumb part. That’s how the girl gets thrown into the house with the crazy killer. Then all her friends come after her, and all of them but the boy she loves die. Then maybe he dies too, helping her escape. Which should be the end of it. But movie companies love sequels, so as she’s escaping, driving down the road, a scene runs after the credits where she gets a flat tire and crashes and wakes up back in the house.”

His jaw dropped open. “You have watched way too many horror movies. Seriously. I’m not even sure what to say about what just happened.”

“It gets boring sitting around all day,” she said defensively. “So maybe I binge-watched every movie I could find for three days straight at one point. I’m not proud of it, but I did it.”

He laughed at her honesty. “Well, I promise you, this isn’t one of those movies. So now, will you get in the van?”

“That’s how it all starts. They promise it’s fine.” She muttered the words but walked up to the passenger door. “Does it at least have candy?”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing.” She laughed. “Just a human thing, making an inappropriate joke.”

“Oh.”

“Figures. Not even sour candy. What a terrible kidnapper you are.”

“Just get inside already,” he growled, both of them smiling despite the back and forth banter.

“The windows aren’t even blacked out!” she protested, climbing in to the front seat. “What kind of amateur-level bullshit is this?”