Forever And Ever

26. Grayson

I carry Emery into her room, intending to lay her on her bed and swear under my breath when I see that she still doesn't have sheets. I forgot about that.

"Emmy, I need to get your sheets," I try to set her down and she grabs onto my shirt. "Can you wait here?"

"Okay," she whispers.

I put her on her feet and turn to walk into the laundry room.

As I'm grabbing the sheets out, I turn and see Emery standing there.

"Jesus, fuck," I jump slightly. "You scared me, Emmy. I didn't know you could be so quiet."

"I'm sorry," she murmurs, wringing her hands.

"No, no, don't be sorry," I set the sheets down and turn to face her. "I thought you were going to stay in your room, is all. I didn't expect you to be there."

"It took you too long," she pouts.

"I was only in here for thirty seconds," I sigh, running my fingers through her hair.

"Thirty seconds too long," she looks up at me with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, Emmy," I laugh sadly. She's too fucking scared to stay in her own room alone now. I'm going to fucking kill Jack.

I grab the sheets and follow Emery back to her room. I make her bed as quickly as I can, even though she tells me multiple times that she can do it.

Emery jumps when the wind blows and quickly crawls into her bed. She reaches up towards me and I lay down next to her.

The wind continues blowing and it starts raining. It only takes ten minutes before the weather is really bad.

It's pouring and I can hear the thunder from inside. Emery has her head buried in the crook of my arm and is trying her best to block out the sounds. Her small body jumps every time the thunder is really loud.

"Just go to sleep, Emmy," I murmur into her hair. "It'll be over in the morning."

She nods and pulls the blanket over her head. I feel her breathing even as she falls asleep, but it doesn't last.

She jolts awake and sits up gasping.

"What's wrong, Emmy?" I brush the hair out of her eyes.

"No—nothing," she shakes her head. "Just a nightmare."

"Okay," I whisper.

"I don't want to sleep, Gray," Emery's small voice is soft, scared almost.

"Okay. That's fine. You don't need to sleep right now," I say to the top of her head.

"Can you keep talking? To keep me awake?" She mumbles.

The door opens and Devyn walks in.

"What're you doing?" Emery groans at him.

"I think you should go stay at Grayson's house tonight," Devyn tells her.

"Did Jack come back again?" I put my arms around Emery.

"Yeah," he answers hesitantly. "I think it'd be better if she wasn't here."

"You're not going to get all butt hurt that I'm spending all my time with Grayson?" Emery looks at him and narrows her eyes. "You don't like the fact that we're always together, and now you want me to go to his house?"

"No, I'm not going to be mad," Devyn sighs. "He takes better care of you than anyone else can. I trust him with you."

Emery's throat works but she keeps her mouth shut.

Devyn turns around and walks out.

"Do you want to go? Or stay here?" I ask her quietly.

"Go," she whispers. "I don't want to be here if he keeps coming back."

"Okay," I stand up and pull her up with me. She goes and grabs clothes from her closet before walking back over to me.

"Ready?" I ask her.

"Mhm," she nods.

We walk outside and are immediately soaked from the rain. Emery scrambles to get into the car and out of the rain.

I sit down in the driver's seat and turn to face her.

"You don't want a jacket?" I cock an eyebrow.

"I don't know where mine are," she inhales. "And even if I did, I'm not walking through that rain one more time than I have to."

I laugh softly and turn to look in the backseat. I reach back and grab the black hoodie I keep back there. I hand it to Emery and she puts it on gratefully.

"Thank you," she sighs.

"Stop thanking me," I shake my head and start driving.

"It shouldn't take long, my house isn't far," I tell her after a couple of seconds.

"Okay," Emery hums.

It only takes three minutes to get there. When we pull up, there's a car in the driveway.

"My dad's home," I tell her when I see the confused look on her face.

"Oh," she nods. She pulls the hood up before she gets out. We walk to the front door as quickly as we can and I unlock the door, following her in.

"Grayson?" My dad calls, coming around the corner. He stops when he sees Emery next to me.

"Who's this?" My dad looks between us.

"Dad, this is Emery, my girlfriend," I smile when Emery sticks out her hand in my dad's direction. "Emery, this is my dad."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Woods," Emery smiles at him and he shakes her hand.

"Oh please," my dad waves her off with one hand. "Call me Paul. So when did you two meet?"

"She's Devyn's sister," I say.

"Ah, then I like her already," he nods his head. "Devyn is a good kid. Very smart. Very funny. So what took you so long to get together? If you met so long ago, why are you just now dating? Or has this been going on a while and I'm just now hearing about it?"

When I don't answer him he looks at Emery.

"My son is a good kid too," my dad says, taking her hand. "He's very respectful. Very attractive too. I have no idea why he's never had a girlfriend before. Weird, isn't it? He's told you that, hasn't he? Yes, well, I'm so glad his first is someone like you. Tell Devyn I said hi, will you?"

"Of course, Mr. Woods," Emery smiles softly at him.

"Call me Paul, please," my dad says again. Then he turns to me again. "She's so polite," he grins before turning and walking away.

"He seems nice," Emery is still smiling at the door my dad disappeared through.

"Yeah," I chuckle. "He is."