Seeing Red (Bliss Peak #2)

by Shon

Hickory trees lined the narrow two-lane road, their leaves yellow with the promise of autumn. A few minutes later, the road opened up and the mountain range came into view. My mouth dropped open at the sight and silence engulfed my car once I reached over to turn off the radio. I needed a moment of silence to take it all in. How could a place be this breathtaking? Bliss Peak, North Carolina. No Bojangles in a fifty-mile radius, but with views like this, I could forgive it.

North Carolina, come on & raise upppp okay I need Bliss Peak to actually exist tbh

More than anything, I was surprised at how opposite he and Noah seemed to be. Noah had been dressed down in faded jeans and a T-shirt while Greyson had been wearing brown tweed trousers, a white button up with the sleeves rolled up over his forearms and a pair of suspenders. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a man rocking suspenders, let alone rocking them well.

suspenders? hell naw

telling myself not to obsess over the future and take everything for what it was right now. There was no need in worrying about a future I wasn’t even sure existed. This was exactly where I needed to be today and that was all that mattered.

I swore I wanted to be aloof and mysterious, but I’d never quite mastered the art of shutting the fuck up.

frowning when I noticed how far back I had to scroll in my camera roll for a good full body picture of myself. I used to do stuff. Go outside and be seen.

ugh same

I had a propensity for obsession. A need for control. A knack for watching things from the sideline until I knew without doubt how things would unfold.

This had always been who I was. Silent and observant. Distant but never truly detached. I spent so much time in my head that people complained they never felt like they truly knew me. And honestly, I was okay with that because it had never been my goal to be known by everybody anyway.

relatable

I was in too deep and now I had to figure out what to do about it.

I missed somebody wanting me and showing it.

“Come on, Red. You can lie to yourself, just don’t do it to me.”

“You’re being possessive,” I told him. “You like it,” he volleyed back. Calmly. Correctly. Licking my lips, I prolonged our staring contest instead of admitting he could take me on however many dates he wanted at whatever time he pleased. Then I fucked up and looked at his lips. Lickable. Suckable. Kissable.

“Greyson,” I panted while my hands crept inside his suit jacket, tugging at one of the countless pairs of suspenders he owned.

I can’t with the suspenders…

He lifted his head from its resting place in the crook of my neck and stared at me intensely. Those eyes. I felt like they could see things I didn’t know how to hide. “You make me excited, True. I love coming home to you and Noah. I love how easy it is for us to be around you. And I want more of that.

“I already know this is a bad idea.” “Why?” I hummed, working my way out of her before pushing back in. She hissed lightly but the way her eyes rolled told me she liked the pain. “Because I already miss your dick and you’re still inside of me.”

True looked at me from the corner of her eye, and it was the first time I’d seen her look shy in my presence. Even when she was standing on my doorstep in a towel, asking for help, she’d managed to look proud and defiant.

“I bought three,” I told him, waiting for any visible reaction. All I got was a smile that felt dangerous when he finally stood in front of me again.

oooooh wee!

He scoffed before the dark notes of his quiet laughter bathed my skin in goosebumps.

🥵🥵🥵

“Why are you being so…” “So what?” Irritation worked through me and I closed my mouth before promptly reopening it to tell him about himself. “This is childish, Greyson. You don’t own me.” “No, but you own me, True. And that’s something you need to come to terms with. Because I’m not going anywhere.“

I could feel my lip trying to poke out and form a pout, so I bit it and looked away. Was this what this man had reduced me to with one night?

Who the fuck wanted to be with a man who got antagonized by the woman who gave him life?

chill out, Noah. that's not even something you can control

He trusted me. And that deserved…everything.

The bright glow of the full moon kissed his dark coppery skin in ways I never wanted to forget. I wanted to remember the way he looked right now. Under me. Smiling lazily. With something akin to adoration etched all over his face.

I knew I sounded like a broken record by now, but I fucking meant it.

yes, actually

“I like that I control it,” she answered evenly. “Control is important to you?” “In some areas. Other times, I like it when other people are in control.” “Other times like when?” “Other times like when I’m under you.”

Never in my life had I done something this depraved. Never in my life had I loved anything so much.

We gave each other different things and I was going to have to embrace that. Maybe it wasn’t meant for one person to give me everything I needed.

“So that’s it? You gone up and leave every time somebody get on your nerves?” “I don’t know what I’m doing and it scares me.

“Why you gotta know everything? Why can’t you just make peace with some things not making sense and enjoy them anyway?”

THIS

“If the past year taught you anything, it should have taught you that things don’t go according to plan and that’s okay. Think about all the plans your sister had that never got to happen. Enjoy what you got in front of you right now, lady bug. The rest will figure itself out.”

The smirk playing at his lips wasn’t exactly playful. It was menacing. Like he was a predator who’d just spotted his prey.

Outside of my parents, nobody had ever supported my dreams this hard. And he did it without thinking. He just listened and delivered, like he’d been doing it our whole lives. This was exactly why I’d fallen so hard for him. He saw me and showed up for me without me having to ask.