“Kas?” Gray’s voice was full of concern now, which made it louder and sharper.
“I-I’m here,” I murmured. “I just had a really long day.” I wouldn’t worry him about what had happened with Alicia. Not yet. Not unless her headache didn’t go away. “And no, I’m not mad at you.”
“I haven’t talked to you in days,” he grumbled, sounding hurt. “I thought maybe you were pissed.”
I scrubbed a hand over my cheeks, the tears drying up as quickly as they had come. “No. I’ve just been busy. Today was the first day of school and I had to get everything ready yesterday. Then I went to the gym after my last class this evening.”
“Is that all?”
“Yup, that’s all.”
“So why have you been crying?” he demanded.
“Why do you think I’ve been crying?”
“Because I know how your voice sounds when you cry, Kas. Did something happen at school? Or the gym? Did some motherfucker do something that—”
“Gray, stop. Nothing happened at school or at the gym. AJ wouldn’t let anyone bother me anyway, so relax.”
“Then what’s wrong, little caterpillar?” he asked in a softer tone, trying to coax the truth out of me.
“It’s just been a really long day, and when I got home, Alicia was sick.” I could practically feel the tension coming through the connection now. “She just had a migraine though. I helped her to bed, and she’s probably sleeping right now.”
He exhaled a relieved breath, but his tone was chiding when he spoke. “You should have said that first, Kas. I was worried something was wrong with you. Fuck, little girl, you scare the hell out of me sometimes.”
“Nothing new about that,” I mumbled half to myself.
“It sucks when I don’t get to talk to you. The only thing that keeps me sane most of the time is the sound of your voice. I was going to fly out to check on you if you hadn’t picked up the phone just now.”
“Gray!”
“What?” he snapped, raising his voice at me for the first time. “I fucking miss you! And you weren’t answering any of my calls or texts. I was worried, Kassa.”
“I miss you too,” I snapped back. “And sometimes it hurts to hear your voice because I miss you even more.”
That shut him up for a few seconds before he blew out a harsh breath. “Is that why you wouldn’t pick up the phone?” he whispered.
“Yes,” I whispered back.
“You’re such a pain in the ass.”
Surprising myself, I laughed. When I heard his deep chuckle, all of my stress seemed to evaporate. “Love you, Gray.”
“Fuck, I love you more, Kas.”
NINE
Gray
I picked my bag up and headed off the plane behind some older woman and her grandson. The boy was probably sixteen and dressed for SOCAL weather rather than Virginia in December. I wanted to roll my eyes but figured that his grandmother was doing enough of that for the both of us. The entire flight, he had complained, but Granny had been full of dry humor and told him to suck it up, which had made me laugh more than once on the flight from LAX.
As soon as I got inside the airport, however, all thoughts of Granny and the boy faded from my mind and I sprinted toward baggage claim so that I could get to the two huge pieces of luggage I had packed full with presents for Alicia and Kassa. I was that excited to see them both. This hadn’t been the plan. They were supposed to come out to California for Thanksgiving, but Kassa had gotten the stomach flu. So, instead, they were going to join us for Christmas.
That had been a no-go as well.
Alicia’s headaches had been happening more frequently and her doctor had advised her not to fly until they could get her sorted out with her new meds. Kassa, not wanting to leave her home alone for Christmas, decided to stay. But there was no way in hell I was going another holiday without seeing them. I hadn’t told either of them I was coming home, wanting to surprise them when I showed up later that night.
After I grabbed my luggage, I rented a car and made the hour drive home. It was freezing out, but there was no call for snow. Kassa was going to be disappointed. She loved snow on Christmas morning, but we hadn’t gotten it the last few years. I was hoping that seeing me would ease that disappointment though.