Hey babes! Since I got some kinda sucky news earlier today, I figured I'll post this new chapter for ya to also make myself feel a little better because I love posting chapters to this story. So here you go. Have fun.
Enjoy!
Hearing her phone go off from its place on her desk, Skye glances down to see Grant's name on the screen signaling a new text message.
Picking up the device, she unlocks it and goes into her texts, opening the one from Grant.
Hey beautiful. Any plans for tonight? I was thinking maybe we could grab some dinner.
Skye lets out a sigh and types back. I would love to, but unfortunately I'm going to have to take a rain check on what I'm sure would be an amazing dinner. I have to work pretty late tonight.
That's too bad.
Yeah, it really is. I miss your ruggedly handsome face. :)
We just saw each other two days ago, Skye.
Hey, you're the one who asked me if I had plans tonight.
Fair point.
So that's a rain check on dinner, then?
Yeah. I'm really sorry.
It's fine. I completely understand. Your work is important to you and that company. We'll just have to get dinner another night.
Looking forward to it. ;)
Me too.
"Earth to Skye."
Skye sets her phone down next to her as she looks up to see Trip leaning sideways against the edge of her desk.
"Sorry, what?"
"I asked if you're coming to lunch," he repeats.
"Not right now," she tells him. "Taking a late lunch today so I can finish up what I'm doing here. If I take lunch now then I might lose my momentum with this project and I really don't want to do that."
"Aren't you losing your momentum by talking to me?" Trip asks with a small smile.
Skye lets out a laugh and gently shoves Trip. "Whatever. You're the one who came up to me."
Trip nods. "Alright, you got me there." He takes a deep breath. "How's that project coming anyways?" he asks her. "Heard it's a pretty big one."
Skye nods and lets out a breath, leaning back in her chair. "Yeah. Hopefully it'll impress the bosses and they'll start trusting me with some more big projects in the near future."
"I'm sure you'll be fine," he tells her. "You're really great at what you do."
Skye smiles at him. "Thanks, Trip. That really means a lot."
"I'm glad," he says back with a smile. "So that's a no on joining me for lunch right now, right?"
Skye rolls her eyes. "Yes, Trip, I already told you."
He nods. "Right, right. But uh, there's just one more thing I wanna ask you about before I go. Just to satisfy some of my curiosity."
Skye furrows her brows. "Okay. Go ahead."
"Great." He shifts so he's sitting on her desk. "So, there's been this...smallish rumor going around the office that you went to the Fourth of July party with Grant Ward. That's just a rumor, right?"
Skye bites her bottom lip between her teeth and then shakes her head. "No, it isn't."
"Oh. Did he force you to take him there?"
"What? No," Skye says as she shakes her head, sitting up straighter in her chair. "I asked him to go to the party with me."
"You asked him? When did you talk to him long enough to ask him that?"
"That night after we all went out for drinks. He was in the area and he offered to walk me the rest of the way home. Then I asked him to go with me."
"Seriously?"
Skye nods. "Yeah. He's a really nice guy. Everyone in this town has him all wrong."
Trip stands from the desk. "Yeah, well, I hope you know what you're getting yourself into with him, Skye. You may think that he's a good guy, but he's still a part of Hydra. Always has been, always will be."
"I know that, Trip," Skye says. "But he's not at all like you guys think he is. He's different."
"Well I really hope you're right, Skye," he says. "I've heard some stories about him. None of them are very pleasant."
"But that's just what they are," Skye says to him. "They're stories. Do you believe every story you hear about everyone?" she asks him. "Because that seems a lot like judging someone before actually getting to know them. I may have slightly believed everything I heard at first, but I decided to make my own choice about him instead of just listening to what everyone said."
"Well good luck with all that," Trip says as he slowly starts to back away from her desk. "Just don't say I didn't warn you if something ends up going horribly wrong." He turns around and makes his way towards the elevator.
"I appreciate your concern but I can take care of myself," she calls after his retreating form.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Skye leans back in her chair, her eyes drifting over to her cell phone.
Shaking her head slightly to clear her thoughts, she turns back towards her computer and continues with her work.
.
.
.
"Hey Jemma," Skye greets her friend with a smile as she makes her way out into the company parking lot, adjusting the bag on her shoulder.
"Oh, hello Skye," Jemma says, looking up at her briefly as she unlocks her car.
"I didn't know you were staying late too," Skye says, unlocking her own car that's sitting a few spaces away from Jemma's.
"Yes," Jemma says, not looking in Skye's eyes. "I um, I had an experiment that took a bit longer than I originally anticipated."
"Ah. So how'd it go?" she asks.
"Oh, um, very well, actually. Thank you."
"Hey, what's up with you?" Skye asks.
"I don't know what you mean," Jemma replies.
"You're looking everywhere except for right at me," Skye tells her. "Something's obviously up. I want to know what's going on."
"Nothing's going on," Jemma says.
"Bull," Skye says, causing Jemma's head to snap up to her. "That's a load of bull and you know it. Tell me what the hell's going on."
Jemma sighs and turns fully towards her. "Fine. If you're so insistent on knowing what's going on, I'll tell you." She takes a deep breath. "You're...dating Grant Ward."
Skye's eyes go wide. "Seriously?"
Jemma shrugs nonchalantly. "You wanted to know."
"You've seriously been avoiding me because of who I'm dating? Are you kidding me right now?"
"He's a maniac, Skye, a monster, a menace."
"You don't even know him, Jemma," Skye says.
"I know all I need to know about him," Jemma retorts. "But even though I don't like the fact that you're choosing to be with him, I know I can't stop you."
"You're right," Skye says. "You can't stop me from dating Grant. I really like him, and I'm pretty sure he really likes me too."
"Well that's great for you," Jemma says. "Unfortunately, I don't think it's that great. And I don't know if I can be around you, knowing what I know."
Skye stills. "Wait. Are you saying that you can't be friends with me because of who I'm dating?"
Jemma shakes her head. "No, that's not at all what I'm saying."
"Sure as hell sounds like what you're saying."
"I'm worried, Skye, that you're going to get caught in the middle of all this Hydra nonsense, and that you might get hurt. I don't want to see that happen. And I don't think that I can be around you all the time knowing that you're dating that man who just so happens to be one of the worst members of Hydra, someone who's killed dozens of people. I'm sorry, but I can't."
"Fine," Skye says. "If you're really going to be that way, then I guess this friendship is over. Because you obviously don't care enough to still try to be my friend despite who I'm dating. We may not have known each other for very long, but I thought you were better than this, Jemma, I really did." She pulls open her car door and climbs inside, immediately starting up the engine and pulling out of her parking space.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, she watches as Jemma stands at her car for a moment longer before climbing inside.
Letting out a sigh, Skye wipes at her eyes to keep the unshed tears at bay and then concentrates on the road again, turns left out of the parking lot, and heads home.
The trilling of his cell phone pulls Grant's attention away from the book he's reading.
Glancing over to where the device sits next to him on the bed, he smiles when he sees Skye's name and photo appear on the screen.
Picking his phone up, he hits the answer call button and holds the device up to his ear, setting his book off to the side.
"Hello, beautiful," he says into the receiver with a small smile on his face.
"Hi."
"Hey, what's up?"
"Nothing, really. I just wanted to talk."
"Okay." He shifts on his bed. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know. I just...I just want to hear your voice, I guess. Even though that's super cheesy to say."
Grant chuckles. "It's fine. So how was work?"
"Pretty okay. Sorry again that I had to cancel dinner tonight."
"Skye, I already told you it's fine."
"I know. I just feel bad."
"Well don't. You don't have anything to feel bad about. I know you had to work late. Your work is important to you."
"I'm really glad you're so understanding. Most people probably wouldn't say that."
"That's because most people look at me and see the persona that I put on because of Hydra. But you, Skye, you know the real me. Or at least, I'm figuring out how to be the real me when I'm around you. I guess there's just something about you that makes me want to figure out who I really am away from all of this."
"Seriously, Grant? That's not the kind of stuff you say over the phone."
Grant's face falls. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, no, no," Skye says quickly. Grant lets out a breath. "I just mean that the sweet stuff you said about me making you want to be better is the kind of thing that you should say in person."
"Really? How come?"
"Because then I can kiss you after you say it because it's actually kind of romantic."
Grant smiles. "Well next time I say something like that I'll be sure it's in person."
"Good."
"Quick question, though," Grant says.
"Shoot."
"If I were to come over right now, and repeat what I said on the phone, to you in person, would I still get that kiss?"
Skye laughs. "Nice try, Grant. But it's getting kind of late, so I think I'm just going to do some stuff on my laptop for a little while and then head to bed. Today was kind of a long, and somewhat exhausting, day."
"Everything okay?" he asks.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm just a little tired."
"Well did you at least eat some dinner?"
"Kind of. But I promise you I'm fine. I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. Bye."
"Bye."
Pulling the phone down from his ear, Grant ends the call and remains sitting on his bed, holding his phone in his hand.
After a minute of thinking he sits up and swings his legs around so he's on the edge of his bed. He reaches out for his shoes and quickly slips them on his feet, lacing them up tight.
"Hey, Andrew," he calls out to his brother when he sees him walk by as he's putting on his shoes.
Andrew stops and leans into the room, hanging on the doorframe. "Yeah?"
"That pizza place we collect from, Marcel's, it's open late, right?"
Andrew furrows his brows in thought. "Uh, I think so. Why?"
Grant shrugs as he stands from his bed. "No reason. I just feel like pizza tonight." He slides his phone into his back pocket and moves towards his closet.
"Wait a second." Andrew steps fully into the room. "This is about a girl, isn't it?"
Grant freezes briefly on his way over to his closet. "What girl? There's no girl."
Andrew shakes his head. "No, there definitely is. You've been acting so different lately. Ever since the Fourth of July. A little before that, actually."
"So you automatically assume it's because of a girl?" Grant asks him.
"Well is it?" Andrew persists.
Grant just sighs.
Andrew pumps a fist in the air. "I knew it! I so knew it!"
"Would you be quiet?" Grant hisses. "I don't want anyone else here finding out. Especially Joey."
"No, yeah. Totally get it. If I had a girl I wouldn't want Joey to find out about her either. I'd try to keep her as far away from Hydra as possible."
"And that's what I'm trying to do with Skye. So don't say anything to Joey."
"You know I won't, Grant."
Grant nods. "I know." He turns and grabs his brown leather jacket out of his closet.
"So is she hot?" Andrew asks after a quiet moment.
Grant turns towards him and raises an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
Andrew shrugs. "What? It's a perfectly valid question."
Grant sighs and pulls his phone out of his back pocket, unlocking it and going into his photo album. He finds the picture of him and Skye from the Fourth of July and holds it out to Andrew. "Here." He slips his jacket on, adjusting the sleeves and collar.
Andrew holds the phone in his hand and looks down at the photo. "Damn, Grant," Andrew says. "That's a fine one you got yourself."
Grant snatches his phone out of his brother's hands. "She's not a piece of meat, Andrew. She's a person. A really nice person who, for some reason that still isn't quite clear to me, wants to go out with me. So I'm savoring the time I have with her while it lasts."
Andrew holds his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry, sorry. My bad. Didn't mean to offend." He drops his hands. "She looks like a great girl."
Grant gives his brother a hint of a smile. "She really is."
.
.
.
Making his way down the sidewalk, Grant approaches the pizza shop, taking notice of the darkened interior and the closed sign hanging in the door window.
Stepping closer to the door, Grant hits the wood frame a few times with his fist.
"Marcel! Open up!" he shouts through the glass door as he pounds his fist against the wooden frame again. "I know you're in there."
A minute later, a short, stoutly man with a small mustache and almost bald head approaches the door, a slightly panicked look on his face.
"Your payment isn't ready yet. Not due until next month."
"I'm not here to collect, Marcel," Grant tells him. "I'm here to get a pie. Now open the door and let me inside before I smash my way through the glass."
Marcel quickly unlocks the shop door and pulls it open, allowing Grant to step inside.
"Thank you," he says.
"Of course," Marcel replies in a shaky voice. "What would you like me to make for you?"
"Give me two medium pies with pepperoni, olives, tomatoes, and bacon. Extra sauce, too. And this is to go, obviously."
Marcel nods. "Of course. You can uh, you can sit and wait out here while I make your pizzas. And uh, I know I probably shouldn't ask, but will you be...paying for these tonight?"
Grant tilts his head in thought. "I'll take it out of your next collection. You can keep whatever I'd owe for the pizzas."
"But what about your brother?"
"I'll make sure Joey knows you only owe half the amount."
"Oh, thank you so much."
"Yeah, whatever. I'm feeling a little generous tonight. Don't expect it to happen again. Now get back there and make those pizzas before I find something out here to hit you over the head with."
Marcel nods. "Right away." He turns around and scurries back into the kitchen area to start on the pizzas.
Grabbing one of the upturned chairs off of a nearby table, Grant sits down in the chair and lets out a small sigh.
Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he unlocks it and begins to entertain himself as he waits for his pizzas.
"What were those morons thinking?" Skye asks herself as she scrolls through a long page of code on her computer. "Over half of this coding is all wrong. No wonder their website sucks and doesn't work properly. This is definitely going to take a long time to sort out and fix."
Hearing a knock at her door, Skye turns her head towards it and furrows her brows. She stands up from the couch, setting her laptop on the coffee table in front of her, and makes her way over to the front door.
Pulling it open, she smiles softly when she sees Grant standing on the other side. "Hey, you."
"Hey," he says back. "You sounded kind of down on the phone earlier. Figured I'd come over. And I brought some actual dinner." He holds up two pizza boxes. "Pizza from Marcel's. Freshly made just for you."
"You are the absolute best," she says with a smile. She reaches out and grabs the boxes out of his hands, making her way back into her apartment.
Grant chuckles and steps inside the apartment, closing the door behind him.
"So, you want to tell me what had you so upset today?" he asks her, toeing off his shoes by the door and removing his jacket, hanging it on the hook just inside the door.
"I don't know what you mean," she says back, opening the pizza box as she sits down on the couch. She grabs a slice out of the box and immediately takes a bite.
Grant moves towards her, standing on the other side of the coffee table and folding his arms across his chest. "Skye," he says, "I know something's up. So what is it?"
Skye sighs and looks up at him. "Do you really want to know?"
He steps around the table and sits down next to her. "Yeah, I really want to know."
"Fine." She sets her slice of pizza back in the box and leans back in her seat. She looks over at Grant. "I kind of got into an argument with Trip and Jemma today at work."
"Why? What happened?"
"Well, they may have found out about you and me dating and got upset. They basically told me that I shouldn't date you and all that nonsense that pretty much everyone else would say. I think if it had been anyone else it wouldn't be that big of a deal for me, but because it was my friends, it just hurt a little bit more, you know?" She wipes a few escaped tears from her cheeks and lets out a small laugh. "Gosh, I don't even know why I'm crying right now." She swallows thickly. "And Jemma pretty much told me that as long as you and I are dating then she can't be around me because she's too worried about me getting hurt because of Hydra."
"I would never let happen," Grant tells her.
She smiles softly. "I know. That's why you're my knight."
"In brown leather," Grant adds with a small smile.
Skye nods. "Yes. And I know you would never let anything bad happen to me, but everyone's just too stubborn to think even for a second that you're not at all like they think you are. I just wish they would take the time to see that."
"I know you would," he says. "But even if they won't, you know the truth, and I know the truth. That's all that really matters, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Good. Oh, I should probably tell you that my younger brother Andrew knows about us too."
"He does?"
Grant nods."Yeah. He found out tonight before I came over. I didn't tell him, though; he kind of figured it out himself."
"Oh, okay."
"But I made him promise not to tell our older brother Joey. I don't want him finding out about this just yet. We're still finding our footing and Joey could just mess all of this up. I don't want that. I just want to keep what we have here away from Joey and Hydra for as long as I possibly can. Nothing good will come from that."
Skye nods. "I get that. I don't think I want Hydra to get their grip in this either. But do I get to meet Andrew anytime soon? I've heard he's not as bad as anyone else in Hydra, that he's just kind of there."
Grant gives her a small smile. "Yeah, he doesn't really do anything horribly bad. And one day soon you'll get to meet him, I promise. He wants to meet you too. He said you're hot when I showed him your picture."
Skye can't help but smile. "Really?"
Grant nods. "Mm-hmm."
Skye shifts on the couch so she's facing Grant. "And what about you? Do you think I'm hot too?"
Grant just smiles, reaching out to cradle the back of her head in his hand, leaning forward to press his lips to hers.
Skye smiles against his lips. "Good answer."
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
If anyone's interested, I'd love to get some questions from you guys for my Q&A that I'm doing for New Year's. You can ask me anything you'd like. :)
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!
