Hi again! First and foremost, I just want to thank everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed since I last posted. It's honestly embarrassing how giddy all that got me. It might sound stupid, but seeing reviews where people are stating that they're enjoying my ramblings, that they like my characters, guessing what's coming (correctly a few times too, which is awesome) and whatnot, it really is just the best thing. It's giving me motivation to try to write and I can't thank you all enough for that.

Sappy BS done with, please enjoy!

"Mm, don't you have work?" River grumbled through a sleepy grin.

Between her thighs, Greyson was peppering the naked skin with kisses. He was proud of himself to say the least, having already given her one orgasm this morning before either of them had gotten up, all without nutting on her leg.

Chuckling, he shook his head, stubble lightly scraping the delicate skin of her inner thighs. "I asked my dad, last night, to have all my work forwarded to my personal laptop. I can be home all day long." He punctuated his sentence's end with a heavy, wet kiss right on her still sensitive core. Her response was a single breathy sigh as she fell comfortably back into the pillows that she'd been cursing into barely a few short minutes prior.

"Then come and sit back up here and let me fuck you." She eventually got out, a single hand guiding him up her body with a single finger on his jaw.

He made sure to press his mouth into the soft, supple flesh of one of her breasts on his way up to her lips.

They wasted little time in anything. Almost as soon as Greyson had seated himself and grabbed a condom from his nightstand, leaning against his headboard, River was on him. Literally.

Straddling his hips the second he'd rolled the prophelactic down his shaft, she was quick to take him in her hand and guide his needy flesh to her own. With a quick check in that he was ready and willing, she was lowering herself onto him. While he half expected her to move slowly onto him, she did anything but. Impaled on him, she let her mouth hang open for a second, hands on his chest to hold herself steady.

Humming her appreciation, she smiled. "Fuck, Grey." She muttered harshly.

Above him, she felt amazing. Sure, he'd remembered how fucking good it had felt the first time, but he had to admit that it somehow felt better without the stress of it being his first time weighing on him. "You're so wet." He whined, head having rocked back at the initial sensation as she'd put just his head inside her. "You feel so fucking good." His voice, while barely a whisper, seemed to tickle her skin as he leaned forward to kiss the soft spot just below her ear.

They continued in much the same fashion for the entire morning, using another condom and showering together once more before they finally dressed and managed to take themsleves to the kitchen for some food for a little after midday.

Giddy, Greyson sat at the breakfast bar, beside River, stuffing eggs into his face as she did the same. She'd offered to cook, but honestly he enjoyed doing things to take care of her. He knew she wouldn't have let him order anything fancy, so cooking her some eggs and avocado on toast were the most he could convince her to have from him. Apparently the offer of a fruit salad was a step too far and more than she could accept, something that they both laughed at the absurdity of a second later.

Once the food was eaten and the dishes were loaded into the dishwasher, River assured Greyson that she could get a cab back to her bike. Against her every complaint though, he was firm in saying that he'd drive her back himself. That way, he figured he got a little more time with her.

While River dressed back into her clothes from the day before, dismissing Greyson's offer of some of his own clothes as temporary replacements, he himself simply threw on a pair of pants and a simply tee. Together, they left his apartment and headed to his car.

"Come on." Greyson said in the lobby as they realised that a crowd of people was standing between them and the parking lot. The people, it seemed were arguing. "We can head out the front and just go 'round the side. It's, like, two minutes. Not even."

Happy enough, River nodded. They sure as hell didn't need to be getting in the middle of whatever the hell that mess had been.

The walk to the parking lot was, as expected, brief. It was nice though, walking together.

Unlike the night before, Greyson drove instead of River this time.

There was a relative amount of traffic since it was the middle of the day and the middle of the city, so Greyson simply set the car to autopilot to his folks' place, chatting with River about aimless shit as it moved a little at a time.

A little while later, still not out of the city, River's cell rang. "Huh, it's your mom." She muttered, flashing her cell at Greyson with a curious look before answering it on speakerphone. "Hey, Mrs. G., everything okay?" She asked.

On the other end of the phone, Ana sounded a little concerned when she spoke. "River, sweetheart, hi." Okay, so not super worried, but a little relieved for some reason? "Mason let me know this morning that your bike's still over at our place. I just wanted to make sure that you made it home okay. Christian and I just feel terrible about not putting you in a cab ourselves."

At the older woman's words, River softened, leaning back comfortably in her seat with a smile. "Right, yeah, I got back fine. Grey drove me back and I'm actually on my way for my bike just now."

There was an audible sigh of relief on the other end of the call. "Oh, good! I hope he left you some money for a cab? I'll send you some money as soon as we're off this call, okay?" Immediately, River and Greyson's eyes met. For some reason, both of them looked like little kids, caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar.

Quickly, maybe too quickly, River made to wave the offer away. "Oh, seriously you don't have to do that. I'm actually-"

To the mortification of both the youngsters, it was actually Greyson's own damn car that put a stick in the works.

"Mr. Grey, I have detected some unusual traffic on your route that will add approximately thirteen minutes to your time. Would you like me to reroute and avoid congestion? This will be approximately seven minutes faster."

It spoke so clearly, certainly heard, setting the three of them into silence for a moment.

Then, however, it began again. "Mr. Grey, I have detected some unusual traffic on your route that will add-"

"Yes. Yes... please." Greyson barked, looking red as a tomato, eyes frantically shooting between the offending car speaker and River. "Hi... Mom." He then muttered awkwardly, feeling as though he would explode at any given moment.

There was another second of silence on the other end, a moment of some kind of acceptance, then Ana was speaking again. "Oh, honey, are you driving River back for her bike? That's good of you." There was no accusation, no query as to why they had been doing together or even if they had been together. Still, Greyson wished that the ground would simply swallow the car whole.

Clearing his throat, he nodded, though she obviously couldn't see him. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I was just... we're just headed there now. The traffic... boy, it's busy, Mom. You should see it." Even as he saw River's brow raise, curiously wondering what the fuck he was doing, he couldn't seem to stop the words from pouring out of him. Fuck, how did he stop? "City driving, it really is something. Speaking of something, how about that new place over on-"

Quickly, mercifully, River slapped a hand over his mouth. "Jesus." She muttered, eyeing him firmly. He shrugged pathetically in response, eyes wide and full of fear. "Yeah, your son was kind enough to let me crash on his couch last night. I'll have to fill you in on the saga of my landlord and how big of a jerk he is sometime."

"I look forward to it." Ana laughed softly on the other end. "Look, you kids drive safe, okay? I just wanted to check that you were alright, sweetheart."

"Alright, thank you. Oh, Amelia got all her homework done last night, by the way." River, it seemed, wasn't so easily rattled as he was. "I think she's struggling a little with her Physics and her French, but she swore to me that she'll get a Physics tutor and that Aunt Mia will give her some French lessons. I know you guys wanted to be up to date on it all though."

As quickly as it had started, the call was coming to an end. With loving farewells to them both from his mother, Greyson decided that it was about time to dig himself a grave.

"Grey..." River started, getting his attention. "What the fuck was that?" She asked, basrely containing laughter.

Raking hands over his face, he groan. "I have no fucking idea." He sounded like a grumpy child, he knew, but he couldn't help it. "She knows now, right?" He then asked.

To his surprise, River shrugged. "She probably assumes, but I don't think she'll say anything. I mean, she'll tell your dad, I guess, but we're adults, Grey. We're allowed to do what we want." Naturally, she was right, but he still felt like an idiot. "For what it's worth, they thought we were fucking back in high school, remember? It's not like it'll be hard to convince them that we're just hanging out."

Huh. If only that didn't sound so dull. Partly, he feared, he wanted his mom to have figured it out. Not specifically her, not specifically about the sex, but it was almost like he wanted for someone else to validate the closeness that he now had with River. It was odd, he knew.

"We're friends, they know that." River then added with a kind, confident smile.

The rest of the drive was short and relatively dull, but that wasn't at all a bad thing. For one thing, Greyson remembered to invite her to a family barbeque only to find out that she'd already received the same invitation from his parents. She'd initially said she wouldn't go, not wanting to make Teddy's teasing any harder on Greyson, but with his assurance that everything would be fine and that they'd have fun, she agreed.

As soon as they parked up, River leaned over the center console and pecked Greyson's cheak. It was nothing compared to how they'd spent their morning, but it still made him blush. "What was that for?" He asked, hoping that she wasn't looking at the flush on his skin.

"For eating my pussy like a fucking champ." She told him simply, hopping out of the car with a devilish laugh as his blush finally consumed him. "God, you're adorable." Was the last thing she said as she headed off to collect her helmet and riding gear from inside.

It took Greyson that entire time to tame his bright red neck and cheeks. "Hey," He called out to her when she finally returned, helmet, jacket, pants and gloves on. She looked at him as she slung a leg over her old bike. "Ride safe, okay?" That wasn't what he'd wanted to say. He'd wanted to tell her how much fun he was having with her. He wanted to thank her for doing all of this with him and for him. He wanted to tell her that, but the words... well, nothing would have been enough.

She turned the key in her ignition, walking the bike over toward his window and pushing her visor up.

As if only to tease him, she leaned down onto the tank of the beast between her thighs, a look in her eyes that he was beginning to know all too well. "You know what I just realised?" She said, not giving him time to wonder before she spoke again. "We should probably go over the ettiquete of oral next time, specifically receiving. I mean, it's better you accidentally have me gagging on your cock than some poor, unsuspecting supermodel, right?"

As he couldn't so much as breathe at the thought of the pleasures that her mouth could offer, she revved her bike monsterously loudly with a wry laugh and shot off.

Fuck, she really was a little bit evil, huh?

His drive home was, thankfully, uneventful. Of course, thoughts of River filled his mind quickly enough. He didn't chance another time jerking off, not while driving in broad daylight. He realised just how dumb that had been last time and silently thanked whatever god was listening for not putting him directly in a photographer's path.

The family barbeque was almost certainly the next time that he'd see her, only a little over a week away, but damn if it didn't feel like he had months to wait. Sure, he could text her before then, but he was already a little worried about coming off clingy.

Though the traffic in the city still hadn't subsided, the drive was perfectly fine. With his car parked up and Greyson back in his apartment, he finally slumped on the couch and got to working on his laptop.

Files poured onto the screen, each one demanding his attention. The thing, though? Well, all he could think about, as he sat on the couch, was just how mind-alteringly good River had tasted in that very same spot, barely twelve hours prior. Fuck, he really couldn't get his mind off her. Still, he had to work though. So, against his body's screaming wishes of release, he worked. He read through queries, working through files, made the calls he needed to make and did everything that he would have done at the office.

Yeah, sure, the time without River was going to mean plenty of cold showers and jerking off a bunch, but he imagined that the time apart would only make seeing her all the sweeter the next time.

Just as he'd sworn to himself that he would be chill about it all, his cell pinged.

He slapped wildly at the couch, trying to find it, but missed each time. Where the hell was it? He scrambled to shut his laptop, jumping up and patting himself down. Not in his pockets, either? Fuck!

Okay, he could do this. He could find a freaking-

Another ping!

Another!

With each new chime, undoubtedly from River, he grew closer and closer, closing in on it until finally he yanked it out from between two cushions. Aha!

Only, as his cell lit up, his face dropped. Messages from... his Aunt Kate? Seriously, what did she want? She, after all, wasn't one to just send him texts.

Oh.

His stomach dropped as he opened the messages.

Kate. 14:11:

"Hey kid. Bad news"

Kate. 14:12:

"Got a heads up from one of my sources at HOT FAME. Looks like they got a couple pics of you. Sending details now"

Oh, fuck!

As shit as it was looking, he carried on reading. Only two more texts and two picture messges to go.

Kate. 14:12:

"Can't get them to give up on the article. They won't send me the page either"

Kate. 14:13:

"Sorry kid. They got both your faces"

The pictures, to his dismay, were of him and River. The first, he could tell from his suit, was last night. They were in the lobby, standing far too close to one another at the button of the elevator. Immediately, Greyson knew that this picture had been taken on the fucking property, likely through one of the internal doorways. Both of their faces were clear as they stood there, gazing at one another with River's finger on the button.

The second photo was of this very morning, simply of them both walking to his car. While he didn't initially see why anyone would have any interest in it, he realised quickly enough exactly what it was. River going in and out of his building with him, her in the same clothes. It was clear that she'd spent the night and the way that first picture caught them looking at one another left little to the imagination as to what they'd been busy doing.

For the longest second, he just stared at his cell. After all, what was there to do but that?

Fuck, he had to warn River, right?

Cell in hand, he paced circles around the kitchen island.

He finally sent Kate a message back, just a short one thanking her, receiving an overly eager emoji grinning back at him in response later, thumbs firmly up. Well, that was a little excessive, Kate.

While he didn't give a damn what the press thought about him, he knew that River wasn't like that. He was used to all of the attention, to the idea that some oddball with a camera was just the other side of every window, but River wasn't. Sure, she'd been used to it enough when they'd been closer as kids and had done a surprisingly good job at ignoring them, but things were different now. They were different now. Thinking back though, with a smile, Greyson couldn't help but recall the time that River had, at fourteen years old, said that dodging the press was easier than dodging her mom's landlord when rent was two weeks past due. She'd made jokes like that all the time, as she still did. Perhaps things wouldn't be too bad?

Still, even if she took things well, he hated that this had happened. He hated that someone had done this to her. The more he thought though, he had to wonder: who?

Seriously, who the hell had been waiting outside his building, somehow already on the grounds, at that time? It had been, what, maybe one in the morning?

Well, when the article dropped, maybe he'd pay a visit to the author; see if they'd give up their photographer for the right price.

.

.

.

.

.

The short walk up the steps to his parents' place had never been so long before.

For some reason, going there to talk about the article, knowing that River was already inside, it made it all worse.

It had only been a couple of hours since HOT FAME Magazine had printed. In that time, River's boss had called and asked that she not go into work. Apparently he already had cameras swarming the place and it was driving clients away.

The sight of River's bike, helmet hanging on the handlebars, did little to ease his tension. If anything, it made things worse. He hadn't been able to protect her from this mess and now she would lose a day's pay. He knew she wouldn't let him give her the money that she'd lose, but he hoped that he'd be able to find a way to make it up to her somehow. Sure, finding whoever the fuck Elias Kane, author of the article, was could potentially help, but if his early morning phone calls were anything to go by, Mr. Kane wasn't looking to so much as speak to him, let alone give anyone up.

Still, he headed inside.

As he'd been able to deduce from the cars parked on the driveway, it was more than just him, his parents and River in there. One of Phoebe and Jen's cars was there, as was his Aunt Kate's.

He didn't honestly mind his folks knowing about whatever it was that he and River were doing, but he didn't want that privacy stripped for her. He was used to sharing his entire life with them, as was she, but he still hated it. He hated not having been able to protect her from this.

Inside, River was the first one he saw. Somewhat ironically, she seemed... happy?

As he walked in, he saw her, arms crossed over her chest and hands tucked comfortably under her armpits as she chatted animatedly with his Uncle Elliot about something. Beside her, Elliot was laughing loudly, head thrown back as he mimed something, possibly riding a bike if his hands were anything to go on.

In fact, everyone, as he took a few steps in, seemed utterly fine. Or, there was no panicked whispering or yelling from wherever the others were.

"Grey, hey!" River, naturally, was the first to noticed him.

He could barely get his mouth open in greeting before she was beside him, hugging him fondly.

As aware of Elliot's eyes as he was, he threw his arms around her without concern. "Hey." He hugged her tight, allowing himself a single breath in her hair. She still smelled like his body wash. It was in her hair, though her own scented wash now clung to her body. "Are you okay? How are you doing?" He asked as they parted, scanning her face for anything, anything at all.

Still smiling, she shrugged. "I'm fine, you okay? For the record, though? I did tell you I should have walked that last corner." She teased lightly, looking at him with the same searching eyes that he'd been gazing at her through until he shrugged honestly. With a friendly punch to his shoulder, she was gone, headed for his dad's office. "Come on, everyone's in here."

He followed, hugging Elliot on his way, getting a familial pat on the shoulder as they headed into the office.

Inside was, as expected, his parents, Kate and Jen. Phoebe wasn't in there, but he figured she had work.

Jen was the first to get out of her seat and to hug him, but the others followed suit.

As his father sat one side of his desk, his mother standing just over his shoulder, Kate and Jen had seats opposite the two of them, leaving Elliot to sit on the edge of the desk itself while River stood at the other side.

It was odd, Greyson decided, seeing so many faces in the office. It had been mostly off limits while he and his siblings had been growing up; a place that their father spent many a night in when work demanded more time of him.

"So," His father's voice drew him from his thoughts. "Legally speaking?" He prompted, eyes fixed on Jen.

Sighing, she tapped something. Greyson realised, as he walked over to stand just beside River, it was a printout of the article. "Well, legally speaking? Unless we can prove that this was taken inside the building, where the building's policy on photography comes into play, we've got nothing." Her voice was an apology in and of itself as she glanced at him and at River. "The second one's on the street, so it's fair game, but the first one-"

"That was inside the building." Greyson piped up. "Sorry, interrupting. I just... let me find the lobby's layout, just a second."

"You're certain?" His father asked, voice all business, as Grey searched on his cell.

Nodding, he laid his cell down for all to see. "See just behind the desk, right there? That's where it was taken. It's a back stairwell through those doors." Huh, look at him. Detective Grey had a ring to it. "The, uh, only problem? Anyone with a passcode can get in from the outside through there. That code gets sold to the press just about every other weekend."

In the corner of his eye, he saw his mom step closer to them, drawing River into her side in a maternal gesture. She even reached across the taller woman and laid a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. "If they were on the property, can't we access the cameras?" She asked softly, looking now at her husband.

Immediately, he nodded. "Taylor's got guys on it." He stated, taking a deep breath.

River spoke next. "I mean, this could have been worse, right?" She sounded uncertain, possibly not wanting to make noise in a room full of wealthy folks, but Greyson figured not. She hadn't ever been any kind of intimidated by his family. "Don't get me wrong, I know that it sucks. I'm just saying, they used to take photos of us all the time as kids. I'm a somewhat established connection to the family already, so it'll die down as fast as before, right?" Ah, there it was. The uncertainty.

Unlike the rest of them, River was worrying about when she could go back to work. Because, unlike them, she actually needed to work in order to keep her apartment. Of course, none of them would let anything happen to her, but getting her to accept help was like trying to keep ice frozen on a hot griddle.

"They do know that we're friends." Greyson added, looking at his father through hopeful eyes.

"Kid, it's more than that." Kate spoke next, spinning the picture of them beside the elevator so that she could look at it. "Look, we all know that you're both friends, but that's not the issue. Whether they got you both in the middle of a joke or whether you were about to screw in that elevator-"

"Whoa, hey!" Greyson knew he couldn't battle the blush that threatened to consume him, but he tried. "Believe me, we weren't doing that." For River, he tried.

"Honey, the truth doesn't matter." Kate chuckled. "All that matters to the public is what they see. So, tell me what they see?"

As his mom made to speak, possibly to tell her best friend and sister-in-law to relax a little, Kate held up a hand softly, silencing her.

Clearing his throat, Greyson looked down at the printout. God, as if he hadn't been looking at for hours before he'd driven over. As the blush spread, he shrugged. "I don't know. We're standing there." He did his utmost to keep his voice steady and to not look at anyone.

"It looked like we're about to jump each other." River snorted. "The press doesn't know that we're just friends. They don't know or care that I crashed on your couch. All they care about is what that picture looks like. You're recently single, we reconnected after years of not being seen together. It looks... god, I hate this word... juicy."

Kate's hand became a point, this time directed at River. "We have a winner." She said, eyes still on her nephew. "We can work on getting proof that the picture's been taken against your building's policy and we can get the name of the photographer, but, at the end of the day, the narrative is what matters. As far as the press is concerned, the two of you are boning, or were the other night." Greyson did his best not to flinch. Boning? Sure, that's what they'd been doing, but it felt a little crude to say the least, hearing it said like that. River was more than that.

"So what can we do, Kate?" The tone of a worried mother was, from his own mother, clear and touching. "River has work to get back to and an apartment building surrounded by vultures."

"They're outside your building?" Greyson asked immediately.

Chuckling, River shook her head. "They're outside my freaking door." She supplied, sounding disgusted. "I'm pretty sure tomorrow's photos are going to be either a real cute closeup of them trying to get me to take off my helmet, or of me stalling my bike when one of them tried to take my keys hostage for photos." They tried to take her fucking keys just to keep her long enough for a photo? Fury raced through Greyson, burning his very blood.

Ana was rubbing River's arm, still holding her, shielding her from the world.

In his mother's arms, River looked comfortable. She was leaning into the older woman, taking comfort in her embrace. The only hugs that Heather had ever accepted from his mom had been one-armed or had been for cameras.

While a small part of his mind held a little suspicion about Heather and her involvement in the previous articles written about him, he certainly knew she wouldn't have waited in his building to potentially get a picture of him and River. Hell, she'd have burst out screaming and started some weird drama. He discounted her quickly enough, but the fact that it was the same magazine just sat a little oddly for him. He'd circle back to that.

"You can stay at my place." He offered, not caring even slightly if his folks thought anything of it. "I'll take the couch, you can have my bed until all this blows over."

Looking at him with that same soft, understanding smile that she always had for him, River shook her head. "It's okay. One of the girl at work's said I can crash with her if I want and we can carpool or whatever. I mean, the morons with cameras don't know her address, so I'd get away from them better." At that idea, for some reason, she laughed just once. "I'll probably stay home to be honest. They'll move on before long. Thanks though, Grey, I appreciate the offer."

Right. That was it, wasn't it? He wasn't the safe place to be right now, nor was his building. Instead, he had to be content in the fact that River had other people she could stay with.

They all wrapped things up quickly enough after that with the assurance that Taylor's guys were taking care of everything.

The next time that they would all see one another, it seemed, would be at the barbeque. Selfishly, Greyson was upset that he couldn't see River before then, but he didn't want to cause her any more bother. He hugged her once more when they were both readying to leave, whispering an apology in her hair only to have her laugh it off and assure him that they were fine and that she'd see him soon.

Soon, he decided petulantly, wasn't soon enough.

Not a super long chapter but I've got things other than sex to be setting up, so hopefully it was okay and wasn't frightfully dull! Thank you a bunch for reading, I always appreciate it. Please feel free to leave any comments, good or bad, they really do make my day and I just adore getting those notifications come through. I also love hearing what you think of River and Greyson as they've both become quite dear to me during writing all of this (River's also my MC for just about every story I've got at the moment, bot on and off so she's especially close to my heart) and seeing any kind of love for them makes me feel like some proud mama hen.

Thank you again and have a great day! I'll try not to take too long writing in the future but thank you massively for any and all understanding in how lengthy my process can be!