So, the shortest chapter yet, weighing in at 3,787 words before any additions/notes. I'm trying to remind myself that it's okay to post chapters that are this length, so when I wrote this (today) I decided I should just go ahead and get it posted. Apologies if it's a bit sucky but I'm hopeful that it's okay as a little filler.

Please enjoy!

Greyson wasn't all too sure what he expected the mysterious Jerry to look like. It just... well, it wasn't that.

Upon seeing River's boss as she and Matt exited the gym together, Greyson almost had to wipe his eyes. He wasn't some huge muscular guy, he didn't look like he could so much as deadlift a dinnerplate, let alone any thing more. To be completely honest, he looked like a relatively small, frail man. He had sad, deep set eyes and long, skinny limbs. Even as he seemed to be taller than Matt, who Greyson remembered as a tall guy even in school, he just looked small.

With River and Matt, out came Skylar, the same blonde who River had introduced Greyson to only the day before.

While he didn't explicitly trust her as much as River seemed to, he had to admit that she'd been nothing short of helpful in their digging around.

There was a moment in which they were surrounded by cameras, all four of them.

Grey wanted so badly to do something. He wanted to hop out of the car with Miroslav and to, if nothing else, escort River safely to the car. Only, he knew that she didn't want that right now.

When he'd woken that morning, alone, he'd missed her. It was stupid, he knew that, but he was starting to grow accustomed to the proximity. He was getting used to having her naked backside pressed against his crotch in the morning, so the loneliness of his childhood room felt like a sucker punch.

Still, when he'd ventured downstairs after a shower, River had been there. Their conversation of a light breakfast had been awkward, but she'd expressed her genuine thanks that he'd let her be alone. From there, she'd asked that he let her go alone to her meeting. He'd agreed not to follow her inside, but he'd been insistent that Miroslav drive her, counting himself lucky when she'd accepted, even more so when she'd agreed that he could be in the car. While he figured it was more about not feeling as though she could tell him not to be in one of his family's cars, he was still glad to be there, he just had to prove to her that he wasn't going to get in her way at all.

So, from behind the tinted glass windows, he watched.

He watched as Jerry, the man who he wanted so badly to pummel into the fucking ground, said something to River as she emerged from the small crowd of cameras.

Visibly, she scoffed. She said something back to him, something that had Matt stepping between her and the older man, an arm outstretched between them as he pointedly glanced first to the cameras and then to Greyson's car. Reminding her to play nice, it seemed. What the hell had that asshole said to her?

With the shake of her head, River pointed harshly to her beaten and bruised face, making Jerry wince at something that she'd said. Then, looking utterly disgusted, she turned and headed toward the car with Matt in tow.

Shockingly enough, Skylar was next to barge past her boss. He said something to her, only a few words, but it was enough.

Quickly, with a finger in his face, she yelled something.

"Looks serious." Miroslav said absently. He had a hand on the door handle, ready to leap out at a moment's notice.

Sighing, Grey nodded. "It does, but River was clear." He replied, feeling his gut doing all sorts of flips.

Miroslav remained still.

Together, they watched Skylar tear off her lanyard and throw it on the ground. Jerry's face showed complete and utter shock as the blonde then jogged to catch up with the other two.

"Did she just... quit?" Greyson voiced uncertainly. Miroslav, brow furrowed, didn't answer as he continued watching.

If nothing else, losing three staff members in the space of a few minutes was going to be rough on the gym. Good.

In spite of the cameras, River, Matt and Skylar stood for a second. The first two seemed to take a shocked moment to look between the blonde and their previous boss as she caught up. Then, just as quickly, they were sharing hugs.

Jealously, Greyson couldn't help but notice just how familiar River seemed with both Matt and Skylar. Not only was she not pushing either of them away, he found himself hating them both for how close she was holding them. He wanted for her hands to be on his waist, not Skylar's or Matt's. As she hugged the blonde once more, holding her face in her hands for a moment before kissing her cheek, he felt fire in his veins.

As quickly at he'd felt it, he quieted it.

We're not dating, you know?

River's words were loud in his mind.

You know I love you, right, Grey?

Those two thoughts warred in his mind. One of them promised him that what he was feeling was natural, that it was completely fine. The other, though? Well, the other told him that maybe his feelings were a little deeper than they should have been. After all, he couldn't imagine feeling how he did in that moment over quite literally anyone else. Was he still sleeping with River in order to learn how to please women, or was he sleeping with River to learn how to please River?

She was swinging the door open and hopping in beside him before he could even think to get what must have been a grim look off of his face.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked immediately.

With a quick glance, he realized that both Skylar and Matt were in a different car. One of theirs, he presumed, but it didn't matter. He'd missed them parting ways and River coming over, having been lost in his own thoughts and feelings.

Still a little startled, he pulled a tight smile on. "Yeah, I'm good." He answered quickly as she shut her door and got buckled in. "How did it all go?" He then asked, desperate to remove the focus from him and his yoyoing mood.

Chuckling humorlessly, River slumped in her seat. "Well, he let us both go." She said initially. As they started driving, she looked out of the window to avoid Greyson's gaze. He knew why. She'd worked at that place for years and had loved it. She was losing so much in one fell swoop. He felt like an asshole for having been worried about what her relationship with her former coworkers was.

"We'll nail him. Him and his wife." He told her firmly.

She didn't turn from the window, instead just nodding.

They drove in silence for a while after that. They headed back to Grey's parents' house where he put on the same suit that he'd gone to their place in upon being informed of River's arrest. He hadn't brought another with him, but he had to be ready to go to work and apparently his apartment was still flooded. Luckily, he'd thought to wash it, so it was clean at the very least.

There, as he pondered telling River that she was more than welcome to go to the office with him, she beat him to it. "Would you be able to drop me somewhere? Or, well, would Miroslav?" She asked.

Idiot. Of course she wouldn't want to go to the office with him. He didn't blame her, not at all. "Yeah, of course. Where're you headed?" He asked her, pulling that same false smile onto his face from before. He hadn't ever needed a fake smile before today, not with her.

Looking a little anxious, River glanced away from him. The gesture was almost guilty, but why? "Matt's." She supplied, crossing her arms over her chest. Oh, was she expecting some kind of argument? Worse, was she looking for one? "He's there with Sky. I'll crash with one of them while all the heat dies down around my place." She then told him. Her voice was firm, daring him to take issue.

God, how the hell did it get to this?

"Oh... you're not staying here?" He asked carefully. "I mean, you know my folks don't mind. You've got the summer house to yourself." And I'm here. He wanted so badly to say more, but he held his tongue.

She looked at him for a second, truly looked at him, then sighed and uncrossed her arms. She was tired, he knew that, but he wished she'd just let him try to help. "I'll feel better with the two of them." He told himself not to be any kind of offended, but her words hurt.

It was stupid. He had no right to expect anything of her, he knew that, but he couldn't help but feel almost wronged. What a moron.

"Right, of course." He said, keeping a level tone. "Sorry, I just figured... you know-"

"What?" She cut him off, narrowing her eyes pointedly.

Caught, he winced internally. What the hell had he figured? Well, he'd figured that if she'd be comfortable anywhere in the world, it would have been there... with him. "I don't know. Sorry." He grumbled instead.

Silence consumed them. Initially, they looked at one another, sussing one another out, then they simply looked anywhere else.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" River got out a second later. It was short and somewhat curt, but she'd said it.

He felt like an ass. What was she apologizing for? God, she was the one that still only had one eye to look out of.

"River-"

"No. I'm sorry." She cut him off again, this time sighing heavily and briefly pinching at the bridge of her nose. She hissed her pain a moment later, realizing what she'd done. "I'm not... God, I'm not stupid or deaf or anything, okay? I know I'm being an asshole, I hear what I'm saying, but I can't help it. I used to come here when I was hurt and it was right, then I'd go home and we'd do it all over again." The pain and sorrow in her voice was nothing short of horrendous.

"It's not right here anymore?" He knew what he wanted to ask. It's not right with me anymore? Only, he couldn't. He couldn't imply more meaning to their friendship or their situation, not right now.

Smiling sadly, River shook her head. "I'm not going home to an abusive mom anymore. I'm going home to an apartment that I can't afford with no job and no bike. I don't know what my next step is and honestly? Being here, seeing all of this," She gestured around them both, waving her hands to so many single displays of grandure and wealth. "Is just making me mad. None of you have ever had to worry about rent or jobs or any of that. It's not your fault, I know that, but being around so much when I'm losing everything is fucking killing me, Grey."

At her words, he was stumped.

"I'm sorry." That didn't feel like enough.

She was, of course, right. Sure, he'd had a crappy start at life, but he'd been pulled out of it. He hadn't ever had to worry about having a job, that was just a choice that he made. He could have resigned any time he wanted and his bills would remain paid.

"Don't be. I am though." She said after a moment of them simply looking at one another. "I just... I really do just need some space, okay?"

"Of course." Space. It sounded like the worst thing in the world. If that was truly what she needed though, he could give her that much.

Still looking up at him, she reached out and softly laid a hand on his arm. She let it slide down until she was holding his hand. "I meant what I said, Grey." She told him firmly.

"What you said?" He asked, those two phrases still warring in his mind.

We're not dating, you know?

You know I love you, right, Grey?

He had no idea which of those it would be, but he gripped her hand back all the same.

"You're my best friend and I love you." Her words came easily, warming his very heart. He'd needed that, he figured. Only, she still looked so freaking sad. "We're just from different worlds, you know? Sometimes I can't be in yours for too long and I need to get back to mine."

"I understand." He chuckled roughly. She was wrong though. "We're not from different worlds though, River. This? This isn't my world." You are. Fuck, he realized now. If he wanted for his feelings for River to remain entirely platonic, he had to shut his inner monologue the hell up.

He was aware of how he must have sounded. A rich man telling a poor woman that they weren't so different. He just hoped that she understood it as they both used to. He hoped that she still saw that same poor kid in him.

.

.

.

.

.

No new updates from Jen or his grandfather. No meetings to go to. Nothing at all to occupy his mind.

Without a worthy distraction, all he saw each time he closed his eyes was her. River. He so desperately wanted to know what she was doing in that moment.

At the apartment of her admittedly hot ex boyfriend with him and the blonde who seemed all to comfortable touching River. Try as he might, he couldn't stop seeing the three of them. Tormenting him. Making out. Doing far more than that.

God, he really was pathetic, wasn't he? River's face was still bruised, nose crooked, eye swollen shut, yet he was finding the time to gripe about the possibility of her sleeping with someone else.

We're not dating, you know?

Oh, how he knew. It was all he could fucking think about.

Look, he didn't want to date River, okay? He didn't. At least, that's what he told himself. He didn't want to date her, he just wanted to know whether or not he was the only one she was actively sleeping with. He didn't know why they hadn't spoken about exclusivity, but that fact did little to ease his mind as he wondered how intentional that had been on her part.

After all, they hadn't agreed to any kind of exclusive arrangement, so she was free to do as she pleased. Free to fuck Mattie fucking Thorne and Skylar, that beautiful blonde who looked at River just how he knew he did.

Fuck.

That was the issue, truly. He got it. He so freaking understood both Skylar and Matt. To know River was to want her in one way or another. She just had a way or drawing people in. He didn't blame them for being weak to her draw. He had, after all, fallen prey to it of his own volition. No, he didn't blame them. He didn't blame her either, she was just being herself, her charming, beautiful, enchanting self.

So, who the hell did he blame?

Himself.

It was simple, truly. He'd been so eager to have sex that he'd just nodded blindly when she'd given her terms, so much so that he forgot to give any of his own. Well, all but things between us remain strictly platonic. What a damned fool.

Getting out of the car at work and bidding her a farewell had been a miserable affair, but he'd seen how thankful her eyes had been.

As Miroslav had driven away with her, he'd simply been doing his best not to already miss her.

For the rest of his work day, as he got far too little done, these same thoughts assaulted him over and over. He didn't get a single break, not even halting when his dad came into his office so that they could have lunch together.

By the time the end of the day rolled around, he was well and truly tired. He didn't offer to stay late, nor was it asked of him. He drove home in silence, thankful that his car had still been waiting for him, but cursing the daily traffic as it slowed him down, only giving him more time to think of her.

Cameras outside his building threatened to make any kind of entry possible, but the building's seemingly new security was fast. They all but shoved photographers out of the way in order to get him into the building, for which he was thankful.

His evening was, in all honesty, a sad affair.

He ordered takeout from the same place that he and River had ordered Chinese food from. He sipped at one of the remaining beers in his fridge. After a shower, he found himself sitting in bed, not even with the energy to jerk off before sleep.

He wasn't ordinarily someone who experienced such drastic highs and lows, but dammit he felt like he'd messed everything up. He was missing River, wondering what she was doing, sulking alone in his apartment. It was honestly a real fucking low, bordering on as miserable as he'd been when they'd fallen out as teens, though that had been a singularly horrific experience that he didn't ever hope to recreate.

Tipsy and feeling slightly sick from all the junk food, he was just beginning to drift off to sleep when his cell vibrated loudly on his nightstand beside him.

Furious, he bolted upright and rolled over onto his side to look at the screen. Not a number her knew. An unknown caller this late at night? Hell no.

Scoffing, he declined the call and rolled back over.

Only, it started up again. "Fuck off." He groaned loudly, not that it stopped the caller. So, he did. He rolled over, declined the call, then rolled back and closed his eyes.

Twice was the trick, right?

Wrong. So very wrong.

As the vibrating started up once again, he briefly considered the idea that maybe he was having a bad dream and was already asleep. He knew better than that though.

So, angrily, he grabbed his cell and briefly considered tossing it across the room. That was exactly the kind of thing that River would have been sick to see, watching him throw something that was almost her monthly rent payments. He would be better, for her.

Instead of tossing it, he took a deep breath in and accepted the call.

"What?" He grumbled down the mic.

There was a brief second of silence on the other end, then a fucking laugh. "Uh, hey." The voice said. It was distinctly male, deep and rich sounding, but not one that he recognized immediately. "Greyson?" The voice asked, seemingly looking for clarification that he'd reached the right person.

Okay, he was intrigued now.

Shuffling, he sat upright, letting the covers fall away from his naked torso. "Speaking?" He asked. After all, he was famous, he didn't just give his cell out to anyone.

"Oh, right." The voice said, seemingly amused. "It's Matt. Little Mattie Thorne, I think your mom used to call me?"

What the fuck?

For just a second, there was nothing in his head. Then, however, there was annoyance. Had he called to rub it in? Had he and River been up to exactly what Greyson feared? "Okay." He said, keeping his voice level. "What can I do for you?"

Hey, if this asshole wanted to get under his skin, then mission accomplished. He would try not to show it, but that didn't mean that this wasn't rubbing him the wrong way.

Matt cleared his throat lightly on the other end. In the background, Greyson could hear animated voices. River and Skylar, maybe? Or potentially just the TV. "Right, so I got your number from River's cell." He said, as though that explained anything. "Look, man, I just figure we've got some stuff to talk about, you know? Shit to iron out or whatever."

So as far as Greyson could tell, this was about River. God, what a freaking jerk. "Yeah, I guess we do." He replied firmly.

"Great, so do you want to come over?" Matt then asked, shocking him a little. God, he couldn't go over, not while he was bordering on drunk. He was honestly worried that he'd beat the pompous asshole up. "River's here, obviously, Skylar, too. I've got booze, weed, whatever your poison is, man."

Booze? Weed? That didn't exactly sound like he was trying to brag about having fucked River. At least, if that was what he was doing, he was going an odd way about it.

So, sighing, Grey flopped back in bed. "Look, it's late, okay?" He grumbled, running a hand through his hair. "Why don't you swing by my office tomorrow? Not to be an asshole but I figure your days have just freed up. Call me and I'll send a car."

Okay, maybe he did want to be just a little bit of an asshole.

"I won't take long, okay? I'm sorry it's late but if you just-"

Growling, he cut the other man off. Seriously, who the hell did he think he was fucking with? "Matt, man, listen. Whatever this is, I'm not buying it, okay?" Yeah, that's right, asshole. Greyson fucking Grey wasn't stupid. Whatever Matt's game was, he wasn't playing, not tonight.

"Buying? Dude, I'm not selling you anything." Sincere as he sounded, Greyson was sure that there was going to be some snide comment coming. He was just waiting to hear the sound of River's voice in the background, telling him to come back to bed or something equally heartbreaking. Only, it never came. "Hey, look, if I've, like, offended you or something then I'm sorry. Seriously."

"You think I don't know why you're calling?"

"It's beginning to look that way." There was an annoyed, sarcastic note to the other man's voice, one that briefly angered Greyson.

Huffing, he admitted temporary defeat. Whatever Matt's game, he couldn't get drawn in. He couldn't let himself react, not when the foul beers in his system were doing most of the talking. "I'll send a car for you tomorrow. Goodnight." He said eventually. That was the best call, right?

"Sure, appreciate it. Night, ma-"

He ended the call and slammed his cell down quickly. God, what a fucking asshole, right? Right? Oh god, had he been the asshole?

Whatever. Sleep was both strong and heavy as it dragged him under. All he could hope for at that point was that his dreams were kinder to him than his thoughts had been throughout the day.

As I said, shortest chapter yet, so I'm hoping it held up okay! I considered adding Greyson and Matt's meeting on to this chapter but honestly I thought it better to leave some time to stew and think over Matt before properly meeting him. River trusts him, Greyson doesn't, I'm curious as to what anyone else thinks.

Also, on an unrelated note, I realized that there was something I plan to include in this story that I don't know if I've warned about/mentioned. Obviously Phoebe and Jen are queer, as are Callum and Jacob. I just wanted to make it abundantly clear right now that there are going to be scenes of same sex couples. Just like the scenes that I've written for River and Greyson, there will, at some point or another, be scenes of a similar nature for two men, two women, possibly threesomes or whatever, so if that's not your thing then I'd suggest you can stop reading now. I say this because, while I'm willing to put warnings on the chapters, I don't want anyone who doesn't want to be reading that to invest their time into this story because I'm firm on adding exactly what I intend to add.

Okay, massive author's note aside, thank you so much for reading, please have a great day!