🥊 Hate or Fate 💕 {Enemies to Lovers}

.22.

The butterfly stitch over Gray's eyebrow certainly helped his whole 'bad boy' image thing. I kept stealing glances at it while he slouched in the leather passenger seat of his BMW, sulking.

"So, you told him?" He finally muttered, staring out the window while the city lit him in neon, like some kind of broody emo anime character.

"I let it slip," I conceded, impressed he'd actually waited to scold me. "I just wanted to hear him tell me the truth."

I felt terrible selling Gray out like that, and to his best friend. I wasn't trying to get anyone in trouble, but the moment the lie escaped Elijah's lips, I couldn't hold back that I knew. I knew he was a callous liar. I knew that there had been more than one momentary indiscretion. But, instead of owning to his mistakes, he dug himself in deeper.

"That's not awesome," Gray sighed despondently. "He's going to be such a little bitch about this, forever."

"Those weren't exactly the words I'd use to describe his reaction," I shivered against his cozy seat warmers.

The car handled like it was gliding over the streets, humming with the raw power it was capable of. I'd never driven a luxury car before, and it was thrilling.

I inhaled the subtle leather mixing with Gray's natural scent. Honestly, I couldn't get enough of it. He smelled like sweat-worn rawhide, and dusky summer nights, and bitter dark chocolate paired with rich merlot, and forbidden pleasures that left you wet from the taste.

Also, he smelled a little bit like industrial-strength bleach. Like the kind used in hospital emergency rooms.

"Yeah, he's a little miffed," Gray gave a dark chuckle. "How are you?"

"You actually want to know?"

"Yeah."

"I'm really confused," I pronounced as I slowed his car to a stop at a red light. "I kind of don't know what to think, because I'm simultaneously having every thought at once, you know?"

Elijah claimed Gray had a crush on me, but that couldn't be right. Elijah had told so many lies, he probably didn't even know the difference anymore.

"Yes," he whispered, curling his lips into a smile that creased his cheek.

My eyes snapped back to the road, afraid of the buzz that gave me in my swimsuit area.

"You know what I really want to do?" I asked, caressing the buttery leather covering his steering wheel and letting my jumbled feelings free flow. "I want to drive this car really fast."

Gray's face brightened at my revelation.

With my foot still on the break I tapped the gas pedal to make the engine bend to my reckless will. The urgent growl was turning me on while Gray watched with a look of unadulterated enthrallment.

"Let's do it," he said. "Let's go now."

"Like, now, now?" I peeked at him. "As in, before we change our minds?"

"My mind is made up," he replied.

My head started spinning again, thinking of all the rational reasons I shouldn't follow through.

One, I had scripts that I could be working on.

Two, I should probably go back to Rebecca's apartment and sort through my feelings about the scary violence I'd just witnessed.

Three, Elijah would have an absolute shit-fit if he found out that Gray and I were hanging out.

Four, I had laundry to do and new underwear to order.

Five, what the ever-loving fuck-nugget were we doing?

"Where to?" I asked, abandoning all caution.

The car was seducing me into doing naughty things. Gray's total willingness to be my accomplice, was egging me on. Blowing off my responsibilities to follow a crazy whim? That wasn't me. He was the Clyde to my Bonnie, and I wanted to chase the thrill.

"Take I-five," he instructed, tapping something into his phone. "I'll have Alfred navigate for us."

The city sped by in a dark blur of street signs and traffic lights.

"In forty feet, take a right at Mercer to merge onto I-five south," a proper sounding British voice suddenly filled the car.

"Was that your phone?" I giggled.

"Yeah, I call him Alfred because I can make it talk like a droll Englishman," he ducked his head with a shy smile.

Who knew Gray could get flustered? His bashful reaction softened his features and it was kind of cute.

"And because that makes you, Batman?" I asked, flashing him a knowing grin.

"Always be Batman," he arched his pierced brow and turned to look right at me.

Another giggle bubbled over my lips, releasing some of my pent-up energy. "More like, Peter Parker, if you ask me."

"Oh-ho!" Gray's smile grew into an animated grin that glinted in his eyes. "Because of the camera?"

"Was your Spidey sense tingling?" I teased.

"You're a secret geek!"

"You started it," I pointed out.

"You're right."

"Excuse me?" I scoffed. "Did you just say I was right about something?"

Gray cringed. "Yeah, but just this once," he admitted begrudgingly. "And only because they gave me drugs at the hospital."

"So, riddle me this, Batman," I teased him with a waggle of my brow. "Who shot first, Han or Greedo?"

"Definitely Han," Gray didn't hesitate.

"You're a geek too!" I exploded.

"Guilty," he relaxed into a timid smile. "I even have the tattoos to prove it."

Something niggled my side when he said that. I'd always wanted to spend the time to really look at Gray's tattoos, but I wasn't willing to get close enough to him to try.

In college, he used to sketch the most intricate designs during lectures, instead of actually listening to our professors. I'd always wondered if he'd been creating any of the ink that wound up on his body (I also marveled at how he managed to ace every class without even trying). Knowing that there was geeky stuff hidden on his skin, made me want to look even more.

It made me wonder what else I didn't know about Gray.

"So, really," I tried to glance at the center console where a map was conveniently illuminated on the smart screen. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Gray's mischievous smile glowed red as we entered the taillights of the freeway.