Taming the Street Racer ✔️

38 | meet the parents

As the screen fades to black, I feel a few drops of moisture on my head. Looking up, I see Gray holding back tears to no avail. I smile up at him.

"Did you like the movie?" I ask, a teasing tone in my voice. He wipes the stray tears away, shrugging. "It was alright."

I raise my eyebrows up at him. "I see the tears on your face, Gray. A Walk To Remember changed your life, admit it."

He scrunches his face. "Fine. I guess my life is a bit sadder now that I've seen that movie."

I kiss his jaw. "I think I know a way to brighten up your life a bit." Moving onto his lap, I draw my face toward his again. I intend to take full advantage of Gray being in my bedroom while I have an empty house. He allows me to slide onto him with ease, completely on board with my plans.

We're about to lose ourselves once again, when the door suddenly slams shut. Both of us freeze, listening to the sound of high heels and dress shoes walking across the hardwood floors. Gray's hands are stuck on my hips.

My mom's voice carries up from the bottom of the staircase. "River! Who the fuck do you think you are, inviting people into our home without permission? Whose car is out front?"

I roll my eyes, and Gray tenses under me. I'm about to throw on clothes to deal with them downstairs when we hear footsteps clicking up the stairs. We look at each other, both thinking the same thing.

Fucking shit.

"They're not supposed to be home from the country club yet," I whisper-shout as we rush to throw on clothes. I almost fall over trying to tug on a pair of shorts, and Gray is searching the room for where he threw his shirt.

When my parents burst into my room, they find me and Grayson sitting on the bed unassumingly. Their eyes flit from Gray's stone expression to my apprehensive one. My mother takes in his broad frame and cold, refined features, and her lips quirk into a satisfied smile. My father notices this and straightens his back, wrapping his arm around my mother's waist.

My mom hits me with a hardened gaze, jerking her head in Gray's direction as if he's not sitting right there. Her voice softens to the tone she reserves for high-class social events. "Where are your manners, River? Introduce us to your friend here."

Her sarcastic emphasis on the word friend brings an unwilling blush to my face. To the public ear, her mocking tone is unnoticable. But after years of withstanding her subtle jabs, I hear her message loud and clear: how the hell did you manage to befriend such an attractive, obviously rich young man?

I roll my eyes. "This is Grayson Maddox. Gray, these are my loving parents."

My mom shoots me a warning look for the sarcastic tone in my introduction, smoothing her pencil skirt and rushing over to greet him. She widens her arms for a hug, clearly used to being accepted by those she greets, but Gray doesn't return it. I smile as I watch him stand up and hold out a stiff hand between them. She shakes his hand gingerly.

She shakes off the rejection, plastering a flattering smile on her face. Her white teeth gleam predatorily. "I'm Diane. Pleased to meet you. I bet you've been wondering where River got her plain looks from, and now you know it's certainly not from me." She laugh as if she just cracked the worlds funniest joke.

Less than a minute in and I'm already shaking with discomfort and bottled-up rage.

My father reaches toward Gray with a firm hand, executing a handshake I know he's perfected after years spent at social events. "That's one fine car you have parked out there. The newest model. I'd say that beauty costs about one-hundred fifty thousand, right son?"