His hand wrapped around a strand of my hair and wouldn't let go.

I sighed in contentment as his fingernails brushed along my scalp and soothed a beautiful pattern into my skin.

We were in his bed, again, although I knew I should've been getting ready. Of course, that didn't stop me from soaking up each and every moment I could latch onto with him.

It was never enough with him.

"What are you thinking about?"

His breath tickled my hair and the deep timbre of his voice echoed throughout my entire body—just like it always did.

"How I should be getting ready for tonight but instead I'd just rather have a party in your room that I don't have to get ready for."

"A party in my bed, is that right?"

I squealed as he flipped me over and pinned my arms above my head with one hand, the other starting a painfully pleasurable descent down my body.

"Grey..." I started in warning, but there was laughter in my voice and he didn't miss the amusement I could practically dripping from my eyes.

"Cami..."

I shivered at the desire and need coated in his words.

"What are you doing?"

He leaned down close, a mixture of peppermint and cologne swirling around him and making him damn near irresistible to me in that moment.

Hell, in every moment he was irresistible to me.

I wasn't going to let him know that, though. I needed to keep some semblance of my pride in tact, no matter how much I just wanted to lean my neck back and beg him to do whatever he wanted with me—not just in that moment, but in each and every one we'd shared thus far and would share in the future together.

One flick of his tongue on the sensitive flesh of my neck and I was writhing in his arms.

"Is this alright?"

"Yes, Grey."

We'd had many talks about consent in our relationship—all of which had ended with me explaining that I was safest when I was with him—that I felt strong and pure and perfect in his arms.

He always asked, though. No matter what.

And that shriveled up piece of me inside my chest slowly unraveled and bloomed further each and every time he did.

The taste of his lips was like the first breath of air after coming up from the bottom of a lake desperate for oxygen.

The smooth caress of his skin against mine like feeling velvet or silk for the first time—sensations and delicate ministrations of body against body and lips to perfect lips.

I gasped out in pure ecstasy as he slid a hand up underneath my shirt and skimmed it over the top of my bra, finding the peaked flesh there aching and burning for more of his touch.

He made quick work of me, whipping my clothes off as I broke free of his hold and undid the buttons of his jeans.

The first time we'd been together was something I couldn't have put into words if I tried.

It was difficult and messy and broken and I'd cried more than once, but it was ours and it was absolutely perfect.

"With me," he murmured against my flesh dotted with chills and raised bumps.

"I'm with you," I responded, our own special code words to pull me out of my thoughts and just be with him in the moment.

It happened more often than I wanted to admit—my mind returning back to the past and unfocusing on the events of the present, but Grey was always there to hold me in his hands, fragile and breakable yet strong and determined. He was always the one to bring me back to the moment laid out in front of me.

"Cami," he warned, a dark rumble pouring from the back of his throat, and my eyes flicked to his in an instant.

Lust and need were warring with the love that always shone there upon looking at me. I knew without having to look in a photo or mirror that I held a perfect replica of his gaze reflecting back to him.

The first slide of him inside of me was a raptured ecstasy that swam in gilded pools of sunlight and starfire.

His mouth captured mine and then it was a frenzied escape to euphoric bliss holding each other in the dim lamp light of his bedroom in our sanctuary free from the eyes of the rest of the world.

It was just Grey and Cami—me and him against the world.

As he poured his energy and desire into my body and I returned it tenfold, we burned through the shackles that bound us to the past and forged our bodies in molten metal that melted away anything that had ever held us back before.

It wasn't until after we'd both toppled over the edge of release together and I'd slipped into the room that used to be mine to get ready that I allowed myself one breath of remembrance of the way things used to be.

Before I had a place to call home.

Before I felt safe in anyone's arms.

Before I allowed someone to touch me so intimately that it burned a hole right into my chest straight to my bruised soul I hid so deep beneath the surface.

I slipped into the white and silver gown studded with iridescent rhinestones and watched as the fabric pooled around my feet and the heels I'd paired it with.

My makeup was natural and my hair fell down around my shoulders in soft waves.

Maria sucked in a sharp breath from behind me where she'd been watching me fix a stray thread off my dress.

"You look stunning, Camille."

"Thank you," I said, and I meant it.

Our bond had only grown stronger after everything had come to light and I was around her home more nights than not.

"I think Grey might lose his mind when he sees you in this. I made him stay downstairs with his brother while they wait on you and Alec."

"Perfect."

I didn't hide the powerful smile that broke my face apart when I crested the top of the staircase.

Like his namesake, his grey bespoke suit hugged all of his muscles, but he didn't lose his individuality.

His lip piercing was out in full force, the black stud on his bottom lip daring me to tug it into my mouth while a silver bar protruded from his eyebrow.

He was danger wrapped up in smoke and he was all mine.

We didn't waste much time with pictures before sliding into Parker's new car after Alec arrived, posing with his boyfriend for their first official outing as a couple.

The school was draped in red and white, an homage to the theme: fire and ice.

Mori and Victoria swarmed us as we entered, and I was thankful Leah had stayed where she was with Kennedy because even though we both shared a vehement hatred for our abuser, that didn't mean we were going to be best friends.

"You look amazing," Mori breathed, her dark skin shining and gleaming against the golden sparkling dress that draped over her body like it was tailor made for her.

"You don't look so bad yourself, golden goddess," I told her and she rolled her eyes but clasped Kennedy's arm tighter to her and they smiled widely at each other before going off to get drinks.

Loud, pumping bass filled the air as I turned to the dance floor with my friends and my boyfriend, insanely happy that I was able to call him that.

I ignored the stares of the crowd, used to the attention after everything that had happened at the school, but I refused to let it show that it affected me in the slightest. They could talk all they wanted, stare to their heart's content—but they'd never know the real me underneath the outward appearance they saw.

Grey tugged on my hand and pulled me by myself in the dancing circle and my hands wove their way around his neck, enveloping myself in his scent and presence.

The music thumped and pulsed but we didn't dance to the tune of the song. We weaved our bodies together like it was a slow ballad, coiled around each other like the rest of the world didn't exist.

He leaned down to place his lips against my own, and the sparkling lights bounded off the backs of my eyelids as I closed them and sighed against his mouth.

"With me?" He whispered against my lips.

"I'm with you, Grey. Always."