All Chapters of Off Limits : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The house was quiet when we returned.Grayson shut the door with more force than necessary, the thud reverberating through the hallway. He tossed his keys onto the console table, his movements controlled only by the thin edge of his discipline.I hovered near the stairs, arms crossed over my chest, trying to breathe past the knot that had been choking me since the cafe.He turned. His eyes, still storm-dark from earlier, locked onto mine. “You should have told me.”My stomach clenched. “Told you what?”“That Mary’s been circling you for weeks. That she’s asking questions, digging into things she has no right to touch.” His voice was low, restrained. “You let her corner you without saying a word to me, Callie. Why?”The accusation stung, not because he was wrong but because it was close to the fear I’d been hiding. My chin lifted, stubborn. “Because I didn’t want to make it real. If I ignored her, maybe she’d stop.”His l

Callie The fluorescent lights of the grocery store buzzed faintly overhead, too bright, compared to the lake’s shadows and secrets the day before. I pushed the cart slowly, pretending to scan shelves, though my mind was still caught in the heat of Grayson’s touch—the weight of his hands on my hips, the way his voice had whispered mine into my ear.But here, among baskets of apples and the chatter of ordinary people, it all felt fragile. The squeak of the cart wheels grated against my nerves, each turn down the aisle was too normal. The steady beeping of registers at the front reminded me how quickly yesterday’s fire could turn into today’s scandal if the wrong eyes noticed. I caught sight of Mrs. Dalton, the woman who lived two streets over, pretending to compare cereal boxes while her gaze lingered just a second too long. A question crawled up my spine. Do they know?I was reaching for a carton of milk when I heard it. Two women by the fruit stand, their voices pitched low but shar

CallieMorning sunlight bled through the curtains, warming my bare shoulders. Grayson’s arm was still around me, heavy, unyielding, like even in sleep he refused to let me go. His breath stirred my hair, a quiet claim, as if last night had drained him as much as it had me.I should have slipped out quietly. Should have pretended the world outside this room didn’t exist. But the clock ticked, each second bringing me closer to Mia waking up. That thought was enough to push me out of his warmth.In the bathroom mirror, I found his mark on me… bruises blooming dark across my throat and collarbone. I traced them with trembling fingers, heat rushing into my face.When I came back out, he was awake, propped on one elbow, watching. His gaze flicked to the marks and his jaw flexed.“I like seeing them on you.”Heat climbed my neck, not entirely shame. “Mia will notice.”His expression flickered—hesitation, then that stubborn pride. “She won’t. I won’t let her.”We both knew there were things h

CallieThe next morning, everything felt heavier, like Mary had left her mark on the whole town.At the cafe, a woman I vaguely remembered from high school smiled too sweetly when she saw me. “Back home for the summer, huh?” she asked, voice honeyed. Her gaze flicked to the faint shadow on my neck, lingering with a knowing tilt of her lips.At the grocery store, Mr. Hanley, who’d known Mia and me since we were children, frowned as I passed. He didn’t say anything, but the weight of his stare was enough.And outside the florist, two women leaned in close, whispering behind their hands. The words didn’t reach me, but the way their eyes cut toward me made my stomach knot.Mary’s influence. Her poison was seeping through the cracks already.On reaching the parking lot, my palms were already sweaty. The world around me moved as usual—traffic humming, kids laughing—but it all felt distorted, like looking at life through glass warped by heat. My reflection in the car window startled me… eyes

CallieThe next afternoon, the town felt calm, like nothing had happened in Grayson’s truck the night before. Like I wasn’t still sore from it, both in the best and worst way.But the ache was still there. I felt it in the back of my knees, in the spot on my throat where he’d bitten, in the bruises my mind couldn’t forget. Every step reminded me of his hands, his voice, the way he took me so completely it burned away everything Mary had left behind.I told myself to stay calm. Just coffee. Just a walk in the park. Just a normal day. A lie I clung to, even though I knew everything was already falling apart.Grayson had said we needed normal moments too, a break from the constant rush. “We can’t live on adrenaline forever,” he told me this morning, his thumb brushing my lip like he could erase last night. I didn’t know if this counted, but when he showed up at the curb with his jacket over his shoulder and the smallest smile on h