Desire Me If You Can Chapter 47

“Hey…”

As soon as he got out of the car, Grayson, who had been looking around for Dane, shouted toward the man’s back, already quite a distance away. He was just about to catch up and grill him about the meaning behind that earlier look when Ezra spotted him.

What’s he doing?

Ezra followed his gaze and was horrified. All sorts of thoughts flooded his mind like a panorama in an instant.

Miller is definitely planning to do something to Dane. I’ve managed to keep them apart until now, so what is it? Could it be that he found out it was Dane who knocked him out in that fire the other day? No way! There was no sign of that at all. Then why is he like that? This isn’t the time to be just standing here—stopping that guy is the priority!

After cycling through countless thoughts in just a few seconds, Ezra rushed forward and shouted.

“Miller, Miller! Wait a second!”

Ezra, who had suddenly appeared, blocked Grayson’s path. Grayson, who stopped in his tracks due to the sudden situation, looked at Ezra, who wore a forced smile.

“Hey, can you help me out for a second? There’s something urgent I need to get done.”

“Why should I?”

Grayson pointed around him in annoyance.

“There are plenty of guys with nothing to do. Make someone else do it.”

“Ah, no! It has to be you!”

Ezra desperately grabbed Grayson, who was just about to leave. Feeling like a cicada stuck to an old tree, he started blabbering on about anything that came to mind.

“W-we’re the only ones left, and you’re the biggest! Do you have any idea how much trouble we all went through today because of you? No, I mean, thanks to you we saved the kid, but anyway, don’t you think you have a responsibility too? Huh? You won’t do it? You’re a bad guy. You shouldn’t live like that! In this world, people are supposed to live by helping each other and relying on one another, but you, you’re just…”

Grayson looked down at the full-grown man clinging to his arm and chirping like a bird with an incredulous expression, as if asking what on earth he was doing.

“Just let go. I’ll help you later, so let go.”

“Nooooo!”

“You…”

Grayson almost spat out a curse, but it was already a meaningless act. Because by then, Dane had already disappeared from view.

“…Ha.”

Grayson let out a breath of disbelief and stood tall where he was. Ezra also relaxed his body once he saw that Dane had safely vanished. Grayson swept his hair back in annoyance and glared down at Ezra with a menacing face. Terrified, Ezra stepped back, and Grayson growled through gritted teeth.

“So, what is this favor?”

A gleam flickered in his purple eyes. Feeling a sense of crisis that if he said one wrong word, his bones would be pulverized into powder, Ezra scrambled back. Even so, feeling the lingering murderous intent, he offered an awkward laugh along with a cold sweat.

“Oh, uh, what was it again…”

He looked around, but there was no way out. Checking that his useless colleagues were just standing there blankly, he had no choice but to turn back to Grayson. To Grayson, who was still glaring at him with a cold face, Ezra let out a loud “Ha-ha-ha” and said,

“I, I forgot. Ha-ha-ha!”

“You…”

The moment Grayson clenched his fist, Ezra disappeared into a dead sprint faster than he had ever run in his life. Left alone, Grayson shook his head in disbelief, then let out a curse and kicked the fire truck’s tire.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Anyway, take it easy.”

The rescue worker who handed Dane the cream to apply to his bruised chest lightly scolded him. The injury from his scuffle with Santiano’s father had begun to make its presence known while he was in the car on the way back after finishing everything. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like any bones were broken, but the bruising was quite severe, and it looked like he’d be dealing with a headache for at least a few days. After receiving the cream, which was supposed to alleviate the pain and clear up the bruising, he came out only to find that the guys he’d been deployed with had already disappeared.

They must have clocked out, obviously.

Dane also wanted to go home and rest immediately, but he was covered in dust from head to toe and had to wash it off somehow. If he went home like this, it would have a terrible effect on Darling, who would immediately start rubbing his body all over Dane.

Dane shoved the cream into his pocket and headed straight for the shower room.

∞ ∞ ∞

Grayson sat on the locker room bench and glared in one direction in annoyance. The other guys had all finished showering and left. All except for Grayson and one other person.

Dane Striker.

By good fortune, Grayson had found out that Dane had gone to get treated by the paramedics. And he hadn’t appeared yet. Grayson could wait as long as he needed. Time was the one thing he had in abundance.

I have to hear what that expression meant. Grayson made up his mind and waited solely for the door to open. But then.

Grayson paused and turned his head at the sound of faint water running. He held his breath and waited, his ears twitching as they picked up the noise.

Someone is in the shower.

The hesitation lasted only a second or two. He immediately grasped the situation. That damn Dane Striker had gone straight to the shower room. Naturally, Grayson headed to the shower room. As he walked quickly, almost running with his long strides, an endless stream of questions he’d been thinking about sprouted in his mind. Ten steps, five steps, one step.

Finally, as he threw open the shower room door, the sound of pouring water immediately struck his ears. Among the empty stalls, the only one with steam billowing out from the hot water was the one farthest from the entrance.

Grayson glared at that stall with his arms crossed. Behind the one-sided swing door, which was only long enough to cover from the chest to the thighs, Dane Striker was washing his body. Grayson waited patiently. Until he washed every inch of that damn body of his and came out.

To his frustration, Dane took forever to wash. He even began to suspect that maybe Dane knew Grayson was waiting and was doing it on purpose.

He rubbed the provided shampoo in his hands until it lathered, scrubbed his hair for a long time, and once he finished washing his hair, he started scrubbing his entire body. Grayson checked his watch repeatedly in annoyance. He wanted to throw open that ridiculous swing door, grab him by the collar, and drag him out right then and there, but unfortunately, Dane was naked.

If there’s no collar to grab, should I grab him by the neck? Just as he was seriously contemplating this, as if Dane had read his mind, he turned off the faucet.

Only then did Grayson straighten his body, which had been leaning crookedly against the door, and watch him emerge. True to his tall stature, Dane reached for the top of the swing door and opened it. First, his long legs appeared, then his firm thighs, and then his entire body was revealed. Dane Striker turned around, completely naked and with no intention of covering himself, perhaps thinking he was alone. Grayson saw it all.

“You, that look from earlier, what on earth…”

The moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived. Grayson opened his mouth to bring up the words he had been collecting in his head. And then, he froze exactly where he was.