One Sweet Ride

by Jaci Burton

Page 40

  Author: Jaci Burton

  Except the race hadn’t turned out like he’d expected, and they’d never had a chance to talk. He also knew her schedule here at the convention, since she was right by his father’s side. She was running constantly, meeting with delegates and press and working on that whole social media thing she did so well. So he sat back and did his recovery thing and kept tabs on her while also working on a few surprises for her that he’d maybe spring on her after this was all over with.

  His dad stopped by several times a day to see how he was doing, a fact that still shocked the hell out of him. He wouldn’t say they were close as a father and son should be yet, but his dad had gone out of his way to make Gray a priority, and that meant a lot to him, especially since his father had zero expectations of Gray making an appearance on the convention room floor. In fact, his dad had expressly forbidden it, which made Gray laugh since he was well past the age where his dad could forbid him to do anything he had a mind to do.

  And he had a couple things in mind.

  Starting tonight.

  *

  EVELYN WAS RUNNING FROM ONE END OF THE CONVENTION floor to the other, her head filled with so many things on her to-do list she was grateful for the calendar on her phone, because her brain was utterly fried.

  She was exhilarated, and exhausted, thrilled and terrified, and so excited for Senator Mitchell. This was his moment, what they’d worked so hard for all these years.

  She’d listened avidly to every speech this week, excitement building each night for the upcoming Cameron/Preston ticket. She stood front and center, prepared to listen to more great speeches tonight, so proud of everything they’d accomplished.

  As one of Atlanta’s representatives spoke, Evelyn responded to a few emails that had gone unanswered while she’d been busy today. And maybe she’d been purposely throwing herself into every activity possible so she could focus on work and not on Gray.

  God, she missed him so much and wished she could be in Daytona with him, taking care of him. She was certain he had plenty of people watching over him. Loretta and Carolina both assured her he was being well cared for and she didn’t have to worry about him, but she couldn’t help herself. She felt both guilty and a little hurt that she hadn’t been able to see him since that night in the hospital, but that was the nature of her job. And also his choice.

  He hadn’t called her. She tried not to take that personally, or as a sign of things to come in their relationship. He had a bad injury, and was likely concentrating all his efforts on resting and recuperating, not on thinking about her.

  But her heart still hurt so badly, which was why she spent every moment of every day throwing herself into work.

  Besides, this was the way things were going to be. Her time with him was over. He had his life, and she had hers, and her job was about to go on overdrive for the next few months. She had no time for a relationship, no time to work on whatever it was she and Gray had together.

  It was time to sever the ties.

  “And now, I’m so proud to introduce, fresh off one very frightening injury at our local racetrack this past weekend, Senator Mitchell Preston’s son, Grayson Preston. ”

  Her head shot up. Gray was here?

  He hobbled across the stage on crutches and her first thought was to rush up there to help him. But he smiled at the representative and made his way, albeit slowly, to the podium, to the raucous cheers of the crowd on the convention floor.

  He was in pain. She could tell from the sweat that beaded on his upper lip as she made her way closer.

  When the applause died down, Gray looked out over the crowd.

  “I’ve never been much of a public speaker. I’ve always let my driving do the talking for me. ” He looked down at the crutches. “Sometimes my driving outlines my mistakes for me, too. ”

  The crowd laughed.

  “But the one thing I know for certain is what Governor Cameron and my father, Mitchell Preston, can do for our country. ”

  His speech was eloquent, impassioned, family oriented, and politically perfect. It was clear he spoke from the heart and his speech wasn’t practiced, nor had it been written for him. If it had been, she would have been the one to write it.

  And she hadn’t even known he was coming.

  “So I’m very proud to introduce you to my father, Senator Mitchell Preston. ”

  The applause was thunderous, the people in the convention center already one hundred percent behind Gray’s father. Evelyn took it all in as Mitchell came out and gave his son a handshake, then a very gentle hug. The looks they gave each other were filled with genuine warmth.

  It was a perfect moment, and the media caught it all. But it was more than that, because Evelyn saw the bonding between father and son, and that meant more than anything.

  She stood and listened to Mitchell’s speech, one she’d helped him prepare. But her gaze followed Gray off stage. She wanted to go to him, to talk to him, but her job was to be there for the senator, so she stayed put while he spoke of the country’s needs and his ideas on how to fulfill them. She was so proud of him, and when he finished, the convention floor thundered its approval.

  It was a shining moment, one she was fully caught up in.

  It wasn’t until hours later, when all the interviews for the day were finished, that she was able to ask the senator about Gray’s appearance tonight.

  “I had no idea he was going to appear. I told him not to,” the senator said.

  “I thought he was in Daytona. ”

  The senator smiled. “I put him up in a suite here at the hotel. ”

  Her eyes widened. “He’s been here the whole time?”

  “Yes. He didn’t want you to know. ”

  Hurt clenched her stomach. “Why is that?”

  “He wanted you focused on what you needed to do here, not on him. He said your job is your priority. ”

  “I see. ” How nice of him to make that decision for her, or to think she couldn’t juggle both. A familiar refrain, and one she’d heard before. “Is he still here?”

  “Of course. ” The senator gave her Gray’s room number and, once she was certain the senator didn’t need her anymore that night, she headed up there.

  It was unfair to fight with a man who was physically down. But then again, he’d looked capable standing at the podium tonight, hadn’t he?

  She knocked at the door and a very attractive woman answered. She wore a pantsuit and looked official. And gorgeous, with her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and her exotic eyes all sexy.

  Dammit.

  Evelyn cocked a brow.

  “May I help you?” the woman asked.

  “I’m here to see Gray. ”

  “He’s not receiving visitors. ”

  “Oh, he’ll see me. ” She brushed past. The woman objected, but Evelyn didn’t care.

  “I tried to stop her, Gray,” the woman said.

  Gray was sprawled on the sofa, his casted foot resting on an ottoman.

  “Hey,” he said, smiling at her. “It’s okay, Cathy. This is Evelyn, my dad’s aide. And Evelyn’s a good friend of mine. Evelyn, Cathy’s my nurse. ”

  His dad’s aide? That’s how he introduced her? And yeah, this Cathy chick totally looked like a nurse.

  Not.

  Evelyn gave her a clipped nod.

  “Cathy, why don’t you take off for the night? I’m good here. ”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yup. I’ll call you if I need anything. ”

  “All right. Good night. ” Cathy picked up her bag and left the suite.

  “Come sit down. You want something to drink?”

  “No. I want to know why you didn’t tell me you were here. ”

  He grabbed the remote and turned off the television, then gave her a smile that heated her all the way to her toes. She ordered her body to ignore that physical
response to him.

  “Because I didn’t want you worrying about me or fussing over me. I knew you had a big job to do this week. I knew how much you’d been looking forward to it. And that’s what you needed to focus on. Not on me. ”

  She folded her arms over each other. “I see. And you think I’m too stupid to multitask?”

  “Uh, I didn’t say that. ” He studied her. “Are you pissed at me?”

  “You’re damn right, I’m pissed at you. Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? My God, Gray. That accident was horrific. I’ve thought about you all week, worried about you, wondered how you were doing. ”

  “Exactly. And this was your week to shine. The last thing you needed was to think about me. ”

  She rolled her eyes. “Don’t treat me like I’m a simpleton. I could have handled your father’s appearance at the convention along with caring about you. And don’t presume to make decisions for me and my life. I thought you were better than that, better than those people who told me I couldn’t be the kind of woman who could have a career and a man in my life, who couldn’t have everything I wanted. ”

  “So what are you saying?”

  “Right now I’m saying I’m damn angry with you for pulling yourself out of my life when you were hurt because you thought I couldn’t handle it and my career, too. I thought better of you. I guess I was wrong. ”

  “Now hang on. ” He struggled to get up, and he winced, reached for his side.

  It gave her the advantage. His crutches were across the room. “Just stay where you are. ”

  “I want to talk to you—face-to-face. ”

  “We don’t have anything to say to each other that requires you standing up. ”

  Out of breath from the attempt to get up, he leaned back against the sofa. “Now who’s the one presuming?”

  Pain lanced her as she realized she was arguing with him about nothing. “This is pointless anyway. We already knew our relationship was going nowhere, that once the campaign finished, so were we. ”

  His expression went icy cold. “Oh, is that what we knew? Or did you just make that decision for us?”

  She lifted her chin. “Be realistic, Gray. How would we make it work? I’m going to be in D. C. That’s my home base. That’s where I want to be and where my future lies.

  And you’re”—she waved her hand—“everywhere else. ”

  “So you’ve decided that you and I can never work. And there you go presuming again. ”

  She refused to let him bait her. “It just doesn’t make sense and we’ll both get hurt in the long run. ”

  “Yeah, might as well cut our losses while we can, right? A good campaign strategist knows when to get out of a race before an impending loss. ”

  “Yes. That’s it exactly. ”

  He reached for the remote. “Then I guess we’re done here, Evelyn. ”

  She stared down at him, already missing him, aching to lie down beside him and put her arms around him one last time.

  But he was right. It was time to cut their losses.

  “I guess we are, Gray. ”

  She turned around and headed toward the door, pausing to take one last look. “You should call your . . . nurse to help you off the sofa. ”

  She closed the door to the suite behind her and made it all the way to her room before the tears started to track down her cheeks.

  She left the light off as she entered her hotel room, closed the door, and fell onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

  It was over between them.

  It should be a relief. Now she could concentrate on the presidential campaign with nothing else on her mind, no emotional entanglements.

  Just work. Just the way she’d always liked it.

  She smiled into the darkness, realizing the idiocy of that statement.

  She’d just walked away from the man she loved. And she’d never told him she loved him.

  Despite the fact it was “for the best,” as she’d told him, it wasn’t the best.