Infinitely Mine (Incapable Part Three)

by Skye,Marie

  I banged on the door louder. “Open the door Chace! I swear, I will break the fucking door down!”

  Two seconds later, Chace opened the door. His hair was disheveled, as if I had woken him from sleeping. I probably had. I stormed past him, looking around the space. “Where is she?”

  He looked at me confused. “Who?”

  “Emmalin. Do you have her? I swear to God, Chace, if you have her, so help me…”

  “Calm your ass man, she’s not here!”

  I stared at him. His hands were clenched in fists, as if he was about to punch me.

  “What did you do? Why would she come here?”

  My shoulders slumped in defeat, realizing he was telling the truth, and I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling a migraine starting to come on. “She left,” I whispered.

  “The fuck do you mean she left? I thought things were going well.”

  I sighed, going to the liquor cabinet. “So did I, but she’s been off the past few weeks. She spewed off some shit, saying I needed to be with someone else, and the guilt was eating at her.” I shot back the Dalmore, followed quickly by another.

  “Maybe she just needs some time Grayson. She’s been through a shit ton these past few months. You know that.”

  “That’s the last thing she needs. Giving her time means giving her room to start thinking up shit and making excuses, and the next thing I know, she’ll be trying to push me further away because she’ll think that’s best.”

  Before Chace could respond, a noise in the back room stopped him and my head whipped to the sound. My eyes cut to his, and I swore he turned white. I slammed my glass on the countertop as I rounded the corner, heading toward his bedroom, and opened the door.

  “Emmalin!”

  I stopped in my tracks at the sight before me. I slowly turned to Chace, who stared at me guiltily, and I turned my attention back to the room before slowly shutting the door behind me.

  Chace stood staring at me with an arched eyebrow.

  I crossed my arms as I met his gaze. “Clearly, I’ve interrupted something.”

  “So was she there?”

  I chuckled. “No. She wasn’t there. Chace wasn’t lying to me. I’d threatened him so bad the first time, he wouldn’t lie to me about that again.” I took a sip of my water. “I did have her followed though. She had boarded a bus with her final destination being a smaller town called Quincy.”

  “That had to be surprising.”

  “That’s the understatement of the year. I figured she would be going to a hotel or something, not to another town that was four hours away.”

  Dr. Klein shifted in his chair and was quiet a moment before speaking again. “But you didn’t go after her.”

  “Was that a question?”

  “I suppose not, more of an observation. Let’s rehash. You were always so adamant about going after her, but this time you didn’t. I’m curious, Grayson, what changed in that brief moment?”

  My mouth opened, then shut. I was suddenly blank, and for the first time, I didn’t have an answer. I felt myself break out into a cold sweat. I took off my suit jacket and downed my ice water. I finally glanced up at Dr. Klein, who was watching me with a worried expression on his face.

  “I don’t know,” I finally admitted before letting out an awkward laugh. “I do not know what changed. I think I was trying to give her what she was asking for, and hoped she would come around.” I thought deeper about what I didn’t want to say but had to. “And fuck, I think a part of me, just for a second, wanted to see what life was like with her not in it.”

  Dr. Klein nodded as he wrote something down on his tablet. “And what was life like without her?”

  I stared at the carpet for a while before finally meeting his eyes. “It was hell. I felt like I was suffocating, and couldn’t breathe the entire time. I hated every second of it. Even more so, I hate that I went to the extreme of purposely hurting her because she had hurt me by leaving, by leaving us. I was unbelievably cruel and hurtful, and made sure to stab her in the best way I knew how, because I knew she would see it.”

  “Anger was an acceptable form of behavior Grayson, but I can’t say I agree with the way you went about handling your emotions. Perhaps talking would’ve sufficed.”

  “She left because of Carmen.” My tone was monotonous at the name. Dr. Klein’s eyes widened at the mention of Carmen’s name.

  “Your deceased wife? How did that play into the picture?”

  I laughed. “Turns out she’s not dead. She’s very much alive…sort of.”

  “What the fuck?”

  My eyes shot up to Dr. Klein’s. In all the years I’d been seeing him for counseling, I’d never heard him cuss, not one time. It sounded weird coming from him. I smiled and slowly stood up. “What do you say we take the rest of this session to the bar on the corner? You look like you could use a drink for this conversation.”

  Forty-five minutes later, Dr. Klein was on his second Begyle Blonde, and me, my second bourbon. Unbeknownst to him, he was getting louder with each question. I was glad we were in a corner away from everyone.

  “So wait, tell me again—she’s been alive the whole time? The whole time?”

  I looked around the bar, starting to realize I should’ve ordered him milk. “Yes. Apparently, she’s been alive this whole time,” I repeated for the fourth time. What the hell was I thinking taking him for a drink? “She’s been in London at a hospital. Her memory is shot. She’s basically a vegetable.” I motioned to the waiter for a glass of ice water.

  “Man, that reunion must’ve been rough.”

  I sighed. “Something like that. She doesn’t remember anything. Not only does she not remember anything, but she and Dale had been scheming behind my back before we were ‘married’. They’ve been working on extortion against me. Emmalin thought she was doing me a favor by leaving because she thought I needed to be with Carmen.”

  Dr. Klein stared at me a minute before he started smiling. I started thinking about Emmalin, and how we still had so much to work on.

  “Damn.”

  My thoughts were jarred by Dr. Klein, and I glanced up at him over my drink. “What?”

  “You realize what she did, right?”

  I rolled my eyes; I didn’t have time for his analogies that night. “Explain.”

  He chuckled, draining his water. “If there was a chance for you and Carmen to be together, she was willing to walk away to make that happen, no matter how miserable that made her. When you told Emmalin about Carmen, it was on the grounds that you truly loved Carmen. After tonight’s explanation, I’ve come to the realization that you never did love Carmen.”

  I shook my head. “I loved Carmen.”

  “No you didn’t. You were in love with the idea of being in love. You abided by Carmen, which is how she wanted you. Your entire relationship was a lie Grayson. Now, how I see it, if Emmalin had never left, you never would have found out this new information, you never would’ve found your peace with Carmen—which is what you needed. You may not want to admit it, but Emmalin did you a favor.”

  He got up, put his jacket on, and pulled out his wallet. I raised my hand. “This is on me.”

  He nodded. “Thank you. I’ll see you two soon.”

  I watched him leave, thinking about what he’d said. Had I ever been in love with Carmen, or had I just loved the idea?

  “You don’t have anything to be worried about.”

  I shrugged my tie, loosening it. “You don’t think this is too fast? We haven’t known each other that long.”

  “No!” she answered hurriedly. Her voice softened as she placed her hand on my chest. “No sweetie, it’s not too fast. Our baby deserves both parents together.” She placed my hand on her flat stomach as she leaned up to kiss me.

  “We’re getting married today, Grayson. It’ll make me so happy.”

  I sighed. “But my family, Carmen. They would want to be here.”

  I watched as she fixed her makeup in the mirror.
“They’ll be fine, Grayson.” I noted how her voice turned cold. “Stop always undermining my decisions. If it makes you feel better, when we get back, we can have a big ceremony. They won’t know the difference.”

  I narrowed my eyes and closed the small distance between us, and she yelped as I swung her around to face me. My face was close to hers. “Don’t use my family as a threat against me, Carmen. You know better.” She tried wrestling out of my grip, but I held her firm. She stared at me with venom in her eyes before it quickly faded, and she smiled. “Let’s get married sweetie.” She said it in such a sticky sweet way, it made my stomach roil.

  I woke up drenched in sweat. It was the third time that week I’d had that dream about the day of my impending wedding to Carmen. The sad thing was, each time I dreamt it, everything became clearer, the signs I hadn’t seen before. The feelings I hadn’t felt before, I was now suddenly feeling.

  I looked at my phone. It was just after three in the morning. I laughed at the irony—Emmalin always woke from her dreams at three in the morning. I wondered if she was up, and started to type out a text. Fuck texting—she needed to be in my damn bed.

  Me: Are you up?

  Her response came back almost instantly.

  Emmalin: Watching Friends. Chandler just went to Joey’s “tailor”

  Me: Of all the movies on your Netflix list, you still just watch Friends

  Emmalin: And How I Met Your Mother. I could totally rock Barney Stinson’s world

  I rolled my eyes. I’ll give her something to rock. Before I could respond, my phone lit up with her calling, and I smiled.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey,” she whispered. “You’re up late.”

  I rubbed my eyes, lying back against the pillow. “I was sleeping actually, then woke up from a dream.”

  “Oh… Wanna talk about it?”

  “No.” I said it more firmly than I’d intended. “No. It was nothing.” She was quiet. “What are you doing up? I don’t want you tired while you’re driving up here tomorrow.”

  She let out a yawn. “I won’t be.”

  “I’ll send a driver.”

  “Don’t you dare. I can drive myself just fine.”

  I heard myself growling. “Is that car even safe? I recall it stalling on you a few weeks ago.”

  “It’ll be fine. You worry too much.”

  Maybe, but that wasn’t going to stop the delivery of the new Porsche Macan that would be waiting for her in a few hours, and by the time she demanded her old car back, it’d be completely demolished.

  “Get some sleep, and I’ll see you in a few hours. There’s about twenty dresses that were sent over for your selection. I think they went a little overboard. The living room looks like a damn store.”

  Emmalin let out a light giggle. “I can’t wait. See you later today.”

  “Good night Emmalin. I love you.”

  She softly sighed. “I love you too.”

  I smiled as she hung up, and felt like a giddy boy. She loved me.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Emmalin

  I checked my watch, it was just a little after nine. I was done with everything I had to do, so I didn’t think it would be a problem that I was checking out early. I glanced over at Mitch; he’d been avoiding me ever since the run in with Grayson at the fair. I still don’t know what Grayson had said to him. Every time I tried to bring it up, he just deflected and walked the other way. I walked over to him.

  “I’m going to head out.”

  He nodded, not making eye contact.

  “Is there anything else you need from me before I go?”

  He shook his head, not taking his eyes off what he was doing.

  I crossed my arms. “Mitch, is there something you need to say to me?”

  He finally looked up at me and gave me a small smile. “Have a great weekend.”

  I cocked my head at him as he turned and walked away. I sighed. “You too,” I called after him. I hung my apron up and walked out the door to the back where my car was…or where I thought my car was. I looked around the lot. Maybe I didn’t park it back here. I walked back toward the front. Did someone take my ratty ass car?

  “Ms. Ross?”

  I turned to the voice. A tall man dressed in a pristine black suit that was obviously very expensive walked toward me. He smiled kindly. Even though he was dressed nice, my defenses immediately went up, and I started to back away slowly, reached into my bag, and grabbed my pepper spray.

  “Yes?”

  He held up his hands in a defensive pose. “I apologize, I didn’t mean to scare you. Mr. Mandrake informed me you were leaving work at ten, and it looks like I arrived just in time.”

  “In time for what?” My voice probably sounded a bit shrill, but given what I’d experienced throughout my life, I didn’t like surprises—and I sure as hell didn’t like to be crept up on.

  “Your car, Ms. Ross.” He smiled warmly. I hated that he was being so calm and sincere, and I was on the verge of freaking out.

  “You know where my car is?”

  He peered over my shoulder. “Ahh, yes. Here it is now.”

  I turned to look behind me, and my mouth dropped open as another car came into the parking lot, glistening like it had come straight off the dealership lot. That was so not my car.

  A woman stepped out the car, smiling at me. “Ms. Ross. Here’s your extra key fob.” I stood there as she handed me an extra set of keys.

  “Do you have any questions before we go?”

  I stood there gawking at them. “This isn’t my car.”

  The woman looked at the man, looking almost worried. “Is it the wrong color?” she whispered to him. I watched as he took out his phone.

  “It was ordered in black. Ms. Ross, if you prefer another color, we’re more than happy to order it for you. You can have this one until the other one arrives. A custom color can be created as well.”

  “No. I mean this isn’t my car. I didn’t ask for this.” I looked around the lot again. “And where is my car? The Honda Civic?”

  “Oh, Mr. Mandrake had us remove that. It’s no longer. All items that were in the car have already been moved to the Porsche Macan. Here’s our card. If you have any questions, let us know. Enjoy. It rides very smoothly.”

  I watched as they both walked to an SUV parked off to the side of the café, and I looked back at my new car. I pulled out my phone with the sole intention of giving Grayson a piece of my mind. He answered on the first ring.

  “Don’t.”

  “Grayson, I—”

  “I said don’t.” His voice was dark and deep, and I swore my panties started to get wet. I hated that he had that effect on me.

  “You’re going to get in the car, you’re going to drive home to me, where you belong, and then I’m going to redden that beautiful ass of yours for trying to be defiant about your gift. And then, you’re going to get on your knees and thank me properly with your lips wrapped around my cock. Do I make myself clear? Say yes.”

  I didn’t say anything. I was too busy trying to calm my breathing.

  “Don’t make me wait Emmalin. I said, say yes.”

  “Yes,” I muttered.

  “Good girl. I’ll see you in a few hours. Drive safely.”

  With that, he hung up. Damn him, and damn my treacherous body for wanting everything he just said.

  I marched over to the car, got in, and sunk into the seat. The interior was a mixture of red and black leather, and it had that new car smell. As much as I hated to admit it, I fucking loved the car. I looked in the back, and sure enough, my bags that I had packed that morning were there. I adjusted my rearview mirror with the intention of getting back to Grayson’s penthouse as soon as possible, now that he’d gotten me all hot and bothered. Bastard.

  Even though I left early, there was still a ton of traffic. I should’ve been back into Chicago a little after one, but I didn’t actually arrive until almost four. I was exhausted and drained, and probably sho
uld’ve gotten more than a few hours of sleep. I rubbed my neck just as the elevator door opened and dragged my suitcase in. I looked around the living room; Grayson was right—it did look like there was a little boutique in there. I sighed. I had missed this place. Movement out the corner of my eye caught my attention. Grayson was standing in the corner, drink in hand, watching me. He looked pissed.

  “Hey.”

  He set his drink down before walking over to me and pulling me to him tightly. I took that moment to breathe him in. God, I missed him.

  “I expected you hours ago.”

  “I know. Traffic.”

  He frowned before stepping back. “Are you hungry? Let’s have a quick bite before we have to see Dr. Klein.” He took my bag from me.

  “Sure.”

  “Car drive okay?” He smiled at me cockily as he headed for the kitchen, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Yes, the car drove perfectly. It was a peach. It wasn’t necessary, or asked for, but thank you,” I said through gritted teeth.

  I sat down as he placed a plate of chicken salad, crackers, and a side of grapes in front of me.

  “You sure have a way of adding a lot of words to just the two you needed to say.” I watched as he placed some of the chicken salad on a cracker and waited for me to open my mouth. As I was chewing, he continued to talk. “If you were keen on having your own vehicle, I wanted it to be something safe, and not a piece of shit.” He fed me another cracker. After a few, I decided I’d had enough, and he glanced at his watch. “Ready?”

  I reluctantly nodded. “I guess.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Emmalin

  "It's good to see you again Emmalin."

  I smiled nervously at Dr. Klein. "Thank you."

  He nodded, opening his tablet. "So, you two are here for some counseling. Grayson tells me you're doing a long-distance relationship."

  "Her choice."

  I turned my head to Grayson. "You know why. I have commitments back home."

  "You have commitments to me."