by Marie Skye
I looked at my menu card. Impressive.
"Have I told you how stunning you look tonight?"
I smiled. "Not, in the past three minutes, no."
He leaned in closer. "I can't wait to get that dress off you.”
I blushed, and his hand began trailing up my thigh. I quickly placed my hand over his.
"You wouldn't.
He smirked. "Wouldn't I?"
Our table began to fill with other patrons, and I smiled kindly at them as the waiters set our soups down. Directly across from me sat Dale.
Grayson immediately stiffened. "I didn't realize you were at this table, Dale."
"Well, you know all top contributors and board members are at the head table, Grayson.” He smiled.
"Yes, of course. Thank you for that,” Grayson conceded, and Dale nodded. Glancing at the empty seat next to him, Grayson asked, "Did you have a date?"
"Of course. My acquaintance. Ah, here she is now."
There was a shift in the air as Grayson’s grip on my hand tightened. An impeccably dressed woman came sauntering up to the table, looking like she just stepped off the runway. Jet black hair, pouty red lips, skin porcelain white, and the biggest blue eyes I'd ever seen. She commanded grace.
As she stopped at the table, Dale rose and looked at Grayson. "I believe you know my date?"
She greeted Grayson. "Sorry, I'm late.” Then she turned to me. "I'm Lydia Mandrake, Grayson’s wife."
I could feel the blood draining from my face. She smiled at me before waving to someone and walking away. I stared down at my plate of uneaten food that once seemed so rich and delicious. Now I wanted to vomit all over it. I could vaguely hear my name being called over the sound of my blood rushing through my ears. I turned toward Grayson.
"Emmalin.” He was squeezing my hand.
I looked down at our conjoined hands and yanked mine away. I couldn't breathe. When I stood up, he stood with me.
"Emmalin—"
"I'm going to the bathroom.” I heard myself say it, but the voice didn't sound like mine. I was in complete robot mode. Entering the nearest stall, I began dry heaving. He was fucking married. Did everyone know? Was I the only idiot who didn't? Was I the laughingstock? I was living with a married man. I fell in love with a married man. After a few minutes, I came out and was greeted by Ashley Stewart. Of course.
"Well, hello. You're looking a little flushed, doll. Are you sick?"
"I'm fine,” I mumbled as I cooled my hands with the cold water, wishing I was drowning instead.
"Hmm, well enjoy the rest of your night. I'm leaving shortly with my husband. Smooches.”
I watched her leave and, after a few deep breaths, finally walked out and was immediately stopped by Grayson. I ignored him, and started searching for the nearest exit door.
"Emmalin, I need to talk to you.” Suddenly the venue exploded into cheers, and a spotlight was shined on us. I quickly stepped back, and Grayson instantly put on his showtime smile and waved. He turned to me. "I have to give the speech now.” His eyes were pleading. I nodded. He tried reaching for my hand, but I started clapping instead and smiled, just like everyone else, and his face fell. “Come with me.”
I took a step back into the crowd and I scanned the room. Dale and Lydia were off to the side, conversing. The children who put on the talent show earlier were standing and clapping. Several children from the children’s hospital, looking absolutely beautiful, were seated but still clapping. I looked back at Grayson. “They’re waiting for you. Go.”
He gave me one last look before slowly walking away. As he got to the podium, there were a few whistles and he saluted the crowd. He should give his speech. It was a great speech. I’d heard it a hundred times. I could almost repeat it. I'd heard him talk about his passion for helping children. I found it admirable. It was a great speech. Fantastic.
We made eye contact, and he looked as if he was trying to confess to me everything he could. And every confession physically hurt me more than the last. It was a great speech. But I wasn't going to be there to hear it.
Fuck. I was staring at her, pleading with her to stay, to talk to me, and all I could do was watch her walk out that door. I wanted to run after her to explain, but I couldn’t. I had to spend the next forty-five minutes doing my job, which was just enough time to lose her.
What the fuck was Lydia doing here? She hadn’t made a sound in two years, and popped up out of the fucking blue to ruin my fucking life. I was heading for the door when she stopped me.
“Grayson, I was hoping we could talk?”
I pulled her into a side room. “What the fuck are you doing here, Lydia?”
She batted her long, fake eyelashes. Everything on her was fake. “As you recall, I’m on the board. As your wife, I’m part owner.”
What the fuck was she talking about? “What the fuck are you doing here?” I said through gritted teeth.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You don’t even care that I’m here. You don’t care about anything, do you, Grayson? It’s always me, isn’t it? I cared about our baby you killed.” I stepped back as if she physically slapped me. “Or have you forgotten all about that?”
I shook my head. “I’m not discussing that with you. We’ve been through this.”
She looked at her manicured nails. “I’m not leaving town until we talk.”
I stepped closer. “You had two fucking years to talk to me. Fuck you, Lydia.” I pushed past her and headed out the door. I headed outside, noticing snowflakes beginning to fall again and I spotted Chace.
“I need your car.”
He nodded. “I already have it coming around. What the fuck is Lydia doing here?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Emmalin left.”
“I know. I came after her.”
I stopped. “Did she say anything?”
He shook his head. “No. I just made sure she took the car and that your driver took her to your house.”
His car arrived. “Thanks, man.” I jumped in and drove fast. I had to fix this. I needed to fix this.
Twenty minutes later, I finally pulled into Caliscades. It was quiet, but I knew she was here. My first instinct was to check the library. It was empty. I went into the bedroom, and she was there. She had completely changed and her hair was damp from a recent shower. She had her two bags on the bed and was going through the armoire, carefully picking over things.
“Emmalin.” She lifted her head but didn’t turn around as she pulled out another shirt. “What are you doing?”
She slammed the drawer shut and whirled around, hands on her hips. She was ready for battle. She stormed past me, and headed for the closet. Coming back out, she placed some things in her bag.
“I need you to listen to me.”
“Are you married?”
I ran my hand through my hair. “Emmalin, it’s complicated.”
“You know what, it’s not. It’s a yes or no answer. So let’s try it again. Are you married?”
I shut my eyes. “Yes.” We stood facing each other for a moment. Then she went right back to packing. I didn’t know what to do. “You need to let me explain.”
“No. You don’t get to say that. You don’t get to sit here and try to save your ass, Grayson. This whole time we’ve been together, you’ve been doing nothing but telling me how I need to be open to you, when you’ve been doing nothing but lying to me the entire time, and then you wait until I fall in love with you to announce that you’re married.”
My eyes shot up at her finally admitting that she loved me. I doubted she even realized she said it. I took a few steps toward her. “You aren’t leaving. We need to talk about this.”
“You think I’m staying here with you?”
I looked around the room. “Fine, I’ll stay in another room, but you can’t go. You said you would never leave.” She walked past me into the closet, grabbing her old coat. “Fuck, Emmalin. Don’t fucking do this.” I grabbed her and pushed her towards the wall whi
le crushing my mouth against hers. “Let me in, baby. Don’t leave me. I love you. I fucking love you.” She fought me but still moaned.
“Grayson,” she whispered to me, and I moaned in response. “Attic.”
I jumped back as if she was on fire, completely stunned. Both of us were breathing hard. “Baby… no.” I wanted to reach for her, but I couldn’t. Her eyes were glossy, but no tears had fallen. She walked over to the armoire and took off her necklace I had given her earlier tonight.
“That’s yours,” I whispered.
“This isn’t mine. None of this is mine.”
“You have something of mine you can’t give back. My heart.”
She sighed as she zipped up her last bag. “I’m just going to call a cab, and I’ll be out soon.”
“This is ridiculous, you know that? Where are you going to stay?”
She shrugged. “I’ll get a hotel. Don’t worry about it.”
I shook my head. “No. At least stay in one of mine. Alistair will take you. Don’t fight me on this. Please.”
“Grayson, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Emmalin! Please. I’ll at least know you’re safe.”
She sighed. “Fine. Thank you. Just a day or two. And I want to pay for it.”
I scowled. “I’m not taking your money.” She placed her hands on her hips, not backing down.
I narrowed my eyes. “Fine, when you check out, I’ll have them send you the bill. Happy?”
She nodded, grabbed her bags, and headed downstairs. She wouldn’t look at me or let me go near her. I watched as she put her coat on. Then Alistair came in and took her bags to the car. I gave him explicit instructions to make sure she was escorted to her suite.
I took one last look at her. She stared at the floor as I walked closer. “Emmalin, please.”
She finally looked up as she reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. I wanted to do that.
“I’ll work the remaining weeks of my contract.” Before I could say anything, she turned and left. The door clicked. My fist went through the wall. Then I proceeded to rearrange the entire fucking house.
Of course, he had me in the biggest suite in the entire hotel. As soon as I walked in, you would think I was the president. All I wanted to do was go to my room. As soon as Albert, my personal concierge, left, I went to the bedroom, got on the enormous bed, and finally did what I’d been wanting to do. Let myself cry. And the person I wanted most to comfort me was the person I hated. I had no one. My phone beeped. I wasn’t ready to read it, so I turned it off. I had the entire weekend to sit in this room and sulk, and I planned to do exactly that.
Monday, I no longer worked at Tea Lites, and I had a few weeks left at Mandrake Enterprises, but I didn’t have to be there until late morning. I finally worked up the courage to turn my phone on. There were twenty-seven text messages and thirteen missed calls from Grayson. I looked at the messages.
I hope everything is to your liking.
I miss you.
Just let me explain.
I love you.
I didn’t mean to hurt you.
I laughed. Universal lie. I deleted the rest and put my phone down. Better yet, I decided to do something I should’ve done since day one—a simple Internet search. Thirty minutes later, nothing came up regarding marriage. I would think that would be public record. Of course, he had enough money to seal a country.
Twenty minutes later, I headed down to the lobby.
“Ms. Ross, you didn’t call for breakfast this morning, so I took the liberty of having one packed for you. I was informed of your likes and dislikes.” Albert held a bag in his hand. I wanted to yell at him, but it wasn’t his fault. I knew this was Grayson’s doing, keeping tabs on me.
“Thank you, Albert.” He nodded, walking me to the door. “Would you happen to know of the nearest subway?”
“Ms. Ross.” I looked up to find Alistair standing beside the car. Of course. I sighed. “Alistair, I can find my own way.”
He opened the back door. “I have no doubt that you could, but I will gladly take you.”
I glanced at Albert, who was smiling, and swore everyone was against me. Reluctantly, I got in the car and we drove to work.
“How has everything been at the hotel?”
I looked up in shock. Alistair never talked when driving. Clearing my throat, I answered, “Okay, I guess. Everyone is nice. It’s a beautiful place.”
He nodded. “Yes, yes it is. Fine food too.”
Shrugging, I stared out the window until we finally arrived at our destination. As I got out, Alistair stopped me.
“I know it’s none of my business, and I’m completely out of line, but I’m going to speak freely right now. I’ve known Mr. Mandrake a very long time. Anything he does is for a reason. He’s not in a good place right now.”
I took a deep breath and nodded before heading in. I said a quick hi to Glenda before going to my office and closing the door. My purpose was to keep myself busy and not to run into Grayson, which was not going to be easy. I wasn’t there for ten minutes before Edith knocked on my door.
“So I heard you guys officially came out as a couple! You two are all over the Internet. Twitter is blowing up. Speaking of, why don’t you have a Twitter account? I can make you one. Takes two seconds. Now that I think about it, you don’t have any social media. Oh, some of the girls were thinking of having a girls’ night this weekend, if Grayson can let you out for a few hours. Things with Kevin don’t seem to be going in the direction I want them to, so on to plan B. Operation Make Him Jealous. Or find a new toy at least. Do you have plans for lunch?” While she continued talking, an e-mail meeting reminder popped up on my calendar—with Grayson in ten minutes. I sat there debating on my options of Accept, Decline, or Propose a New Time. I wanted to see him. I just wasn’t ready. I hit decline.
“So what do you think?”
I looked up. “What?”
“This Saturday. Girls’ night. You feeling okay?”
I put on my best fake smile. “I just have a lot going on right now, Edith. I’ll talk to you later, okay? And maybe lunch tomorrow?”
She tilted her head and slowly got up. “Okay. If you’re sure you’re all right.”
I smiled. “Just a small headache. I’ll be fine.” She finally left. I wasn’t lying about a headache. I hadn’t slept all weekend. I just wanted to do my work and go home, especially since I needed to look for a new job. There was another knock on my door.
“Edith, I said it was just a headache.”
The door opened. Grayson. I froze. He just stood there at the door, staring at me. I wanted to run to him. I wanted him to wrap himself around me. I dropped my head down to my hands instead. Before I could speak, he did.
“You aren’t feeling well?” His voice was a little scratchy, and I detected a hint of bourbon through his aftershave.
“It’s not for you to worry about,” I whispered quietly.
The door closed and he stepped further into the office. “That’s where you’re wrong, Emmalin.”
I stood up, trying to act as professional as possible, and cleared my throat. “Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Mandrake?”
He narrowed his eyes at my sudden formality, shook his head, and stepped way into my comfort zone. “You declined my meeting.”
I nodded. “It interfered with a deadline, Mr. Mandrake. Perhaps another time?” He stared at my lips as I spoke.
“That won’t work, Ms. Ross.” His tone hardened, taking on the controlling tone he was known for. “It has to be now. So grab whatever you need to grab, and meet me in my office in two minutes.” He turned and walked out. My breathing was rapid, and my panties were damp. I was pissed at him, but forgot to tell my body.
I was torn between fucking her senseless the moment she stepped into my office, or strapping her down, reddening her ass, and then fucking her senseless. The sadist in me was ticking to come out, and being without her all weekend h
ad gotten to me. I flexed my hands, looking at the cuts and bruises. After she had left, I spent all night fucking shit up in the house and then raided the liquor cabinet. Alistair finally called Chace to get my sorry ass.
I made him take me to Tesh. Big. Fucking. Mistake.
All I wanted to do was get shitfaced drunk. I found myself tempted the moment I walked in the fucking door. Emmalin was my drug. She was my obsession, and right then she wouldn’t take my fucking calls, but the woman standing a few feet in front of me was prepared to do anything I told her to. She didn’t look anything like Emmalin, and maybe that was a good thing, so I wouldn’t feel guilty about it later whenever I sobered the fuck up.
“She’s not your type.”
I glanced over at Chace and reached for my bourbon. “So what. That’s the point. I don’t want her to be my type.” I swigged back my drink.
“Your type is probably in bed. Alone. Which is where you should be. In bed. Alone.”
I stared at my empty glass. “She better be in bed alone. I’ll kill whoever else is in bed with her.”
Chace smiled. “I don’t doubt that one bit, man.” He took my empty glass from me. “I tell you what. I’ll take care of the woman over there, and you go to bed. We all win.” He didn’t give me a chance to answer before he walked over to the blonde who knelt before him. I sighed. He was right. The fact that I was even trying to contemplate being with someone else made me sick.
I got to my room and sent one final text message to Emmalin before passing out.
A few hours later, I woke to her scent on me. Her hands on me. At first, I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or if it was real. I was still drunk and it was dark. Then she whispered my name and I jackknifed up. “You’re here?” She shushed me as she slowly trailed down my body, licking my member from root to tip. I groaned as she circled her tongue on the tip, and she silently laughed. I reached for her. “Come here.”
She crawled up my body and straddled me. I cupped her breasts and froze. This wasn’t Emmalin. Not even a little bit. She leaned forward and whispered, “I can give you what you need, baby. Better than she can.”