The Grayson Trilogy

by Georgia Rose

  I couldn’t believe I was going through this again, the tortuous heartbreak of another betrayal. Angry tears came, hot on my cheeks as I curled up in my pain. I should have stuck to my resolution on first coming here of not letting anyone close to me. I should have been more determined to follow that path. But I knew deep inside that this was not an argument – I’d been irresistibly drawn to Trent; resisting him had been useless as nothing could have kept me away from him. Although, as I argued back and forth in my anger, I had some moral fibre and if I’d known he was still married I would have kept my distance and would never have been drawn into this.

  Later, hearing movement in the yard, I went downstairs to check it was Wade, back to do the watering. I could see the pickup parked in the same place as it was earlier with Hayes in the driver’s seat, and it occurred to me then that they’d not in fact left the yard since I arrived back. Wondering why Carlton wasn’t doing the watering, I then remembered he was out with Greene. Susie came in and locking the cat flap I turned out all the lights, and went back to bed, where I lay awake, engulfed in my own misery, going over and over the evening’s events in my head.

  As the night passed my anger gradually dissipated and as I thought through what had happened I realised I found it difficult to believe Trent was a liar. I thought back over all the conversations we’d had where his divorce had been mentioned, where we’d discussed it, until eventually I had to concede there hadn’t been any. He’d never actually told me he was divorced and I’d never asked. I’d assumed but never clarified the situation and only had myself to blame for being in this position. While I could accuse him of withholding the truth of his situation, and in particular showing a lack of sensitivity because of the way my marriage had ended, it had become clear during our row that he’d been unaware of the facts surrounding that, so I supposed the fact that he had only behaved like a pig and not an insensitive pig was something. I couldn’t believe how things had turned out. After being so unhappy for such a long time I’d found some level of happiness again and fallen in love with a wonderful man, a man who I’d foolishly believed I could see as my future partner, and yet here I was with everything lying in tatters around me.

  The next day started badly. When I let Susie out she limped along the path into the garden. Examining her foot I found it hot and swollen; she’d been licking it and it was now looking sore. I suspected she’d got a grass seed embedded somewhere which had become infected. This had happened before, but in the past I’d always discovered the problem early on, managing to remove the offending grass seed and clean up the wound enough to head off any problems. This time it appeared the infection was well and truly set in and I was ashamed I’d failed to look after her properly. She’d been constantly faithful to me but I’d let her down, neglected her needs, and now she was suffering.

  I went out to the yard to feed the horses, noticing Hayes and Wade still sat there in the pickup, raising my hand in greeting which they acknowledged. When I’d finished feeding I put Susie in my pickup and we set off to the vets. Wade and Hayes followed me, which was strange, but I was too exhausted and miserable to ask them what was going on.

  Susie was examined, the vet concluding she needed to stay for a small operation to open the wound, drain it, and find the offending grass seed before patching her back up again. As she’d been fed already they wouldn’t be able to do that until much later in the day so that meant an overnight stay. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring hug and left her to be looked after, worrying she wouldn’t cope well with the separation, especially as she would have sensed how unhappy I was and would know I needed her. I’d pick her up in the morning, I told myself, and it would all be fine.

  I was followed back to the stables, at which point Wade and Hayes resumed their overnight position in the yard again. I shook my head at what I assumed was Trent’s latest attempt at controlling me, by having me watched continually, then went over to the stables to start the morning routine, which I was already behind with. I’d not long got going when Carlton and Turner drove into the yard, and after a quick exchange Wade and Hayes drove off, Carlton’s pickup taking their place. As soon as the pickup was in position Carlton got out and walked towards me looking concerned.

  “Hey…how’re you doing?”

  “Not so good actually,” I mumbled.

  “Come here,” he said, as opening his arms he wrapped them around me, pulling me into his chest where I promptly started crying again.

  “How did you know?” I sobbed.

  “I saw Trent this morning.”

  “How is he?” I asked pathetically.

  “He looks like shit, much like you, and miserable, but there was considerably less sobbing from him into my chest,” he said in an attempt to be jovial. At that moment a message arrived on his phone and, taking it out of his pocket, he read it while not letting go of me.

  Cursing softly he said, “Have you eaten?” I shook my head. He responded to the message and almost immediately another pinged in, which he read before saying abruptly, “Right, come on,” and grabbing my hand he led me over to the cottage. Sitting me down at the table he flicked the kettle on, taking two pieces of bread and putting them in the toaster before spreading them with jam and putting them in front of me together with a strong cup of tea.

  “How did you know?” I asked, looking at the breakfast in front of me.

  “Those were my instructions,” he said, holding up the phone and looking at me. He raised his eyebrows.

  “Trent?”

  He nodded. “Look, Grayson, I don’t know what’s going on between you but you must be able to work it out?”

  “I don’t see how that will be possible,” I responded weakly, shaking my head.

  “Much as it pains me to say it, you two make each other into better people; that’s been obvious from the last couple of weeks, so you need to find a way…and eat,” he said sternly, indicating towards the toast. I stared at him blankly.

  “I’m going to be sick if I eat anything…I’ll try the tea.” I managed to drink a little though I found even that a struggle to swallow.

  Carlton watched me before questioning, “Has he tried to contact you?”

  “No…and he won’t. I was furious with him. Accused him of lying to me…when it turns out he didn’t. If he tries at all, and I doubt he will, it won’t be until he can be sure I’ve calmed down enough to be receptive to him, so I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

  “If you were in the wrong then, falsely accusing him, why don’t you contact him and apologise?”

  “Because it’s not as simple as that. I’m still angry over what he’s kept from me and because it won’t change the situation in which we find ourselves. One that means we can no longer be together.” Pausing for a moment, I wanted to change the subject. “Why am I being followed?” I asked curiously.

  “Because of the threat, of course,” he answered, sounding a little exasperated. For a moment I was bewildered by this and frowned. What threat? Then remembering the full content of the note I’d received I realised I’d only focused on the revelation it contained, completely ignoring the threat made towards me. It then became clear that when Trent had read it he’d taken the completely opposite view of it to me.

  “Ah…I hadn’t thought about that.”

  Carlton shook his head, clearly baffled by my indifference to the situation.

  “I think I’ll ride out with you this morning, in case of any…er…problems. You haven’t eaten so it’s probably best you only ride out once anyway. Turner can go home while we do that and come back to watch over you with me for the rest of our shift. West and Burton are coming to clean this morning so they can keep an eye on the place while they’re here. Shall we go?” At that we headed back over to the stables to tack up Regan and Monty and got the ponies ready to lead out.

  As we rode out of the yard Turner drove out behind us, and a short way up the road I saw West and Burton arriving, raising my hand to them as Carlton and I turned o
ff the road onto one of the paths through the trees. I did manage to ask Carlton about his date with Greene, which had gone very well, but otherwise was content to let Carlton talk, and I responded only when it was absolutely necessary.

  We rode along for a while, me listening to Carlton while looking round at the beauty of the estate around us when it dawned on me I wouldn’t be able to stay here. It’d be unbearable to have to see and work with Trent after this so I’d have to leave the place where I’d become so settled and go back to my old home, my refuge, to lick my wounds again. Although it then occurred to me that of course I couldn’t even do that because the tenants had just renewed their lease.

  The thought of leaving this place, this home, this job and this family, for that was how I felt about everyone here now, started the tears again. I couldn’t bear it.

  We got back from exercise, turning all the horses out for the rest of the day and, as Carlton was going to be on duty ‘guarding’ me anyway, he gave me a hand to get the stables mucked out and ready for the evening. We cleaned the tack before he called for Turner to return to the yard and when he arrived I thanked Carlton for his company. Giving me a rueful smile he told me to take care before joining Turner in the pickup.

  I went back to the cottage, curling up on the settee for a couple of hours staring at nothing. I wondered how long Trent would leave it before he contacted me, or perhaps he was waiting for me to contact him. I didn’t know what to say to him if we did speak, it was all such a mess. These thoughts kept turning over in my mind as I went to do evening stables.

  Chapter 22

  Coming in from work I locked the back door as per the instructions received from Carlton, then called the vets, who confirmed that Susie had come through her operation without any problems and was now in recovery. I was relieved by this piece of good news, having missed her presence all day. It would be fine for me to pick her up in the morning and feeling that at least something had gone well that day I went upstairs to shower.

  I was definitely not going to the gym, thinking it would be best for me to keep out of the way for as long as possible, or at least until I’d worked out what I was going to do. I knew I’d have to see and speak to Trent at some point but I needed to decide how I was going to deal with that.

  I couldn’t eat or settle to anything so after not sleeping the night before I decided to go to bed, knowing, because of the latest restrictions placed on me, Carlton was doing the late watering and would check all was locked up and secure for the night. So after double-checking the back door was locked I turned out the lights.

  I started to go upstairs, vaguely aware as I did so of a strangely sweet metallic smell in the air. Getting to the top of the stairs, from where I could see into my bedroom, I noticed clumps of white fluffy feathers on the carpet. What on earth…? As I went into my room my mouth dropped open, aghast, as I stared at the mess. I didn’t need to turn the light on to see that my pillows had been slashed open, feathers gaping out of the wounds, cascading across the bed and onto the floor. But that only held my attention briefly because daubed across the white cover in vivid red were the words ‘He is mine’. My first thought was that it must be paint but I immediately corrected that – that was why there was such a strange smell in the air.

  Where did the blood come from? My stomach turned over with revulsion, my thoughts crashing to another conclusion, and as they did so my legs weakened as a coldness swept across me, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. The back door had been locked all evening; whoever had done this had already been in the house when I’d come in from work, whoever had done this had done it since I showered – whoever had done this was still here.

  Feeling panicky, nausea clenched my stomach, and in that moment a slight movement made me start, drawing my attention to the shadows in the corner of the room. A woman rose into a standing position from behind the armchair and I recognised her immediately as the woman who’d leapt out in front of Regan; every detail I hadn’t been able to recall before suddenly flooded back with this realisation. She was a little shorter than me, with shoulder-length straight brown hair, straggly and unwashed. Her face was pale, gaunt-looking, and her dark eyes had darker shadows under them, making her appear tired. Her gaze was fixed on me but I found I couldn’t take in too many other details as when she lifted up her arm all my attention was drawn to the fact that she was holding a gun, and it was pointed straight at me.

  Adrenaline spiked through me as I felt my breathing constrict; the cold rush of fear slithered down my back, weakening my knees, which made my legs feel they could collapse under me at any moment. I took a deep breath to try and control the panic welling up inside, finding I was struggling to swallow.

  “Zoe?” I asked, my voice tight. She didn’t respond, but instead frowned at me and seemed confused. “I’m Emma,” I said, not sure why in my panic I was introducing myself.

  “I know who you are, Emma.” She spat the words out venomously at me, as moving out from behind the chair she took one step towards me, coming further into the light that shone through the doorway from the landing. She looked perfectly calm holding the gun, which I found alarming as I thought she might be just as much at ease using it. “You’re the one who’s been screwing my husband.” I had to agree with her, she did know who I was.

  Trying to overcome my panic I forced myself to think – how the hell was I going to get myself out of this? It was ironic that the one time I actually wanted help was the one time there was no one around to give it. I thought of the boys in the yard, wondering how I could attract their attention. A gunshot would do it, but it’d probably be too late by then, at least for me, and once I’d fixed on this thought I couldn’t come up with anything else.

  I jumped as noise erupted from my pocket, my phone bursting into life – with Trent’s ringtone. I looked sharply at Zoe, who’d also been startled, though fortunately this had only caused her to bring her other hand up to join the first holding the gun.

  “That’s Trent. If I don’t answer, he’ll know something’s wrong.” The gun continued to be levelled at me.

  “Answer it…but don’t tell him I’m here or he’ll get to listen to you die.” That concentrated my mind considerably, and as I reached for my phone I came up with a plan, answering in as chirpy a voice as I could muster, “Hi, Trent.” Admittedly it didn’t come out as chirpy as I’d hoped for but under the circumstances that was perhaps not all that unexpected. His response was one of surprise, probably because he was expecting it to go to voicemail but also because of my apparent chirpiness when he must have known I’d still be pissed at him. Hell, he’d been keeping his distance all day, no doubt hoping I would calm down before he had to approach me.

  “Oh! Hello, Grayson,” he replied cautiously, his voice sounding bleakly flat. I could imagine his lovely eyes narrowing, crinkling at the corners as he contemplated my strangely enthusiastic greeting.

  “How can I help?” I spoke quickly, perkily.

  “Um…I’m sorry to call and interrupt your evening but I needed to tell you I’ll send a couple of the boys round in the morning to help with the feed delivery.”

  “Oh, that would be great actually, really, really helpful although I could probably do with all four of them if you can spare them, and anyone else who’s available,” I gushed, and continued, not allowing him to respond, “Anyway, many thanks for calling, Trent, I really appreciate it. See you soon, bye.” I ended the call abruptly.

  I could only imagine how confused he’d now be by our rather one-sided conversation, but I really didn’t want there to be the slightest chance he would hear my brains being splattered across the room by Annie Oakley over there.

  Looking down at the phone I suddenly realised in horror what I’d done. I’d thought I was being clever by alerting Trent to the possibility that something was wrong, knowing that if he put two and two together he and the boys would come to find me, but now because I hadn’t thought this through I’d selfishly put all of them in dange
r, rather than just me, and I didn’t want that on my conscience. You stupid, stupid woman, I thought. I was going to have to get myself out of this mess before he had a chance to get here and that thought galvanised my mind.

  Looking up again at Zoe I found her eerie calmness unsettling and then remembered the words Trent had used during our row: ‘She’s mad.’ Suddenly recognising I’d misunderstood his meaning, I was in fact now dealing with something I knew nothing about and that was the most chilling realisation so far. I had no idea how I should approach this. Swallowing, I tried to get a grip on myself, taking a deep breath before speaking to Zoe in as calm a voice as I could find.

  “I’m so sorry, Zoe, I didn’t know he was married. I wouldn’t have gone near him if I’d known.” I held up my hands in what I hoped was a placating manner, adjusting my stance and bringing myself up so my weight moved onto the balls of my feet, looking and waiting for my opportunity. She moved a little closer, peering at me, shuffling forward slightly, as if to get a better look, and I noticed a tremor in her hands. Was it caused by the weight of the gun or by the fact that she wasn’t as confident as she first appeared? I wasn’t sure and it didn’t matter anyway, she wasn’t close enough for me yet.

  “I saw you with him on the beach,” she muttered pitifully. Seeing her absolute desperation, my heart bled for her, feeling her pain only too vividly. I felt shame at what she must have witnessed and not to have just suspected her husband’s infidelity but to have actually been exposed to his betrayal I empathised with her with every part of my being. Having more in common with her than she could possibly know, this thought made my stomach churn.