“You both need time to talk and I don’t need to be here for it. I’m going to catch a cab back.”
Suzy was already reaching for her crutches. “No you aren’t, give me just a minute and we will leave.”
“Gray, let me go,” Suzy pleaded. She had to get out of here before she exploded. At that moment, she couldn’t stand the thought of being in the close confines of Gray’s car with him. She knew if she were ever going to get out of here without him following her, she had to put his mind at ease. Forcing herself to give him a smile, she said, “Just stay and finish up, I’ll be fine. I’ll see you back at condo. You know there are cabs out front so I won’t have any problem getting one.” She quickly fished the door key from the jacket pocket she’d saw him place it in earlier. She knew he was still torn so she reached up and brushed a quick kiss across his lips and took off as fast as her crutches would allow.
When she reached the door, she was relieved to see that although he was still standing there staring after her, he hadn’t made a move to follow. She quickly walked out the door and hailed the next cab in line. She held it together on the short ride back to Gray’s home. Her first inclination when she arrived was to throw herself across the bed and give way to all of the pain hammering to get out. Her second thought though was to just get out. Gray needed space to figure out his life and she couldn’t be here with him while he was doing it.
~~~
Suzy pulled her phone from her purse and called the one person she knew she could count on. When her sister answered the other line, Suzy simply said, “I need you to come get me, now.”
Beth only asked one question, “Where are you?”
Suzy quickly gave her directions and Beth assured her that she was leaving within five minutes. After ending the call, Suzy went to the bedroom to gather her stuff. Luckily, she’d only unpacked a few things so within minutes her bags were sitting at the door and she was left with nothing but her worst enemy..time.
Reva was pregnant and just like that, her life with Gray was over. Nothing would ever be the same again. Gray was going to be torn in two directions. She’d no doubt that he loved her; funny she could see that now. She loved him, as well, but things could never be like they were before. Gray’s life would be tied with Reva’s forever. Gray was an honorable man, so he might even feel that he needed to marry Reva because of the baby. Even if he didn’t marry her, he’d still constantly worry about how she was handling this. She had to let him go, she couldn’t be another stress point in his life.
Suzy was startled to hear a knock at the door. She had Gray’s key so it had to be him. She braced herself as she walked over and opened the door to find Beth and Nick standing there. “Wh..What’re you doing here so soon? It’s only been half an hour since I called you.”
“Um, when Nick told me what you guys were planning, I decided to come on down here for moral support or to you know…help you kick some ass if needed.”
She pulled her sister into a tight hug. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” When she pulled back, she saw the concern on Nick and Beth’s face. She took a deep breath and said, “Guys, I don’t want to go into this right now, but I need to get out of here.”
Nick stepped forward and took her hand. “Suzy are you alright? Where is my brother?”
Tears shimmed in her eyes as she looked into the face so similar to the man she loved. “Nick, please let me get out of here and we will talk, ok?”
Nick paused for another minute, clearly torn but with Beth’s urging, he grabbed Suzy’s bags and they all made their way to the elevator. When they reached the parking garage, Suzy got the laugh that she needed when Nick and Beth walked over to the mini-van. “Oh God, you kept the van? Nick, it’s just wrong somehow for a swinging bachelor to be driving this. What in the world do your dates say?”
Nick scowled at her saying, “I’ll have you know, this baby has a lot of horsepower, tons of storage and my chick digs it.”
Still laughing, Suzy said, “Don’t tell me you’re dating a soccer mom now. That’s about the only chick I could imagine digging this.” Good grief, where had these two lost their sense of humor? Both of them stood there giving her a disgusted expression. This was one of the worst days of her life, if she wanted to make fun of Nick’s damn mini-van then she would. Screw everyone; she had to do what she could to survive today.
Just as Nick walked around to help her into the van, Gray’s BMW came roaring into the parking garage. Suzy had the desire to jump in the driver’s seat and take off. She wasn’t sure she’d have been able to control the urge if she hadn’t been wearing the stupid cast. She stiffened her spine knowing it was going to destroy her to look into his eyes. She’d wanted to go home and re-group before she talked to him; she sure didn’t want to have this conversation with his brother and her sister standing close by.
As Gray approached them, Suzy noted that he didn’t seem surprised to see them all there. She’d a sneaking suspicion that Nick had called him. What had she really expected? Gray was his brother; of course his loyalty was with him first and foremost. Her sister, though, could have given her a little warning. She idly wondered what her sister and Nick were doing together anyway. She knew they pretty much despised each other so why did they keep turning up together?
“Nick, Beth, can you give us a few minutes please?” Gray asked.
She knew it would be childish to object as her sister and Nick walked to the other side of the garage as Gray asked. He looked down at her without touching her and Suzy noticed how tired he looked. There were lines of fatigue around his eyes that weren’t usually there and his shoulders were bent as if he were carrying the weight of the world on them.
“Baby, what’re you doing?”
Sometimes she hated being a girl because she was helpless to stop the moisture gathering in the corner of her eyes. “I don’t know, Gray. I just need to get away for a few days. I need to go back home where I can…breathe again.”
He leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he searched for his next words. “I’m so sorry about this mess. I still don’t believe that this baby is mine. I don’t trust Reva to even give me her full name without lying about some part of it.”
Suzy let her crutches fall back into the van as she put her arms around him and just held on. Her emotions were in complete turmoil, but she knew that he needed her right now as he never had before. Gray was a strong man, but he was floundering. Something like this was probably enough to knock the feet out from under even the strongest man.