Infinitely Mine (Incapable Part Three)

by Skye,Marie

  I checked my watch again: 8:03. She was late. I pulled out my phone, checking for messages. None. Knowing Emmalin, she was trying to rile me up, which she was stellar at, so I distracted myself by putting on some Coldplay, and tried to keep myself under control.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Emmalin

  Crap. I leaned over, banging my head on the steering wheel. I checked the clock on the dashboard again—it was already 8:15. I sighed, getting my phone out and dialing his number—at least the number I thought was his. For all I knew, he’d changed it.

  He answered on the first ring.

  “Emmalin?”

  “Hey,” I said breathily.

  “Thank God.” He was quiet for a beat. “Are you standing me up?” I could hear music in the background.

  I cleared my throat. “No. I’m just not…there.”

  “Where are you?”

  I sighed, looking around me. Hell, I didn’t really know. “I’m having some car trouble. It does this sometimes.” Before he could speak, I continued. “But it’s okay, I called Triple A, and they’ll be here in a few hours. I’m on their schedule.” The music in the background disappeared, and I heard what sounded like a car door shutting.

  “Where are you?”

  “It’s fine really. The tow company said—”

  “Emmalin, I’m not leaving you on the side of the road by yourself. Didn’t you learn anything from your zombie movies?”

  I smiled.

  “I’ll come for you. Lock your doors. I’ll be there as fast as I can.” He hung up. Surprisingly, I wasn’t bothered that he would find me without me actually telling him my location.

  Twenty minutes later, Grayson pulled up. I stood off to the side as he put my car in neutral and pushed it to the shoulder so it wouldn’t get hit.

  We rode in silence. I finally turned to him. “Thank you for coming for me.”

  He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “I’ll always come for you.” The gesture was so intimate, and I quickly looked away. We soon pulled up to a gated residence, and I turned to him.

  “I thought you were in a hotel?”

  He shook his head as he rounded the car, opening the door for me. “I thought this house was a better option.”

  I gazed up at it, then back to Grayson. He held out his hand, taking mine as he led me inside. “I made paella. I was waiting to add the seafood until you got here. Glad I did, otherwise this would’ve turned to shit. Then we would’ve been having cava and cheese.” I watched as he took the lid off the pot and stirred in the ingredients.

  “Smells great.” I smiled as I looked around hesitantly. Nerves were starting to get the best of me. We were finally going to talk. It was long overdue. I was going to find out what he was doing here, and why he wasn’t in London with his wife. Great, even saying it made me want to puke.

  “What’s that face you’re making?”

  My head snapped up to Grayson’s. “Oh, nothing, sorry. I was just thinking of something.”

  He studied me a moment as he scooped paella onto plates. “Tell me. I want to hear every single thought in your head. It’ll be good for you.” He slid the plate toward me and started opening the cava.

  I stared at my plate.

  “Three things, Emmalin. I know it’s been a while since we’ve gone over that, but the rules still apply.”

  I scowled. “I think this is hardly the time to bring that up, Grayson.” I ignored his statement and picked up my fork instead. He had no damn right to tell me what I should and shouldn't say. He shouldn't even have been here. We ate with only the sounds of the clanking of our silverware against the glass plates breaking up the silence.

  "Was that your first date with Mitch?"

  I dropped my fork with a loud clatter. It was the way he had said the word date with so much disdain and disgust, and as if I couldn't get a date. "What is that supposed to mean?" I jeered at him.

  He raised an eyebrow, completely unfazed by my outburst, and had the audacity to look almost amused. "I was just asking." He picked up his glass and took a sip. "I saw the hug you two shared. It looked awkward, and uncomfortable."

  "What does it matter?!" I stood up abruptly, almost knocking my chair over. “You get to date whoever you want, isn't that right Grayson?" I watched as his expression grew dark and he slowly got up.

  He reached his hand out to me, and I stepped back. "Thank you for dinner, and for rescuing me. I should go." I turned, and then realized I didn't have my car. Shit.

  "Emmalin, you're not leaving until we talk."

  My anxiety was starting to set in, and I was going to lose it. "It's okay, I can call an Uber." I took out my phone, trying to pull up the map to pinpoint a car…only the map couldn't pinpoint a location. Crap.

  "Emmalin, why did you leave?"

  Grayson's voice was quiet as he spoke, and I stilled. I slowly turned to face him. "I told you," I whispered. His mouth was set in a thin line, and his eyes were hard. He finally took a step forward. "I'm going to ask again why did you leave?"

  I nervously swallowed as I focused on the painting behind him. "Eyes!" I jumped at the harshness in his voice. "Eyes on me." He took another step forward. Now we were merely inches apart. My eyes started to well up with tears. "Let me help you out, Emmalin. A few weeks before you left, you had lunch with Chace. Do you remember? Yes or no?"

  I nodded. He waited.

  "Yes," I whispered.

  He took another small step forward. Our clothes were now touching, and I started to tremble. "Who did you run into that day Emmalin?"

  A tear fell down as I shut my eyes. I remembered that day well. It was the second time my heart had broken, the first having happened with Tyler’s death. I took a deep breath. "Dale," I choked out.

  Grayson nodded. "He gave you something, didn't he?"

  I nodded again. "Yes."

  "What did he give you? What did it say?"

  I turned my head.

  "What did it say Emmalin?"

  I tried moving myself from in front of him, but he held me firm. "What was it Emmalin?" he demanded through gritted teeth.

  I sighed, tears blurring my vision. "It was a picture of…your wife." I took a minute before I could go on. "The note it came with said she was alive, and had been for a while, and that as long as I was in the picture, you would never get your family back. That she would never get her family back. She wouldn’t get you."

  He looked down at me with sadness. "So you made the choice for me?"

  I shoved him back hard. "I did what I thought was right, Grayson. She's your wife! You needed to know. You loved her. I couldn't go on keeping that information, and then have you find out and resent me for it if there was a chance you could've had her back. What was I supposed to do?"

  He shoved me against the wall with my arms above my head. "Not make the decision for me, and sure as hell not walk the fuck out of my life!" He glared at me with fire in his eyes.

  "Well, you seemed to get over it quickly," I said with a sneer. His head lifted back as if I had slapped him. "I can't tell you how much I loved the countless calls from TMZ, and OK Magazine, and US Weekly, not to mention the countless pictures of you with one model after another. You couldn't wait to throw that in my face." His grip loosened and I slid my arms down. "You were hurt Grayson, I get it, but seeing all those gutted me—you have no idea. Physically pained me. Then Chace came to visit and told me you were in London, and I thought finally, finally you knew about her and could live the happily ever after I'll never get, because you were my happily ever after." I wiped the tears that were now spilling down. "I'll never experience that. And God, your sister. Even your sister hates me." I let out a laugh. "She came down, but I get it, she's your sister, she’s protecting her big brother." I took another deep breath as I wiped the remaining tears away. I dared a glance at Grayson as he stood a few feet away, hands on his hips, staring at me intently. I threw my hands up. "So that's that. Those are my thoughts that you wanted to know so da
mn bad."

  I pulled my phone back out. "Apparently Uber doesn't know this place exists, but I think I can get a cab to come out here."

  I turned to walk toward the door but he grabbed my phone out of my hand and tossed it onto the nearest piece of furniture. He pushed me against the wall until we were nose to nose. "Let's get something straight." I started to talk, and he covered my mouth. "Shut up. You had your say, now it's my turn. Dale will never come between us, understand? Never again. No more lies or secrecy between us. That's over. Carmen…” He shut his eyes before he continued. "She is not an option for me. She will never be an option for me. My life is you. My life has always been you. You are my only option."

  I started to tremble, and he took his hand away. "But—"

  "No but." He gave me a small smile. "You are my life Emmalin. You were made for me, you always have been. You don't get to make the decision and walk out because you think that's best for me. You come to me. We talk. We fight. We fuck. Whatever it takes. But you don't run out on me, and you damn sure don't think there's someone better for me than you."

  I sighed as he wiped a tear away. "As for the media, they were all plants. Decoys. None of it was real. I swear to you, I haven't slept with anyone since you. I only made it look like I did. That's what I wanted you to believe, but I didn't. Yeah, I went out, but at the end of the night, my bed was empty. I'm an asshole. I was hurt. I wanted you to hurt, and to feel what I was feeling and… Christ, if I could take all of that back, I would. I swear I would." I jumped as his fist hit the wall behind me.

  He gripped my shoulders, holding me tightly. "I'm sorry. No amount of words will account for the remorse I feel for doing that to you. You didn't deserve any of that, you have to believe me.”

  I studied the softness in his eyes as he pleaded with me. None of it was real. He wanted to hurt me because he was angry. My gaze fell to where his grip tightened on my shoulders before meeting his eyes. “So, none of that was real? The women in the nightclubs. You weren’t with any of them?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t stepped foot in a nightclub. All decoys. If any pictures were released, they were pictures from before you and me.”

  I sighed. “Let go of me, Grayson.”

  He furrowed his eyebrows. “Emmalin, I know how this all sounds, and…”

  “I said let go of me,” I said more firmly, and he slowly, tentatively backed up. “I understand that I hurt you Grayson, but I did it for good reason.” I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling chilled from the sudden loss of body heat. “But you, you set out to deliberately hurt me. You went as far as hiring decoys and staging articles, Grayson. You stooped that low to get back at me?”

  He took a step toward me, and I held up my hand. “Stop! Just stop.” I walked over to the couch and picked up my phone. “What happened to you, Grayson? You said I was your choice, that I was your only choice. I’m starting to think if you were ever mine.” I turned and headed for the door, and that time I made sure to not look back.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Grayson

  She walked maybe two steps out the front door—which was two too many—before I pulled her back. She yelped as I pulled her over my shoulder, dragging her back in the house. She let out a beautiful scream as I swatted her on the ass, which of course got my dick hard.

  “What the hell are you doing?!”

  “What I should’ve done months ago—taking back what’s mine!” I dug her phone out of her pocket and threw it against the wall, and I had no doubt it smashed to pieces.

  “The shit, Grayson?!”

  I threw her down on the couch. “Emmalin listen to me. I’m asking you to listen.” She crossed her arms petulantly and stared off in the distance. I sighed. This wasn’t how I wanted this to go. I wanted to be open and honest, and it was backfiring. I looked down at her, and I knew what I had to do. She always responded to dominance, but this time had to be different. I took a deep breath and lifted my shirt up over my head. My pants and shorts followed, until I stood completely naked in front of her. I slowly sank to my knees. Her eyes followed my every move until I reached the floor.

  “What are you doing?”

  I bowed my head and spread my knees, hands turned up on my thighs—the submissive pose. She was quiet, and I hoped she was watching what I was doing.

  “Grayson?” she whispered. In my periphery, I saw her slowly stand up.

  I lifted my head slowly, tears burning my eyes. The frown had dissipated from her face.

  “I’m not worthy of you.” I swallowed thickly as a wave of emotions washed over me. Everything from the past year came flooding through me. Seeing her for the first time. Sharing first time experiences with her. The fun times we had, the fights. The first time I told her I loved her. When she told me about her stepfather, the abuse she’d suffered as a child, all she’d had to endure. Tyler protecting her. Her demonic stepbrother waltzing back into her life and destroying not only her, but killing her best friend and the child we’d made together. She stood before me as a warrior, a goddess. No matter what knocked her down, she always stood right back up. She’d been beaten, bruised, raped, and tortured, and I, the person that was supposed to protect and love her until my last dying breath, had added to that list. She looked at me inquisitively. “I’m not worthy. I’m beneath you. I’ve betrayed you in more ways than one. I love you with all my heart and soul, and kneel not as your master, or dominate, or sir, like we’ve done in the past, but from now on, as your equal.” I took a deep breath as tears began to fall. “I’m asking you to forgive me, for everything. I’m asking for you. I need you. You are my life, Emmalin.”

  She sank to her knees in front of me. It was taking every bit of strength I had to not reach out and pull her to me, but I needed her to know she had the power in this. I balled my hands into fists. She wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes. “I don’t know, Grayson,” she choked out. My heart started to crash at those words. “I love you, I do. I think I love you too much, if that’s possible—”

  “It’s not too much. You can’t love someone too much.” She gave me soft smile as she leaned in and placed her hand on the side of my face. I leaned into her touch. Her hands were shaking, and I looked into her eyes. I needed her to know I meant it, even if it was the last time she would hear me say it. “I love you. I will always love you, and I will never stop loving you. I won’t stop fighting for us.” My muscles were now straining from holding back. She looked down at my clenched hands that were now starting to shake and placed a hand on top of one, gently massaged it, and coaxed her hand underneath it, until they were laced together. My heart was pounding so fast, I could hear the blood rushing through my ears.

  “I don’t want to jump directly into it. I want to build up to it. Go slow.” I studied her closely as she gave me a small smile. “Do things like date. We’ve never been on a date.”

  I furrowed my brow, trying to think. “We have.”

  She shook her head. “No. We’ve never been on a date. Not a real date.”

  I searched my memory. I’d practically forced her to move in, and we always ate at home. There was that one time at my restaurant, but…shit, she was right. We’d never been on an actual date.

  I nodded. “Okay. Dates, as many as you want. Every day if you want.”

  She picked up my hand to her lips. “And no more threatening my friends. You don’t see me threatening Chace.”

  I smiled. “I wish you did—he deserves it.”

  She glared at me, and I sighed. “I don’t like other men near you. I’m possessive of what’s mine.” She stared down at our hands for a moment. I tugged a little to get her attention. I needed to know what she was thinking. I needed to know if she was going to give us a chance. It’d be the final chance, because I wasn’t letting her go—ever.

  She peered up at me under her lashes. She shifted so she was able to wrap both legs around me, and I had no choice but to wrap my arms around her. It felt good having he
r back in my arms. She leaned into me, wrapping her arms around me, and I squeezed her tight. I breathed her in, because I didn’t know what she was doing. If this was her saying goodbye, if she was giving me this last absolution, then dammit, I was going to take it. But I meant what I’d said—I wasn’t going to stop fighting for her.

  She let out a soft sigh and whispered in my ear, “Let’s fight together, Grayson Ethan Mandrake.”

  My grip on her tightened as a tear slid down my cheek. She wasn’t giving up on us either. “I love you, Emmalin Peyton Ross.” She looked at me, opened her mouth, then quickly shut it. Her nose started to crinkle as fresh tears started to brew. I quickly wiped them away. “Shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay, baby. I know. When you’re ready.”

  She nodded. “Because I do. It’s just…” Before she could struggle with an explanation, my lips crashed against hers. I couldn’t wait any longer. I wanted to take the breath out of her. I knew she loved me, and right then, she was hurting and angry and couldn’t find the words. I got it and it was fine, but right then, I wanted her to forget all the words.

  She shifted slightly and I moaned. We were both very aware that not only was I completely nude, but hard as fuck. With her legs wrapped around my waist, the only thing separating my cock from the sweet warmth of her pussy was a thin piece of fabric. But, I told myself, no sex tonight. We were going to take this slow, and earn back the trust we had lost from each other.

  “I like your dress,” I mumbled as I licked her bottom lip.

  She gave me a light sigh. “Thank you.” She breathed out breathlessly as I rocked against her, sliding my cock up and down her panty-covered pussy. I could feel her growing damper with each stroke.