by Aya Mai
Chapter 10 - Grayson
Grayson interlaced his fingers and rested his chin upon them, his elbows propped up on his desk, the light from his computer screen illuminating his sullen face. His work taunted him through the screen, constantly reminding him of all the tasks he’d yet to finish, teasing him with far too many scripts, far too many decisions, and far too less Ava Campbell to take care of it.
It wasn’t that the work was difficult or tedious, Grayson just didn’t feel like working, yet work was everything he had left. He practically lived at the office. Going home made him feel lonely and broken. Ava’s strawberry scent was long gone; there was nothing left of her in his apartment. No scent. No clothes. Nothing. It was like she had never been there, but just been a figment of his imagination. A dream.
It had been two weeks since he last had laid eyes on Ava and her beautiful face. He still didn’t understand how CPH went on without her. He guessed it didn’t really. The atmosphere in the office was tense and not as bright and happy as when Ava was in charge. He knew he was the one to blame. He was looking for a fight with anyone who dared cross his path.
He had gotten in a verbal fight with Ava earlier today when she had surprised him by calling him. Her voice had sounded so tiny and weak, he had craved to wrap her up in his arms, keeping her safe in a protective bubble.
Happiness was all he felt when he had heard her voice for the first time in two weeks, but it was quickly dented with annoyance when all Ava wanted to chat about was the manuscripts William had given her. He had made the mistake of asking her how she was feeling, and if there was anything he could do to make her feel better. He had asked if he could come over, and like a fool, he had told her that he missed her.
Ava had clamped up like an oyster, her silence telling him nothing but no. Grayson had kept pushing, which had only led to Ava yelling at him, her dismissive words breaking not only his heart but his entire body and being.
Angrily, she had shouted at him that it was his fault that she had gotten cancer. The three weeks they had hung out together had made her carefree and made her forget to check her body for any signs of cancer, which was something she had done every day her entire life, but then he had to come along and ruin everything.
Grayson had been too stunned to respond. With that knowledge, Ava’s behavior and unrequited feelings made sense. Of course, Ava hated him. Of course, she never wanted to see him again. He was the reason she had gotten cancer.
It didn’t matter he had no idea Ava examined her own body for any signs of cancer every day. If he had known about it, he would have made damn sure she would have remembered it. Hell, he’d have done it for her.
Grayson touched his desk in the spot where Ava had laid naked. A lone tear dripped down on the wood. He could see his own reflection in the drop, and he didn't like what he saw at all. The sight of himself made him feel disgusted. Ava had hung up on him after throwing another sharp knife into his chest. She had accused him of having plenty of other women to entertain.
Besides, you have plenty of other gorgeous women to entertain. We were nothing but a mistake.
Those had been her exact words. They still stabbed his heart each time he thought of them.
It didn’t matter Grayson had tried arguing with her. Ava was adamant not to listen to a word he had to say. It didn't matter he told her that the weeks he had spent with her had been the best weeks of his life. She had just huffed at his admission, a teary snort escaping her before she had ended the call.
He had tried calling her back several times, but his calls went straight to voicemail. Now, he was sitting in his office, hiding in the darkness. Everyone had left him behind. No one had said as much as a goodbye to him before leaving work. It was his own fault. He was horrible to be around. He didn’t know how to stop taking his anger out on others. He didn’t know how to deal with the emotions that were raging inside of him. He had never felt for another woman what he felt for Ava Campbell. She fucking owned him.
A soft knock on the door interrupted him. He flew back in his chair, wiping his eyes, trying to regain his professional exterior.
‘’Who is it?’’ he asked, not able to see the person standing by his door. The office was dark, and the light coming from his computer was blinding him.
The intruder turned on the lights, and Grayson immediately relaxed. It was just his assistant.
‘’Gwen,’’ Grayson breathed out. ‘’What are you still doing here?’’
The blonde woman gave him an apologetic grimace.
‘’I’m sorry, I was just wondering if there was anything else I could do for you before I leave?’’
‘’No,’’ Grayson exclaimed, noticing Gwen’s face flinch due to his harsh tone. He was a fucking jerk. Gwen had done nothing but put up with his moody ass for the past two weeks. She deserved better. ‘’No, thank you, Gwen. I’m good. Go home and get some rest,’’ Grayson said, the amount of words being the most he had said in one go for several days.
‘’Are you sure? We are all alone,’’ Gwen said in a sickeningly sweet voice he had never heard her use before. Her tongue came out and licked her lips while her eyes traveled over his body. ‘’Maybe I could make you feel better?’’
Grayson gulped, his Adam’s apple bouncing up and down. He knew what Gwen was offering. He saw want in her eyes. He let his eyes roam over her fine body. It was curvy, and she was beautiful. It would be so easy to take her on his desk, making her scream, using her to pound out his anger and frustrations. She could make him feel good for a tiny second, but she’d never be Ava. Gwen would never be able to make him feel as good as Ava could.
Grayson coughed and redirected his sight back on his computer.
‘’What you are insinuating would be unprofessional.’’
‘’So what? We are all alone. No one needs to know.’’
‘’I’m your boss, Gwen. Audience or no audience, it would still be unprofessional. I would be taking advantage of you.’’
‘’Maybe I want you to take advantage of me. Maybe I want you to take some of your anger and tension out on me.’’
Grayson trembled. He so badly wanted to fight or fuck somebody. But the thought of being with Gwen made his cock shrink. Not because Gwen wasn’t beautiful, she was stunning, any idiot could see that, but she wasn’t Ava, and Ava was all Grayson wanted.
‘’Go home, Gwen, before you end up saying something you'll regret.’’
Grayson’s dismissive tone finally seemed to make her get the hint. He wasn’t interested.
‘’Oh…I’m….I’m sorry,’’ Gwen apologized, her confident attitude from a second ago replaced with embarrassment. ‘’Please, can we forget this ever happened. I need this job.’’
Grayson wanted to fire her just to be mean. He wanted to lash out at everything and everyone, but he knew it wouldn't make him feel better. It definitely wouldn’t make Ava like him again, quite the opposite actually.
‘’Go home, Gwen,’’ he repeated, watching her lips shake with trepidation. ‘’I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning.’’
‘’Thank you,’’ Gwen shouted over her shoulder, hurrying to the elevator. She probably thought he would change his mind and fire her if she stayed too long.
Grayson rested back in his chair, gazing up at the ceiling, closing his eyes, wishing sleep would take him and remove the pain in his chest. Just for a little while.
Chapter 11 - NICOLE
Nicole inhaled deeply through her nose as she stood and watched Grayson sitting at his desk with his head bent over a piece of paper. Nicole almost didn’t recognize him any longer.
His hair and beard had grown uncontrollably, the clothes hung off his body, and his eyes were empty and hollow. Personality-wise, Grayson had gone from being the big charmer and mean businessman to just being mean to everyone all the time.
Grayson’s behavior was what had driven Nicole to do what she was about to do. She was going to confront the jerk that had broken her sister’s
heart. She personally believed Ava and Grayson belonged together, but if what Ava said was true, that he had cheated on her, then Nicole was going to rip Grayson Montgomery a new one.
With firm and determined steps, Nicole entered Grayson’s office and closed the door behind her, leaving them on their own, without any of the employees prying eyes to watch their every move.
‘’Hello,’’ Nicole said when Grayson still hadn’t acknowledged her presence. ‘’Hello?’’ she said again, this time louder.
‘’What!’’ Grayson barked, looking up from the piece of paper he had been studying intently. ‘’Oh. It’s you. What do you want, Nicole?’’
Grayson’s tone had softened when he had recognized her, but it still held a bite to it that Nicole didn’t care for.
‘’I’m here to ask you what your fucking deal is.’’
‘’What do you mean? You’re talking fucking gibberish, woman.’’ Grayson returned his gaze back to the paper in his hand.
‘’What happened between you and Ava?’’
‘’Why don’t you ask your sister?’’
‘’I have. She claims you stepped out on her.’’
‘’What? I did what?’’ Grayson asked. Finally seeming more interested in their conversation than the white letter in his hand.
‘’She said that you cheated on her with a stunning, Hispanic woman at a hotel.’’
Grayson’s jaw hit the floor, his eyes wide and filled with horror. ‘’Fuck!’’ he shouted, crashing his balled-up fists down on his desk.
‘’So it’s true then?’’ Nicole asked, disappointment filling her to the brim. She had expected more from Grayson. She really had thought it all had been one big misunderstanding, and that he indeed was in love with Ava.
‘’Of course, it’s not fucking true. I wouldn’t do that to Ava. I’m the one who has been trying to break all her stupid rules. I’m in love with her,’’ Grayson admitted. ‘’But it doesn’t matter. None of it matters anyway. Ava hates me for giving her cancer.’’
‘’What do you mean giving her cancer?’’
‘’When she called about the manuscripts, she got mad and told me that she hated me and that it’s my fault she has gotten cancer.’’
‘’That’s not true.’’
‘’I made her forget to check her body for signs of cancer.’’
Nicole shook her head, sitting down in the chair in front of Grayson’s desk, watching how much it broke him to think he was the cause of her sister’s misfortune.
‘’She only said that because she’s afraid and angry. She is lashing out on everything and everyone, much like you yourself have been doing for the past couple of weeks.’’
Grayson grumbled, still fidgeting with the letter in his hands.
‘’I know for a fact that Ava loves you, Grayson.’’
The statement finally made Grayson look back up at Nicole.
‘’She told me so herself. She’s scared of you and the feelings she has for you, and she’s terrified of the cancer. She’s certain it’s going to be the death of her. She needs you. But you have to be all in if you want to win her back.’’
‘’She really told you that she loves me?’’ Grayson asked in a fragile whisper.
‘’She did,’’ Nicole answered. ‘’But this is my sister we’re talking about, Grayson, so if you can’t be all in - the good, the bad, and the horrible - then you need to stay away from her. I also need you to know that cheating is unacceptable. Breaking her heart is inacceptable.’’
‘’I’m not going to break her heart. I haven’t cheated on her. I am not my father.’’
‘’Then who was the woman Ava saw you with? The woman you disappeared inside a hotel room with?’’
Grayson exhaled before gently placing the letter, the one he had held protectively in his hands since she had arrived, on the table in front of her.
‘’The woman I met with at the hotel is a woman named Molina Castillo. She is, according to that paper I just handed you, me and William’s half-sister.’’
‘’WHAT!’’ Nicole shouted, grabbing the paper, reading it for herself.
‘’We went inside a hotel room to take a DNA test. I just got the results today, so now you can have the honor of telling William.’’
‘’Does this mean your dad...or mom.’’
‘’They are both cheaters, but Molina is he product of dear old dad.’’
‘’I’m sorry,’’ Nicole hesitantly answered, not knowing how else to respond.
‘’It’s fine. I’ve always known my family was less than ideal. Besides, Molina seems great.’’
‘’You have to tell Ava. When she saw you guys together, she thought you went into that room to sleep together. It broke her heart. She has been miserable ever since. You need to tell her the truth.’’
‘’I’d love to, but she won’t talk to me. She won’t answer my calls or agree to see me. Even if she knew the truth, even if I told her I was all in, I don’t think she would want me. I think she would kick me to the curb and let me go home with a broken heart.’’
‘’Maybe. Maybe not. But is my sister worth risking your heart for? Because if so, she is at the hospital right now. She has to undergo surgery later today.’’
‘’Is she getting the lump removed? Is she going to be okay?’’
‘’She is kind of getting the lump removed,’’ Nicole started, still figuring out the best way to tell him the bad news.
‘’What do you mean kind of?’’ Grayson sounded panicky. ‘’Fucking tell me, Nic.’’
‘’Ava’s having a mastectomy done,’’ Nicole blurted out, enjoying the relieved feeling in her chest as the words left her mouth.
‘’A mastectomy?’’
‘’They did several tests and scans at the hospital, and they discovered that even if they were to remove the lump, Ava would most likely develop breast cancer again. It’s all very complicated, but the tissue in her breasts has undergone a cell transformation, meaning it has not developed into cancer yet, and it might never do. However, the chances that it develops into cancer in Ava’s case are very high when taking her and our family’s medical history into account.’’ Nicole wiped a tear away. ‘’The doctors suggested that a mastectomy would be a wise decision. In the end, it was Ava’s decision to make, and she has decided to go through with the surgery, which she’s having later today.’’
‘’A mastectomy?’’
‘’Yes, she is surgically going to have both her breasts removed.’’
The words still tasted as vile in Nicole’s mouth as the first time she had said them during a conversation with her sister. She understood Ava’s reasoning and supported her, but it was a big procedure that would leave her sister scarred. Physically and mentally.
Ava believed Grayson wouldn’t want anything to do with a woman who didn’t have breasts. She refused to listen when Nicole had argued that it should be Grayson’s choice to make. Ava was adamant not to risk her heart. She cut Grayson out of her life, purposely destroying the chance of Grayson rejecting her if he didn’t indeed want to be a part of her life.
Nicole had promised Ava she wouldn't interfere or talk to Grayson about it. Nicole did feel a tiny bit bad about breaking her promise to her sister, but not enough to stop her actions. Nicole desperately wanted her sister to be happy, and she just knew Ava and Grayson could be happy together. But if Nicole had been wrong about Grayson, Ava would never know if Grayson said no thank you. Nicole would never tell her of this visit.
Before Nicole had the chance to explain the procedure in more detail, Grayson was already out of his chair, running out of his office, heading to the elevators.
‘’Where are you going?’’ Nicole shouted.
‘’To the hospital!’’ he shouted back, disappearing inside the elevator.
Nicole remained rooted in her spot with a happy and successful smile on her face. She had done her bit, the rest was up to Ava and Grayson to sort out.
Chap
ter 12 - Ava
Today is the day.
In six hours, Ava would be cancer-free again, but also breast-free. Her attributes would be removed, and she would be left with nothing but scars. Sure, plastic surgery was a possibility in the long run, but her own natural cancer filled breasts would be gone.
The clinical white walls, floor, and ceiling were all Ava could concentrate on as the surgeon that was going to do her surgery this afternoon was busy explaining the procedure.
A shudder ran through Ava’s body each time she looked up on the board and saw the pictures of the women who had already undergone a mastectomy. It looked ghastly, but Ava would take it if it meant she would live. It was amazing how far they had come in the medical field and cancer treatment since the time her mother had died of breast cancer.
A loud commotion from outside the room interrupted the surgeon’s explanation of Ava’s procedure. The voices outside the door grew louder and louder. Ava couldn’t interpret them, but she thought she heard a woman calling for security. A loud bang on the door made Ava jump in her seat.
On the other side of the door, a man was growling deeply, asking for Ava. No way, Ava thought to herself. She was just hearing things. She shook her head to get out of the haze she was trapped in. But then she heard the deep, manly voice say her name again.
Ava Campbell.
‘’What the hell,’’ Ava muttered out loud. Her surgeon gave her a puzzled look, but before he could reach the door, it burst open, revealing an out of breath Grayson Montgomery.
Grayson’s eyes traveled over Ava’s body, pausing on her chest before going back up to meet her eyes. Ava crumbled under his sight, wrapping her arms protectively around her waist.
No matter how hard Ava tried, she couldn’t help but study Grayson. He looked awful. His eyes were dark, hollow, and lifeless. His beard had grown out, and his hair was sticking out in all directions. His clothes were wrinkled and no longer fit his body to perfection.
She let out a deep breath. She had missed him. Every day. Ava craved for him to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. She just wanted him to protect her. She was still furiously mad at both him and herself for falling in love with him.
