Page 9 of Beautiful Betrayal

Grayson gives a bitter laugh. “That’s priceless, Mia. Really fucking priceless. You left me to fuck him and now you want to fuck him for me? Or fuck him because you aren’t fucking me anymore.” He stands up and without a word, walks into the house.

My emotions quake inside me and I can feel my hands shaking when I never shake, but this is Grayson. This is the man I still love and never stopped loving. I look between the two men he trusts the most. “I’m not with Ri. I have never been with Ri. I swear to you both.”

“He’s the one who needs to hear it,” Eric says. “Not us.”

He’s right.

I stand up and follow Grayson, shutting the sliding glass door as I enter the living room.

I find him behind the island, his hand on the counter, head dipped low, my regret I’d declared gnawing at me. I’m not aperson that lashes back. I really didn’t lash back the way he thinks I lashed back, and for reasons he might not deserve, I really need him to know the truth. I don’t leave the island between us. I round the counter and I stand beside him, facing the counter, not him.

“I’ve never been with Ri. I know you think I was, but I haven’t been. He’s tried for years. Recently I was lonely. I wasreallylonely, Grayson. I saw a picture of you with a woman and I realized that you’d moved on and I hadn’t.”

“I didn’t fucking move on, Mia,” he says turning to face me. “I was trying to survive you fucking my enemy.”

I whirl around to face him as well. “I didn’t, though. I didn’t fuck Ri.” My voice lifts as I add, “Ever.After seeing you with her, I finally agreed to go out with him. I tried to do what you think I already did and I had to drink wine, lots of wine, to try and actually make it happen. I mean, why wouldn’t I? You and I—and you were—” I stop myself. “It doesn’t matter why. I had too much wine. I fell asleep on his couch and even after seeing you with that woman, I dreamed about you, and us, and I called out your name.”

“You did what?”

“I called out your name and since I was dreaming about the funeral, after the funeral, actually, the last time we were together, it wasn’t in anger, but passion.”

He’s still, so very still, before he says, “And what did he do?”

“He was furious and then he grabbed me and tried to force himself on me. He told me he’d make me forget you.”

Grayson’s hands come down on my arms and he pulls me to him. “Did he force himself on you? Because if he did, I’ll kill him.”

He speaks those words with such guttural anger that I believe him. My hand settles on his chest, his heart racing beneath mypalm. “I gave him a knee so damn hard, I doubt he walked right for a week.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good enough punishment.”

“He didn’t touch me again. He got the point. Grayson, I should never have gone to him at all. He wanted what was yours and I knew that and even though he couldn’t have me, at least, to him, you thought he did. Now, I left him and he’s lashing out. I did this. I did this to you and I’m so sorry. You have to let me help. I don’t want to go near that man, but I need you to understand that I’ll do it for you.”

“Going back to him is like sticking another knife in my heart, Mia. You will not go back to him. Do you understand me?”

“If it protects you, I will.”

“You will not. That’s not up for debate.”

“You don’t get to decide.”

He turns me and pins me between himself and the counter, his powerful legs caging mine, his hands on my waist. “On this,” he says. “Watch me. I’m not letting you go back to him. Even if I have to do what I should have done before and tie you to my damn bed until you listen to reason. One of my biggest regrets is not doing that a year ago, so I damn sure will do it now.”

Chapter seven

Mia

“Grayson—” I say, determined to make him listen.

“Don’t,” he says. “I know you still know that look and that plea on your lips makes me give in, but not this time. Not when it comes to you and Ri.”

“I’m here because I caused this, because I care. You don’t have to tie me to your bed. I’m staying. I’m not leaving. Please, just tell me you’ll hear me out.”

“Quid pro quo. I hear you out. You hear me out.”

We’re going down this path of the past. I can’t stop it from happening. I’m not sure, if I’m honest with myself or him, that I want to stop it. “On one condition. We deal with us after him because I don’t want either of us letting the past get in the way of shutting Ri down.”

“Then we operate just like we did at the funeral. Nothing is off limits.”