I didn’t believe Grayson was beyond salvation. There was one more good deed in my back pocket. I was going to help Grayson get closure he needed to heal.
56
GRAYSON
Lexi wasn’t at the penthouse when I returned that evening.
The party food had been cleaned up and packed away in the fridge. The carpet was ruined from the spilled alcohol and the blood. The penthouse felt horribly cold and empty even though there were more pieces of furniture in it, though many of them were broken.
I was sure my brothers had filled her head with poison after I’d left.
They were right though.
I was just like my father. I had hurt my little brothers while my father had laughed.
There was still a bottle of scotch at the wet bar. I picked it up and took swigs as I walked through the penthouse.
Lexi had left food for me in the fridge. A note was on the container.
When life punches you in the face, eat cheese!
I pocketed the note.
My teeth hurt too much to chew.
In the study, Crumpet the rock was waiting in his stupid hat. I should work, to try to salvage something of the day. I hadn’tbeen able to focus during the days preceding the party, and I had wasted all that time for what? Just to confirm what I already knew, that my brothers hated me, that Aaron wanted to break my legs, that they had all grown up free, yes, but close to each other and not to me. They had their own inside jokes, knew each other’s mannerisms. They were all brothers, and I was the outsider, the villain, the common enemy. Now they were going to pull Lexi into their orbit, too, and take her from me.
I took another swig from the bottle. Picking up the terrarium under one arm, I headed back into the ruined salon.
I sat down on the broken couch and took another drink.
“It’s just you and me,” I told the rock.
The destroyed grandfather clock was making choked noises. I leaned back on the ripped cushion. My ribs ached. I should put ice on them, but it was probably too late—I’d have to live with the bruises.
I stared up at the TV mounted on the wall over the fireplace, the one Lexi had insisted on. There was a remote in the basket on the nonbroken side table.
I turned on the TV. There was a line through the picture, probably from where Aaron had thrown the lamp at me.
On the screen, a cricket in a top hat and a suit was talking to a wooden puppet who wanted to be a real boy.
I sat there and watched that whole fucking movie.
It was Tuesday again.I dreaded Tuesdays. I knew she hated me, but I still wanted to see her.
More than anything, I was afraid that one day I’d arrive at lunch and she wouldn’t be there.
Yet a part of me was also hoping to see a different woman, one with red hair and freckles.
“She’s not going to be there,” I told myself.
I had ignored Lexi’s calls and avoided her at the office. There was no way she would just show up at the restaurant, even though I wanted desperately to see her.
“Your girlfriend’s already waiting at the bar for you,” the hostess said after greeting me.
I nodded to her, trying to keep myself from running to Lexi.
Likely, she is here to break up with you and she chose a public place to do it, a place where she knew you weren’t going to lose your shit.
