My head started to swim as I stared at the passion and love that screamed from the man who still held captive a piece of my heart.
“Get your fucking hands off my wife,” Carter came charging out of the building like a raging bull, and before I could intervene, Grey’s grip tightened. This time, a fight between the two men was inevitable because the stakes were so much higher.
“Darren?” Grey shook my arms slightly, his hazel eyes filled with concern, and I quickly scanned my surroundings. I’d been daydreaming or nightdreaming while I waited for our car.Did I imagine our whole conversation or some parts?“Darren...are you okay?”
“What’s the last thing you told me?”
His forehead wrinkled. “Umm...I’d just said – “
A woman’s voice called in the distance. “Grant, I’ve been looking for you.”
He slowly closed his eyes, released me, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Call me. I never changed my number in case...”
Finding my voice as he looked past me. “In case of what?”
Grey’s eyes met mine and said softly, “You.” He stepped away to greet the woman approaching us, and I turned around to see Tatianna. She'd grown more beautiful with the toned body of a seasoned athlete.
“Darren, it's been a long time. We never see you or Carter at these events. I saw Carter inside, and he told me you were waiting for the valet. Should’ve realized I would find Grant out here with you.” She gave me the briefest of hugs before kissing him and wrapping her arm around Grey’s arm possessively with her left hand. The rock on her left finger blinged, and my heart fluttered. “Guess I’m about to join you as a married woman soon. Did Grant tell you?”
“We didn’t really have a chance to catch up,” Grey answered quickly.
She grinned and leaned into him. “I finally got this stubborn man to settle down.”
I gritted my teeth so hard I bit my jaw before finally saying, “Congratulations. When?”
“Still trying to decide. We just moved back here last month and are trying to establish routines. Traveling so much for competitions makes it hard to return to civilian life. Eventually, we’ll have a baby or two and catch up with you and Carter,” she rambled while Grey watched me quietly, gauging my reactions.
Oh, God, did they know about the twins?“Give it time. I’m sure you’ll transition fine.” My heart pounded as I started moving away when I noticed the valet with our car. “Good seeing you both. That’s my car.”
I hurried away and settled on the driver’s side. Carter would just get over it. I needed to feel in control and focused. All the passenger side would do in the forty-five-minute drive home was trigger needless thoughts of Grey. Thoughts of what could’ve been. Thoughts of if I’d held on to him instead of easily letting him go. I thought of the life we would’ve had if I had remained by his side like Tatianna obviously did. Maybe our daughter wouldn't have been a secret, and we could've been happy. I would have seen my stubborn, grumpy best friend become a different man—who wanted a wife and children.
GREY AND TATIANNA WEREgone when a mellow Carter walked out of the museum and climbed into the passenger side without argument. He’d been drinking more, and I understood the need. I wanted to drift far, far away to a galaxy where the possibility of Grey didn’t exist. Carter once told me that I would choose Grey over him if Grey wanted the same things I did. At the time, I’d denied it. Now that I know Grey wanted marriage and a family, the Earth had shifted. And it wasn’t from a quake.
We were quiet for the first fifteen minutes of the drive home. I assumed Carter had gone to sleep. His seat was reclined, his eyes were closed, and his arms were folded. I sighed loudly, wondering why we saw Grey again after all this time.
“You okay?” he asked quietly. “Couldn’t have been easy to see Grey. I saw him and Tatianna leave when I walked out the door. They're engaged.”
"I know. She's a good match for him."
Carter squeezed my thigh. His ability to empathize had always been his strength. He seemed to know when I hurt, or he'd gone too far and would suddenly remind me why I loved him and wanted to marry him in the first place. He could forsake his feelings for me, and I could forgive him any transgression when he displayed this side of himself.
I picked up his hand and kissed his palm. “It wasn’t easy for either of us. Why didn’t you tell me he would be there?”
He shifted towards me, though his eyes remained closed. “I hoped he wouldn’t show. I feared he knew or heard something about the twins, and I didn't want to worry you. From what I cantell, when I spoke to Tatianna, they know we have children, but nothing else about them.”
“Glad to know. Still, a heads up would have been nice.” I weaved between the cars on the busy highway on a Saturday night, thinking we could really put the past behind us.
Carter’s speculative gaze coated my face. “Maybe I wanted to see your natural reaction. See if you still loved him.”
My stomach leaped to my throat, and I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. “And?”
“Your loyalty to me is stronger than your love for him. I know you won’t leave me for him,” he firmly said, and relief flooded me. I needed my husband to believe in me tonight, and I needed him to believe in us when doubts crept at Grey's reappearance.
“You forgot to add that my love is stronger for you than the love I have for him.” I held his hand against my heart. “You’ve been there, and he wasn’t. Plain and simple. We're in this together forever.”
“I’m sorry.” He suddenly covered his face with the back of his free hand, and his voice trembled.
Alarmed, I tried to remain calm and steady while driving. “What’s wrong, baby? What are you apologizing for?”
Carter sniffed and stared out of the passenger window. “I don’t want to talk about it. Just know that I’ll be a better husband, okay?”
“We don’t keep secrets,” I reminded him.
His eyes were red as he looked at me. “We’re keeping the biggest one right now. A secret I hope goes to the grave.”
Solemnly, we looked at each other before I returned my attention to the interstate. The one thing above anything else is that we loved the twins. The thought that our family, as we knew it, could be destroyed was enough for me to focus on the road ahead and leave the past where it belonged – in the rearview.
