Page 62 of Scoring Grey

“I stayed with Roe.” I hold her gaze with hurt of my own. Does she really believe I’d cheat on her?

“And that sounds like a convenient lie. He’d obviously cover for you.”

“Cover me for what? Explain it to me, Eloise, because it sounds like you’re accusing me of cheating right now, and out of the two of us, you have less room to talk.” I angrily run my hands through my hair. “You literally just spent two days in the woods with another man, for crying out loud.” I put my hands on my hips. “And you brought him here today as if the sting from the weekend wasn’t already enough. You had to rub salt in the wound.”

“I brought him for you. I never planned on him staying. He was only supposed to bring the painting, and I’ve already told you Dash and I are just friends.”

“If that’s how you want to play it, so are Roe and me.” I throw my arms wide. “I slept on his damn couch.”

“I didn’t think you were sleeping with Roe.” She releases an exaggerated sigh.

“Then who?” I yell, my frustration getting the better of me. When she rolls her lips and crosses her arms, her eyes searing into mine with an unspoken, ‘You know who,’ I snap. I close the distance and pull her into me.

“Don’t touch me.” She fights against my chest.

“Not happening until you stop this madness and tell me what’s going on.” I wrap my arms around her.

“Let me go.” She struggles harder.

“Not a chance,” I counter, holding her tighter. “You think I was with Blair.” I hate the words. They taste like garbage. Not only because I’d never dream of touching her but more so that Eloise would doubt me after everything. “The only reason I’m with her today is because you asked it of me. I was ready to shut this down at my condo when she showed up with Beck and you know it. I’m doing this for you, so don’t you dare turn it around on me and make it something it’s not.”

Blair must have got to her while I was roaming the halls searching for this damn room. It’s the only thing that makes sense. When Eloise left the conservatory, she said she’d come right back. We were fine. I could see it in her eyes.

“You know this is her game. She got in your head, and now you’re questioning your heart, but I’ve got you. My heart has only ever belonged to you. When yours is weak, let mine be your strength.”

She moves again, but it doesn’t pack as much vigor as before.

“Just calm down. Come back to me, blondie.” I feel her racing heart slow as the tension that riddled her body seconds ago starts to ebb, and I slowly release her, only to bring my hands to her face. “I shouldn’t have hung up the phone, but I was hurt. After the morning we shared, you were all I could think about. I wanted nothing more than to come home to you and get lost with you for hours. This is our time, and I feel like it keeps getting stolen. I didn’t go to sleep that night. There was no way I could be in that house without you, so I went to Roe’s. You’re free to ask him, and if you need more, I can pull the security footage, whatever you need to believe me.”

Her eyes flick between mine as regret washes over her face. “I believe you. I’m just tired of all this.” She shakes her head and grabs my hands, pulling them away from her face. “I let her get in my head, but it couldn’t be helped. Your dad has always hated me. I know that hasn’t changed, and then in her tirade she said ‘he’ not Lucas. For a second, I foolishly believed it was you until I saw it for what it was, another threat delivered, through a messenger instead of himself this time, and then?—”

“Stop!” I hold up my hand as I struggle to regulate the rage threatening to break out of its cage. “Why did you use the word threat and my father’s name in the same sentence?”

Her face pales, and I ball my fists as my heart thuds heavily in my chest at the admission her expression gives away.

“He fucking threatened you?” I growl as my body ignites with a buzz of energy like nothing before. The hate building inside of me is murderous. “Answer me!” I bang my fist on the bookshelf beside me, splitting the shelf, sending the trinkets crashing to the floor and making her jump.

“It doesn’t matter.” Her voice cracks. “I’m not scared of him.”

“That’s not what I asked, Eloise. Answer the question. My father threatened you? When did he threaten you?” I back her to the wall and see her fear, but I know it’s not of me. I’d never lay a finger on her, and she knows it. She’s scared because she slipped up. This is her secret, the one she’s refused to give me. I’ve always known I didn’t have the whole story, but this. HIM! “When?” I demand louder.

“The night of the party.”

“Fuck!” I hit the wall beside her. He’s taken everything from me. I haven’t spoken to him in years. He was never a father. That word is earned. All he ever was to me was a sperm donor. The one mistake my mother ever made. “Why didn’t you tell me? All these years, you have never told me. Why?”

Her hand finds my chest, and her touch tempers the raging storm brewing inside me. “He told me he’d go after my family. They had secrets, and he’d expose them if I didn’t cooperate. But it was more than that for me. Had it only been about my family, I may have acted differently, but it wasn’t. You had already lost your mother. I never wanted to be the reason you lost your dad. I didn’t want you to resent me or our baby. I didn’t want to start wars before our son was born. I never wanted to make you choose, but he left me no choice.”

“My father was a piece of shit, Eloise. You should have told me.” I lean my forehead against hers, needing her touch to tame my beast. “You said you didn’t want me to choose, but I already had.” My hand snakes up to the back of her neck.

“What are you saying?”

I gently squeeze her neck before tangling my fingers in the hair at its base. “I cut all ties with Lucas Balfour the same week I came home and discovered you gave birth to our son. I haven’t spoken to him in six years.”

“What?” Her voice is small, but the regret is tangible. We’ve lost so much time. “How come I didn’t know this?”

“It didn’t affect you. There was nothing to tell.” Her hands fist in the lapels of my sports coat, and I know she has questions, but so do I. “Come on,” I say, breaking apart and claiming her hand. “We’re not doing this here.”

I pull her out of the room and start heading down the hall.

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