Page 49 of (Un)Rivaled

“I wanted a piece of you with me,” I said, my words barely audible over my heartbeat. “Even after everything that happened between us…” I pushed out a breath. “Having a small piece of you with me gave me strength.”

“I always was,” Gray answered. “Even if it didn’t seem like it at the time, I have always been on your side, Devyn.” He sat up and pulled me into his arms. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you.”

My eyes dropped, guilt overwhelming me. “I’m sorry I made it so difficult for you, Gray.”

Suddenly feeling too vulnerable, I motioned for him to let me go. Gray did easily but stayed close to me, even as I started to gather my discarded clothing. I pulled them on quickly, then crossed my arms over my chest. “You asked me to forgive you, but you‘re not the only one who made mistakes. The things I’ve said, what I’ve done… I’ve been so angry at you for so long, Gray. I convinced myself I hated you, all because…” I sucked in a sharp breath, looking up at the ceiling. “Because it was so much easier than admitting how much I missed you.”

Gray stepped forward, brushing his thumb along my cheeks, catching tears I didn’t even realize had fallen. “There’s nothing to forgive, Devyn.”

I dropped my head to his chest. “How can you move past this so easily?”

“Because it’s you.” I pulled my head back to meet his eyes. “And I know how much I hurt you when I didn’t choose you the first time. I would never hold your reaction against you, Devyn.” He brushed the back of his fingers along my cheek. “And now that you’re here, I’m going to make sure you never feel that way again.”

TWENTY-FIVE

FIVE YEARS AGO

After my nausea subsided, Gray helped me up and walked me back over to the bed. I wallowed in my stupidity as he tucked me in, then listened to him call his teammates to let them know he wouldn’t be joining them for the day.

My phone chimed away on the end table, and I groaned as I forced myself to look at it. There was a notification for my group chat with the rest of the associates on the trip. Technically, the conference ended yesterday, but my team had made plans to debrief before catching a flight home tomorrow. And by debrief, they meant go wild on the strip and make the most out of our limited free time in Vegas. However, considering I was still recovering from my last bout of impulsivity, I sent off a quick text, telling them I didn’t feel up for it. No one bothered to reply, probably already betting I’d find some excuse to avoid them.

Gray walked out of the bathroom, scrubbing his hands on one of the hotel towels. Maybe we should have left this room to talk, but the idea of moving more than ten steps made my body want to explode, so I wasn’t leaving this bed anytime soon. This stupid fucking bed, where I finally gotto be with Gray, and my drunken brain decided to block it out. Score one for karma.

“Red or blue?” Gray asked, holding out two sports drinks.

“Red, please,” I said, reaching out to grab it. As I did, my finger touched the band on his finger. We both recoiled. If it didn’t hurt so much, I would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. I was wrapped up in a fluffy white, terry cloth robe, sitting in a hotel with my childhood-best-friend-turned-husband. And despite the fact we hadn’t acknowledged the rings after that first awkward moment, neither of us had removed them either.

Gray must have followed my thoughts, because he leaned away, clearing his throat. “So we should talk about next steps.”

“Next steps?”

Gray leaned his phone screen toward me, showing me a picture of us kissing in the middle of a cheesy Las Vegas chapel. The officiant was dressed as Cher, being far more fabulous than anyone had any right to be. “Apparently, the guys have all the documents.” He cleared his throat. “They didn’t want us to worry about anything but the honeymoon.”

“Just perfect,” I sighed, dropping my head into my hands. “Is it possible that none of this is legal?”

“You’re the lawyer,” Gray grumbled, passing me the phone to swipe through his texts. “But looks that way to me.”

My heart pounded as I looked through them all in quick succession. Outside of the first few pictures from the bar, I don’t remember taking any of them. It was odd, staring at myself, looking happier than I had in years. And when I reached the ones at the chapel…if it was anyone else in the images, I would have thought the night was planned. Gray and I were beaming at each other. Not like drunken fools doing something stupid, but like two lovers who couldn’t wait to be joined together forever.

I shook my head, continuing to thumb through the photos until I reached the one I was looking for. The marriage license. It looked legitimate, and my signature, although sloppier than normal, was there for all to see. What the fuck had I been thinking? Getting married was never one of my goals, never something I’d dreamed about growing up.

Before I think any more about it, I passed the phone back to Gray. “We’re going to need to get those back if we want to annul the wedding.”

“Annul it?”

Gray’s face morphed into a frown, and I kept staring at him, waiting for him to say more. When he didn’t, I reluctantly climbed out of the bed, needing space between us. I dug through my bag, trying to find a pen so I could write everything down. “That’s what makes the most sense. Obviously, we weren’t in the right frame of mind when we signed the marriage license, and any judge would agree based on those pictures.”

Gray nodded, still staring down at his phone.

“Gray,” I snapped. “I need you with me if this is going to work.”

His steel eyes met mine with a fierce determination. It was a look I often saw when watching his games, right before he pitched an amazing inning. But now, it was aimed at me, and I felt it from my fingertips to my toes.

“What if we don’t?”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t get an annulment,” Gray sighed.

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