Page 4 of The Elusive Billionaire
Grey and Braxton’s nephew moved here with Grey four months ago. And he recently started college. And he’s playing football for the first time ever…as their kicker.
ChasingColors42: You know football? I played when I was younger. I’m just getting back into it now that he’s playing.
ChasingColors42: He’s the local university’s new kicker.
I press my nose to the glass door and watch as Grey types on his phone.
Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.
ChasingColors42: I’m really happy for him.
ChasingColors42: I gave up a lot for my family.
ChasingColors42: I never want him to have to make the same sacrifices, you know?
I can’t respond.
Grey is ChasingColors? What the hell are the chances of that? One in a million? A billion? There can’t be another man in the US who wants a baby but not a wife and has a nephew with the exact same background, right? That’s too coincidental to happen twice.
ChasingColors42: He’s growing up and I’m…
What? He’s what?
I lift my head from my phone and find Grey staring at me. No. No, no. Does he know it’s me? The intensity of his glare sears me. I’m a filet left on the pan too long, and sweat gathers on my spine.
He shakes his head with a frown that fits him like sadness, then he drops his gaze.
A moment later, my phone buzzes, and I sink down to the floor, unable to stare at Grey a moment longer.
I feel dirty and guilty as hell.
ChasingColors42: I’ll never admit this to anyone else, but since you’re so adamant that we’ll never meet, I’ll say it to you.
Please don’t. Please, please, please don’t.
ChasingColors42: I’ve spent so long fearing I’d end up like my father that I’ve forgotten how to make real connections with people anymore. Even when I want to.
Oh, Grey. That’s not true.
ChasingColors42: I’m lonely. Isn’t that the saddest fucking thing you’ve ever heard? Thirty years old, and I’m lonely but too untrusting to let anyone in.
Greyson Reyes just decimated my soul with that one admission.
He wants love but doesn’t know how to accept it.
We’re more alike than he’ll ever know.
I can’t let him into my screwed-up life. Hell, I’ve had Madi, Clover, and Elle for ten years, and I’ve never once asked them for anything. Instead, I’ve made myself invaluable to them. I’m the friend they go to when all hell breaks loose. I’m their guardian angel, their sounding board, their rock.
It’s the only safe way for me to experience love now.
ChasingColors42: Did I scare you away with my neediness?
This is a sad version of Grey that he doesn’t share and I never would have imagined. He needs someone. No, he needs me.
This will undoubtedly come back to bite me in the ass, but how can I leave him in pain and all alone?
Lifting to my knees, I chance another peek at him. His brows are furrowed, and his mouth is set in a grim line, but now I’ve seen beneath the mask to the sadness he hides beneath.
