Page 35 of Now and Forever
"Shhh, I got you," Gaige whispered in her ear.
Golden wasn't sure if she said anything in reply. The next thing she knew she was staring up at an ornate ceiling while her body was surrounded by softness. Gaige appeared over her face and gave her a smirk. He was saying something.
"Don't worry…safe…will be a nice surprise."
And then he was gone and so was she.
For years she tried to remember exactly what happened that night. Beyond the cringy memory she could pull from the darkness of her mind nothing else ever came back, only the memory that haunted her.
At some point, she had opened her eyes. The soft morning light seeping through the cracks in the curtains illuminated a figure sitting at the edge of the bed. Gradually, her eyes drank in the details of the large figure. A hazy image of Grayson's face finally came into focus and Golden frowned. What was he doing here? Time became nothing as she stared at his handsome face. Surely this was a dream, right? It had to be. Grayson would never be in her room but more importantly, she could never withstand the heated pressure of his blue eyes staring at her as he was now. Yet she felt no fear as she blinked back holding his eyes as she enjoyed the power of the dream. Why not enjoy it more? A thought echoed in her hazy mind.
Without inhibition, the truth spilled from her lips to the man of her dreams. "I wish I could have you," she whispered, her words feeling heavy and her mouth dry.
Grayson's eyes widened in shock and he turned away. But Golden could still see his profile. She watched as he closed his eyes as if in pain before shaking his head and standing.
When he looked at her again, Golden knew he was going to leave. She lifted a hand to stop him but her limbs felt heavy.
His thick, dark brows slashed over his eyes as he looked down at her, giving him a sinister look. There was something so dangerous, so on edge about his expression she found herself saying, "Please don't leave."
But her words did not sway him and with one last pained look, Grayson left her.
Back then Golden wasn't sure even now if that was a dream or reality. An uncertainty she wished she still had. What she did remember clearly was later that morning waking up and staring at the barrel-vaulted ceiling that featured a beautiful, suspended iron chandelier at its peak. Groggily she looked around the room, her mind swirling as the thick fog in her head slowly dissipated into horror. She was in the master bedroom.
Golden felt a wave of acute embarrassment wash over her, mixed with an inexplicable sense of unease. What had happened last night? She desperately tried to recall, but her memories were like shattered glass crumbling through her fingers, refusing to fit together.
She slipped out of bed, her movements slow and deliberate, holding her breath the entire time. The massive bed didn't make it easy either. Eventually, her legs found the side of the bed but she paused at the sight of the paper sitting on the nightstand next to a glass and a pitcher of water. With her head pounding she reached for it.
"Last night, Ashford Harrington put something in your drink. Gaige intervened and brought you to my room to recuperate. I will take care of Harrington. Drink plenty of water. I am leaving town for a few weeks."
Her stomach rolled. She did remember talking to Ashford last night, but she thought he had left to bother someone else. Mortified beyond words, she stood up from the bed, double-checking her clothes were still intact. Although she supposed she shouldn't have bothered, Gaige wouldn't have let anything happen to her. Maybe that was why he put her in his father's room and not just his. Regardless, she had every intention of killing him for that move. She had thought about it all the way home as she snuck past Omar in the kitchen and out ofthe Rosebank house. She had been oscillating back and forth between wanting to scream knowing that Grayson had seen her passed out on his bed and rage at Ashford or whoever for somehow spiking her drink but it all came to a crashing halt when she walked into her house to see her aunt slumped over in her chair.
Even after all these years, it hurt to remember that morning. To see her poor aunt Marisol who had only ever been a Godsend to her sitting deathly still and pale in her favorite chair. It felt as if her world imploded. The house had been so eerily silent except for the pounding of her own heart. The shock was a physical thing, a vise tightening around her chest, making it hard to move. She wasn't sure how long she had stood there in the foyer staring, but at some point she found herself calling the only person she wanted to speak to.
Grayson picked up on the second ring.
"Mr. Rosebank," Golden whispered, tears tightening up her throat. "I…I…need to talk to you-"
Grayson's sharp voice cut her off before she could finish. "Golden, I can't speak right now, I'm getting on a plane," he said sharply, the words like a slap in the face. "I have to go. I'm sure Gaige can talk to you about whatever it is."
Golden didn't get a chance to say anything else before the line went dead.
The gnawing ache of loneliness she thought was behind her slammed back into her. Golden stared down at her phone. Grayson's contact ID was still illuminated on the screen. The silence of it was an echoing void that matched the growing hollowness inside her. His voice had cut her like a knife. She never heard him sound like that, not to her.
Numbly she dialed 911 and waited for the police.
After that, each moment was a surreal blur, a kind of waking nightmare that didn't want to end. The house, once a kitschy yet peaceful sanctuary, now felt like a haunted mausoleum, each room echoing with memories and loss. At some point, Gaige arrived like a storm of fury. He told her in the midst of his yelling he had to find out about her aunt through someone at the police station. From that moment forward, Gaige handled everything. He was the one who set up her aunt's funeral and he was the one who helped her put the house up for rent. Golden was more than grateful. It felt as if she was just going through the motions, mechanically handling the details, but inside unraveling, each thread of her sanity fraying a little more.
Once the funeral was over and the last of her aunt's things were in storage, Golden handed the keys over to Gaige to hand over to his family's management company. After that, Gaige took her on a month-long vacation. After a brief stop in New York to enroll for her classes and find an apartment, they hopped from California, to Mexico, to Hawaii before finally returning to New York. He told her it was to get her bearings for her upcoming semester at Juilliard but she knew it was to take her mind off his father, to fill her plate with so many activities that she didn't have time to think about the bleeding wound of betrayal from Grayson's dismissal.
It would only be after weeks of ruminating on that night trying to decipher what happened that she’d realize the truth. That hazy memory of her asking to have him was real! Never in her life had she felt such overwhelming embarrassment. What must he have thought when she said that? Over and over again she recalled his face hardening and the agitation transforming his features as he stared down at her. That was why he left thecountry that morning. That was why he had turned away her call and pushed her off on Gaige.
And now here she was back in his house remembering that horrible moment all over again. Awake fully, she got up quickly. She startled as she realized she was only wearing her underwear. She couldn't remember undressing last night. Golden winced at the slight pain in her head and hurriedly made the bed and grabbed her clothes and shoes. She glanced at herself in the vanity mirror and groaned. She looked a mess. Her makeup was smudged and her short curls were sticking directly up. Hurrying to the connecting bathroom, she used the toiletries in the drawer. With her teeth brushed, makeup removed, and hair styled just enough for her walk of shame, she tried to reassure herself that she didn’t look that bad as she slipped out of the room and down the quiet hallway. Only her wrinkled outfit would give her away.
Coming down the stairs, Golden stopped and listened for a few moments for signs of life but heard nothing. Her gaze swept the house and stopped at the changes scattered throughout. She hadn't been back in the house since that morning two years ago and she assumed if she ever saw it again it would look the same, but it wasn't. The house was decidedly emptier. The decorative vases, paintings, and even most of the furniture was gone from the giant living room. Was Grayson moving? A stab of panic sliced through her chest as she considered the horrific thought.
Pushing the thought to the back of her mind she continued down the stairs. Her feet left the polished wooden steps and landed on the tile of the foyer. Grabbing the door handle, Golden turned it and began to pull it open when a large hand appeared before her and shoved the door close.
Chapter sixteen
