Page 23 of Now and Forever
Sensing that everyone was outside, Grayson stepped closer, trailing the group as they stepped out into the bright sunlight and walked toward the pool down the stairs. Out of the group of girls and guys, Grayson spotted Golden immediately and regretted it. He inhaled deeply at the sight of her. Wearing a red bikini with a black netted skirt tied partially around her waist and a red rose tucked behind her ear into her short black curls, she looked like an Old Hollywood Spanish movie star.
The group moved toward the pool, while some lingered on the edge and some jumped in with raised laughter. Golden stood near the covered loungers where Gaige was standing, talking to another of his idiotic friends, Carter Serrano.
Seeing Golden, Gaige pulled away and said something to her. Golden frowned before throwing her head back in laughter. Stepping closer to her, Gaige leaned down and whispered something in her ear.
A muscle in Grayson's jaw ticked as he watched the pair. Golden turned her face away from Gaige and Grayson could clearly see her expression grow nervous as she bit her lip. That only made his son's smile grow wolfish.
Grayson's stomach knotted and his brows furrowed at the scene. Just what the hell was happening? Gaige didn't look at Golden in any other way but as a friend, if not a sister. So, what the hell was he doing now?
Just then Gaige's eyes flicked up and met his directly. In an instant, the worry that had been conjured died away, replaced by the beleaguered resignation of knowing his spawn was up to something. The child was born from the devil—he was sure of it.
Leaning down to whisper in her ear again, Gaige turned Golden by the shoulders until she faced the house. Gaige pointed directly at him.
Grayson should have stepped back. Leave these children to their day and go up and take the shower he had intended on taking, but he didn't move. Instead, he watched as Golden followed Gaige's finger and her eyes landed on him. Like watching a flower open its petals for the sun, Golden's face brightened. Her expression changed to shock before morphing into the sheepish smile she always wore around him.
Grayson wasn't a religious man nor a spiritual one, but he was receptive to evidence. First, he met, impregnated, married, and thankfully divorced the woman who was Gaige's biological mother. Then he was given his hell-spawn of a son. And then he was tormented on a near daily basis with temptation incarnate by his son's best friend. And now this! There was no denying the evidence anymore, he was paying for some sort of past sin, for some sort of serious transgression in his past life. That was the only answer to this suffering.
As Gaige stepped away, Golden hesitantly waved at him. Grayson groaned as he waved back, his eyes taking in every inch of her beautiful figure.
Taking a step back, Grayson was prepared to rip himself away from the scene when Carter ran toward Golden. Without warning, Carter captured Golden in a surprise bear hug, lifting her up high against his bare chest as he ran toward the pool. Golden only had a chance to scream once before Carter plunged them both into the deep end of the pool.
Grayson was already out the door when he saw Golden go under the water. As the laughter of the others still lingered inthe air, he was standing by the edge of the pool when Golden surfaced spluttering and yelling at Carter who surfaced laughing beside her. The rose in her hair was now floating some yards away while her netted skirt wrap had sunk to the bottom of the pool.
Kneeling on the side, Grayson held out his hand to her. "Here."
Pushing the water from her eyes, which had smudged her makeup, Golden looked up at him sadly. He could see the anger and embarrassment on her face. Taking his hand, she allowed him to easily pull her out of the water.
Another girl, he couldn't remember her name, came around to them. "Come on, I'll help you fix your makeup," she whispered to Golden.
Watching the pair walk off to the house, Grayson turned to look at Carter whose smile was slowly melting away. Gaige who was standing at the edge of the pool stared at him and then Carter with unholy eagerness.
Grayson crouched down by the edge of the pool, his eyes burning with a cold fury. In a blink of an eye, he grabbed Carter by the neck. A small chorus of gasps and punctuated silence surrounded them. Carter’s eyes widened in shock as he was yanked upward, splashing and gasping for air.
“Keep your hands to yourself,” Grayson growled through gritted teeth, his grip tightening around the kid's neck and his bicep hardening as he lifted the idiotic boy partway out of the water. Carter's face flushed red as he struggled against the iron hold as the other kids stared at them in shock.
"Or," Grayson continued, his voice low and filled with violent promise, "you'll find your whole family sitting in a U-Haul by the end of the week, looking for a new city to live in."
Carter’s eyes flicked helplessly toward Gaige, who only watched with a twisted grin, clearly enjoying the spectacle. With the threat hanging in the air, heavy and very much real, Grayson slowly released his grip, letting Carter fall back into the water, coughing and grasping his bruised neck.
Walking away, he heard his son's grinning voice. "Well, that was amazing."
Chapter twelve
Golden replayed the scene in Grayson's office for the thirtieth time in her head. It had been two days since her fall outside his office. Two days since Grayson picked her up in his arms and carried her. Grabbing the pillow next to her on the bed, she put it over her face and screamed in pure delight.
It felt as if her heart was going to burst.
"Is it wrong that I want to keep you for myself?"
Dear God, she thought as she clutched the cool pillow tighter to her face, she could still vividly hear the husky timbre of his voice. Did that really happen? Did he really say that to her? Turning over onto her stomach, Golden laughed with muffled glee into the plush material.
The only thing that would make it all perfect is if she knew exactly what he meant by it. Her glee ebbed a little as the practical side of her brain, determined to ruin her good mood, kicked in. Turning over with a sigh, Golden stared up at the spinning ceiling fan.
She just got home from work a few minutes ago and she planned to spend the rest of the evening trying to straighten up the front garden. When her aunt was alive the lawn and flower beds were kept in pristine order. Sadly, with the two years of the house being rented, the flower beds weren't very well tended to. Just seeing the wild state of the rose bushes and the overgrown weeds made her feel guilty.
"I'm sorry Aunty. I let all your hard work go to waste," she mumbled to herself.
Getting up from the bed, she changed out of her work clothes and into something she could wear outside. As she pulled on a pair of pants, she caught the sight of her black dress hanging on the closet door. Golden couldn't stop herself from grinning. Since that day she fell, she and Grayson had spent each day together in the little sitting area of his office looking over manuscripts for next quarter's new author spotlight. It was just like the evenings spent in his library years ago. She sat on the couch while he sat in the chair next to the couch. Her heart swelled painfully at the memory.
