Page 143 of Captivated By Danger

“And you’re young and beautiful and shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket, at least not so soon.”

“In so many words, you basically telling me that I need to pull my emotions out of it.”

“Yes. Until you can get what you want. Treat him how he treats you. That’s what fuels men like him. Trust me.”

“You’re right. Thank you for telling me that.”

May1st

When I woke up this morning, I felt kind of overwhelmed, but after journaling my complete feelings about it, and then going to the gym I felt better. While I worked out, I prayed to God for continued healing and for a good decent man. I knew I was only twenty-six, but I wanted to be laid up at night with a big strong man behind me. I’d only been here for a few weeks and Diesel had already spoiled me bad sexually. Once he was done with me, I was going to take some time to myself and then I was going to start dating. It was going to take everything in my power not to compare every man in the future to him. Well, sexually, it would be hard as fuck, I already knew, but Diesel had the emotional capacity of a senile old man. If I didn’t know anything else, I knew that my man would have to be reassuring emotionally and Diesel just wasn’t that. Whether he wanted to believe it or not, his parents gave him a fucked up view of relationships and marriage.

Leaving the gym, I was dripping in sweat. I was sure that I’d overdone it, but it felt good. Usually, I’d be lying on Elle for the third straight hour crying and today, we hadn’t talked yet. Well, I did have a text from her earlier telling me once again how proud she was of me and that she was happy that I was healing. For the rest of my life, I’d be thankful for her, and I’ll tell the world about it. For the last couple years, she’d closed her books on May 1st, just to sit around with me. If she ever needed a kidney, I’d give her one of mine.

Walking off the elevator, I heard Chef Nita banging pots in the kitchen. When I went to speak to her, a large bouquet of roses caught my eye, making me gasp. They had the dining room smelling like a freaking flower shop. There were so many of them.

“Chef Nita,” I called out with a tremble in my voice.

“Yes, my dear.” She appeared at the doorway wiping her hands with a towel. “I know you don’t think these belong to me,” she laughed.

I looked at her with tears in my eyes. “But they weren’t here when I left. Are these from Diesel? Is he here?”

“I don’t know who else they could be from and no, he’s not here.”

Clutching my heart, I walked over to the other side of the table to find a card, but there was a gold card there with my name on top of it. It was the most beautiful calligraphy that I’d ever seen. Opening the card, it was Diesel’s handwriting.

Greysen,

The color red has many different meanings and symbolizations all over the world, but the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that it symbolizes strength. You’re twenty-six and you’ve been through what millions of people will never experience. I admire you for pressing forward, even when you felt like you couldn’t.

You’re beautiful.

Inside and out.

Never change.

Diesel Danger, Mathematician, CFO, the grumpy, analytical, arrogant old man.

I started to sob. I couldn’t believe that Diesel would do this for me, even after acting the way he’d been acting over the last couple of days. I wiped my tears with the back of my hand. We hadn’t spoken since the night I left his office. He’d been gone for the last several days and even though I missed him, so I fought the urge to text or call him. For some odd reason, I knew that he’d watch my social media, so I made sure to take a picture of every place I’d been. I knew he was lurking when he slipped up and liked one of my pictures at four in the morning. Although the roses were so beautiful and thoughtful, I was going to pretend like I was unimpressed, so I texted him.

Me:Thank you, so much. I really appreciate it.

I snapped a few pictures of the table and the card before going in my room. He immediately texted back.

Sir:Welcome.

Looking at the screen, the dots appeared, then disappeared.

The roses and card plus the phone call really put me on cloud nine, so after I soaked in the tub, exfoliated, and did my facial routine, I was going to take myself out to lunch, drink some wine, and hopefully Diesel would be home by the time I made it back because I was going to show him how appreciative I was of the flowers and card, but not without a lot of backtalk.

An hour later, I emerged from the bathroom to loud knocks on the door. Rushing across the room, I pulled the door open and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

“Elle!” I screamed.

“Bitch!”

“Elle!”

“Greysen!”

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