Page 8 of Captivated By Danger

“I don’t wanna pry, but I want to, but you can also tell me to mind my business… why are you going in there?”

“My mom.” I rolled my eyes, slightly. “You know how she is.”

“Oh yeah. Well, it was nice to see you, Grey. I don’t want to keep you. I’ll see you later.”

My father waited for me outside the door, so I latched onto his arm, and we walked in the room. Just as I suspected, everyone in the room was wearing a variation of the wedding colors while me and my dad walked in looking like we were a dark cloud. In my mind, the music slowed, and everyone turned, looking at me slowly before they burst into a fit of giggles while pointing at me. My chest started to get heavy, and my feet were just as heavy, paralyzing me to the floor.

“Hun.” My dad pulled my arm a little bit, making me blink, bringing me back to reality. The reality where everyone carried on as if those two people hadn’t left someone brokenhearted and depressed. “Your mother is waving us over.”

Thankfully, my mother and Grams occupied a table near the back just in case I had to escape early.

“That’s the best dress you could find,” my grams whispered.

My mom eyed her and immediately changed her expression when my grams looked at her for her approval. That was the type of mom she was though, and she got it honestly, so I didn’t fault her for it. The many classes surrounding child development I’d taken told my mom’s story perfectly. She always wanted to please her, no matter what, and got depressed when she didn’t. With me, she was conflicted, wanting to raise me to be strong and independent, while still being mean, thinking it would make me tough—at least, that’s what my grams told her.

“Did you hear me talking to you? Why did you choose that dress?”

“The only thing that fit, Grams.”

My grams was obsessed with my weight and I understood it. She was always a petite woman and my mother was also petite like her. My shape came from my dad’s side, and I was proud of it and was never self-conscious about it, until my husband left me.

The server came over and poured champagne into my glass. She was barely done pouring my dad’s glass before I’d downed my glass and asked for a refill.

“Have you eaten today, Hun?”

I shook my head while sipping on the drink, so I set it down, thinking about the last time I’d drank too much on an empty stomach. Looking around the room, my eyes danced around, landing on many of the same faces that showed up at this exact same spot where me and Kyle hadourengagement party years ago. As I looked at them smiling, gazing into each other’s eyes. My mind went to when I first saw them with my own two eyes.

Elle turned me around in her styling chair, so we could look at each other in the mirror. I hated the way I looked. I was nearly as wide as her chair, barely had any breathing room in it. It was the first time I’d gone out the house in months. Elle told me that she was going to come and drag me out of the house if I didn’t make it to the shop today. In the middle of summer, I’d had on a pair of sweats and one of my sleeping shirts because nothing else fit. This was the first time I’d looked in the mirror in weeks.

“Greysen, look at you.”

I closed my eyes because I hated that command.

“No, honey. Open your eyes and look at yourself, right now. You are not who you were in high school. You’ve lost your glow. Your pizazz. All of that. You need to start back getting your facials. I literally had to beg you to come see me today. Grey, you don’t think that getting out of the house will start to help you heal… even a little.”

When I opened my eyes, tears slipped down my face. It’s all I been doing for the last couple of years.

“Just… I am trying, Elle. I just… can’t. My heart seems to break every time I try to sit up. It hurts to do anything.”

“I know, baby. But you have to try. Do you remember how we used to be in high school? How we used to have fun on the weekends? I never had to drag you out the house. Ever. You were my conjoined twin and now I barely talk to you. How can I help you if you won’t try to help yourself? You’re making me feel helpless as your best friend and I don’t like that.”

“I know… I have to try. Kyle is…”

She inadvertently rolled her eyes and I stopped talking. Every one of my close friends hated him, and I could understand why. He was a resident dentist with a goal of becoming an oral surgeon, but he was so smart that the person that was over him let him work alone. He was also one of those people that thought he knew everything about everything. It’s why he and my mom could talk for hours and hours about literally nothing. At one point, I’d suggested he divorce me and get married to my mom. My dad didn’t like the joke too much, but they were giddy about the idea. Although my friends hated him, he could do no wrong in my eyes. None. He was what I wanted in a man; tall, dark, handsome, funny, and smart. There wasn’t a better combination of man. With all of that, Elle couldn’t stand him. Her gut told her that he was trash from day one. Luckily, she tolerated him.

A couple hours later, Elle had detangled, trimmed and silk pressed my hair. She had to trim a couple of inches off, so my hair stopped at the bottom of my neck.

“Greysen let’s go into the city and have dinner this weekend,” she suggested as we walked to the door. “Your hair is already done, so you don’t have to give me that lie. You got some clothes that will fit, so don’t give me that lie either. We don’t even have to have dinner if you don’t want. Let’s sail to Key West. Anything. I’m literally begging you.”

“I’ll text you. I promise.”

Heading home, I kept looking at myself in the mirror. It was the first time that I’d looked worth anything in many many months. I was hoping to get a compliment out of Kyle. Hopefully, he’d see that I was trying to get back into our marriage. I’d been hearing the rumors of him stepping out but did not believe it because they were insinuating that he was stepping out with my cousin. My cousin had broken up with her boyfriend around the time that I’d lost my baby, so she’d moved in with me to help me out. We were close. She wouldn’t do that to me.

When I made it home, only Perris’ car was in the yard. Looking in the mirror, my lips spread across my face a little. I was going to take Elle’s advice and start getting myself together. Walking in the house, Kyle’s white coat was in the middle of the foyer. His black Nike’s were separated from his coat. My heart started to race as I crept down the hall. The sounds of moaning got louder the closer I got to the room I used to share with my husband. The door was cracked, so I got a full view of my husband pounding my cousin from the back. It was like an elephant had collapsed on my chest. I didn’t make a sound until I was back inside of my car.

“Grey.” My dad nudged me.

When I looked at him, he nodded his head toward the server.

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