Chapter Fifteen

Being with Alex today has been amazing, just him being with me at the dress shop put me at ease for a second it felt like old times and thought of going home to sleep in my bed I miss so much was bringing me so much joy.

Alex asked me what we should get for dinner and I immediately thought of Luca and his Nona’s place, the good thing about Greyson having cash is that I have Jack with me today, so I don’t have to try and make the subway trip across town, I let him know where to go.

As soon as we pull up outside the smell of the food makes my mouth salivate forcing me to practically run out of the car.

“Alex this place is amazing, I promise you”.

“It does smell really good, Gen “

We head inside and find a table in the corner, I look around for Nona to say hi and make good on my promise to come back and visit, but I cannot see her and figure she must be at home as it is pretty late.

“Miss Gen you came back!”

“Nona! I promised I would, how are you?”

She waddles from behind the counter looking tired and wraps her arms around, for a woman I’ve only met once, the embrace is warming.

“I’ll go get Luca”.

She goes to turn around but then eyes Alex in his seat and then me again. Knowing what’s going on in her mind.

“Nona this is my best friend Alex”.

A little smile spreads across her face as goes back behind the counter, a few seconds later Luca walk out holding two plates of food and places them in front of Alex and me.

“Nice to see you again Gen. and nice to meet you”.

He extends his hand to Alex who shakes.

“Nona wanted me to eat with you again, but we are busy, so I have to head back begins the counter, you’ll come and see me again, though right?”
He’s looking at me with a grin waiting for me to reply and I nod feeling my cheeks redden as Alex watched the exchange.

As soon as he is out of earshot Alex is on my case.

“Genevieve, what the hell was that?”

He’s smirking at me.

“What happened to being madly in love with Greyson Maddox “

“Alex what are you talking about Luca is just a new friend I made the other night, and his Nona would very much like him and I to get together after only meeting me once. She is a sweet lady”.

“Hmm if you say so Gen, I mean it’s not like you’re not allowed to look Luca is a pretty god looking Guy”.

I’m actually certain I’m not allowed to look, Greyson would go mad if he thought I had shown any interest whatsoever in him, even if I did think he was handsome and kind.

“Alex don’t be ridiculous, I’m in love with Greyson now eat the sandwich, it’s amazing “

He doesn’t respond but keeps the stupid grin on his face while he picks up his sandwich. As the rest of the dinner goes on Luca comes over a few more times to check-in and each time Alex flashes me a weird smile and pumps his eyebrows.

“I’m going to go, and pee Alex ill meet you in the car?”

He agrees and stands up reading to the door. When I exit the bathroom, Luca is stood in the hallway blocking my way past looking nervous.

“Luca are you okay?”

“OH, err Gen, yes I’m fine”.

He looks a little sweaty he’s fumbling his words.

“I just wanted to catch you before you leave and give you this”.

He hands me a small piece of paper.

“Give me a call sometime, maybe we can have dinner in a place that isn’t my restaurant “

He hurries off behind the counter and I stand stunned, Luca this tall handsome guy looked like a teenager as he shoved the paper into my hand.

I can’t help but smile a little and then regret it right away showing the paper into my pocket I head out of the restaurant and into the car where Alex is waiting patiently.

“I saw you talking to Luca, what did he want?”

“Oh, nothing he was asking me to come by again and see is Nona apparently she pretty fond of me “

Alex nods and mentions how cute the old lady was. I’m not sure why I lied to him just then, I could have just told him that he asked me out. it’s not like I did anything wrong in fact, I didn’t say anything.

Around 20 minutes later we arrive at my old apartment and head upstairs the familiarity of the place washing over me in the best kind of way.

After showering and getting changed Alex and I settle down to watch a movie, that is before his phone rings and Mia’s face flashes on his phone screen.

“I should take this, its Mia. it’s getting late anyway so I’ll probably go to bed after”.

We haven’t had a chance to have that conversation yet, but I can tell he is avoiding it.

“Okay Alex no problem, I’m pretty tired anyway”.

I turn the movie off that we were halfway through and sweep my blanket up dragging it up to my bedroom.

Once I’m there I grab my phone out of my bag and climb into the familiarity of my own bed, I unlock it to see a plethora of messages and calls all from Greyson.

I read through them.
*Gen, you can’t stay out overnight at Alex’s what if someone from the media spots you*

Trust him to think only of that and not of my feelings I delete that text and move onto the next.

*Genevieve, I don’t know what you think you saw but you can’t just run away from this and not talk to me*

Turning it around like I’m crazy ad didn’t see the intimacy between them. Brilliant.

*I have no worries about coming to Alex house to get you and bring you back here*

Threats, fabulous.

*Jack let me know you went back to see the guy you say you just met; you look pretty cosy*

Attached to this last text is an image of the Luca and me in the small corridor. I wonder how Jack could do this, but I imagine he is being paid a fair amount of money to do so.

I make a mental note to stop getting into the car with Jack unless I absolutely have to, it seems that the whole world is in Greyson Maddox’s pocket.

I scroll through the rest of the texts all with the same tone, when my phone starts vibrating in my hand, his name flashing on the screen.

I let it go to voicemail, but it begins to ring again right after. I sit back up in bed and answer the phone.

“Finally, she answers”.
I can tell from the sound of his voice that he is pissed off but at this point, I don’t care, so I don’t respond.

“So, you’re just going to ignore me, great what are you like 12 years old”.

He comments annoys me.

“What do you want Greyson I’m in bed”.

“You’re not in bed, your bed is empty”.

“No. My real bed has me in it and I’m pretty happy here”.

I hear him sigh and breathe in deeply.

“Look, I know what you saw earlier must have been weird, but you at least have to let me explain”.

I want him to explain to me, I want him to apologise and tell me that I’m the only one for him but that’s a dream and this is reality.

“You don’t have to explain anything, as per the terms of our contract you can sleep with whomever you wish, I only wish you would have told me there was someone else in your life. I could have made prior arrangements to vacate for the day”.

I’m oddly proud of myself for remaining calm in this.

“Gen will you stop being so stubborn for once and let me explain”.

“Greyson I’ve just told you there is nothing to explain, now if that’s all I need to sleep”.

“Fine Gen but when you get to the office tomorrow, we need to talk.”

“I won’t be coming to the office tomorrow Greyson, but we can’t talk when I’m home”.

With that I put the phone down on him switch my phone off and roll over to try to sleep, my mind now running with a thousand thoughts.

I don’t sleep all night instead I toss and turn until the light comes through the window and I hear Alex getting ready for work.

He pops his head in the door asking if I’m going to work.

“I’m not coming in today I need to take my dress home, but Jack and I will give you a lift in, just let me get dressed”.

He exits the room and I pull out some leggings and top that I left here, gathering up all of my stuff I head to meet him at the door.

We drop Alex off and Jack tried to make conversation the rest of the way back to Greyson’s apartment, I give him one-word replies careful not to tell him anything now as it goes right back to Grey.

As the lift goes up, I feel a weird sense of relief that I don’t have to face Greyson till he comes home from work, that is until I open the door and see him pacing in front of the window.

We meet each other gaze and I break it right away heading to my room. I can hear him follow but I don’t make any contact with him.

I take my dress into the room and hang it up on the wardrobe and turn to close the door, but Greyson is stood in the doorway.

“You can’t avoid me forever “

“Not avoiding you forever Greyson, just right now”.

“Gen we are supposed to be married in a week and we are not even talking to each other “

I get a sudden sinking feeling, her right we are supposed to get married in a few days in front of people, I have to lie to all those people and pretend to be happy when in reality I don’t want any of that I just want to do it and be done with it.

“About that Greyson”

“Gen you can’t change your mind about this people already know”.

I see the panic flash through his eyes, and he takes a step further into the room.

“I’m not backing out I’m a woman of my word, but I don’t want the massive wedding I want it to be me and you, your parents and Alex, I don’t think I can face the world.”

I sit down on the bed.

“Honestly, I don’t think I can face crowds of people, we can have someone take the pictures then release all out intimate wedding photos to the press”.

He takes another step into the room, so he is now stood in front of me.

“We were never having a big wedding; I decided the night you had a panic attack. I didn’t want you to have to deal with that again”.

I’m shocked by his words; he actually did something to help someone other than himself. I don’t meet his gaze, but I feel like I should say thank you.

“Thank you, Greyson”.

He lifts my chin with his hand to look at him.

“You should get some sleep Gen you look tired”.

He is right I am tired, with that he heads to the door, but something is playing on my mind why is he not at work.

“Greyson why are you home”.

He shrugs showing next to no emotion in his face.

“It was hard to concentrate after you left yesterday, I didn’t want to repeat that, so I knew I had to talk to you, so I took the day off “

He then leaves closing the door behind him.

In all of the things, I’ve read about and heard about him the one thing that always stuck out was the fact that he had never taken a day off, but here he was taking a day off to talk to me.

What kind of game is this guy playing, and when will I get to learn the rules?