Chapter Forty-One

“Gen what the hell are you talking about, will you just open the door”.

I slump down against it, my back pressing against the cold wood.

“Look I know that was a shock to you, seeing your brother like that it was a shock for me too. But it needed to be done Gen, after all, that he did to you it is what he deserved”.

I stay silent, my hand clasped over my mouth to muffle my crying. In reality, I’m not even sure what I’m crying for.

“Look I’ll be in the front room when you are ready to talk”.

I hear his footsteps before he stops and comes back.

“You can’t just shut me out you know. These last few months with you have changed me in every way I know I’m not perfect, but I am trying my hardest to be good enough for you”.

The sadness in his voice carries in the air as he walks away once more.

Honesty.

That was all I ever wanted, from the start of this I begged him to be honest with me about the money about the reasons why.

I forced him to tell me about himself on our honeymoon, I made him open up to me falling in love with him every second of the way.

So why can’t I trust him, why can’t I commit myself to him fully. He is right, he has done nothing but try, and he has done that for me.

He exposed my brother for me, he helped Nona and Luca for me. I’m pushing him away when all I want is to be with him.

The person who isn’t being honest here is me.

I wipe my eyes off, check myself in the mirror and head out to meet him ready to lay all my truths out on the table.

He is sitting at the table; his head whips up as he hears me coming. I don't simply take a seat opposite him.

His jaw is clenched tightly further defining his jawline, the soft lights from the room accentuating just how handsome he is.

Taking a deep breath, I’ve told myself countless times since Mitch’s humiliation of me that I am a woman with no fear, now is the time to put that to the test, with my eyes locked on his I begin.

“Tonight, was a lot to take in. It didn’t go how I thought and then all of that with my brother.”

He tries to jump in, but I stop him.

“Please just let me finish”.

He nods and his shoulders tense high matching his locked jaw.

“I met three women tonight from your past, all of whom were left broken by you. I watched you on that stage exposing your brother for who he is, the cheater, the liar but to those ladies, you are cut from the same cloth”.

He doesn’t speak or respond, I try to calm my nerves, fiddling with my hands in my lap.

“It allowed me to seek a way out, I told myself that if that’s what you did to them then you would surely do the same to me. At some point in our not-so-distant future, you would take what you wanted from me and go, it was easier for me to just leave now and avoid all of the future pain”.

“Gen, I would never.”

“Please Greyson just wait”.

He again nods, I can see his agitation in his now rigid body as he is bursting to tell me how he feels.

“I have begged you to be honest with me, I begged you to lay it all out for me during our time together and you have. The truth is.”


He speaks now, desperate to let it out.

“Just let it out Gen, just say what you have to say and let’s be done with it, you have made up your mind”.

The anger I was expecting comes to the forefront now as he stares me down. I am no longer looking at my Greyson but the stone-faced one I first met.

“The truth is that I am fucking terrified of loving you. I am terrified of losing you, of not being enough for you. I made you promise me honesty and I didn’t do the same to you”


“What are you saying?”

There’s a confusion in his eyes as his brows crease and his shoulders relax a little.

“I’m saying that it's time for me to be honest, it's time for me to tell you my truths”.

I stand from my seat and move to sit on the chair closer to his.

“I saw an easy way out tonight, my gut told me you would do what you did to those girls to me. I convinced myself that I should just go. That it would be better for both of us”


“You couldn’t be more wrong. What I did to the women from my past was shameful. I would use them and drop them as soon as something better came along or until I got bored with them. Half the time I wouldn’t even tell them it was over; I’d just ignore them”


He takes my hand in his and runs the other through his now dishevelled hair.

“That was until I met you, there is no one better. There won’t ever be somebody else, I want you for the rest of my life Gen you must know that”.

“I do. It’s my selfishness that has made this happen, my own need to protect myself from everything and everyone. Since all of that stuff with my brother, I guess I just got used to relying on myself. I just didn’t know how to cope with it all I could suffocate and fight through it, or I could just take the easy way out and let go”.

Admitting all of this is hard, but I don’t know if it is harder to him or myself it’s like I’m facing everything that happened to me.

“And then when you did what you did tonight with your dad. I felt responsible. You are going to lose everything and for what? For me, some woman who chucked two drinks at you. It just doesn’t seem logical.”

“It’s not about logic Gen. It's about love”


“But are you sure that’s what you feel? How are you so sure?”

“Because, before, your life was monotonous. From the moment we first met it was like being on a rollercoaster every day, something new and exciting. You brought me back to life Gen before you I went from bed to bed aimlessly searching for a connection”.

“A connection?”

“Yes, a connection. To anything, to anyone. I didn’t have that with my father and I sure as hell don’t have it with Max and then suddenly there you were. This fierce stranger who wasn’t afraid to call me out on my shit, the day you called me an asshat or whatever it was I spent all day thinking about you. I thought it was because you had annoyed the fuck out of me, but it was because my first meeting with the most amazing woman was negative and she swore at me and stormed off “


We both laugh remembering that day and I nudge his shoulder with my own.

“You were stood in the middle of the pavement and you didn’t even offer to help me, so you kind of deserved it”


“I would do it again if I had to, stand in your way over and over again if it led to this. To us”

“Greyson… What if I mess this up?”

“Then we try it again until we get it right, but you won’t. You just have to let me in, you can rely on me now, always”.

Involuntary tears fall once again. Amid my chaos stands Greyson Maddox.

“I’m sorry I’ve put you through all of this”.

I wipe the tears from my cheek struggling to meet his gaze, he pushes his chair back and extends his hand for me to take.

I do willingly, following him towards the balcony.

“Where are we going, Grey?”


“You’ll see”.

He pushes open the door for me to go first. I keep my eyes on him as I do.

What’s going on?”

As I look out onto the patio I am stunned, my tears falling but for a completely different reason now.

“I wanted to do this when we got home, heck I’ve wanted to do this since the day I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you”


The whole balcony is covered in candles each one flickering in the light breeze of the crisp New York air. Taking another step closer there are red tulips in every gap, covering every inch of the floor and in the centre a small table holding two Glasses and an ice bucket.

Greyson takes my hand and leads me to the centre of it all, a lump forming in my throat. He stands in front of me, his eyes locked on mine.

“I know that my life is a mess. I know you think your is too”


He drops to one knee and pulls a small box from his back pocket.

“I know you think that you would be better off alone. But Genevieve Hudson, would you please consider being alone with me?”

He opens the box and reveals a diamond ring, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

“If you let me. I’ll spend every day making sure that you don’t get too lonely”.

He takes my hand once again.

“Will you Marry Me?”

He just asked me to marry him. He asked me, Genevieve Hudson, to marry him. He just heard everything I had to say and still has chosen to be with me.

I try to speak but no words come out staring at him. I can’t help but laugh and cry all at the same time.
Eventually, I manage to muster up a word.

“Yes”

He stands up and pulls me into him kissing me softly. At that moment I realise how just stupid I have been. I am fucking love this man, and that is all that matters.

That’s all that should have ever mattered.

**Greyson**

The relief I felt when she said yes was exhilarating. I thought I had lost her earlier, I thought the one good thing in my life was about to walk away from me.

I pull back from her, tears blurring my vision. Lifting her hand, I slowly take off the other rings she is wearing.

“These are still important, but these are not the rings you should be wearing”.

I place them on the table.

“They are from our former life. This is for our future”


I slip the ring on her finger as she beams at me, her eyes saying more than her words ever could. Leaning down to kiss her again I can feel the two of us smiling, it’s amazing.

I pour us both a drink and we take a seat staring out into the New York skyline, her head resting on my shoulder.

“I have to be honest with you Gen, if you had left me tonight, I would have been completely lost”


“I’m sorry I put you through that. I convinced myself it was what was best for you when really, I was just trying to run away”.

“Remind me to mark you down as flight risk”.

The two of us laugh and she sits up to face me.

“I will never leave you Greyson, tonight has been just …. Well, let’s just say it's been a wild ride. I learned the most important thing though”


“What’s that?”

“That you are my family, All I wanted was for you to love me. Tonight, my own dishonesty with myself almost lost me that. I promise to spend the rest of my life making it up to you”.

She takes both our glasses and places them on the floor before climbing onto my lap to straddle me. The sight of her caramel skin shining in the moonlight, her black hair falling past her shoulder and her low-cut dress letting me see her chest rising and falling.

She leans into me kissing me deeply, a sense of urgency as her hands wrap around my neck and into my hair. I can’t help but put my hands on her, gripping my hands on her lower back and pulling her into me, my trousers getting tighter and tighter. She really has no idea the things she does to me.

I stand up, her legs wrapped firmly around my legs, making my way back into the apartment. I want to make her mine for real this time. I want to show her everything I feel for her.

I make it as far as the front room before the sadistic sound of clapping make us both jumps.

“Well, well isn’t this fucking romantic”.