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Chapter 21 - Grayson: Skeletons
Dinner had been an absolute shit show. I had only gone to that place because Astrid had practically begged me to take her there. Jade wasn’t supposed to be there, and her stupid boyfriend wasn’t meant to be there, either, but low and behold…
What Jade had said had my head scrambled. She said so much and nothing at the same time. What did she mean she had been taken from her? I had wanted to chase her down and demand more answers, but I froze.
It was like my brain forgot how to function. When I finally remembered how to use my legs, she was gone, and Astrid was sitting at the table with a smug look on her face.
I ran out of the restaurant to see if she was on the sidewalk, but she was long gone. I needed answers and, from the way Jade and I had left things, I couldn’t go to her. So I decided to go to the next best person—her brother.
I broke every driving law out there as I headed to Ethan’s practice. I parked my truck and got out. Ethan hadn’t been sleeping at his house, so I knew that he was here. He was still avoiding Jade after the whole blowout at his mother’s wake.
The sign on the door said closed, but I knew better. I barged through the front entrance and made my way to his exam room. Sure enough, I found him sitting at his desk writing in his files. When he heard me enter, his eyes snapped to the door.
“You know, don’t you?” I asked.
“What?”
“Jade never got rid of the baby, did she?”
“Who told you that?”
I stormed over to his desk and slammed my hand on it. “Don’t play dumb, Ethan. She didn’t get rid of the baby, did she?”
“I think this is a conversation you should be having with my sister and not me, Gray. It’s not my story to tell.”
“Did you know?” I searched his face, hoping the answer was no because there was no way my best friend would have watched me crumble and led me to believe that the woman I had loved had killed our baby.
“Answer the question, Ethan,” I gritted out through my teeth.
Ethan stood from his chair and sighed. “Yes, I knew.”
I grabbed the nearest thing I could reach, a mug, and I flung it across the room. It hit the wall, shattering to the ground.
I reached for the tray of folders and flung them across the room. I then turned to the wall and let my fist fly. It collided with the wall, causing a hole. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel any pain but that probably had to do with the large surge of adrenaline.
I was about to ram my fist into the wall again, but Ethan pulled my arm back.
“Grayson, enough.” His voice was calm and soft. “Stop, man. You are going to hurt yourself.”
“She didn’t kill the baby?”
“No,” he said from behind me. “She loved her and wanted to keep her.”
“It was a girl?” I couldn’t get the sentence out of my throat. Emotion was lodged there.
“It was a girl,” he confirmed. “Look, I can’t tell you anything because it’s not my story to tell, but you should speak with her. Only she has the answers that you need.”
I nodded, unable to speak. My vision was blurring from unshed tears. Ethan came around me and pulled me into a hug, and I lost it. I was often a cool and calm person. I never let things get to me but, when Jade was concerned, I always lost my cool.
My body racked as I cried tears I didn’t even know I had. I was a man. I was meant to be strong and hold it together but, right now, I just needed release.
I had hated her for so long. I had loathed her because I thought she had run from me. I thought she had been selfish by choosing herself, but it turned out that I had been the selfish one.
I had been the one that had wanted to clip her wings by forcing her into a future she didn’t want. When I looked back, it was easier to blame Jade. It made the pain morph into a hatred that I could place onto her.
All this time, I had pointed the finger at her when I should have been pointing it at myself.
I had said so many painful and hurtful things to her today. Things I knew would hurt her. I had hit her where it hurt the most.
