AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh?” There is laughter in his voice. “Let me guess, you want my permission to use those magazines while I’m gone?”
“No. But now that you mention it—“
His low growl cuts me off from saying anything further. “You can, but I’m burning them the second I get back. Deal?”
“Yeah. Deal.” It’s one I know I can keep.
Spare Me
Royce
Eventhoughitisnearly midnight, Gramps insisted I come over and “get everything off my chest.”
So here I am, in his penthouse, in the same office, drinking the same scotch from the same expensive glass, only this time, I’m about to blindside him with my ultimatum instead of the other way around.
Fucking full circle.
For the first few minutes, we get the fun facts out of the way: such as my flight up here (he laughs about the grandma who talked my ear off), the weather in New York vs Texas (cold and rainy vs boiling, then cold, then warming up to hot again), and now, the conversation has turned toward why he asked me to come over.
“So,” Gramps says, perching on his desk and eyeing me shrewdly. With a black suit on and his arms folded casually, he looks like he’s going to ask for a favor I can’t refuse. “Tell me what’s going on.”
I begin with STS, detailing my efforts to make the company better while in the back of my mind, I think of a way to work my relationship with Genesis into the conversation.
I’m not rushing into it, because I know my decision will hurt Gramps. Yet, it will be worse if I have to remove Genesis from my life.
I can’t give her up. I’ve lied to myself for too long on what she means to me and I can’t do it anymore. I ache for her even now, even with Gramps staring at me, noting my every move.
Telling him what I’ve got to say won’t get any easier the more I put it off, so I take a deep breath and say, “I can’t marry Tif. I’ve found someone I want to be with.”
Gramps laughs, one reaction I wasn’t expecting. It gives me hope for a second... right before he dashes it. “The hell you say. Are you really prepared to lose everything?”
I’ve seen his features turn hard and unforgiving as he picked someone apart. When he was done, a cleaning crew had to be brought in to sweep up the remains. I hoped that being a blood relation, I would somehow get a pass. Nope. Not at all. Gramps’s brow is heavy over his narrowed eyes and his mouth, although not quite a sneer, is disapproving, to say the least.
I don’t give in to his intimidating look. Sin is worth fighting for. “Come on, Gramps. Would you really kick me out and forgo getting to know your grandkids?”
His expression speaks of his curiosity, and what looks like hope, but that can’t be right. “What? You knocked her up already?”
Damn, I wish I had.
“No, but she wants to have kids.”
And I wouldn’t mind having her be the mother of my children.
Gramps waves off my reasoning with an age spotted hand. “Well, keep her then. You marry Tiffany, and keep the other woman on the side.”
I shake my head to let him know he is missing the point. “Look Gramps, I’m a lot of things, but I’m not interested in starting a harem. One woman is enough for—“
“Then make sure that woman is Tiffany or you will be out on the street today. I’ll have your accounts frozen. I’ll get you banned from your apartment and the rest of your real estate. If you choose Ms. Genesis Turner in Texas, you’ll walk away with the clothes on your back and nothing else. Maybe you two can get a job working with her parents on that sheep farm in New Zealand?”
My mouth flops open. If he knows Sin’s name and about her parents, he’s kept a really close eye on me.
“Trust you to find out about her,” I say to cover up my disquiet at him finding out about Genesis so soon.
“I’m one step ahead, forever and always.”
“I guess I should have known it was inevitable,” I mumble.
Then again, it’s not like we made our relationship a secret.
