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Grayden’s head flinched back as his eyes widened. “Whoa, I’m here on behalf of my client—nothing more.”
Dax’s expression called him a liar. “You’re not truly here for Mimi’s sake. The truth is that you don’t like being on the outside of Addison’s life. You’ll use any excuse to somehow touch it; to remind her that you exist. And I have to tell you, Grayden, I’m fucking done with it.”
“That’s not—”
“It’s time you let her go,” Dax stated, his tone nonnegotiable. “I get that you’ll struggle with it—maybe even for a while. But you’re going to need to push past that. Some men might get off on others coveting their woman, but I don’t.”
A dark spite surged to life behind Grayden’s eyes. His cheeks reddened, his jaw hardened, his breaths came faster. “Well, you know what I don’t like? I don’t like when a guy I once considered a friend marries my ex.”
“She was mine first.”
“Yours?” An ugly scoff came from Grayden. “You two had a flingyearsago. That hardly counts. And you might now be her legal spouse, but that’s just paperwork. It doesn’t equal a relationship. She’s no more yours now than she was back then. She’s not in any way important you. No.Youmight have married her, butIlove her.”
I gaped at the sheernerveof this motherfucker. He’d broken his promises to me. Walked away. Reconciled with his ex.Defendedsaid ex and her son when they recently screwed with me. And now he was claiming he loved me? Honest to God?
“Don’t give me that shit.” Dax shot him a look that was a perfect blend of impatience and disgust. “You don’t love her.”
Grayden’s brows snapped together. “Fuck that, Dax, I—”
“In fact, I don’t think you ever did.”
His mouth dropping open, Grayden jabbed a finger at him. “That is not true.” His gaze cut to me. “Youknowthat is not true.”
“If you honestly cared so much about Addison, you wouldn’t have given her up.”
His eyes flying back to Dax, Grayden dropped his hand to his side. “I went back to Felicity for my kids’ sake. Nothing else could have made me leave Addison. Only my girls.”
“So you say. And maybe that’s true. But you share Felicity’s bed, don’t you? Share the bed of a womanyou knowmade a play to destroy the happiness you had with another.”
Grayden spluttered. “It wasn’t like that.”
“It was exactly like that,” Dax asserted. “If you loved Addison, you’d be hating Felicity for what she did. You’d loathe her for making that play; loathe that it worked; resent every minute you spent with her. You wouldn’t be able to kiss her, touch her, sleep with her.”
Grayden stared at him, lost. He’d never looked at the situation that way before, I realized. The truth was … neither had I. But yes, Dax was right. And the fact that none of this hurt me really showed just how totally over Grayden I was.
“W-what am I supposed to do?” Grayden demanded, defensive. “Take a vow of celibacy?” His gaze sliced back to me. “He’s twisting things, Addie. It’s … I … You know he’s wrong. You know I love you. Don’t you?”
Not bothering to hide my doubt, I steadily stared back at him.
His lips flattened. “You can’t really agree with him on this.”
“Of course she can, because she isn’t stupid.” Dax took another step toward him, his eyes twin points of intensity. “We live with our choices, Grayden. You made yours—it wasn’t her. Like it or not, she’s mine. Any baby that grows in her belly will be mine. The come that’s right now leaking out of her is mine.Youhave not one thing to do with her. Focus on your kids and the ex-wife you went back to. They’re the ones who need your time and attention.”
It was really wrong how much the whole M word dazzled my hormones when it came out of Dax’s mouth. I should be used to it right now; shouldn’t get all tingly hearing it anymore. But no, I hadn’t yet built an immunity to it.
A crimson flush swept up Grayden’s neck and face. “I hear a lot of ‘She’s mine.’ You know what I don’t hear? I don’t hear you say you care about her. Can you look me in the eye and honestly tell me, hand on heart, that Addie means anything to you? Can you? Seriously?”
Dax leaned toward him slightly. “Yeah. Yeah, I fucking can.” Quiet words that carried the punch of truth and made my heart squeeze.
Grayden’s mouth snapped shut so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d cracked a tooth.
“Now get out of my office,” Dax told him. “And if Mimi tries sending you to do any similar errands, don’t bother obliging her. I have no time for you or her.”
Grayden dragged in a rattling breath. He looked at me, his eyes tormented and his face expectant … like he thought any moment now I’d speak up and insist that, no, he loved me.
Yeah, nah.
Finally, he muttered a curse and then barreled out of the office, not bothering to close the door behind him.
