Not Planning on You (Danvers #2)(40)
Suzy dropped the phone as if it were a snake and hobbled to the bathroom, bile rushing from her throat in waves. She heard her name being called from another room, but was unable to get control of her stomach. Gray rushed in the bathroom, a pair of shorts riding low on his hips. “Baby, are you ok?” He pulled her hair back, from her face as she was sick one last time. She tried to pull away from him but he held onto her arm tightly as if afraid she’d collapse. “Baby, what happened? Are you finished?”
Tears flowed out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Gray grabbed a wash cloth from the vanity and wet it. He gently smoothed her hair back and cleaned her face. His eyes mirrored his concern as he finished with her face and lifted her chin. “Would you prefer to go back to bed or maybe the couch?”
Suzy looked at the face of the man she loved and wondered how he could look so concerned for her when he’d apparently been with someone else while he was away. Maybe it didn’t take him two weeks to finish up after all. He could have been in Charleston part of the time with whoever sent him the text messages. Did everyone know but her? Nick, Claire, Jason and Declan had all mentioned his trip at dinner the previous evening. Had he fooled them all or were they covering for him? There was no way Nick didn’t know, they were too close. That thought hurt almost as much as Gray’s betrayal. She trusted Nick and had started to think of him as a brother. Had he been playing her too, covering for his brother?
She used what strength she had left to pull away from Gray. She saw the confusion and concern as he tried to figure out what was going on. She hobbled back out to the kitchen and stood next to his cell phone that she’d dropped. Stopping to stand in front of her he frowned. “Baby, what the hell is going on?”
She looked down at the phone and his gaze followed hers. She saw his shoulders stiffen as if calculating what she knew. When he looked up into her eyes, he knew. Was her life destined to be ruined by a cell phone again and again? First Jeff and now Gray?
Gray felt his whole world falling apart. Last night had been the single most amazing night of his life and he’d wakened this morning reaching for Suzy. The love he felt for her overwhelmed him. He’d planned to tell her today, but that wouldn’t happen now, she’d never believe him with the timing. He didn’t have to look at his phone to know what she’d found. Reva had had his new number for several days now and since he’d planned to tell Suzy all about it, he hadn’t seen the need to try to get the number changed again. He deleted the messages and texts each day without even reading them. He didn’t think Suzy would dig through his brief-case looking for his phone for no reason. She must have heard a call or text coming through.
His gut clenched to see what that had done to her. There were tears on her cheeks and even worse, she’d been physically sick. He felt like the lowest piece of pond scum. His omission had done this to someone he loved more than his life. He should have trusted her and never let it get to this point. Squaring his shoulders, he prepared to do what he should have done weeks ago, tell her the truth. “Suzanna, let’s go sit in the living-room and talk.”
As he tried to take her hand, she hid it behind her back, knowing it was childish, but if he touched her, she’d fall apart. Sarcasm was her only defense and she prepared to wield it for protection as she had so many times before. “Wow, why am I only Suzanna when someone has screwed around on me? You know I think Jeff called me the same thing when he saw me holding his cell phone and knew he was busted. It looks like you have committed a pretty big offense, are you sure you wouldn’t rather call me Ms. Denton?”
Gray saw through the flippant words to the hurt lying underneath them. She was close to the edge and if he had a prayer of saving what was between them, he had to get through to her now. The walls were going up and he knew that once they were firmly in place, he’d never reach her again. He had to get her to sit down long enough to listen and there was only one way to do that, make her his captive audience. He leaned down and scooped her up in his arms before she had time to dodge him.
Suzy sputtered, trying to twist out of his arms. “Stop it,” Gray demanded. “You’re going to hurt yourself. I’m putting you on the couch and you’re listening to me damnit, you owe me that much.”
When he sat her on the couch, she quickly scooted away, intending to go to the bedroom and shut the door until she could get Beth to pick her up. “I don’t owe you anything Gray; you screwed some other woman and then came straight back here to me. Should I be grateful that you had time to fit me in? I’ll give you credit, you have some stamina there, slick, it’s actually quite impressive.”
Suzy was incensed when Gray actually put his hand over her mouth to stop the flow of words pouring out of her. He enunciated each word harshly, “STOP IT NOW!”
At that moment, the front door opened and Nick and Beth came walking into the living room stopping in shock at the scene before them. “What’s going on, bro?”
Gray threw them a look that had them both backing up. “Leave now.” Then as if almost an after-thought he added, “Please.”
Suzy started to struggle, trying to tell her sister to wait for her. Beth took a hesitant step forward before Nick put his arm on hers, halting her. Suzy knew by the look on his face that he knew what was going on and her heart broke a second time that morning. “Let’s go Beth, they need some time alone.” She could hear Beth protesting as Nick led her back out the door.