4. Lily
This is more twisted than can be put into words. Who would’ve thought the day I sent those images to that unknown boy would turn into this? I know what people might think, but there was no thought of Lacey, her mother, or their past treatment in my mind when we kissed.
There were no other thoughts but the way he made me feel. I’ve been kissed before, though not like this. Not a kiss that made my whole body tingle from head to toe and places between my thighs ache and grow wet. Of course, Tommy Tilson was all of thirteen when he stole that kiss, and the black eye he got persuaded him not to do it again, so there were no repeats.
An inborn fear of getting married too young and losing my dreams kept me out of the clutches of the high school and college boys who were always flocking around me either because of my wealth or the unusual color of my eyes.
I didn’t come here for this; I came so that I could acquire the tools needed to run my family’s company in the future. The company that had been promised to me by my grandparents a long time ago.
One of the reasons I stopped caring about my father’s actions is because I know something he doesn’t. He and his wife are expecting a big payout upon the death of his parents, but I know the truth. They told me the day I turned eighteen, and they had me meet with their lawyer to sign the papers, making me the heir to all they owned.
My father would be getting a whopping one hundred thousand, but that was nothing compared to the almost billion dollars I stood to inherit, and that was before we took into consideration the worth of the companies we owned globally and domestically.
I was sworn to secrecy, so not even my mother knows. She thinks all the meetings with lawyers were about my trust. I’ve already been getting quarterly reports as well as a stipend, which is separate from my trusts, of which I only use the interest for my expenses, which are practically nonexistent.
My maternal grandparents bought me the off-campus condo, which was in my name since I was the only other heir to their fortune besides my mother, who was their only child. Something else Janice finds issue with.
She was brought up solidly middle class, and it burns her ass that Mom was always everyone’s princess. I’m sure she felt as if she’d won big when she stole Dad away from her, but if I had to take a guess, I’d say Mom came out the winner since Dad was no prize.
So, I was here to prove to my grandparents that when they were gone, which I hope is a very long time from now, the company they’d put their blood, sweat, and tears into would be in good hands.
But this-this felt like it could be something. I’d heard his wild revenge plans and thought they were well deserved. But I wonder if he’d given any thought to how much more devastating it would be if the two of us were together.
I dared not bring it up because he’s already been abused by my family, but I felt the pull long before tonight. It had been building each time his arm brushed against mine, or he looked into my eyes too long.
I like his straight-talking, no-nonsense demeanor, the way he knows what he wants, and his moral sense of justice. But if I’m honest, what I like most of all is the way he makes my heart beat out of time.
I like the way he makes me forget everything else but him. And the way he pushes me when I get tired and want to give up because the class is too hard. Not that I would, but it’s nice to have someone there who cared enough to talk me down off the ledge whenever I climbed up there.
And now I have one more thing to like about the sexy Grayson with the grey-blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. Just looking at him makes me feel weak and just a little bit lightheaded. Now we have that kiss to add to the mix, and I’m sure I’m a goner.
If there’s one thing I know, it’s my feelings, and right now, I feel like I’ve found my forever. A little voice in my head whispered that my Mom once thought the same thing. But in the short time I’d known him, I already knew that he was nothing like my father.
When you’ve lived with a snake that could strike at any moment, you learn to read people very well. Janice’s years of torment had taught me that skill. I’d bet everything I had that he was the one.
“So, it looks like we’re doing this.” I rested my hand against his chest and felt his heartbeat, which was just as wild as mine.
“Yeah, we are.” Another one of his kisses, and I would’ve promised him anything.
Thank heaven he had the wherewithal to pull our lips apart and get up to leave my apartment. I wanted him to stay; it was on the tip of my tongue to ask. But as if reading my thoughts, he turned back and leaned down to see into my eyes.
“I’m not staying tonight, but soon. When you look back on our first time together, I don’t want there to be any doubt that this was something we both wanted and not that we got carried away and couldn’t control ourselves.”
I could only nod my head in approval before he turned and left. I missed him already and the room felt empty, like something vital had been taken. I sat there for the longest time, waiting for my heart to calm down.
And just as I got it under control, he called me. My voice hitched on the phone and I did everything not to cry. I don’t know why I suddenly felt like crying or why my heart hurt the way it did.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll stay on the phone with you until I get home.”
“Okay, but pay attention to your surroundings.” Since my place isn’t that far from campus, he likes to walk back or jog unless we’re pulling an all-nighter, in which case he drives the short distance to put my mind at ease.
Our neighborhood is one of the safest, but still, I worry. I never even worried this much about myself being out and about at all hours. But it feels like every time he’s out of my sight, I’m afraid I’m going to lose him.
There’s still some of that little girl in me who was of everything from a father to a happy home with two parents. I had to watch someone else have that at my and my mother’s expense. The fact that Lacey was the other woman involved most definitely made things a lot more complicated.
I’d lost a lot to her already, I wasn’t about to lose Grayson as well. I’d made up my mind that I was going to go the distance; I was willing to face anything that came my way as long as he wasn’t taken from me.
Just the tone of his voice was able to bring me some semblance of peace, and I forgot my loneliness before long and got lost in the dreams his words and promises wove.
* * *
LACEY
* * *
I haven’t beenable to sleep a wink since Gray brought up that bitch’s name at dinner the other night. How did I not know that she was going to his school? Her mother, the bitch is always very tight-lipped since the stupid courts changed the rules.
Mom and I always used to know what was going on in her life, but then she started snitching, and her Mom got all pissed off and took my Dad to court to kill his rights. That would’ve been for the best; then, I wouldn’t have had to see her ugly face again. But then, I wouldn’t have been able to torment her on those weeks she came to the house so I wasn’t sure which I wanted more.
Then the judge changed things, and Mom warned me not to do anything more to her, or we could all be in trouble. My grandparents, whom I’d never met, had threatened Dad then, too, and he had come down really hard on Mom and me.
Its true that he didn’t know all that we’d done to Lily. He was usually at work when most of it happened, and when she stayed in her room all those years, Mom convinced him that she hated him because of the divorce.
I was too young to understand a lot of things when I was younger, but once I got old enough to understand, I started asking questions, and Mom told me everything. She told me how she and Dad had fallen in love, but his family forced him to marry someone from his social circle, and because she was too poor, they didn’t accept her.
That’s why Lily was born while my Dad was married to her Mom, and I was born a bastard. It was only years later that I learned the truth one night when my parents were arguing, and the truth was ugly.
I don’t remember what was going on around that time, but Dad was pissed off about something and was yelling at Mom for ruining his life. He’d accused her of costing him his family and the only woman he loved.
Those words had scared me so bad that I’d run to my bed and pulled the covers over my head. But that wasn’t the last time I’d hear those same words said in that same tone. Sometimes, there’d be more said, and that’s how I was able to put the pieces together.
That’s when I started hating Lily. Before, I just went along with whatever Mom did because she’s my Mom, but after hearing how much Dad wished he had stayed with her and her mother instead, I hated her more than ever.
Its bad enough that I never got to meet my father’s family because of her; now, she was stealing my Dad as well. After that, I made sure she never stood a chance with Dad. I had to outshine her in every way, and Mom worked on him as well, until pretty soon, he didn’t mention Lily or her mother again.
We’d make up stories about how awful she’d been to the two of us. Sometimes, Mom and I would bruise ourselves and make it seem like she had done it. Once, Mom even trashed Dad’s home office and claimed that Lily had done it.
But then they’d had that stupid court case come around, and everything came out. Dad had been pissed then, too, and tried kicking us out of the house, but Mom had threatened to say that he was touching me inappropriately if he tried to divorce her, and he’d backed down.
I found out later that it was my grandparents who wanted him to get a divorce because of what Mom and I had done to their precious princess. I’m not sure what he said to them to stay in their good graces, but things calmed down after that, and for a while, there was no drama.
Lily started coming less and less, but whenever she was there, she stayed to herself anyway and never really did anything with us. Her stuck-up Mom used to have food delivered for her whenever she stayed the weekend as if she didn’t trust my Mom’s cooking. Well, the cook’s cooking under Mom’s instructions anyway.
It used to bug me seeing her around our house every weekend, acting as if she was better because she was untouchable. And then, one night, my friends came by, and she didn’t leave as she usually did, just sat around in the living room. There was nothing I could do because Dad had threatened dire consequences, not from him but from her mother, if anything else happened to her under our care.
My friends all went crazy over her, especially the boys, which was why I decided never to let her meet my Grayson. It was because of her that I didn’t save myself for Grayson. Even after two years since the first time they saw her, my friends would still bring her up whenever they came over to my house.
Sometimes, she would be there shut up in her room, and they’d beg me to invite her to hang out with us. I hated every second of it but had to play it off as if she was just antisocial. I tried getting them to dislike her, but there wasn’t much I could say since they’d met her and saw that she was partially nice.
The bitch had been all sugar and cream that day, and now my friends all think she’s some Goddess or some crap. I’d forbidden them to mention her at school, and because I had stuff on all of them, they knew better than to cross me. I needed to have at least one place where I was free of her.
It died down after a while but I still never mentioned her to Grayson. I never did it when we were younger because I was always afraid that if they met, he, too, would like her more than he liked me, and that could never happen because he’s mine, and he’ll always be mine.
But now she was on his campus, too close for my liking. There’s no way I can get into that school. I don’t have the right GPA, and because of some stupid case in the last year or so, they’ve been cracking down on people who bought their way into Ivy League schools, so that was out.
But I can make him come here. I can force him to switch schools no matter what anyone else says. This was driving me crazy, and what’s more, he didn’t answer my calls right away like I made him promise to.
Granted, for the last few months I haven’t been calling that often because I was busy doing other stuff. But that was before I knew that witch was in such close proximity to my future husband. Just the thought of the two of them talking makes me sick to my stomach.
At least I know from what was said that they haven’t had any kind of contact. Grayson would’ve said so when I asked because he’d never lied to me before. But that wasn’t enough; I needed to get him away from her. I can’t rest until I do.