27. Grayson
CHAPTER 27
Grayson
A fter making sure the stage was set up properly, I had just changed into my Fairy Frogmother costume and gone to check that everything was running smoothly out front when I ran into Vivi.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She looked me up and down, smirking.
“You make a lovely little fairy frog.”
“Do you have something to say?” I asked. “If you do, make it quick, because I have to be backstage.”
She frowned.
“Grayson, this isn’t you. Let’s get out of here,” she said, her hands reaching for me. “Dancing on stage with a bunch of kids? You’re going to look like a fucking pussy. I invited the whole damn department to laugh at you.”
It was a comical insult when I had literally just killed three men last night.
But I didn’t care what Vivi thought of me.
“Bring whoever you want,” I said. “Just make sure they pay at the door. Don’t talk to me again.”
“Come on,” she said, and I could feel the nauseating desperation in her voice, the grasping need to get me back. “I know you can’t stay away from me. You’ll come back.”
But she had never had me. No one ever even had so much as a tiny piece of me until I met Clementine Adler, and then she took my whole heart without me even realizing she had done it.
“What I did with you was the biggest mistake of my life,” I said without emotion. “It meant nothing to me and it was just a way to avoid dealing with the fact that I was in love with the woman I was supposed to surveil.”
I turned aside, the frog eggs bobbing gently over my face.
Vivi’s face was white was rage.
“Fine,” she spat at me. “Don’t think I won’t be there taking video on my phone. You can expect it going out to literally everyone in the fucking FBI.”
“Whatever,” I shrugged. “Enjoy the show.”
As I turned aside, her phone rang and she picked it up. “Yes, Chief? What? What the fuck do you mean I’m being subpoenaed for interfering with an active investigation?”
There was a moment of silence. “Panties?” Vivi shrieked shrilly. “What are you talking about, panties?”
The Chief’s angry voice blasted through the phone and it was a very subdued Vivi who finally said, “Yes, sir. All right, sir. If it’s an official investigation, I understand. And we’ve all been suspended? I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
And she left without another word.
I smiled to myself.
My sweet Clementine might look like an angel but she was absolutely ruthless when she needed to be.
Then it was time for Opening Night.
It went off with only twenty or forty hitches, but at least the Enchanted Forest stayed mostly upright. Dennis gave me a thumbs-up.
“We kept that crappy tree up!” he hissed loudly at me.
“Yeah, we did, kid,” I said. “Good job.”
He beamed so brightly that I knew I was going to be a fucking sucker and volunteer for their Boy Scout troop like he had been begging me to.
As for my own role, I suppose it was not bad as far as 44-year-old men portraying magical frogs go.
But I absolutely sung the fuck out of the lyrics.
Tra-la-la-la-la-la
Troll-de-roll-de-pickle-de-pie
I did not fucking skimp on the dance or the curtseys either, going as deep as I fucking could with the knees of a 44-year-old man who was much more comfortable with hand-to-hand combat than doing a full pirouette.
My eyes met Clementine’s as she watched me on the side.
The smile in her eyes was worth it fucking all.
Please forgive me , I thought.
As soon as the play was over, I made a beeline for her.
“Marry me,” I said, the stupid webbed feet getting in my way as I fell to my knees. “I love you so much, Clementine. Please say yes.”
I held out the ring.
It was a beautiful hyacinth sapphire shaped like a flower, with two little emerald leaves around it. I hoped she’d love how unique and artistic it was.
And she just stared at it.
Oh, fuck, maybe this was a stupid idea.
I knew I should have just gone for the biggest diamond.
Fuck.
Should I take the ring back, promise to get her one that’s twice as big?
Well, that would give the wrong fucking impression, wouldn’t it? If I suddenly snatched the ring back. At the same time, I’m kind of worried it’s shit now?
But better to just wait and see what she says.
And I do, sweat starting to course down my back as I look up at her, still holding my hand out with the ring.
“Please,” I say, my normally deep voice sounding several octaves higher. “You’re the only thing that’s ever felt like home. I would do anything for you, Clementine. I’ll be a worm in the next production. I’ll be the motherfucking Crone Worm Queen, if that’s what I you want. Please, just please forgive me. If you don’t like this ring, I’ll get you another one. I’ll do anything for you, sweetheart. Please. I know what I did was unforgivable, but I’m not that man anymore. I’ll make it up to you, I swear to God I will.”
It was basically the most words I’d ever spoken in a row in my life, and I felt a huge lump rise in my throat as she still didn’t say anything and didn’t move her hand.
“Please,” I whispered, suddenly feeling weak in the knees, like they were going to give way.
My hand began to tremble as I held the ring out to her, and one of the frog eggs that were supposed to be cascading down my back flopped in my face, its gelatinous goo spurting squishily in my eye.
“Please,” I mouthed, and this time my mouth was so dry, and my throat so choked that no words came out.
I saw Clementine’s eyes move from my hand to where the frog eggs flopped in my face and, as I contemplated throwing up on the floor, a smile curved up her full pink lips.
“Yes,” she said.
For a moment the blood rushed so hard in my ears that I was afraid I had hallucinated her response, and I only gaped at her, hoping I hadn’t misheard.
“Yes,” she said again, her smile even wider now as more eggs came loose and flopped in my face again, one bursting open on my throat and shooting gelatinous goo all over my chest.
“Thank God!” I cried, grabbing at her delicately offered hand, my shaking fingers struggling to calm down and get the ring on her finger.
When I finally slipped it on, I grabbed her hand and flipped it over, kissing her palm.
“I know what I did was unforgivable--” I started to say, kissing her palm again, my rough fingers slowly stroking her soft skin, but she stopped me.
“It isn’t. I forgive you, Grayson.”
If I wasn’t on my knees, her words would’ve sent me there again, sizzling through me and setting each nerve on fire.
“You mean that?”
“Of course I do,” she said, delicately plucking a frog egg hanging over my ear. “I wouldn’t be marrying you for the first or second time, depending on how you count it, if I didn’t forgive you. You fucked up, but helping my dad steal $50 million dollars and sending him off happily into the sunset makes up for quite a bit.”
“It wasn’t really stealing,” I protested before I could help myself. “After all, he said they did promise him the money. . .”
And Clementine laughed even harder, unzipping my frog hood and putting her hands on my face.
She leaned forward and kissed me.
“Now get the fuck out of this costume and come put a baby in me. I didn’t take my pill this morning.”
I grinned, stumbling to my feet so I could swing her into my arms.
“You better help me out of this frogskin, sweetheart, because I need to be inside you right now and I don’t want to rip your lovely embroidery.”
With a giggle, she obeyed me, and she giggled again as I carefully picked up the costume and hung it over a chair. Then I picked up my fiancée and pushed her against the wall, my hands flipping up her skirt, my mouth on hers.
Oh, fuck, it was the sweetest triumph ever to feel her soft arms go around my neck and know she was mine, and I was hers, and we belonged to each other.
I hooked her left leg over my arm and yanked her panties aside, too impatient to wait for anything.
“I love you,” she whispered in my ear. “I love you so much, Grayson.”
“Oh I love you,” I groaned, my hand tight in her hair as I sunk my cock inside her. “Let’s make a baby.”