Chapter 7
MIA
“What do you want for lunch? Oh, let me guess. Grayson,” Kennie says from next to me. I jerk in surprise. Geez, I was so distracted I forgot she was sitting right next to me. Kennie stretches a smirk at the sight of my cheeks going red. “You were daydreaming again, Mia.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
She rolls her eyes. “Come on, Mia. I know you. I’ve known you for years. Not only that, but I’m the one who insisted you should talk it over with Grayson.” She leans closer, elbowing my side as she wiggles her brows. “Got lucky last night?”
I’m two seconds away from bursting open with embarrassment. “Kennie!” I hiss. It doesn’t stop her. She keeps on wiggling her eyebrows like mad.
“I’m not interested in details,” she says. “But you have to tell me what happened. Did you talk?”
“Yes, we talked.”
“Did... something else happen?”
I look up at her to see she stopped wiggling her eyebrows.
Thank God. Kennie is my best friend, and there’s no reason for me to hide this from her.
Not when it’s so obvious. Not when I’ve been daydreaming about last night, the way his kisses seared into my flesh, how his hands made me feel electrified...
“You’re grinning like a fool again,” she says, nudging at me. “Go on. You can’t hide this from me!”
I sigh. “He got a private sushi chef. Grayson and I talked, and he was...” I stop for a moment, collecting my thoughts.
I have no idea how to describe him. How to describe the way he makes me feel.
“Grayson was amazing. He’s sensitive, and he hears me out.
He’s honestly interested in what I have to say. I like myself when I’m with him.”
Kennie smiles. The smirk is gone from her face. “I’m so happy for you, Mia.”
“Me too.”
She drapes an arm around my shoulders. “So... You look happily fucked. Did you guys fuck?”
“Kennie!” I squeal in embarrassment, my face going hot.
She bursts out in a peal of laughter, and I’m pretty sure she can read me easily.
It’s obvious we fucked, and it’s obvious I loved it.
Kennie just wants to tease me. She gets to her feet, waving a hand.
“Alright, alright. I won’t ask about it again.
Not in the next hour or so.” And she winks.
“I’ll grab lunch, and we’ll talk about anything but this,” she says as she leaves the laundromat, striding into the mall.
I shake my head, a stupid grin on my face. Am I ever getting used to this? Am I ever getting used to the bubbly feeling inside me when I think of Grayson? Or is this what true love feels like?
With these thoughts permeating my mind, I go around the counter to check on the washing machines. That’s not my task, but I give Kennie a helping hand often. She’s such a good friend, and she keeps paying for my lunch even when I ask her not to.
A hand grips my arm, and in the back of my mind, I think of Grayson. He might have seen me by myself and is manhandling me for a rough make-out session while Kennie’s away. I don’t like the idea of him manhandling that much, but I do enjoy making out with him, so that...
My gaze lands on a man behind me. Recognition is a punch to the gut. It’s not Grayson.
“Trey?” I blow out, my limbs quivering. “What are you doing here?”
He opens a smirk, that smirk that always made me wince.
It announces something bad, an insult, something hurtful.
“It was easy enough following you from your place since you’re coming on foot.
Quite pathetic, in fact. You didn’t even notice my pal.
All he had to do was tag along, then shoot me the address. ”
I yank on my arm. He grips me even tighter. “What do you want?”
Now that I look at him after being with Grayson, I can’t understand what had me attracted.
He’s as tall as I am, and I’m not tall at all.
He must be shorter than Kennie. His pale skin is emaciated, the stubble across his chin making him look disheveled instead of sexy.
God, my self-esteem was so low back then.
Trey releases a mocking sigh. “You were doing so good, Mia. Paying what you’re due, not complaining. Why the fuck did you have to come up with a lawsuit?”
I frown. “What lawsuit?”
He shakes me. Hard. My brain bounces inside my skull.
“Don’t pretend you know nothing about it, slut.
Fuck, all that time we were together, that I had to fuck your fat pussy to keep you happy, and you can’t show an inch of gratitude.
You know I was down in life. You could have kept the loan, paid for it, and nothing would have happened. ”
Rage simmers inside me, but it’s mixed with fear. “Trey, hear me out. I have been paying for the loan. There’s no lawsuit.”
He shoots out a hand and I snap my eyes shut in fear. Trey grips my hair near my right ear and yanks it down, pulling my head with it. I cry out in pain, and he closes in, fingers tightening around my neck.
“Stop fucking lying, you bitch.”
“I’m not! And it wasn’t even my responsibility to pay that loan!”
He tightens the hold around my neck, cutting off my air supply.
I gasp, but nothing comes in. “Oh, it wasn’t?
You never helped me, Mia. You only think of yourself.
I gave you everything. I fucked you when I didn’t want to, and I made you happy when no one else wanted you.
I ignored your faults, how lazy you are, how you never go after the things you want.
I ignored my friends’ jokes, all because of you. And you can’t back me up on this one.”
Trey releases my neck, and I gulp air in.
My eyes sting with tears, fat drops rolling down the sides of my face.
It’s so clear now. So obvious how he manipulated me.
How he made me think I should be grateful for the relationship.
How he wanted me to kneel at his feet and kiss the very ground he walked on.
It doesn’t make it hurt less. His words are knives, piercing through my carefully built walls. He wants to hurt me, and he knows exactly how.
When I open my eyes, he’s looking down at my cleavage, an awful look on his face. “You know, Mia,” he starts, his voice softening. “You’ve always belonged to me. That’s how things are. You and I were happy before we stopped seeing each other.”
Talk about flipping a switch. “You mean you broke up with me and disappeared?” I hiss with my shaky breath.
He glowers at me. “Since when did you become this arrogant?”
“Since you left me with that loan. I noticed how bad you made me feel and?—”
He cuts me off. “We’ll make it through, Mia. I know we can find a way around it.” He grips my arm again, dragging me to the flap on the counter that will take us to the inner part of the store. “Come on. Let’s talk in the back.”
But from the way he’s leering at my cleavage, I know exactly what he wants in the back. Digging my heels into the ground, I shoot out a hand to grip the counter. “No!”
He pulls me harder. “Come on, you know you like it.”
“I don’t.” And more tears sprout from my eyes, and I can only think of Grayson.
Grayson also likes to say I belong to him. He’s possessive. Would he ever become someone like Trey? Would he make me happy for a couple of months, then stab me in the back? Manipulate me, abuse me, throw me away like trash?
I’m crying, but I’m crying because I’m afraid Grayson is just like Trey. I’m afraid his possessiveness means he’s just another jealous, violent man who will hurt me at every chance. And it’s so much worse because I’m already in love with him.
Reality comes crashing down. Even if Grayson might break my heart, I have more important issues now.
I cry out, yanking on my arm, kicking at Trey’s leg, but he’s stronger than me and he’s so persistent in torturing and using me.
His grip hurts, and the promise of more pain makes my heart skip beat after beat.
Steps thunder into the store and I look back over my shoulder. Grayson storms inside, and the look of rage on his face makes my knees buckle in fear. His fist raises and I slam my eyes shut, a part of me waiting for him to punch me.
The sound of knuckles on flesh explodes to my right and Trey lets go of me. I stumble, shocked, and I open my eyes to see blood and violence streaking the white floors.