Dancing in the Gray (20 page)

Then, it started. The questions about
Trey finally started to surface.

“
Elise, will you share some
information about the recent photos linking you to Trey
Watts?”

“I was waiting for it! In
all seriousness, Trey is a great person.”

Trey’s arms were crossed in front of
him and he couldn’t help but smile as she joked with the reporters.
Paul was watching very intently on the way Elise answered the
questions. He was more concerned about what she would say more than
Trey was. But, his job was PR and it was just second nature to
him.

“Are you two
serious?”

“We have spent some time
together that I have really enjoyed.”

Trey saw the subtle way her smile
changed when she answered the question. It was slightly naughtier
than before. He was glad she “really enjoyed” their time together
because he really enjoyed it, too. She was doing really well with
the press.

“What are your thoughts
about him running for Congress?”

“I’m voting for
him.”

It just dawned on him that
Elise was actually a constituent of the 10
^th
district. Trey planned on
doing a lot of grass roots efforts around the seventh floor of the
Palladium to secure that vote.

“Some people say he is
using you as a puppet to get his name out there to a segment of the
voter population that you appeal to. What are your thoughts on
that?”

Trey looked over at Paul with furrowed
brows. “Where the hell did that come from?”

Paul shrugged his shoulders as they
both waited for her response.

“
Me, a puppet? Jeremy,
could you think of a hotter guy to have his hand up your
back?”

“
No, I can’t.”

“Me, either.”

Paul’s eyes grew wide as Trey snorted
out a laugh. Her wit was to be admired. “Gotta love her.” Trey
continued to smile as he awaited the rest of her answer.

“First of all, I don’t
know what type of voter would identify with me or that I would
appeal to, but if you’re talking about the fashion world, obviously
you don’t know who his mother is. She is probably the most
influential fashion icon today so no need for me when you have THE
Rebecca Watts sharing your DNA. Secondly, he has a very successful
finance career, so I doubt that segment of the population would be
impress with my success in business when he has so much of his
own.”

“Wow, she just nailed that shit!” Paul
was obviously impressed.

“That’s Elise.” He was falling harder
for her by the second.

“What about the rumors
linking you to Rixby Storm? Are they true?”

Trey felt like the wind was knocked out
of him. Paul grabbed his arm as they both watched Elise’s face
freeze up after processing the question. He wanted to find that
reporter and kick his ass for doing that to her on the night of her
big event. He knew that question was no different than the ones
they were asking about Trey, but he knew what it did to her.
Suddenly, he saw Elise compose herself as she answered the
question.

“Rixby Storm is old news.
Trust me, the hotter story is with Trey Watts.”

Elise half assed rolled her eyes at the
question and tried to continue on down the runway.

Jeremy had her arm and was guiding her
away from the press when that same voice that asked the question
shouted,

“I don’t know, I heard it
was pretty hot between you and Rixby.”

Trey suddenly recognized the voice. The
asshole that told him to end it with Elise only hours earlier was
making his way through the reporters to the red carpet. Trey
couldn’t believe that Rixby did that to her in public on her big
night. He was going to kill him.

~

Elise gasped as she recognized the
voice behind her that was getting closer. She hadn’t seen him in
years, but she would never forget that voice. She tried to stay
composed knowing that she was in front of over one hundred members
of the press that would publish everything they were
witnessing.

When Elise turned around, Rixby was
making his way through the crowd of reporters to the gate
separating them from the red carpet. He was in a tux and had
obviously been invited to the event. If she would have known that,
there would be no way that she would be standing here right
now.

He looked like he always did. Typical
rocker – longer dark hair with highlights, black fingernail polish,
guy liner, trendy tux, Chuck Taylor’s, etc. Elise took one look at
him then continued walking with Jeremy down the runway. It was just
best to ignore him and not engage in conversation with him. That’s
when Rixby did the unthinkable. He ran up behind Elise, grabbed her
around the waist spinning her around, and then kissed her deeply
right there on the red carpet.

Her body’s initial reaction was one of
familiarity. She remembered the way he kissed and what those kisses
did to her. He was right. It was very hot between the two of them,
and there was a time not so long ago when Elise may have fallen
back into step with him if he made an attempt similar to this one
with her. He had an uncanny way of reading her sounds and her body
which caused him to anticipate what she wanted and give it to her.
His passion was the sole reason she fell in love with him, and the
sole reason she crashed so hard when he left her.

But, she was a different Elise now.
This Elise didn’t play second fiddle to anyone and was interested
in someone who would never have treated her as badly as Rixby did.
She wasn’t the stupid young girl that let someone have control over
her the way Rixby did. And there was no way that the next few
moments would be under Rixby’s terms.

Elise put her hands on his chest and
with all her might she pushed. She literally knocked Rixby Storm on
his ass in front of the entire world. Her push caused him to fall
backwards onto his butt which is exactly where Elise left him. She
didn’t turn back to see if he was ok. She didn’t care if he was
hurt because what he did tonight was intentional and meant to
hurt.

As the photographers captured the
moment for all eternity, the reporters were screaming at Elise for
a comment. She wanted to trash his ass to the media and call him a
washed up, small dick asshole, but she didn’t. She took the high
road and prayed to God that she would be able to talk to Trey
before he saw the press’ coverage on the event.

She laced her arm around Jeremy’s as
they walked into the venue and headed straight for the bathroom.
She could see all the attendants whispering in small groups, no
doubt, about what just happened outside. Jeremy followed her into
the women’s bathroom where tears started to pool in Elise’s
eyes.

“Elise, are you ok? I mean, I know
you’re not, but do we need to get a car service to drive us home?”
Jeremy looked like he was still in shock.

“I don’t know. I can’t believe he just
did that to me. That jerk!” The tears ran down Elise’s face as she
recalled the events that just happened.

“I’m going to use my first bonus check
to take a hit out on him. I swear I will, Elise!” Jeremy was now
angry.

Elise couldn’t help but laugh at
Jeremy’s solution to her problem. “I need to talk to Trey before
this goes viral.” Elise grabbed her cell phone and called Trey. It
went straight to voicemail so she left a message asking him to call
her ASAP. She also texted him and emailed him, just in case he
didn’t get the voicemail.

“You need to go up there and get your
award, Elise. Don’t let that fucker ruin this whole night. You need
to stand up there proudly and accept the honor that you
deserve.”

Jeremy was right. She wouldn’t be seen
as some weak girl that couldn’t handle her business and hid from
drama. She was going to take that stage and accept her award in
front of her colleagues, the guests, and the asshole. She wasn’t
curling up in her bed and hiding from him anymore. Fuck Rixby
Storm!

~

Paul was literally holding Trey down on
the couch of the green room as he watched Rixby Storm embarrass,
then kiss Elise. When he crawled over the gate and onto the red
carpet Trey was fuming mad and wanted to kick his ass. When he
grabbed Elise and forced a kiss onto her, he wanted him dead. He
watched him put his hands on Elise’s back and ass with one hand as
he held her head and neck with the other. His heart sank when he
saw his lips touch hers. He knew the history behind them, and he
hoped Elise was strong enough to resist the fool who left her
ashamed and heartbroken all those years ago.

When Elise pushed him off of her and he
fell on his ass, Trey wanted to hurt him even more. He was proud of
Elise and elated that she stood up for herself, handling him right
there on the red carpet. He wanted her to resist him, hoping that
there was more between the two of them than whatever feelings may
have been lingering around for Rixby. But, her actions also meant
that his advances were unwanted which pissed him off even more. She
didn’t want to be kissed by him, and the only way for her to get
away was to use all of her strength to push him away. That’s when
Paul stepped in and held Trey down. He was going to hunt Rixby
Storm down and beat the piss out of him for everything he had done
to Elise tonight, and everything he put her through in the
past.

Trey watched as Elise collected herself
and held onto Jeremy as they walked into the event without
acknowledging anything that just happened. The press was going wild
but Elise stayed strong and walked away. At that moment, Trey
started to calm down. Paul eased up on his hold and released him
allowing Trey to sit up and straighten himself out.

“Trey, I know that you are pissed and
if she was my girl, I would want to fuck him up, too. But please
look at this from a different perspective. What if this douche is
trying to get you to react exactly like you wanted to? What if this
was more about getting to you than it was getting to
Elise?”

Trey sat silently allowing his blood
pressure to get back under control. He thought about what Paul was
saying and in some instances, it did make since. But, he would be
lying to himself if he didn’t think that Rixby kissing Elise was a
double bonus; he made his intentions clear with her and shot a
metaphorical middle finger at Trey all in the same
action.

He was about to go in front of a crowd
that could possibly have witnessed the incident that just happened
and was now going to analyze how Trey responded to it. He didn’t
want to give Rixby Storm the satisfaction of ruffling Trey’s
feathers. His game plan was to stay calm and collected, and he
wanted to strategize how he would publically react to what happened
to Elise.

“Paul, how do you think I should handle
this?” Trey ran his fingers through his hair as all his thoughts
were with Elise. He didn’t want to do anything to add to her
disappointment this evening.

“Take the high road and make it all
about her. Don’t give him a single breath of press. I don’t know
what you should say, but I think you need to keep Elise at the
center of how you react. And on a personal note, Elise doesn’t need
a pissing contest between you and Rixby right now. When you’re
alone with her, adhere to the same advice, keep her at the
center.”

Trey sat on the edge of the sofa
resting his elbows on his knees as he looked down at the floor. He
tried to collect himself before he went out on stage in a few
minutes. He would take Paul’s advices about the appearance tonight
and if, or when, Elise wanted to be alone with him. But, Rixby
Storm would get what was coming to him. Trey was going to see to
it.

Chapter 17

Elise and Jeremy were sitting on the
front row since she was an award recipient. Obviously, Rixby was
somewhere behind her since he was invited, but she didn’t dare turn
around to find him. She prayed that she could make it to the
presentation of her award without him trying to talk to her or
further embarrass her.

She and Jeremy already talked about
leaving after she accepted her award. She was the first person to
be honored and asked that Jeremy come up with her on stage when she
received her award. After her acceptance speech, she was going to
go backstage and take the obligatory pictures, and then she was
going to leave. The awards would continue on for the rest of the
night, and she probably wouldn’t be missed.

As the lights dimmed to indicate that
they were about to begin, everyone took their seats as the awards
chairman stepped up to the podium to give opening remarks on the
history of the event and how the nominees were selected. She
introduced the first award which was the one that Elise was
receiving.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the first award
is absolutely one of my favorite ones. The Trailblazer award is
specifically designated for the women in the industry, who not only
have made their mark, but their contributions are so unique and
outstanding they have laid the path for the industry to go into a
new direction. I would like to welcome on stage the special guest
presenter of the Trailblazer Award whose family is blazing their
own trail through the political world. Please help me in welcoming
Trey Watts to the stage.”