Dancing in the Gray (25 page)

“So you won’t talk to me because of
your new boyfriend?” The way he said “boyfriend” was patronizing,
and she was about to punch him in his face.

“No, dick! I told you already, I don’t
speak to people who have so little respect for me that they treat
me like a piece of trash.” Elise started yelling loudly. “I’m not
stupid! I know the only reason that you are standing here six years
later is because the man that I am with now probably has more
paparazzi and press than you do. I have dated plenty of men since
you and it just so happens that you show up once pictures of me and
this one surfaces. I’m not territory for you to mark. Now get the
fuck off my property before I have you arrested!” Tears were just
falling down Elise’s face now. She couldn’t control it. She went
back into her apartment and slammed the door behind her.

She put her back to the door as her
tears became sobs.

Rixby began talking to her through her
apartment door. “Elise, I was on drugs. I was blitzed out of my
mind that night. I am so sorry for the way I treated you. You were
the reason I went to rehab and got my shit straight. You were the
reason that I pressed for my divorce. I wanted you, only
you!”

Elise couldn’t believe what she was
hearing. She never saw him take drugs. Was he lying or was she that
naive?

“And yes, the only reason why I am
coming to you now is because I didn’t know how to approach you
after the way I treated you. I was always waiting for the right
time or for the right amount of time to pass to let you cool down,
but I didn’t know how much time you needed. Then when I saw the
picture of you and him, it reminded me too much of us, and I knew
that it was now or never. I had to try before this became too
serious, and I would never be able to win you back. I love you,
Elise. I have always loved you.”

“You’re a liar! You don’t treat someone
you love the way you treated me!” Elise was yelling through her
door.

“It was the drugs, Elise! I never
treated you like that before that night! I was coked up trying to
stay up to meet the demands of the tour. It was stupid, but it was
what was available. I went on a bender after you left. If I could
change one thing in my life, that would be the moment I changed.
That was the moment that I lost the most important thing in the
world to me. And you have been the inspiration for me to push
through rehab and get my life in order. I wanted it all in order so
if you came back to me, there would be nothing in the
way.”

Elise couldn’t believe what she was
hearing. She waited years to hear those words from him. She cried
so many nights wanting him to come back to her. And now, here he
was.

Elise opened the door
slowly. Tears continued to fall down her face but the tightness in
her chest instantly left. “I’m sorry, but there can never be
us
again.” Elise shook her
head as she felt the healing continue. “I love him, Rixby. He is
everything that I want. I don’t have those feelings for you, and I
haven’t had them for a while.”

Rixby grabbed Elise’s arms, “Look me in
the eye and tell me you didn’t feel anything last night when I
kissed you. If you can tell me that you felt absolutely nothing,
I’ll walk out of your life once and for all. You will never see me
again.”

Elise took a second to think about it.
She looked Rixby right in the eye, and shook her head, “No, I
didn’t.” The tears that fell were tears of relief. She was finally
able to let him go for good. Elise put her head in her hands and
cried. She felt Rixby pull her to him and wrap his arms around her.
Elise kept her hands on her face, as she continued to
cry.

“Elise! What’s going on?”

Her head shot out of her hands as Trey
stood there shock at the sight he saw. He threw down the flowers,
coffee, and bag he was holding. He pulled Rixby off Elise and
punched him hard, sending Rixby to the ground with a thud. He was
literally knocked out on the floor.

Elise’s eyes were wide as her hand
covered her mouth.

Trey turned and looked at Elise
heartbroken. “I thought you loved me.” Suddenly a cold look crossed
Trey’s face. He turned around and started heading towards the
elevators. Elise ran after him.

“Trey, please wait. I can’t imagine how
this looks, but it’s not what you think.” Elise held his arm and
pleaded with him as the elevator doors opened.

He shrugged out of her grip on his arm,
“Elise, obviously you need to figure some shit out.” Trey stepped
into the elevator and hit the button to close the door. Elise stood
there and watched as the doors closed between them, and Trey
wouldn’t even look up at her. Once the elevator started moving
down, Elise dropped to her knees and bawled into her
hands.

She was right all along – this pain was
so much worse than Rixby.

Chapter 21

2 days later …

Trey was sitting in his office in D.C.
letting his work consume him. He had a long day of meetings which
distracted him temporarily from the hurt he was feeling over Elise.
And as if the memory wasn’t a reminder enough, his knuckles were
busted up from punching the douchebag. They throbbed constantly and
were a reminder of something he wished he could forget. Elise
didn’t call, text, or email him over the last two days which was a
sign that it was over between them.

The best days of his life were
completely eradicated by the worst five minutes of his life. His
chest ached badly with the absence of Elise. But, he couldn’t
believe that one minute she was in love with him, and the next she
was in the arms of another man. He felt so betrayed. When it came
to her old flame, he could never compete. He owned a part of Elise
that no one else could, and if Trey couldn’t have all of her, he
didn’t want any of her.

It was getting late in the day, and his
assistant buzzed his office, “Mr. Watts, you have a
visitor.”

“Who is it, Maggie?” He didn’t feel
like having visitors at the moment.

“Rixby Storm, sir.”

Trey’s blood boiled. So the bastard was
stopping by to brag. Why the hell not? His day couldn’t get any
worse.

“Send him in, Maggie.”

Trey just sat back and smiled as the
bastard walked into his office with a nice purple bruise on his
jaw. Seeing that did make him feel a little better.

“First my New York office, now my D.C.
one. Would you like the address to my private office in McLean,
while you’re at it?”

“I’ll be quick, Watts.” He didn’t even
sit down. “I wanted to apologize for our first meeting, and for
what I did to Elise on the red carpet Friday.”

“Then tell her.” Trey wasn’t interested
in any apologies.

“I’m telling you because you won. She
is madly in love with you. She said that you were everything that
she wanted, and there could never be an “us” again. I told her that
if she felt nothing from that kiss on Friday night, I would leave
her alone and never bother her again. She said she felt nothing.
So, I’m honoring the promise I made, that’s why I’m telling
you.”

“Then why were you hugging her when I
arrived at her apartment Saturday morning?” Trey could stand the
thought of Rixby’s hands on her.

“She was crying like she was relieved,
or something. I just felt like she needed to be held, as a friend.
She made it very clear that I wasn’t welcomed there and threatened
to call the cops. Most of the conversation was through a closed
door, but I guess she wanted to tell me face to face that it was
over for good. So, like I said before, I apologize for everything.
I just want her to be happy, even if it’s not with me. That’s all I
came to say.” Rixby turned around to leave his office, “One last
thing, don’t fuck it up.” He left Trey’s office seconds
later.

Trey was afraid he already fucked it
all up. He went into panic mode. Elise ran after him to explain,
and he didn’t even let her speak. Hell, he didn’t even look at her.
He started calling Elise’s cell phone which went straight to
voicemail. Her apartment phone in New York was disconnected which
was odd, and the one in Virginia wasn’t picking up. He called
Jeremy next.

“Hello.”

“Hi Jeremy, this is Trey Watts. Have
you seen or spoken to Elise today?” Trey hoped Jeremy had some
news.

“No. I thought she was with you. I have
been trying to call her all day to see why she put her New York
apartment up for sale.”

“She did?” Trey was shocked.

“Yes, her assistant hired a realtor a
couple of days ago. Elise emailed her asking her to take care of
the realtor, moving all of her things into storage, and
disconnecting all utilities.” Trey didn’t like the sound of
that.

“Has her assistant heard from her
today?”

“No. Like I said, we thought she was
with you. Is something wrong?” This wasn’t good.

“Yes. I messed up. I need to talk to
her.”

“I have no problems putting a hit out
on you too if you hurt her!” Jeremy was serious.

“Well call your assassin, because I
fucked up. Can you please help me Jeremy?”

“What do you want?”

“Can you call Martie to see if she’s
spoken to Elise or if she knows where Elise is?”

“Give me one minute. And just so you
know, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for Elise. Ashley
and I went through this with her already, and it wasn’t pretty.
Damn you, Trey. I thought you were different.” Jeremy spoke with
such disappointment, but Trey deserved it.

Trey deserved everything that he was
getting from Jeremy, and knew that he would need to mend his
relationship with Jeremy if Elise took him back. He was willing to
do anything. He heard Jeremy hit some buttons and a phone started
ringing. He must have been using his desk phone and had it on
speaker.

“Good afternoon, Jeremy. When are you
coming over for breakfast again?”

“Hi Martie! You know I’m watching my
girlish figure and your food is way too good. It’s my
kryptonite.”

Martie was laughing, which sounded just
like Elise’s laugh. Trey’s palms were sweating, and his heart was
racing. He needed to find her. He needed to apologize and beg her
for forgiveness.

“Anyway Martie, have you seen Elise or
spoken to her today?”

“Not spoken to her, but I received a
text message earlier. She said she was going to be busy for the
next couple of days with the buyout, but if I needed her, all I had
to do was text her. Is everything ok?”

“Oh, yes. I was just making sure she
let you know that she was busy. Well, sorry to make it short but I
need to finish up a few thing before I leave for the day. I’ll see
you soon, Martie. Love you! Bye!”

He heard Jeremy lift and replace the
handset on his desk phone. “I don’t know what you did to her, but
for her to lie to Martie like that is unheard of. The meeting with
the lawyers to do the paperwork isn’t until Friday afternoon and
there isn’t anything that Elise needs to do. So, I’ll worry about
finding Elise, and you just stay the hell away from
her.”

“I can’t do that. I need to find her
and make it right. I love her, Jeremy.”

“And she loves you, but she loved
Rixby, too and look at how that ended. Leave her alone, Trey. I’m
warning you!” With those words, Jeremy hung up on Trey.

He got up from behind his desk and
started pacing around his office. He was a fool. He left without
the whole story, and he may pay for that mistake for the rest of
his life. He grabbed a crystal paper weight from off of his desk
and threw it across his office, shattering it.

Seconds later, Ronald rushed into his
office with gun drawn. “Sir, are you ok?”

“No!” Trey ran his hands through his
hair continuing to pace around his office.

“Sir, is this about Ms. DePaul?” Ronald
saw the shape Trey was in when he asked him to drive back to
Virginia on Saturday.

“Yes! I can’t find her. She
disconnected her phone in New York and is selling her apartment
there. She’s not picking up any of her other phones, and her mom
and best friend haven’t heard from her besides one text message
which was a lie about what she would be doing for the next couple
of days. I don’t know what to do.”

Ronald walked out of Trey’s office and
grabbed his laptop bag that was behind Maggie’s desk. He pulled out
the laptop and booted it up. Ronald clicked on a folder on his
desktop and started writing down numbers. He then opened a program
and plugged the numbers that he wrote down into the database. “Sir,
I’m showing that the GPS of her Porsche is still active at her
Palladium townhome, her cell phone is off or dead so I can’t get a
read off of it, but let me check her credit card usage.”

“What is all this stuff? Is all that
information on Elise?” Trey was confused.

Ronald looked up at Trey with guilt,
“Yes, sir. Your safety and the safety of your father is of the
utmost importance. We have dossiers on everyone that gets close to
the family.”

“So do you think you can find her?”
Trey felt like he had some hope.