Dancing in the Gray (26 page)

“I’m pulling up her credit card and
banking transactions from the last two days. Yesterday afternoon,
her credit card was used to make a $1700 purchase at the Vineyard
which is a wine and spirits vendor close to her Palladium home.
And, it looks like she also used it to make a purchase on British
Airways earlier this morning.”

The Vineyard was where Trey bought the
champagne for the breakfast with Martie. “Do you think she left the
country?”

“Let me check with another division,
and I’ll see if she is on any flight manifest. Give me a moment,
Mr. Watts.” Ronald reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell
phone where he made a call.

Trey was stupefied that they had all
this information on Elise … the GPS on her Porsche, cell phone
records, and credit card transactions.

“Sir, she’s listed on a flight leaving
out of Dulles tomorrow morning. She’s going back to France.” Ronald
was waiting for the next move.

“Let’s see if she’s at her Virginia
townhome. Will you drive me over?” Trey needed to find her before
she left for France.

“Yes, sir.”

Twenty minutes later, they were at the
Palladium, and Ronald was flashing his credentials to the building
manager who gave him a key to Elise’s townhome. They rode the
elevator up to the seventh floor. Trey was shaking from all the
adrenaline in his system. He needed to find her and make it all
right again. When the elevator doors opened, Trey rounded the
corner in the direction of her townhome. He knocked on the door and
yelled out to Elise, but there was no answer. He wasn’t taking any
chances. He motioned for the key, which Ronald handed to
him.

He opened the door and saw the top of
Elise’s head from her laying on the sofa that was perpendicular to
the door in the living room. He also saw a half empty bottle of
1800 which explains the $1700 purchase at the Vineyard, two Kleenex
boxes with tons of balled up white tissues surrounding it, and her
iPod on the coffee table with headphones connected to it, which
Elise was wearing. He could vaguely hear music pumping through the
headphones. There was no way that she heard him knocking or calling
for that matter.

As he approached her, he saw that Elise
was wearing an oversized NYU sweatshirt that was hanging off of her
shoulder with small white cotton shorts. He noticed she was lying
on top of his tuxedo jacket from Friday night, which must have been
wrapped around her shoulders at one point. She also had a navy tie
wrapped around her hand. It was his tie that he left in her car the
day that he picked her up from the airport. The last thing he
noticed was the note that he left her Saturday morning. She was
holding it to her chest.

He felt like shit. The reason she was
laying around like that was because of him. He hurt her –
badly.

Trey slowly approached the sofa so he
wouldn’t startle her. As he got closer he noticed that she was
passed out. He quickly checked to make sure she was breathing,
which she was. He knelt down in front of her on the couch and swept
some loose strands of her hair away from her face and pulled the
headphones off of her ears. She opened her eyes which were swollen
and pink, obviously from the crying. He pressed pause on her iPod
which stopped the music from blaring through her headphones. When
she processed everything that was happening, she whispered his
name.

Trey slid his arm underneath her and
pulled her close to him. She grabbed onto his shirt and buried her
head into his neck. She started crying which quickly escalated to
bawling. She breathed in deeply and continued with her sobbing as
Trey just held her. He caused all this pain and was disgusted with
himself. “I’m so sorry, Elise. I love you so much, and I’m just so
sorry.”

He repeated those words over and over
again keeping Elise close to him. Her sobs eventually slowed down,
and her grip on him loosened. When he came into her apartment, she
was passed out so he knew she had to be exhausted from the tequila,
all the crying, or a combination of both. He lifted her off of the
sofa and carried her into her bedroom. When he placed her on the
bed, she balled up and buried her face into her pillow. He grabbed
a blanket she had draped over the back of a chair in her bedroom
and covered her with it.

He had all intentions of staying there
tonight to make sure she was ok, but after everything he had done
to her, he wanted her permission.

“Elise, I want to stay here and take
care of you tonight. Is that ok?” Her back was turned to him so he
couldn’t see her face. She nodded her head yes, but didn’t say
anything.

He took his cell phone out of his
pocket and text messaged Jeremy letting him know that Elise was at
her Virginia townhome. He was worried earlier, so he knew Jeremy
would be, too.

Trey took off his jacket, tie, belt,
socks, and shoes, and he untucked his shirt before he got into her
bed. He sat on the opposite side of the bed that Elise was laying
on, resting his back against the headboard. He ran his fingers
through her hair. Her eyes were open, but vacant. He laid down
facing her continuing to run his hand over her head.

She wasn’t looking at him, she was
looking through him. His tie was still wrapped around her hand, and
in that hand, was his note. He decided that he would try to talk to
her.

“Have you eaten today?”

Elise shook her head
slightly.

“Would you like something to eat? I can
cook something or order some take out.”

Elise shook her head again.

“Is there anything that I can
do?”

She shook her head once
more.

Trey hated seeing her like this. He
took a deep breath and decided to pour his heart out to her. “I
love you, Elise. I want you to know that. And, I know I fucked up
so badly. I don’t know if you will ever forgive me, but I want to
make sure that you know that what I feel for you is real. I have
been hollow for the last two days without you.”

Elise’s eyes watered and tears slowly
poured from them. She finally spoke by uttering one word, “Why?”
Her voice was barely audible and sounded strained.

“Why, what?”

“Why am I so easy to throw away?” Elise
was now looking at him, not through him, as tears continued to
fall.

That question hurt Trey deep inside.
She felt like he threw her away, which were the exact words she
used to describe what Rixby did to her. “Elise, please don’t feel
that way.” Trey didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to fix
what he had broken.

“My dad, Rixby, my company, and now
you. No matter how hard I try, I just end up being thrown away. I
wish I knew what was wrong with me so I can fix it.” Elise’s chin
trembled as more tears poured from her eyes.

Trey felt a stabbing sensation in his
chest. The pain he felt was the pain that he saw in Elise’s eyes.
He reached over to her hand that was wrapped in his tie. He placed
his hand on top of it and looked into Elise’s eyes, “You are so
precious to me, and I cannot express how disgusted I am with myself
for making you feel this way. There is nothing easy about the
absence of you in my life. It’s the most painful experience that I
have ever had, and it was all my fault. There is nothing wrong with
you, and there is nothing to fix. I am so sorry that I made you
feel that way, Elise.”

“I tried to tell you,” Elise
whispered.

“And I didn’t listen. Not your fault.”
Trey slid her hand across the bed and brought her fingers to his
lips. He closed his eyes and kissed them softly cherishing any
contact that Elise was allowing him. “All I can say is I’m sorry,
and I love you so much.”

She moved her hand from under his and
ran it down his face. Trey opened his eyes and saw that the pain in
her eyes had subsided. They were still very sad, but there was less
pain. “I can’t believe you’re here,” Elise barely
murmured.

He grabbed the note that was on the bed
and placed it on the nightstand. He carefully unwrapped his tie
from Elise’s hand and placed it next to the note. He kissed her
fingers again as he ran his hand along the length of her arm. By
the time his hand reached her shoulder, Elise pulled her hand back
and sat up. She wiped her tears with the cuff of her
sweatshirt.

Trey wanted to get her box of tissues
in the living room so he sat up and was surprised when Elise
crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. She
buried her head in the curve of his neck and pulled him
close.

“I love you so much, Elise.” Trey held
the back of her head and wrapped his arm around her waist. They
stayed there for a long moment before Elise finally lifted her
head. Trey loved the look in her eyes. It was the same one she had
when she told him she loved him Saturday night. “I thought I would
never see that look again.” Trey brushed his thumb across her
cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

Elise shook her head and put her finger
over Trey’s lips. She ran her hands down his chest and back up
again. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on his for a
long moment.

Trey watched as she slowly began
unbuttoning his shirt and cuffs. He closed his eyes enjoying the
feel of her hands on his skin as she gently removed his shirt from
his shoulders pushing it down his arms. Once his shirt was
completely off, Elise moved her hands down his chest and around to
his back and rested her head on his shoulder. Trey cradled the back
of her neck and whispered, “I was so scared I would never feel your
touch again.”

She began gliding her lips across his
jawline, down his neck, and over his shoulders and chest. Trey
swallowed hard trying to control how his body was reacting to her
touching him in such a way. She made her way back up to his ear
where she whispered, “Make love to me, Trey.”

Trey looked into her eyes which were
making the same request that her mouth just did. She lowered her
lips onto his and kissed him slowly and deliberately. Trey’s hands
ran down her back, around her hips, and down her thighs.

Elise pulled her sweatshirt up and over
her head dropping it onto the floor next to the bed. She unclasped
her bra and dropped it right on top of her sweatshirt. She had a
very hungry look on her face, and Trey instantly knew what he was
in for. “I thought I’d never see you again,” Elise said
breathlessly.

“I’ll never let you think that again.”
Trey’s statement was a promise.

Her body was exquisite and Trey would
worship it until Elise was satisfied. He ran his hands up to her
face and brought her lips right back to his. This time, there was
more urgency with her kiss. Trey ran his hands all over her naked
back down to her luscious ass. He kissed his way down her neck to
her full breasts where he ran his tongue over her hard nipple.
Elise arched her back while driving her fingers into his hair. Trey
lightly bit her nipple causing the hottest little shriek to leave
Elise’s mouth. Trey rolled her over onto the bed and took her mouth
with force, which Elise matched. She raked her nails down his back
and into his briefs grating them over his ass. He reached down and
unbutton and unzipped his pants giving her more room for
access.

Elise pushed his pants down slightly
and clawed at his ass while lifting her hips and grinding on his
very hard dick. Trey wanted to give her some relief to that ache.
He ran his hand in between her legs rubbing her hard over her
little white cotton shorts. Elise moaned with delight, biting his
bottom lip. He pulled his mouth from hers and sat back on his legs
while his hands went to pulling her shorts and panties down her
legs.

She was completely naked, and Trey took
a few seconds to run his eyes over the perfection that lay before
him. He started to slide back off the bed with the intention of
taking his pants off, but Elise sat up and grabbed his biceps
pulling him back down on top of her. “Don’t stop touching me,
please.”

She ran her hands up his arms, over his
shoulder, finally resting them on the back of his neck while she
kissed him hard. Trey slowly lowered his body onto her with one
hand cradling the back of her head and the other ran down the side
of her body to her thighs where he lifted her leg and rubbed his
package over her sex. Elise lifted both legs, wrapping both of them
around him as Trey continued to rub his shaft up and down her wet
core.

Elise rolled Trey onto his back
catching him off guard. She kissed her way down his body as her
long dark locks grazed over his chest following Elise’s mouth. She
reached into his pants pulling out his shaft and slid her hand up
and down the length of him before taking all of him into her
mouth.

Trey was so confused. This was supposed
to be about her. He fucked up, he hurt her, and this was all his
fault. But, the direction Elise was headed wasn’t how they made
love – not like in Paris or on Saturday night. This was Elise and
Trey in the beginning; fucking each other, all lust and sex, no
emotion. Trey new at that moment, he hurt her so deeply that she
couldn’t make love to him. So, he let her have him however she
wanted. Whatever she needed from him, he would let her have it
because the alternative was too painful to stomach.

Her hot mouth worked Trey to the point
of climax over and over again. He reached down putting both of his
hands into her hair so he could watch her. Her eyes were open, and
she was giving him full eye contact while she bobbed her head up
and down taking his entire length into her mouth time and time
again. Trey was about to come hard at any moment, “Elise, I’m
coming.”