Not Planning on You (22 page)

As she shut the door, she slumped back against it. What had gotten into her? She’d gone to Gray, naked no less, and had made love to him within an inch of their lives. Then when he wants to tell her that he loves her, she balks? She had mixed signals flying all over the place. Was it any wonder that he looked hurt and confused? He probably thought she was just using him to scratch an itch. In truth, she’d desperately needed to join her body with his before their meeting with
Reva
tonight. It was almost as if she was trying to imprint herself onto him.
What’s next, raising your leg to pee on him so you can stake your claim?
Maybe writing your name on his notebook?

 

Ugh, she had to stop this saying one thing and doing another. If she didn’t want Gray to talk about love then she needed to stop putting it out there. She knew how he felt about her so it was almost as if she was teasing him by running hot and cold. She couldn’t help it if she was like a moth to the flame when he was near. She just wanted all of this to go away so that she could get past the overwhelming fear of losing him. She’d known when she met him that her life was never going to be the same again, that was why she’d run for so long. Surely they hadn’t come this far only to fall apart.

 

Suzy gathered some clean clothing and headed for the bathroom. It was time to get on with this stalker meeting and then get back to their lives. Maybe they could even stop off on the way home for some Cool Whip. Her body tingled as she imagined licking it off of Gray’s body later.
Mmmm
, now that’s what I’m talking about!

 

       

 

Gray was sweating bullets by the time he and Suzy parked at
Sorin’s
Pub. The drive over had been quiet, both of them it seemed were nervous about this meeting. His gut-feeling was that this was a mistake. He should never have brought Suzy; he knew how vicious
Reva
could be. What in the hell had he been thinking?
Oh yeah, bring the woman you love to meet the woman you used as a replacement for her.
Greatttt
idea buddy.
Is this the best that a successful businessman can come up with?

 

He stopped to brush a kiss across Suzy’s lips before he opened the door for her.
Sorin’s
Pub was an upscale bar in the Battery District that was popular with the locals. It wasn’t so loud that you couldn’t talk, but was loud enough to offer a certain amount of camouflage when you didn’t want to be overheard. Gray quickly scanned the tables looking for
Reva
. Just when he thought they must have made it before her, he spotted her sitting at a table in the corner anxiously scanning the crowd.

 

Reva
hadn’t seen him yet since Suzy was partially blocking his body. As they approached her table, she finally saw him. She looked at Suzy in annoyance, obviously thinking she was trying to pick Gray up. Her annoyance turned to confusion at the possessive arm that Gray placed around Suzy’s shoulders as they stopped at her table.

 

“
Reva
, thanks for meeting us. This is Suzanna, my girlfriend.” Shock crossed
Reva’s
face followed by a look that made him cringe.

 

 

 

 
Reva
pushed her chair back from the table and Gray felt Suzy tense and the world tilt under his feet.
Reva
extended a hand towards Suzy and said, “Well what a surprise, I’m
Reva
, the mother of his unborn child.” All eyes dropped to the hand she laid against her swollen stomach.

 

How long they all stood there he’d no idea. “
Reva
, what in the hell is going on?” Gray realized they were all still standing and starting to get some curious looks. He pulled out a chair for Suzy and propped her crutches against the wall.
Reva
made a big production of settling back into her chair. He took Suzy’s cold fingers under the table, trying to offer her some reassurance that he was far from feeling.

 

With probably what Gray felt was one of her best performances to date,
Reva
promptly began to sniffle. “I…I’m so
..
rry
, Gray.” With another sniffle, she continued, “I wanted to tell you sooner, but I couldn’t get you to see me. I just didn’t know what to do.”

 

Gray felt like his tongue was lodged in his throat. He was surprised he wasn’t choking on it. Beside of him, Suzy sat unmoving, as if in shock. Hell, he was in shock, too. He cleared his throat, carefully choosing his words. “
Reva
, you have called and texted me daily for months. You have left letters and God knows what else behind for me and you have also been calling Nick. Granted I stopped reading most of the stuff, but I’m willing to bet there was no mention of a baby in them. Now suddenly you’re sitting here in front of me in full maternity glory? What gives?”

 

More tears followed his questions and he had a bad feeling that Suzy thought he was some type of insensitive bastard for badgering a pregnant woman. She’d no idea what he’d been subjected to since meeting
Reva
. He doubted there was a day in her life that she wasn’t planning some sort of scheme.

 

With another sniffle,
Reva
said, “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to feel like I was trying to trap you. I…I know you don’t care anything about me. It was always her wasn’t it?”
Reva
finished miserably.

 

“
Reva
, we only had sex once and I used a condom so there is no way your baby is mine.”

 

Suzy suddenly pushed her chair back and stood. “Honey, where are you going?” Before she averted her eyes, Gray could see the tears shimmering in their depths. His gut clenched and his heart raced as he felt her slipping away from him.

 

“You both need time to talk and I don’t need to be here for it. I’m going to catch a cab back.”

 

Suzy was already reaching for her crutches. “No you aren’t, give me just a minute and we will leave.”

 

“Gray, let me go,” Suzy pleaded. She had to get out of here before she exploded. At that moment, she couldn’t stand the thought of being in the close confines of Gray’s car with him. She knew if she were ever going to get out of here without him following her, she had to put his mind at ease. Forcing
herself
to give him a smile, she said, “Just stay and finish up, I’ll be fine. I’ll see you back at condo. You know there are cabs out front so I won’t have any problem getting one.” She quickly fished the door key from the jacket pocket she’d saw him place it in earlier. She knew he was still torn so she reached up and brushed a quick kiss across his lips and took off as fast as her crutches would allow.

 

When she reached the door, she was relieved to see that although he was still standing there staring after her, he hadn’t made a move to follow. She quickly walked out the door and hailed the next cab in line. She held it together on the short ride back to Gray’s home. Her first inclination when she arrived was to throw herself across the bed and give way to all of the pain hammering to get out. Her second thought though was to just get out. Gray needed space to figure out his life and she couldn’t be here with him while he was doing it.

 

 

 

 

Suzy pulled her phone from her purse and called the one person she knew she could count on. When her sister answered the other line, Suzy simply said, “I need you to come get me, now.”

 

Beth only asked one question, “Where are you?”

 

Suzy quickly gave her directions and Beth assured her that she was leaving within five minutes. After ending the call, Suzy went to the bedroom to gather her stuff. Luckily, she’d only unpacked a few things so within minutes her bags were sitting at the door and she was left with nothing but her worst
enemy
..time
.

 

Reva
was pregnant and just like
that,
her life with Gray was over. Nothing would ever be the same again. Gray was going to be torn in two directions. She’d no doubt that he loved her; funny she could see that now. She loved him, as well, but things could never be like they were before. Gray’s life would be tied with
Reva’s
forever. Gray was an honorable man, so he might even feel that he needed to marry
Reva
because of the baby. Even if he didn’t marry her, he’d still constantly worry about how she was handling this. She had to let him go, she couldn’t be another stress point in his life.

 

Suzy was startled to hear a knock at the door. She had Gray’s key so it had to be him. She braced herself as she walked over and opened the door to find Beth and Nick standing there. “
Wh
..
What’re you doing here so soon? It’s only been half an hour since I called you.”

 

“Um, when Nick told me what you guys were planning, I decided to come on down here for moral support or to you know…help you kick some ass if needed.”

 

She pulled her sister into a tight hug. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” When she pulled back, she saw the concern on Nick and Beth’s face. She took a deep breath and said, “Guys, I don’t want to go into this right now, but I need to get out of here.”

 

Nick stepped forward and took her hand. “Suzy are you alright? Where is my brother?”

 

Tears shimmed in her eyes as she looked into the face so similar to the man she loved. “Nick, please let me get out of here and we will talk, ok?”

 

Nick paused for another minute, clearly torn but with Beth’s urging, he grabbed Suzy’s bags and they all made their way to the elevator. When they reached the parking garage, Suzy got the laugh that she needed when Nick and Beth walked over to the mini-van. “Oh God, you kept the van? Nick, it’s just wrong somehow for a swinging bachelor to be driving this. What in the world do your dates say?”

 

Nick scowled at her saying, “I’ll have you know, this baby has a lot of horsepower, tons of storage and my chick digs it.”

 

Still laughing, Suzy said, “Don’t tell me you’re dating a soccer mom now. That’s about the only chick I could imagine digging this.” Good grief, where had these two lost their sense of humor? Both of them stood there giving her a disgusted expression. This was one of the worst days of her life, if she wanted to make fun of Nick’s damn mini-van then she would. Screw everyone; she had to do what she could to survive today.

 

Just as Nick walked around to help her into the van, Gray’s BMW came roaring into the parking garage. Suzy had the desire to jump in the driver’s seat and take off. She wasn’t sure she’d have been able to control the urge if she hadn’t been wearing the stupid cast. She stiffened her spine knowing it was going to destroy her to look into his eyes. She’d wanted to go home and re-group before she talked to him; she sure didn’t want to have this conversation with his brother and her sister standing close by.

 

As Gray approached them, Suzy noted that he didn’t seem surprised to see them all there. She’d a sneaking suspicion that Nick had called him. What had she really expected? Gray was his brother; of course his loyalty was with him first and foremost. Her sister, though, could have given her a little warning. She idly wondered what her sister and Nick were doing together anyway. She knew they pretty much despised each other so why did they keep turning up together?

 

“Nick, Beth, can you give us a few minutes please?” Gray asked.

 

She knew it would be childish to object as her sister and Nick walked to the other side of the garage as Gray asked. He looked down at her without touching her and Suzy noticed how tired he looked. There were lines of fatigue around his eyes that weren’t usually there and his shoulders were bent as if he were carrying the weight of the world on them.

 

“Baby, what’re you doing?”

 

Sometimes she hated being a girl because she was helpless to stop the moisture gathering in the corner of her eyes. “I don’t know, Gray. I just need to get away for a few days. I need to go back home where I can…breathe again.”

 

He leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he searched for his next words. “I’m so sorry about this mess. I still don’t believe that this baby is mine. I don’t trust
Reva
to even give me her full name without lying about some part of it.”

 

Suzy let her crutches fall back into the van as she put her arms around him and just held on. Her emotions were in complete turmoil, but she knew that he needed her right now as he never had before. Gray was a strong man, but he was floundering. Something like this was probably enough to knock the feet out from under even the strongest man.

 

“Gray, I love you.” As his head jerked up to look at her with wonder, she continued, “It’s because of that love that I have to leave now. If I stay here with you, you will be worried about me and unable to figure out what you need to do about
Reva
. I don’t know if that’s your baby she’s carrying or not, but I know you need to decide what you’re going to do.”

 

“Suzanna, you have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say those three words. I promise you that we will be ok. When this baby is born there will be a paternity test and if it does turn out to be mine, then I’ll support him or her financially, as well as be a father. I won’t be marrying
Reva
nor will she be living with me. It would not be fair to a child to live in such an environment. I just have a gut feeling that something isn’t right with this whole thing and I need to find out what it is.

 

Suzy had to wonder if it was a gut feeling he was really having or wishful thinking. The
Reva
that he’d described seemed very different from the emotional woman she’d met in the bar tonight.

 

Looking very vulnerable, he said, “I just need to know you will be here. I know that I’m asking a lot, but you’re my life and I can’t lose you now.”

 

Suzy tenderly caressed the face of the man she loved so much and was helpless to deny him the reassurance that he so desperately needed at this moment. “I’m just going home, Gray, I’ll be there when you finish here.” She could feel the relief rolling off of Gray in waves.

 

“Thank God. If you must go, please go to our house.” As she started to protest, he silenced her with a finger on her lips. “I bought that house for us; it is your home. I’ll be home in a few days and I don’t want to worry about you trying to navigate any stairs while I’m away.”

 

Suzy couldn’t find the strength to argue over this request. Gray’s lips took hers in a kiss so sweet and full of love that she felt her heart melt. At that moment, she didn’t think it was possible to love another as much as she loved him. She only hoped her heart would survive the fall-out if something happened.

 

Nick and Beth walked back up to them and Suzy was surprised when Gray told them what had happened with
Reva
. Nick swore violently, his face flushed with anger. “Gray, man, I know you aren’t going to just take her word for it. The woman is a nut and if she’s gotten herself pregnant, there is no way it’s yours. For one, I know you wouldn’t be that careless and she sure wouldn’t have kept that a secret this whole time. She’s ringing all of our damn phones off the hook daily for months and doesn’t say a word? She’d have taken out a banner ad right after she found out if that were true.”

 

Beth had moved close to her sister since recovering from the shock of Gray’s words. While he and Nick continued to discuss what was going on, Beth looked at her with a mixture of anger and sympathy. “Sis, how are you holding up?”

 

Suzy gave her sister a weak smile. “It is what it is, there is nowhere else to go but forward.”

 

“Is it very wrong of me to want to kick a pregnant woman’s ass?” Beth asked.

 

Unable to control her laughter, Suzy looked at her sister and held her fingers apart. “A little bit, but thanks for the thought.”

 

The men finally wrapped up their conversation and Gray pulled her close for one last bittersweet kiss. “I’ll call you tonight. I love you, baby.”

 

Suzy felt shy about saying the words in front of an audience, but she knew that Gray needed to hear them. “I love you too. Try to get some rest today.”

 

The breath left her body as he picked her up in his arms and deposited her into the seat. “I’m not taking the chance on you hurting yourself trying to get into my brother’s mini-van.” With a smirk, he looked over at Nick. “Nice wheels, bro.”

 

Nick’s simple reply of, “Piss off” had them all laughing.

 

Suzy’s heart broke as they drove away, and she looked back at Gray one last time and saw him standing there in the parking garage looking like the last man on a sinking ship. Was leaving him the right thing to do? Like him she had to go with her gut and that told her that he needed to be alone right now even if being in his arms was what she needed more than anything.