Chapter 2 Get Out

Now Grayson wasn't against others enjoy whatever sexual enjoyment they wanted. But he believed in one partner at a time. The multi partner relationship thing just wasn't for him. He had wanted what his parents had with maybe a little extra spice. He viewed his parents' marriage as the ideal, after thirty-six years of marriage with two children and they are still going strong, the fairy tale. Looking at Morgan now, he realized he wasn't going to have that with her.

He didn't take his eyes off her, knowing now he had never really known the woman he'd planned to marry. "Join you?"

"Don't knock it till you've tried it." Tina pulled on her pants, not bothering with underwear. "Morgan says you're quite... skilled."

The thought made him physically ill. "Get out," he repeated. "Both of you."

Morgan's face hardened. "This is my home too."

"No." Grayson stepped back from her touch. "It's not. Not anymore. You forfeited that right once you cheated."

He turned and walked out of the bedroom, down the hall to the living room. Behind him, he heard Morgan calling his name, then hushed argument with Tina. He ignored them, heading straight for the bar cart in the corner.

He poured three fingers of whiskey into a crystal tumbler and downed it in one swallow. The burn in his throat was a welcome distraction from the hollow feeling in his chest.

Eight months of lies.... Had it really been only eight months? With Tina it had been eight months. Had she been with anyone other than Tina? If she didn't see it as being with a woman as cheating maybe Tina was just the latest. How many had there been in their twelve months together. He wasn't going to ask just knowing there had been Tina was the end for him.

He'd been planning their future while she'd been sneaking around behind his back. With a woman she'd met at his sister's party. His sister's so called best friend.

He poured another drink, sipped it slower this time. He needed to deal with the trash before getting drunk.

From the bedroom, he could hear them still talking, voices raised now.

Grayson tuned it out, focusing instead on the amber liquid in his glass.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Tina appeared first, fully dressed now, her dark hair smoothed back. She slung a designer bag over her shoulder and paused at the entrance to the living room.

"For what it's worth, Morgan is the one who pursued me." She didn't sound apologetic, merely stating a fact.

Grayson didn't look up. "Get the fuck out of my house."

"You know you really could have joined us; I wouldn't have minded I swing both ways."

Grayson didn't even reply, only shuddered at the very idea.

At first she looked angry at his reaction before a mask fell over her face, and she shrugged and headed toward the front door. A moment later, it clicked shut behind her.

Morgan emerged from the bedroom wearing jeans and a sweater, her face flushed with anger. "Really, Grayson, you have no right to speak to her like that."

"In what universe do you get to dictate how I respond to finding another person in our bed with you?" His voice remained low, controlled. The kind of control that terrified his business opponents.

"Really Grayson why are you so upset. It's not like I was with another man."

"Christ, Morgan." He set his glass down worried he might crush it in his hand if he didn't. "That's your defense? That it doesn't count because she's a woman?"

She crossed her arms, defiant. "You're overreacting."

"Overreacting." He laughed, the sound bitter even to his own ears. "You've been fucking someone else behind my back for our entire engagement plus some, in our bed, and I'm overreacting?"

"It's just a little fun and I said you could join us. What's the big deal."

"What's the big deal?" He moved away from her, suddenly needing distance between them. "It's betrayal. It's lies. It's disrespect."

"Look, I was going to tell you-"

"When? After the wedding? On our tenth anniversary?" He gestured toward the ring on her finger.

Morgan's chin lifted. "I love you, Grayson. This thing with Tina-it's just physical."

"Love." The word tasted sour in his mouth. "You don't know the first thing about love. You don't do this to someone you love."

"That's not fair."

"Fair?" His control slipped, just enough for his voice to rise. "What's not fair is making me believe you wanted the same things I did. A life together. Children. Commitment."

"I do want those things."

"With someone you're cheating on?"

"It's not like that with Tina. It's not-"

"Stop." He held up a hand. "Just stop. I don't care how you justify it to yourself. We're done."

Her expression changed, calculation replacing indignation. "You don't mean that."

"I've never meant anything more in my life."

"Baby, think about what you're throwing away." She approached him, hips swaying slightly the way they did when she wanted something. "We're good together. Everyone says so."

"Everyone doesn't know you've been lying to me."

She reached for him, one hand sliding up his chest. "I made a mistake. I'll end things with Tina. We can go on like before."

Grayson caught her wrist, stopping her. He didn't want her touching him. "There's no 'we' anymore."

"Don't be ridiculous." Her voice hardened. "You're angry. I get it. But you're not walking away from everything we've built."

"Everything we've built?" He released her wrist. "You mean the life you've been undermining since day one? What the hell was I to you?"

"Gray-"

"I want you out of this house tonight." His tone left no room for argument. "Take whatever's yours. Leave your key." He would be having the locks changed but asking for the key showed her he was not backing down.

Morgan's eyes widened. Her normal confidence leaving her face. She had really believed she could change his mind. What replaced it was genuine panic. "You're serious."

He didn't give a fuck. "Deadly."

"Where am I supposed to go?"

"That's not my problem anymore." He turned away from her, pouring another drink. "Call Tina."

Silence stretched between them, taut and heavy. Then Morgan's voice, lower now, threaded with something like desperation.

"I can't believe you mean this Grayson... You love me."

Grayson looked at her over his shoulder. "No, I'm not in love with you Morgan... I was in love with the part you played. I have to say you are truly a fantastic actress... But it wasn't real." Ice coated his words now. "Pack your things and get out." It was the same ice that was encasing his heart. He had changed for her, in ways she wouldn't understand. But no more. From now on, Grayson was going to be himself. If he never found the right partner to fit his needs, then so be it. Emma will have kids someday, and he could make them his heirs.

She opened her mouth to argue further, then seemed to think better of it. With a final glare, she stalked back to the bedroom.

Grayson sank onto the couch, suddenly exhausted. The whiskey couldn't dull the sharp edges of betrayal or the hollow feeling spreading through his chest. He'd trusted her. Believed in their future together.

What a fucking joke.

Morgan emerged twenty minutes later dragging a white suitcase, her makeup perfect despite the situation. She was always so concerned with appearances.

"I'm leaving for now," she said, stopping by the door. "When you calm down, you'll realize what you're throwing away. Call me and we will talk."

Grayson didn't respond, didn't even look at her.

The door closed behind her with a decisive click.

In the sudden silence, he pulled out his phone and made two calls. First to his security team to change the locks. The other to reinstate his membership to the club. The part of himself he had given up for Morgan.