Page 44 of For Love & Torture
Chapter 20
Isabel
I’m standing in the kitchen when Grant walks in and I notice right away that something is off. He doesn’t look himself. He grabs me, pulling me into his body and hugging me tightly. I can feel his body shaking as he holds onto me like I’m a life preserver. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I am. Please forgive me. Please.”
I know I’ve been cold to him. I left his bedroom that night and took the room across the hall. For three days and nights, I’ve given him the cold shoulder. I’ve been staying with him as he asked me to, but it hasn’t been pleasant for either of us.
The truth is, I thought he’d eventually tell me to leave. But each night, just as the club closes, he comes to my office to get me, taking me home with him, forgoing the nightly dinners with the other owners. The rides have been made in silence, and we part ways as soon as we get into the house. Yet, he’s still taken me home each night.
And now this…
“Grant, do you understand why I’m upset with you?” I have to ask because I’m not about to give in just because he can’t take it anymore. I have to know he understands what he did to piss me off in the first place.
Loosening his grip on me, he leans his forehead against mine. “I know what I did, Bell. And I know you don’t believe me about my reasons for keeping us a secret. I have an idea about that—you see the real reason I’ve wanted it all kept a secret is because I don’t want that attention from people. You know, congratulating me on finally finding someone, having people try to get involved in my personal life. I can get over that, I know I can. But so many things are changing right now that I’ll need a smidgen of time before I’m ready to go all out with this. At the club anyway,” His lips brush mine, sending heat through me with just that little bit. “I’ll become the man who deserves you, is what I’m trying to tell you.”
I’m stunned. Not happy or sad, just stunned.
“And in the meantime, we will have a relationship in private?” I have to ask. With Grant one never knows.
“Yes. I want you to stay with me. Not in the bedroom across the hall. I want you in my bed every night. I am sorry, Bell. And I’m going to make huge changes. I’m doing it all for you, baby. Every last bit of it is for you.” His hands run down my arms, grasping my hands as he takes a step back. “So do you agree to this?”
Do I?
Should I go along with this? “Can I think about it?”
“I suppose so. But can we put this coldness away?” He tugs me by the hand, taking me with him as he moves to a chair. He sits down and pulls me onto his lap. Running his hand through my hair, he kisses my cheek. “Please, baby.”
My heart is melting fast. I don’t know how in the hell I can be okay with what he wants, but I’m finding it in myself to be just that. “We can put the coldness away. For now. But I will tell you this—if I don’t see you making real changes, making real progress, then this is over. All of it. For good. Do you understand me?”
With a nod, he kisses my cheek again. “I get it, Bell.”
“Okay then. It looks like we’ve made up. Time for the makeup sex,” I tease him as I stroke his beard and bounce on his lap.
“Yeah, can we put that off for a few minutes? I have something else I want to talk to you about.” His expression grows serious, and I’m intrigued. He’s never put off sex to talk.
It must be important. “Of course.”
“My sister Jenny had me meet her. What she told me is beyond belief.” He stops and shudders.
Wrapping my arms around him, I hug him. “Is it that bad, Grant?”
“Bad?” He shakes his head. “No, not bad. Just unbelievable. And she wants me to come to Mom and Dad’s old house to see if I see what she has.”
“And what would that be?” I ask. I’m utterly confused.
“Mom’s ghost.” He just looks at me, waiting to see if I’m going to laugh or not.
“Oh. Well, you know it’s not beyond imagination that she has seen your mother in her old home. Sometimes our minds can play tricks on us that conjure up old things we’ve seen many times before. Such as your mother in some area of the home where you sister had seen her often.”
Grant nods and goes on, “The thing is, my sisters and brother have lived in our parents’ home for a while. You know that. During that time no one ever saw a thing. But last year they all moved out. And all of them moved into their own places. Jenny went over to the house to do a monthly clean she’s been doing, and that’s when she first saw Mom’s ghost in the form of a shadow. She feels her presence mostly.”
Although this sounds unbelievable, I find myself asking, “Does your mother try to communicate with her?”
“That’s the thing.” He smiles at me, looking excited. “Only one word of communication has happened.”
“And did Jenny tell you this word?” I move my hand down his arm, taking his hand in mine.
He nods. “She heard my name in my mother’s voice. She’s heard it three times on three separate occasions. She thinks Mom might have more to say to me if I go over there. And I want you to come with me.”
