Loving Grant

Uninvited Guests

"Are you okay?" He rushes beside me. I bring my knees to my chest, it's too late to hide the diary. My heart splits into a million pieces as I witness his eyes focus on his diary in my hand.

He shakes his head, stepping away from me. "No."

I stumble to my feet. "I wanted to tell you."

He moves so fast it creates a wind that makes my hair fly behind me. "How long have you had that?"

Words get stuck in my throat when I see the anger in his eyes. Grant never gets this mad and it scares me. "I-I-I"

"Better question, how much of that have you read?" Venom coats his words, burning me.

I fumble backwards into the wall. "Since V's wedding. I read most of it." A wave of strength comes over me and I reclaim my voice.

He looks away from me, as if he can't stand the sight of me. "How did you even know about this?"

The bravery I have dissipates when he glares at me. "A friend of yours that also wanted to help.."

"Grayson." He says in a deadly whisper.

I go to deny it but the second I make a sound he lifts a hand to stop me. "Don't."

I take a tiny step towards him. "Grant, I tried to talk to you, but you wouldn't open up and I was too worried to sit back and do nothing."

"You planned this? You schemed with my childhood best friend to steal this?" He grabs the book from my hand.

I don't know what to say, so I say nothing.

He moves in so that he's only a breath away from me. "I am sorry that I kept things from you, but I was doing it to protect you."

"I'm sorry, I was doing the same thing. I swear I never wanted to hurt you."

I can't decipher the meaning of the look on his face. He paces the room, not once looking in my direction.

When he finally looks at me, he's emotionless. "Rinnie, it's over. We're over."

Anger bubbles up inside me. "You promised me. You promised you wouldn't be the one to walk away."

His breath is shaky. "Don't make this any harder."

I push him against the wall. "I have stood by you through everything. I'm getting sick of you walking away everytime there's an issue."

"I'm protecting you, I've always come back. I've stood by you too." The frustration in his voice disappears when he meets my eyes. "I have to do this, if I don't, you're going to destroy yourself trying to save me and that's not your job."

I tug at my messy brown locks. "I'm sorry but I refuse your request."

The corners of his mouth start to curve into a smile but he's stood them. "It's not a request, I'm not doing this anymore."

"I don't accept that." I raise my shoulder carelessly.

He bites his lip. "You're the best I've ever had Rinnie, but I'm going to force you to move on. All we've been doing is hurting each other, if we keep going we're going to hate each other."

I huff. "Neither of us are well versed in committed relationships. We're learning."

He uses his thumb to draw circles on my arm. "To be honest, it'd be too painful for me to do this anymore."

The lighting makes Grant look so beautiful, and I fight back tears. He isn't going to change his mind, it's over. "I don't mean this to sound manipulative or dramatic, but if you're absolutely serious about this I need you to stay far away from me."

He looks injured. "What?! Rinnie that is very manipulative whether you mean it be or not!"

I clear the sadness from my voice. "I'm sorry but I really don't think I'm capable of pretending nothing happened. Things are different whether we want them to be or not.  At least for awhile we need to go no-contact."

His eyes narrow at me. "You didn't read the whole diary, did you?"

"I read most of it."

A knock on the door leaves me in suspense. Grant goes to greet the guest.

"What the f*** are you doing here?"

"Thinking of getting Botox if my face is anywhere near as wrinkly as yours is right now." I walk out to see Grant's doppelgänger casually walking through the doorway.

Grant keeps his hand on the door. "You have my blessing, see ya."

I glance between them, blown away that they look so much alike. "You didn't answer the question."

He looks at me like I grew a second head. "Oh, don't act like me knocking on your door isn't a long lost dream of yours."

"You pronounced nightmare wrong." I say with disdain. "You know, you always find a way to annoy me. I was so close to getting Grant to tell me something before you waltzed in like you were invited."

"Oh no, how will I live?" The infuriating man mocks me.

Grant steps between the two of us. "What's the problem?"

The imposter stretches, his face unreadable. "While I'm so sorry for interrupting you finally telling Zephie about your third nipple, I was just wondering if you guys saw a ghost too?"

"What ghost?" Grant responds but doesn't look interested.

I debate in my head if I should say anything. "Carsyn?"

Grant's interest in the conversation returns. "That's why you asked me about her?"

The intruder's smug face tells me he's loving this. "Oh, so Grant was about to tell you he killed before? She told me she was mad at him when she stopped by earlier."

My heart shatters on the ground. "You killed her."

"Rinnie, it's complicated." He tries.

I grit my teeth. "I am getting really sick of hearing those words."

"Me too Zephie, she was my dearest friend." I almost forgot he was here.

"Jay, leave." Grant's voice deepens, a threat behind his words.

Jay purses his lips in concentration. "I'll be giving myself the tour brother."

Grant and I both give up trying to make the pest leave. When Jay leaves the room, we're silent.

"Rinnie, about Carsyn.." He looks unsure of himself, which is very unique to Grant's character. He's always sure. "I did kill her, but it's not what you think."

"I don't even know what I think." I sigh.

He rubs his neck. "She was going to kill you."

I cough. "Kill me? She didn't even know me."

Grant's mouth twitches, something I've never seen before. "She knew you, but you didn't know her. Carsyn and Jay both knew you through me."

"Why did she want to kill me?"

"She was mad at me for trying to convince Jay to stop talking to her. She knew you're the only thing I give a s**t about."

I scuff. "You have terrible taste in women."

He smirks and motions back and forth between us. "We did date."

It sounds so weird to hear him talk about us in the past tense. "You got lucky one time." I play along.

"You're a spunky little thing." He laughs.

A knock on the door ceases our conversation. There's so much more I want to say, but I'm grateful to have some extra time to gather my thoughts. I am sick of my emotions controlling the conversation. I walk out to see who else has stopped by.