After the Ex Games

“Wait!” I jumped up and walked to her, my heart in my throat. “You don’t understand.”

“What I understand is that my best friend is dating a guy who’s ex had his baby and is now after revenge. I can’t say I blame her. Where’s the child by the way?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head, everything becoming a blur. Everything was going wrong. It was all being twisted. I didn’t know what was up and what was down. “Katie, we need to talk.” I grabbed her arm and she pulled away from me.

“I’m going to tell Meg to come home.” She shook her head. “Maybe we can all sit down and talk then?”

“Okay.” I nodded, my heart dropping.

She was right of course. Everything needed to come out in the open. It was time for the truth to come out. I was ready and I knew Greyson was ready. There was no hiding any more. All I could hope and pray for was that Katie and Meg would understand and forgive us.

I walked to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water, and took a couple of swigs before rushing to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. I walked down the hallway to one of the guest bathrooms and sat on the side of the bath for a few seconds to compose myself.

It was the pink box that first alerted me to the fact that I wasn’t the only one who had used the bathroom recently. I jumped up and pulled it out of the trash, my heart stopping when I read ‘First Response’ on the packaging. It was a pregnancy test.

My heart stilled as I looked in the trash to see if the test was still there. I saw the white plastic and stood still for a moment, not knowing if I should check. I hesitated for about ten seconds and then reached in and grabbed the test. I pulled it out quickly and looked at the test.

There were two pink lines, and I froze before grabbing the box and reading it. I didn’t know what two lines meant. I read out loud as I looked at the package. “Two lines means pregnant and one line means not pregnant.” I stared at the test with my heart beating fast.

This changed everything. Katie was pregnant again. I pressed my face against the wall in both excitement and worry. Katie was pregnant. I wanted to jump for joy, but I knew that there was a high likelihood that I would miss this pregnancy as well if I told her the truth. It was in that moment that I felt the most alone I’d ever felt in my life. I didn’t know what to do. If I told Katie the truth, I might lose her, but if I didn’t tell her, I might lose her as well. I was in a lose-lose situation, and I had no idea how to get out of it without resorting to extremely desperate and dangerous methods.

Chapter 8

Unknown

I just wanted to call him. I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to say, “Hi, Dad.” I’d lived my whole life never fully understanding my place in the world. The life I’d lived hadn’t been a bad one, per se. It had just been one filled with grief and sorrow. And now I knew why.

Ever since, Patsy had told me who my real father was, so many things made sense. It all added up. Patsy was heartbroken for me. She’d said that she wished she’d made a different decision all those years ago. She’d said that she’d had the power to make a different decision, but she’d thought it was best. Best for who, I don’t know. She’d said that as soon as she saw me, that night came back to her. She’d said that she can’t look at me without thinking about everything that went down.

The only two people in the world who could make it right weren’t going to. It was hard listening to her ramble on and on about how they’d broken both of us. Part of me didn’t understand why she was still so angry. I didn’t have anger. Not really. I had pain and heartache, but not so much anger.

I sat back and dialed the number, no longer willing to wait for Patsy and her directives. I was taking my destiny into my own hands now. I wanted answers.

“Hello?” a deep voice said, answering the phone, and I froze. “Hello? This is the Hastings residence.”

“Hi,” I squeaked out, not sure what to say.

“Hi, can I help you?” His voice had a slight undertone in it that I couldn’t place.

“Greyson?” I mumbled, suddenly recognizing his voice.

“Yes, this is Greyson Twining.” He sounded so calm, so assured of himself and his place in life that a part of me broke.

“I want to know how you can look at yourself every morning.”

“Excuse me?” His voice was abrupt. “Who is this?”

“How could you have my mother lie and pretend she never had me?”

“Who is this?” His tone was softer this time, but I could still hear the anger.

“Why did you have my mother lie?” I burst out emotionally and then froze as I felt something against my back.

“Hang the phone up,” he whispered behind me, and I turned my face slowly. His face looked possessed, and I could see a manic look in his eyes.

“Hello? Are you still there?” Greyson sounded frantic. “Brandon’s not here right now, but I really think the three of us should have a conversation.”

“I—” I started, but he grabbed the phone from me and threw it to the ground.

“I told you to hang up!” he growled angrily.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to shut you up.” He looked sad then, and I could see that he had reservations about what he was doing. The gun in his hand looked shiny and new, and I had a feeling he had bought it recently.

“What do you mean?” I spoke softly, trying to remain calm, but I was panicking inside.

“I didn’t want to have to do this.” He shook his head. “But now I know who you are. Now that I know, I just can’t let it go.”

“You can’t do this,” I whispered as he walked towards me with a menacing look.

“It’s the only way.” He shrugged while he avoided my eyes. “It’s the only option I have.”

Chapter 9

Greyson

I stared at the phone, willing it to ring again. I needed to talk to her. I wanted to explain. I sighed as I realized that it was all coming to a head a lot sooner than I had anticipated. I opened my phone and called Meg.

“Hey, I was just thinking about you.” She’d answered the phone sounding cheerful, and I smiled, loving the way the sound of her voice made me feel better.

“Hey, can you meet me at the club?”

“The club?”

“Yeah. There are some things I need to show you.”

“Okay.” She sounded curious. “Like what?”

“You’ll see. Hey, I have to go.” I hung up quickly as I saw Katie walking past the room I was in. “Hey, Katie, you got a second?”

“What’s up?” She looked at me politely, but I could tell that she still hadn’t warmed to me.

“Do you know where Brandon went?” I gave her a smile. “I need to talk to him.”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “We spoke this morning and he told me about you and Patsy.” Her eyes narrowed.

“Meg knows I slept with Patsy in the past.”

“Does Meg know about the kid?” Katie hissed at me, and I froze.

“The kid?” I repeated softly.

“Brandon is ready to come clean with everything.”

“He is?” I looked into her accusing eyes and nodded. “I guess it’s time.”

“Yes, it is. I think Meg needs to know everything.”

“I agree. I think it’s time for us to get it all out in the open.”

“You do?” She looked surprised, and I smiled.

“I love Meg, you know. I don’t want to keep secrets from her anymore. I’m ready for the truth to be out.”

“The truth sets you free.” She nodded in agreement. “I wish Brandon hadn’t rushed out,” she sighed. “I don’t know where he went.”

“I’ll call him.” I checked my watch. “I told Meg to meet me at the club, but I’ll be back soon.”

“Tell Brandon to hurry home if you speak to him.” She nodded. “I miss him and I feel bad for cutting him off this morning when he was talking to me.”

“Okay, and thanks, Katie.” I reached out and rubbed her shoulder.

She frowned. “Thanks for what?”

“Thanks for being a good friend to Meg and an even better friend to Brandon.”

“I love him,” she said simply and smiled. “I love them both. When it comes to love, nothing can destroy how you feel.”

“I hope that’s true,” I whispered and hurried out of the house. “I really hope so.”

I walked through the front door and pulled out my phone again. “Pick up, pick up,” I muttered and then hung up and dialed again as it went to voicemail. “Pick up, Brandon,” I muttered as I listened to the phone ringing.

“Hello?” His voice sounded low, and I frowned.

“Where are you?”

“What do you need?” He ignored my question, and it sounded like he was breathing hard.

“I just spoke to Katie. She said you’re willing to come clean?”

“She said that?”

“Well, she said we should all sit down and talk.” I sighed. “I do think this is for the best.”

“It’s not a good time, Greyson,” he sighed, and I heard something banging in the background. “Katie’s pregnant.”

“What?”

“I found the test.”

“Oh.” I stopped still. “Congrats.”

“I don’t want her to leave me. Not again. I can’t lose her.”

“Brandon, you need to let her make her own decisions.”

“I know,” he growled. “I know.”

“Brandon, I got a call today.” I started and then stopped. “We need to talk.”

“Talk about what?” He sounded agitated. “Look, I gotta go. We’ll talk later.”

“Brandon, wait—” I sighed into the phone as it went dead. “Shit.” I hailed a cab and jumped in. I sat back and gave the driver directions to the club. I had a bad feeling that wherever Brandon was, it wasn’t good. In fact, I thought it was probably very, very bad. And it was all my fault.

***

Time always seems to go slowly when you’re waiting for someone to show up. I felt like I’d been sitting in my office for eternity, even though it had only been about thirty minutes since I’d arrived.

I jumped up at the knock of the door and smiled. Meg was here.

“Come in,” I called out, anxious to take her into my arms.

“Hi, Greyson.” Patsy walked into the room with a strained look on her face.

I jumped back as I saw her face. “What are you doing here?”

“You wouldn’t have asked me that a few weeks ago.” She looked at me sadly. “You would have been happy to see me.”

“What do you want, Patsy?”

“I want to know one thing.” She walked up to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. She looked up into my eyes with a pleading look, and I tried not to blanch.

“What do you want to know?” I stifled a sigh.

“Greyson, tell me—when did you stop loving me?” Her fingers reached up to my face and she gently ran her nails over my lips. “We used to mean so much to each other.”

“I never loved you,” I whispered softly, my heart breaking at the pain in her eyes.

“You did.” She nodded and stared into my eyes. “You loved me until that night.”

“What night?”

“I’m sorry, Greyson. Please, I love you.”

“Sorry for what? What did you do?” I held her shoulders. “What did you do?”

“You know what I did.” She started crying. “That’s why you ended it with me. That’s why you don’t love me. I hate Brandon. It’s his fault. Did he tell you? He tricked me. I didn’t mean it. I never wanted him. I never loved him. Not like I loved you. Like I still love you. Please, Greyson.”

“What are you talking about, Patsy? What’s his fault?”

“You stopped loving me because I slept with Brandon.” She clung to me and I froze. Her words didn’t make sense to me. They were foreign, and I was confused, but then it all started to make sense.

“You slept with Brandon?” I grabbed her hands and looked down at her. “You slept with Brandon?” She looked at me wildly then, her eyes widening in surprise. I realized then that she really thought I’d known.

“You didn’t know?” She took a step back and gasped. “You didn’t know.”

“I didn’t know.” I stared at her with thin lips.

“You didn’t know? So you didn’t dump me because of that.” She ran her hands through her hair and her face contorted. “I didn’t break your heart, did I? You never loved me.” Her face looked at me crazily. “You never loved me!” she screamed. “You used me. You used me.” She ran at me then, hitting my chest with her arms. I stood there, allowing her to hit me, but then she started slapping my face. I grabbed her hands still.

“Don’t slap me, Patsy.”

“I’ve done so much for you!” she screamed and pulled away from me. “I’ve done so much to win back your love. You’ve used me. You’ve used me and discarded me like I was nothing!”

“I haven’t asked you to do anything for me,” I said softly.

“Maria was going to bring you and Brandon down. She was going to reveal everything.” Her eyes glared at me. “She wanted me to go to the newspapers with her. She wanted me to share my story as well.”