Keeping You (Destined Love #3)

10. Grayson

CHAPTER 10

Grayson

I carry Hannah to bed, tucking her in and plugging in her phone before I head back to the couch. Seeing Hannah with her mom today was a lot. I grew up with parents who loved and supported my sister and me through everything. I can’t understand having a toxic parent like Lauren. Thanking me for gifts brought by Hannah pissed me off, but to pull Hannah aside and lay into her about superficial things like the way she looks pushed me over the edge. Hannah is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve always known she’s way out of my league. I was stunned when she agreed to a date two years ago.

I knew Hannah didn’t have a good relationship with her mom. I just never understood the extent. The entire time we were in that house, Hannah had that brick wall up. Her smile was fake, and she was on edge. I know it won’t be easy, but I need to find a way to convince her to cut off her mom. If Lauren can’t support the amazing woman that Hannah is, she doesn’t deserve to be in her life.

Scrolling through my phone, I find the group chat with the number I’m looking for.

Grayson

You free for a drink?

Eliza

You asking me out, Grayson? Not a good look.

Grayson

No, I’m not asking you out. I want to talk about Hannah.

Eliza

Is she okay?

Did something happen?

Grayson

Kinda. Can you meet?

Eliza

The Clover, twenty minutes.

I poke my head in and check on Hannah before grabbing my keys and heading to the bar. I’ve never met Liz one-on-one before, but I know she’s Hannah’s best friend and will probably have more insight into Hannah and Lauren’s relationship than anyone else.

When I arrive at the bar, I see Liz sitting in a corner booth. She waves her hand slightly to get my attention, and I move through the throng of people and take a seat across from her.

“Is Hannah okay?” Liz asks.

“I had the lovely pleasure of meeting Lauren this week. We went to her birthday party today.”

Liz slumps in her seat and lets out a deep breath. She leans forward on the table, concern written all over her face. “How bad?”

That tells me this happens a lot.

“I stopped it pretty quickly, but bad.” I sigh. “When we first got there, it seemed fine, except she thanked me for the gifts Hannah brought. It was when Lauren pulled Hannah into the kitchen things got bad. She started by going after her for us getting married without her. Hannah told her she didn’t want a big wedding, so we took advantage of being in Vegas. But then she went after her appearance. I cut her off, told her Vegas was my idea, and told her to apologize before taking Hannah home. Hannah passed out after we gorged on junk food and watched rom-coms. She was asleep when I left.”

Liz bites her bottom lip and furrows her brow while she stares at me. “You didn’t hear this from me, but she lied to her mom.”

I raise a brow.

“Hannah is a hopeless romantic. She won’t tell anyone. She saw her parents’ divorce, and frankly her mother’s marriages and divorce since then, and feels ashamed to still believe in soulmates and life-altering love. Her mother has done some serious damage to her. Hannah used to have this binder she would update with all the things she wanted for her wedding. It had different dresses, flowers, decorations, venues, all of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she still has it hidden somewhere.”

This doesn’t surprise me one bit. When Hannah said she didn’t want a big wedding, it looked like it pained her to say the words, but what gets to me the most is that her own mother didn’t know she was lying. The person who should know her best had no idea.

“I need your help,” I say.

“With?”

“I want to convince Hannah to cut her mother off. I know it’s going to be difficult and she’ll probably fight it, but seeing the facade she had to put on to be around her and the pain she caused, I can’t stand by and let it happen. Hannah deserves so much more than that.”

She grins at me. “I was right.”

“Right about what?”

“You care about her.”

I grip the back of my neck. “Yeah, I do.”

“How long have you loved her?”

My head whips back, and my eyes widen. That’s a brazen question. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about?”

She shakes her head. “Oh, cut the crap, Grayson. We both know you’re in love with her. You not annulling this marriage right away and trying to protect her from her own mother, prove that. I’m also guessing that this incident she’s spent the last two years being pissed at you about is a case of her not having all the information?”

I turn my head towards the bar and remain silent.

She nudges me under the table and leans as far over the table as she can without her ass leaving the bench. “Grayson, how long have you been in love with my best friend?” She nudges me again. “How long?”

I snap. Leaning forward, I say, “Since the beginning, since the first week I met her. Are you happy now?”

She grins. “Yup. Now explain the shitting on love thing then. If you’ve loved her for years, why have you spent the last year shitting on the love your friends have gotten to experience?”

“Because I told myself when I was eighteen I wasn’t going to put myself in that situation again. I wasn’t going to allow my heart to be pulled out of my chest and stomped on. There’s a reason I let her spend the last two years hating me and did absolutely nothing to stop it, but now that she’s my wife, that I get to legally call her mine, I’m saying fuck it and showing her that I care.”

My chest is heaving from my rant. It feels good to get that off my chest, to finally have someone else know how I’ve felt about Hannah over the years. Caleb now knows about the incident and that I haven’t touched anyone in two years. Liz knows I’ve loved her the entire time. It’s kind of freeing to not have it all bottled up anymore.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“What do you want?”

“I want to know my friend is safe with you. You broke her heart. How are you going to put it back together?”

I lean back and run a hand through my hair before dropping it to the table. “I don’t know what is going to put Hannah’s heart back together. All I can do is try. I’m trying to spend as much time with her as possible without smothering her and sending her running for the hills. I hate the night shift. I don’t mind working it occasionally, but I have seniority over a good portion of the doctors and chose to take mainly morning and day shifts. For Hannah, I have taken every shift I can to match her schedule. To be able to drive to and from work together, to spend breaks talking to her. Her schedule has been mainly night shifts, and I’ve worked them. I’m going to keep showing up for her.”

“You need to tell her the truth about whatever happened.”

I straighten in my seat. “No. She’d never believe me anyways. She has this image of me, this view that she believes to be the absolute truth. If I say something, she’s going to think I’m lying, and that’s just going to make it all worse.”

“You know she won’t fully be able to accept your marriage until she gets the truth, right?”

I know she’s right, no matter how hard that is to accept. It hurts knowing I probably won’t be able to keep her, but all I can do is try.

“When I told her ninety days, I was telling her the truth. If when the ninety days are up, she wants out, I’ll sign the papers no fight. I love her. I’m not going to keep her trapped in a marriage she’s not happy in. I just want her to give it a shot.”

“I’ll help you with her mom and getting her to give your marriage a chance.”

That surprises me. Isn’t Liz supposed to be on Hannah’s side?

“She deserves to be happy and be with someone who loves her. So if you continue to show that, I’ll help you. What do you need?”

There’s one thing that she might be able to help me with, so I give it a shot. “I invited her to go home with me for the week of July 1, my family is doing a big thing. I told her to take some time to think about it. I’d like her to go with me.”

“Okay. I’ll work at convincing her to go, but know the minute you fuck this up, I won’t hesitate to fuck up your life in any way possible.”

I know all four of the girls would, so I was prepared for that. “She’s lucky to have such good friends.”

“We’re just as lucky.”

I nod. “Thanks for meeting me. I’m going to head home and make sure that Hannah’s still all good.”

“Take care of her.”

With that, I leave the bar and head home.

We get a day off before we both work the day shift. The first half of the shift is peaceful, we move through patients and everything goes smoothly. As I’m finishing my notes in a patients file, Samantha walks up to me.

“Grayson, it’s been so long since we’ve worked together. I’ve been working day shifts. Haven’t you missed me?”

I don’t dignify her question with an answer. If I had to name someone I hate, it would be her. She cost me something that could have been great, and that’s something I’ll never be able to forgive.

Her eyes dart behind me before she takes a step closer and rubs her hand up and down my arm. I stiffen.

She looks at my wedding ring before getting on her tip toes and whispering, “Grayson, we could have so much fun together.”

I take two large steps back until I’m out of her reach. “First of all, it’s Dr. Maxwell to you. Secondly, you’ve spotted my wedding ring several times and completely disregarded it. Well, I don’t. I won’t be cheating on my wife with you, or anyone else, for that matter. So, why don’t you keep things professional?”

I turn around and spot Hannah at the nurses’ station doing everything she can to avoid looking at us. I walk away before I can say anything stupid, like tell everyone Hannah is my wife.

I’m sitting in the cafeteria when Hannah joins me. She doesn’t say anything, just grabs the seat across from me, opens her phone, and starts eating. I know she’s reading, it’s what she likes to do in her down time. I don’t want to push this any farther than she’s willing to take it. I know it’s a big deal that she chose to sit with me.

When we return to our shift, I can feel Samantha watching me, but I can feel Hannah watching me, too. I enjoy having Hannah’s eyes on me. Knowing that somewhere in her subconscious she has some feeling for me that is making her watch me gives me hope that maybe I can convince her to stay after the ninety days.