Page 16 of Since I First Laid Eyes On You

“No. I’m choosing me,” my clenched fist hits my chest in emphasis.

“I will not survive without her. Paige and I do not affect you; we have no bearing on what you do with your life.

Edward, you and Paige were never really together, I'm not taking her from you.

If you'd have loved her, cared for her in any way; this wouldn't be happening. I love you, Edward, but Paige is my future, she’s the woman I plan on spending the rest of my life with.”

“Fuck you, Dad,” he spits with venom before storming upstairs and slamming his door shut.

That went well.

I’m walking to meet Paige for lunch as she’s not got long before she has to be back at work.

I’ve booked a table at a restaurant around the corner to make sure we have as much time together as possible.

We’ve got a lot we need to discuss. I drop her a message to let her know I’m outside her building and lean against a column to wait.

I see her before she sees me. Corporate Paige is fucking hot.

She’s got some fitted skinny trousers on with heels, a silk shirt, slim blazer and a wool coat thrown over the top.

A group of guys follow her out, every single one of them has their eyes trained on her, on my girl.

Time to move; she catches my approach, a smile taking over her face before it falters.

A trace of worry crosses her features, that’s right, baby, you are in big trouble after last night.

I walk right up to her, take her in my arms and stamp a kiss on her lips for everyone to see.

I see the steps of the guys falter before they walk past us.

That’s right, move along, this one’s taken.

“Hey, baby,” I murmur.

“Hi,” she breathes, a little nervously. “You okay? ”

“I am now,” I say, taking her hand and leading her towards the restaurant. “Your ass won’t be tonight, but it’s safe for now,” I add, grinning to myself.

“Shit,” I hear her mutter to herself.

I lead her into the restaurant and to our table. We both already know what we want, so we order as soon as we sit down. Paige orders a Caesar salad and I order myself a steak.

“I’m sorry about last night,” Paige starts. I hold up my hand, stopping her.

“Let’s not have that conversation right now, that talk and your punishment will come tonight when I have more time.” I see her visibly swallow. Yeah, she’ll be swallowing tonight too.

“There is, however, something I need to talk to you about.” I’m about to start explaining our connection from before we met, when her gaze wanders over my shoulder and her eyes widen.

“I am so sorry for whatever is about to happen,” she whispers. What? I turn in my seat to see what she’s talking about and freeze. I feel the blood drain from my face. Coming towards us, looking far too smug for his own good, is my son.

“Isn’t this cosy?” His sly voice hits every nerve in my body.

“Edward what are you doing here?” Paige asks.

“You mean I’m not invited to the family lunch?”

“What?” She says confused.

“Dear old Dad here forgot to invite me. It’s okay though,” he turns to me, “your P.A let me know where you were.” Fuck sake, Carly. I turn in my seat, taking in Paige’s face. She’s looking back and forth between Edward and me, trying to make sense of his words.

“Dad?” She whispers. Edward's gleeful laugh is painful to hear, knowing he’s about to destroy everything.

I had it all planned, how I would lead up to this conversation, how I would break it to her.

And this was not it, not even close. Her eyes meet mine.

“Wh...wh…what is he talking about?” She stutters out.

“Paige it’s n—” I start, only to be interrupted.

“Dad thought he’d get one over on me by stealing my girlfriend and fucking her when I couldn’t.”

“That is not what happened!” I near shout.

“Really? My girlfriend,” he points from himself to Paige, “who you fucked, and the best part; you didn’t even tell her who you were.

Nice one, Dad.” It’s as if this is a joke to him.

As if trying to humiliate Paige, trying to destroy what Paige and I have, is some form of entertainment.

I’ve never been ashamed of my son, until now.

“Oh God,” Paige gasps from across the table, drawing my attention back to her. She’s as white as a sheet. She stands and sways slightly, I go to reach for her but she slaps my hands away. “Don’t touch me,” she hisses.

“Sweetheart, it’s not what you think. Please, let me explain,” I plead.

“Did you know?” She doesn’t need to say any more, I know exactly what she means.

“Yes,” I whisper.

“I have to go. I need to leave.”

“Paige, no. Please, baby, don’t go.” I’m begging, but at this point I just don’t care. I’ll get on my knees if it means she’ll stop and listen to me.

“Don’t 'baby' me,” she spits. “Everything, oh God, I thought…” She puts her hand to her mouth, unable to finish what she was saying.

“Everything was real. We are real.” She needs to believe me.

“NO!” She shouts, grabs her bag and begins to walk past me. “You lied to me,” her pained whisper as she passes me breaks my heart and I can’t move, I’m frozen in place .

“Looks like we both lost the girl.” I turn to face my son, taking in the gloating smile. My stomach turns. Where did I go so wrong with him?

“Pack your bags and get out of my house. Your mother can deal with you. I can’t even look at you right now.” He quickly masks the shock on his face. What did he expect from me? A slap on the back and for us to laugh about it over beers? He’s fucking destroyed me.

“As if I’d want to stay with you after this,” he scoffs. I push past him and rush to the exit, hoping to catch Paige. My body finally functioning again and realising I can’t let her walk away. I see her up ahead, staggering around people on the pavement.

“PAIGE!” I shout. She doesn’t turn, but picks up her pace. I run after her. “Damn it, Paige, stop. Let me explain.” I’m almost to her now.

“There’s nothing to explain, Gray,” she calls over her shoulder, still walking away from me.

“There is everything to explain. Don’t walk away, Paige. You don’t walk away from us. Not ever.” I’m in front of her now, blocking her way.

“There is no us, there never was an us.” She steps around me, beginning to walk away from me again.

“Goddamn it, Paige. Just stop.” I grab her arm, spinning her around to face me.

“Let me go,” she hisses, trying to pull her arm from my grip.

“You think I’m going to let the woman I love go? I will never let you go. There will never be a time when I will be able to let you walk away from me.” She freezes, her eyes widening up at me.

“You love me?” She whispers in disbelief .

“I am completely and utterly in love with you. You’re everything to me, Paige. I don’t exist without you.” I pull her to me, uncaring of who’s around us. Cupping her cheek, I give her everything.

“Baby, I am so sorry that I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know you were going to be at the wedding. I couldn’t believe it when I got on the plane and you were sitting next to me,” I press my forehead to hers.

“Why didn’t you say something then? When you first saw me?” Her voice is quiet.

“Because I was selfish,” I admit. “If I’d told you from the beginning, I would have been Edward's Dad and that would have been it. You wouldn’t have explored what we have between us. I wanted to see if what I was feeling was real, if you felt it too.”

“How did you even know who I was? We never met, I barely even saw Edward.”

“Promise you won’t freak out?” This could go either way. She nods nervously.

“I saw a picture of you. Edward showed me one from your graduation. Then I saw you at my house once; you were in the garden with friends,” her eyes widen. "And that time you came to my office?” She nods. “I was in the conference room. I saw you come in and couldn’t take my eyes off you.”

“Wow,” she breathes.

“It’s always been you, Paige, since I first laid eyes on you, it’s been you. Even if I didn’t know it, didn’t understand it, my body did.” I wrap my arms around her, pulling her body into mine, needing to hold her.

“I was going to tell you at lunch, it’s what I’d started saying when Edward walked in. I’m so sorry you found out like that.”

“I won’t lie, Gray, that hurt. What just happened in there? Nothing like that can ever happen again,” her voice is firm. I feel a weight lift off of my shoulders, she’s talking like there’s a future for us.

“Baby, I will never hide anything from you again, I promise. I wanted to speak to Edward first. Once we became serious, I wanted to do right by him and let him know before I told you. Believe me when I say I will never do that again.” My eyes close; I bury my face in her hair, breathing her in.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” I whisper. I gently pull on her hair, tilting her face up to mine. Seeing everything I need, my lips take hers, my tongue thrusting against hers, tasting her, taking what’s mine.

Pulling back, she smiles at me. “Just don’t do it again,” she says.

“Never,” I vow. She sighs deeply.

“I need to get back to work. My boss will be on my case if I’m gone too long.” I growl, hating the idea of anyone giving her a hard time, of any man spending time with her. Totally irrational, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling it.

“We’ll talk about work tonight; I was serious about a job.” She rolls her eyes at me and turns to head back to work, taking my hand in hers.

“Don’t think I won’t punish you for that,” I mutter. She bursts out laughing.

“Babe, if you think you can punish me anytime soon after that shit show of a lunch, you’ve got another think coming.” Fair point; I might have to concede that one for now.