"Anytime Grey, love you too!"
The phone went dead and I jumped into action. I showered, styled my hair, applied my make-up and selected an outfit for work. I stopped in the kitchen to finish off the coffee, grabbed my purse, keys and I was out the door with determination flowing through me.
Any feelings of bliss and nostalgia I had before were long gone. Now, I was nothing more than filled with guilt, remorse and stupidity. How could I be such a fool to let him back in? Jayden was right all along-I let Stefan go for a reason. Richard was my future and Stefan belonged in my past.
My knuckles were white as I used the wheel as my own personal stress ball. My stomach was twisted to the point of nausea, but I continued to tell myself what I was doing was what was right. I pulled up in front of Harrison Towers and parked my car in the no parking area directly in front of the building. A security guard ran to my car as I made my way to the sidewalk.
"Ma'am, you can't park here!"
"I'll be right down, and Stefan Harrison is expecting me. And if you have my car towed, I swear to you that Mr. Harrison will fire you." Whatever I said seemed to work. He gulped back any protests and nodded his head.
"It will be here, Ms. Desmond." I paused slightly as I realized this man knew exactly who I was. I whipped around to look at him, unable to voice the questions swarming my mind.
"Mr. Harrison told us if you were ever to stop by that you could do as you pleased." I sighed, nodding.
"Of course he did."
If I continued talking to this innocent bystander I wasn't going to have the guts to do what I came to, and I refused to let anything stop me. I stomped my way into the lobby and immediately caught the eyes of the women behind the receptionist's desk. This time they didn't stop me-both gave me a smile and waved cheerily as if we had been friends for years.
I returned with a half-hearted smile and wave as I made my way to the elevators. Luckily, I had an elevator to myself so I could pace and panic the entire ride up. The doors opened and the face of Stefan's assistant, Amanda, was the first thing I saw. She was far from happy to see me, but I was sure in about ten minutes I would be her favorite person because then she would have Stefan all to herself.
"Is he in there?" I barked.
She nodded her head once and focused her attention to the ringing phone. I passed her desk and ran right into Stefan's office, slamming the door shut behind me.
Stefan looked up from his desk, a smile on his face that quickly turned into worry as he noticed my expression. He was out of his seat and headed toward me before I could get a word out.
"Is everything okay?" he asked as he approached. His hands reached out for me, and I was almost shocked at my response. My hands pushed his away as I stepped back away from him. Stefan's eyebrows shot up with hurt and confusion.
"Grey?"
"How dare you come back into my life! I can't believe I was letting you in again!"
"What is going on?" he asked in a panic as I pushed past him to pace in the middle of the room.
"You can't just show up out of the blue and expect things to go back to the way they were! You have no right to be in my life anymore, Stefan!"
"Where is this coming from?" He tried to slow his voice to calm me, but I was far too heated to quiet down.
"I've finally woken up, Stefan! You abandoned me! When I needed you most, you left me there! Night after night I sat up waiting for you to get home. Waiting for things to get better but they never did! I was hurting too, but none of that ever mattered to you!"
"Okay, Grey, slow down. Please, let's talk about this." Slowly he closed the distance between us.
"No!" I screamed, shoving his chest back to keep the distance between us. "We had our time to talk and it has long since passed!"
"Greyson … "
"Stop it!" I couldn't hear it; there was no way I was going to be able to hear him call me by my full name and survive this. "You're not my husband anymore, Stefan! I don't want you in my life, just the way you didn't want me!"
"Greyson, I always wanted you! It wasn't easy to say any of those words to you. I didn't feel like I deserved you anymore. There was no way I could lay beside you in our bed after what happened. It was my fault that everything spiraled out of control!" I saw the fire behind his eyes; we were having the fight we needed to have six years ago.
But it was too late and now-there wouldn't be a happy ending.
"You don't think that hurt me!? Even your silence destroyed me, Stefan! You were my best friend, I needed you more than I needed air to breathe and you were just … gone! If you wanted me, you would have fought for me, Stefan! I wasn't mad at you for the accident; I never blamed you for losing her! What I will never forgive you for is how you left me! I have never been more alone in my life and you didn't care!"