Page 97 of Grasp The Moment
“Are there any other Edens in the fashion industry? She’s my best friend—Derek’s godmother. She was supposed to be here, but?—”
The food in my mouth tastes rotten, and the air is sucked out of the room as I slowly swallow down her words. My body begins trembling, muscles aching to run out of here as my head slowly turns to Derek.
His eyes are wide and his shoulders stiff as he looks everywhere but at me.
Eden Marlowe is his godmother?
I try to gulp. I try to regain my breath and breathe, but I can’t. Fuck, Imarriedhim, and he couldn’t even tell me this? The whole reason I agreed to marry him was so that he could get his inheritance, and I would get my footing in the fashion industry. I thought we told one another everything… Was I blind to what's truly been in front of me this entire time? The way he’d help me with my line and had a deep interest in what I said that night at the bar in Vegas… Was it all just some ploy? Hell, I was rejected from his godmother’s internship... The least he could’ve said was that he knew her.
I look stupid.
I went on and on about how much of an inspiration she was to me, and she probably changed his fucking diapers.
I don’t register my words, or even my movements, until the cool air of the Texas night hits my skin. All the air in the world seems to get lodged in my lungs, and I feel suffocated.
This is too much… toopainful.
Who the fuck did I marry?
1 Ay Dios - Oh, Lord
36.Derek
I watchas my heart runs out of the dining room, and it’s like she took my oxygen away with her. My chest feels as if it caves in on itself as I stand, pain lacing through my body as Georgia’s hurt face clouds my mind.
Lita and Mamá share a stricken expression, communicating quietly, but I’m already halfway out the door when I hear Mamá’s voice as she exclaims, “It’s just an outfit… I don’t know what’s wrong!”
Ignoring them, I chase after the woman who sashayed her way into my life. Georgia’s hair blows behind her as she runs, her body moving side to side.
“Where are you going?!” I yell, my voice echoing in the distance as she comes to a halt before speed walking in the darkness.
She calls over her shoulder, “The fuck away from you!” before turning and walking even faster.
I've got to say, I’ve never seen her walk this fastever, especially in heels. Even though my legs are long, it seems like the quicker I walk toward her, the further she gets away.
She huffs loudly, her voice is shaky, and all I want to do is take her into my arms as her voice cracks when she yells, “You lied to me!”
Fuck.
I run a hand through my hair, tugging at the strands. I didn’t mean to. When she mentioned the internship, I wanted to do nothing more than help her. However, waking up married to her kind of took the cake at the time.
I’m on her heels, so close that I can almost touch her.
“I didn’t lie, darlin’... I just didn’t… tell you,” I say and cringe immediately as she whirls around.
This close, I can see the tear stains on her face. Her emerald eyes are encased in red, bloodshot from her tears. I shudder, wanting nothing more than to comfort her and take her into my arms, but how could I when I’m the cause of her pain?
“Don’t. That’s the same thing, and you know it, Derek. You lied by omission.” Her voice shakes as she holds a hand up to silence me. “This whole thing was orchestrated by you! You could’ve told me about her; I wouldn’t have forced you to introduce us, but it would’ve been good to know. Hell, you could’vetrustedme—I trusted you. I told you about my dad… Derek, Imarriedyou!”
I flinch; her words are like a bullet to the heart.
“Darlin’, I?—”
“Just stop! I need to not be around you…” she croaks, walking away from me… from us.
This entire time, I thought that losing my inheritance would be the worst thing to ever happen to me, but to watch the love of my life walk away feels like I’ve been dropped in hell.
When Rosemary left, she was just gone. I didn’t see it, I didn’t feel it until after. This? I’m feeling every two-inch cut to my heart as I watch the space between us increase.
