7. Lily

Ipretty much think we were made for each other. Our taste for vengeance aside, I don’t think I have ever met anyone who made me feel so utterly complete. In the four and a half years since we’d been together, I don’t think I had one bad day.

It feels like time just flew by us, and though there were some rough spots, I wouldn’t have changed anything about our relationship. The only real worry I ever had about our relationship was how I was going to navigate telling my Mom and grandparents about his past.

In the end, we decided to go with the truth after I laid the groundwork. I should’ve known that they would be on my side, and in the end, they were more upset with my father for threatening and bribing Grayson to stay with his daughter than they were about us being together.

I’d heard them bemoan the fact that their son had turned out this way, but this one seemed to hit them really hard. They asked a lot of questions, some of which I was able to answer. They accepted that we’d met by chance, though my grandmother swore I must’ve been sweet on him since I sent him the evidence of Lacey cheating that first time.

It took a while to convince her otherwise, though she swore it didn’t matter as long as I was happy. That night, when she and I were alone, she made me swear that this was what I wanted, and when I said yes, her only response was that they’d take care of the rest.

I didn’t know what she meant until the next morning at breakfast when she and Grandpa said they were going to confront my Dad. I begged them not to and told them that Grayson and I were going to handle it. It took some time, but they eventually gave in with the caveat that we’d tell them if we needed their help.

I didn’t tell them what our plans were, and when I called Grayson later, at his parents place where he had gone for what was to be the last time, he said we should hold off on sharing too much of what we had planned.

The thing is, our plans have changed over time as we grew together as a couple. He’d always put me and my feelings first before his revenge, which had caused him to have to tweak things here and there.

I’m amazed we made it this far without being found out, but I think that Lacey was so busy doing her own thing that she didn’t even realize that he’d moved on both physically and emotionally.

We’d moved in together after that first summer in my condo, and things couldn’t be better. You’d think that living together, taking classes together, and then working together every summer, we’d grow tired of each other, but the only thing we grew tired of was the time we had to spend apart, however long or short it was.

He was able to avoid spending time with Lacey, but that didn’t always work, especially when she threw one of her fits, and there were even a few times when I had to be in my Dad’s presence that she would drop these hints as if fishing to learn if Grayson and I had grown close. I pretended not to even know who he was.

How we’d got her from visiting our campus is a whole other tale in itself. You see, there was a party, and at that party were two guys from our campus, and well, things happened between them and Lacey and let’s just say she knew if she ran into them here that she’d be found out.

What she didn’t know was that those guys were chosen by Grayson and me for just that purpose when she started making noises about coming to check up on him because she couldn’t reach him for a whole week.

That week, I had a terrible case of the flu, and he never left my side, even going so far as to do my assignments online along with his own so that I could rest and still graduate on time. That brings me to our graduation, which was just a week ago.

Dad wanted to come, and I saw no reason to deny him, but his wife was not allowed. When he tried to back out because she made a scene, my grandparents let him know that it would cost him if he let me down again. They didn’t know that I didn’t care, the I hadn’t cared for a very long time what my father did.

Hed allowed that woman and her daughter to come between us too many times to count, and I no longer trusted him or depended on him for anything, so it really didn’t matter to me one way or the other.

But what his presence there did that night was open the door to him introducing me to Grayson. Now how it happened was my grandparents were going on and on about what a wonderful young man he was and how well he’d done the last four summers when he interned at their company.

My grandparents were under the impression that they had to keep me and Grayson’s relationship hidden so he wouldn’t be disowned by his parents and lose their support, so they played along as if Grayson and I had never met.

My Dad had no idea that we interned together all those times and thought that I’d been on holiday with my Mom. Since we’re not close and my mother would as soon die as talk to him, there was no way for him to learn the truth, and my grandparents hadn’t told him anything about my personal life since I was about fifteen when they almost disowned him for allowing his wife and daughter to mistreat me.

That night, my grandpa made a big show of telling me that Grayson and I should get together and talk since we had some of the same interests when it came to our career choice, and it was then he let Dad know that I would be working for the company starting immediately.

I’m sure he had to know that that was coming, but he seemed surprised. At the mention of Grayson and I getting to know each other professionally, I could tell that Dad wanted to say something and was very nervous for the rest of the evening.

No doubt he was thinking of his other daughter and her reaction, but another part of Grayson’s plan had been taken care of. Now, Grayson and I no longer had to pretend that we didn’t know each other since we were going to be working together. I’d like to be a fly on the wall when he broke the news to his daughter.

* * *

LACEY

* * *

“No,you can’t do this to me. What do you mean they’ll be working together? Why did you introduce them?”

“I had no choice, didn’t you hear me? It was your grandparents who wanted them to work together. Didn’t you always know that Grayson was interning at our company in Europe?”

“Yes, but that was different; they weren’t working together.”

“Look, I don’t see what the big deal is. You and Grayson have known each other since you were kids; you have a commitment to each other; what does his meeting her have to do with anything?”

“I don’t want them together.”

“From what I saw that night, they’re not even interested in each other.”

“Really? What do you mean?”

“I mean, they said hello to each other and then went off in opposite directions; they didn’t exchange numbers or anything and from the looks of it, there was no interest on either part.”

That did make me feel a little bit better but it wasn’t enough. Just the thought of the two of them being that close made me sick. “I want to work at the company too, then.”

“You know that’s not possible. My parents won’t allow it.”

“But you’re the CEO or something; can’t you make them let me?”

“I’m just the acting head; my father is the one who owns the company, and what he says goes. Besides, you flunked out; you should be trying to figure out what you’re going to do about that.”

“Why does it even matter? Once Grayson and I get married, I don’t plan to work anyway, so whatever.”

“That’s fine, but you still can’t work with me.” He left the room, and Mom came in soon after to comfort me.

“Why do you always get so upset about nothing? Your father is right; you and Grayson have known each other practically since birth. There’s no way he’d choose her over you.”

“I know, but I still don’t like it.”

“I’ll tell you what, why don’t we start planning your wedding?”

“Really?”

“I don’t see why not. Grayson has already graduated, and hes going to start working for your father soon, so there’s no reason to put off getting married.”

“Would you help me plan? I want a fairytale wedding. I want…” We spent the next few hours scouring the Internet for ideas, and that kinda took my mind off of things for a while, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way things were going.

I would confront Lily, but it’s almost impossible to see her these days because she stopped coming to the house once she was old enough, and I have no idea where she hangs out. I can’t go to her house because her mother is a bitch, and I’m sure she’d start drama with my Mom.

I could go to the company building, but we’re not allowed on the property, and the one time Mom tried, Dad had a fit and said she was threatening our livelihoods, so I didn’t want to risk it.

Then I remembered that Grayson had promised once he got in good with my grandparents, he’d bring them around to accepting me. That reminder made me feel better, and I was able to go on with my day.

I don’t know why I was making myself crazy anyway. Nothing had changed between Grayson and me in the years we’d been away at college. Hadn’t he already admitted that he was partly to blame for my partying lifestyle?

Just because he chose to follow some archaic tradition of no sex before marriage doesn’t mean that I had to do the same, and he’s been very understanding as long as I be a bit more discreet. I have no idea who has been ratting me out all these years, but somehow, he keeps getting information about me that I’d prefer him not to.

That thing with those guys from his school was a monumental screw-up on my part. It essentially kept me from visiting him there because he claimed he was too embarrassed. How they knew who I was or that we were a couple is still a mystery.

Its not like I wanted to go there anyway; it sounded boring to me because all he ever did was study. But once I learned that Lily was attending the same school I wanted to check things out myself and make sure those two never met.

Now it seems that I’d been worrying all that time for nothing because they’d only just met because of Dad. Dad was right; Grayson and I had been best friends since we were kids; we shared a very special bond that no one could ever break.

Still, I feel a bit off-kilter about them being in the same space together. I’ve never worried about Grayson cheating on me with any of my friends; he’s not the type, and I never kept him from being around my friends when we used to hang out together, but this was different.

Some people might think I’m jealous of her, but that’s not true, even though my friends claimed that it was back in the day when they first saw her at my house, and I tried convincing them that she was a bitch.

Its for that reason that I don’t want them to meet. Everyone always seems to like her more than me. Like our grandparents, for instance, they’ve always showered her with gifts and attention, while I got nothing in all the years I’ve been on this earth.

No one in their lives even knows that I exist because they only talk about her, parading her around like their pet monkey. She and her mother are invited everywhere and to everything, while Mom and I are treated like outcasts.

Once I marry Grayson and they get to know me better, that’ll change, I’m sure. From what Dad said, they seem very impressed with my future husband, and I plan to use that to my advantage. I was even more assured that evening when I called to tell Grayson about the wedding planning, and he didn’t say anything, which meant he was on board.