29. Ellie

Ellie

" M s. March!" yet another reporter called.

My smile becoming stiff, no longer as natural as it once was, I pointed toward a lady reporter I recognized from a local news station. "Yes?"

"Were you formally engaged to Grey Aldine's son?"

"No, I was not. He never proposed marriage.

"So why, in your opinion, did he make up that story? Why would he want to cause his father problems by claiming you are underage?"

"That's a question you'll have to ask Colton Aldine," I replied. "I can't speak for him. As I did have a relationship with Colton, he should be very aware of my age."

"Ms. March!" another call went up.

The conference continued even as I grew wearier of question after question. It seemed that none of the reporters exhausted themselves from the sheer number of queries they possessed, and then threw at me. I wasn't sure how long we'd been at this, but it seemed hours had passed since I first stepped to the podium.

I shot a glance at Frank. He made a rapid slash across his throat, and I wanted to kiss him.

After taking a deep breath, I said, "Thank you all for coming. I'll take one more question, then this conference is at an end."

"Will you forgive Colton for what he's done?" someone asked.

I hesitated. "I can't answer that at this time. Thank you."

Under the barrage of shouted questions, I retreated from the conference room and ducked into a nearby office. Relieved that the ordeal was over with, I listened to the chatter as the news crews wrapped up their cameras and coiled their electric cables. I leaned against a desk and waited for Frank.

Thirty minutes passed before he slipped inside.

"You were awesome, Ellie," Frank gushed.

I hugged him tightly, grateful for his strength, his easy nature and most of all his love. His strong arms made me feel safe and secure just as Grey's did. I breathed in his cologne and loved him for his friendship.

"All good?" he asked.

"I want to go home."

"Okay. Most of the newsies have departed, but a few are lingering for an extra soundbite. I tell you what. Stay here for a few minutes until I can get the car parked out back. We'll play mob bosses and sneak away."

"Sounds good."

After he departed, I relaxed further, the remaining stress of my very first, and hopefully only, press conference slipping from me in small stages. I wondered where Grey was, and whether he'd gotten shafted from the team. Tension returned upon the image of him losing his job even as I bared my soul for all the world to see in order to save it.

"Let's go," Frank said when he returned.

I took his hand and let him lead me from the office. Inside the conference room, voices and laughter rose like a warning. If I'm seen, those news folks would be on me like white on rice. Not daring to look back, I hurried down the broad hallway with Frank―just another couple staying at the hotel.

He opened a rear door and hustled me through the darkness and cold to his car. Like a "mob boss", he ushered me into its interior, and shut the door, gazing around for any potential cameramen to pounce, yelling There she is!

"Do you know where Grey is?" Frank asked as he got in behind the wheel.

"No," I admitted. "Probably in meetings."

"Let's hope this whole thing worked and his career isn't flushed down the toilet."

As he drove from the hotel's lot and into downtown traffic, I pulled my cell from my pocket.

Clicking Grey's icon, I listened to his voice inviting me to leave a message. "His cell is off."

"Makes sense if he's in meetings."

I breathed deeply. "Thank you for what you did."

"What I did? I merely booted you into stepping up." Smiling, he took my hand. "You've got guts, girl. I hope Grey appreciates that."

***

Frank walked with me from his car to my apartment. As we stepped into the hallway that led to my home, I stopped abruptly, drawing in air in a sharp gust. A shadowy figure of a man leaned against the wall, one boot resting on it, the other keeping him upright. He'd bowed his head and didn't look around.

"How about that," Frank murmured, tugging me forward.

Grey finally looked up as we approached, his face expressionless.

He got sacked. The press conference was for nothing. His career is over and it's my fault.

He dropped his foot and took me into his arms. I hugged him, not daring to ask the dreaded question.

Frank, of course, did not share my doubts. "You're still on the team, aren't you?"

Grey lifted his face from my shoulder as though seeing him for the first time.

"Yeah." He smiled, caressing my hair. "The owner backed me up." Grey bent to kiss me. "But it was Ellie who salvaged my reputation."

"It worked?" I stared up into his green eyes. "The conference?"

"Made all the difference in the world. Now no one can doubt us, or why I'm still on the team. All thanks to you, Ellie."

I blushed, delighted. "But Frank did a lot. If he hadn't helped, I don't know that I'd have had the courage."

Grey held his hand out to Frank. "Thank you, my brother."

Frank joined us in our hug and kissed both of our cheeks. "Don't mention it. I'm just glad it all worked out."

After ruffling Grey's hair, Frank paced away from us. "I'll leave you kids alone. Take care of her, Grey. She's a real gutsy gal."

"You know I will."

I fumbled in my purse for my keys as Frank departed, Grey's arm around my waist. I let us into my dark apartment and switched on the lights. "I don't think I have anything to celebrate with."

"That's all right," he said. "Just being with you is celebration enough."

After we'd removed our coats, Grey took me to my sofa and sat me down. He pulled me against him, my cheek on his shoulder, and held me.

"What you did was incredible, Ellie," he hushed. "Just saying thank you is hardly enough, will never be enough."

"I also plastered the Internet with my story," I said, happy, contented. "Rather our story. I'm so glad you kept your job."

"Me, too. I really thought it was toast."

"It would have been my fault."

"No," he murmured against my hair. "I made my choice, too. Remember, it takes two to tango."

I chuckled. "I guess so."

"How'd I get so lucky to fall in love with you?"

"Everything happens for a reason. Or so they say."

He kissed my brow. "Look, there's nothing wrong with your apartment, but I changed my mind about celebrating. Let's go out. Then go to my house."

"What if we're recognized?"

"Everything happens for a reason."

***

After taking me out to dinner at an on off-the-main-drag restaurant, Grey drove us back to his house. Without turning on the lights, he locked the world out and carried me up the stairs to his bedroom. He laid me on his bed, and slowly undressed me, piece by piece, with love and a tender respect for my still injured bones.

Sliding under the blankets with me, wonderfully naked, Grey kissed me, his tongue tangling with mine, arousing me, teasing me, making me forget there was a world beyond the walls of his bedroom. Riding on the waves of intense pleasure, I existed in a microcosm of love, his cock sliding into me with the ease of coming home.

"I love you," he muttered thickly into my ear, thrusting easily into me. "I love you, I love you."

Unable to reply through my tight gasps amid the marvelous sensations, I dug my nails into his back, nipping his throat, my pussy convulsing around his driving shaft. I climaxed hard, crying out, clinging to his naked flesh, brilliant stars wheeling behind my closed eyelids.

He groaned, long and loud, as he thrust into me, his seed spilling inside me yet again.

Let this baby be his. Let Billy be his child. It must be.

In the languid aftermath, Grey curved his body around mine, protective, his hand caressing the small mound where Billy lay sleeping.

"Let's get a paternity test," he murmured against my neck. "Tomorrow."

"Yeah. We need to know."

"I don't know what I'll do if the baby is his."

I gripped his fingers. "You'll raise him as your own, love him unconsciously, teach him to play hockey."

Grey chuckled. "And if he's a her?"

"You'll love her unconditionally and teach her to skate. She'll grow up to be a champion figure skater...or hockey player."

"She'll be as beautiful as her mother."

"And be as hard-headed as both you and Colton."

Grey's silence stretched out. I felt his tension and twisted in his arms to face him despite the darkness.

"What?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know if I can forgive him."

"I don't know if I can either."

"I should. We should. Somehow." I caressed his bristled cheek. "As you'd always said, maybe he'll grow up. He might surprise us, and get over me, his obsession with me."

"That would be a surprise."

***

"We won't have the results for a few weeks," the nurse practitioner, Janet, told Grey and I. "But I'll call you the moment they come in."

She had swabbed Grey's inner cheek for his DNA, drew a sample of my blood, and smiled at us both. "I'll send this off to the lab right away."

"Thanks."

"Meanwhile, how have you been feeling, Ellie? Any problems?"

"No, none at all. I'm eating right, limiting caffeine and alcohol like you said."

"Great. I want to get another ultrasound when you come get the results."

"Okay."

Grey paid the receptionist for the visit and held my hand as we left the office. "Practice starts again tomorrow. Will you please stay at my house with me?"

I leaned against him. "All right. I want to work, though. I still have deadlines I need to meet."

Grey feigned a huge, defeated sigh. "Deadlines, shmedlines. Stick with me, baby, and you'll never have to work again."

"Yeah, yeah."

After swinging by my apartment for my computer, clothes and toiletries, Grey returned us to his house. He pushed the button to open the garage door and drove slowly up his driveway and inside. I stepped out of his car as the door rattled downward on its rollers. Grey paced around the car's front to the house entrance leading into the kitchen.

I caught a swift glimpse of a shadow ducking under the downward sliding door and started to turn toward it.

The knife glittered in the last of the sunlight before the garage door shut it out.

Colton grabbed me around my neck, pulling me hard against his chest. I barely had time to register what had happened, much less feel any fear. The blade rested against my throat.

"Miss me, baby?" he hissed into my ear.

Grey swung around, his eyes flat, his mouth tight, as he grasped the situation faster than I had. Colton's grip on my neck made movement almost impossible, but I struggled anyway. I yanked on his elbow, disregarding the danger of the knife he held.

"Stay back, Dad," Colton snapped. "I'll kill her, I swear I will."

"Let me go," I screeched, fighting like a cat trapped in a sack. "I'll kill you, you son of a bitch."

Colton laughed bitterly. "Right, sure you will. It's your fault, bitch. You and your fucking press conference. Because of you, I lost my job. I've lost everything. And now you'll pay."