Dancing in the Gray (17 page)

Chapter 14

Elise and Trey exited the elevator onto
the floor where her offices were located. She opened the double
doors to her suite and was floored by the sight she saw. There were
hundreds, maybe even thousands of roses in different bouquets that
covered nearly every surface of her office suite. There were
bouquets covering the reception desk, the table in her conference
room, everyone’s desk had bouquets and when she walked into her
private office, there was no visible surface; even the floors had
bouquets on it.

Elise looked up at Trey wondering if he
was the one that created the rose garden in her office.

“I wish I could take credit for all
this Elise, but I didn’t do this.” Trey had his hands raised and
was sporting the same confused look that she had.

Elise heard Jeremy yelling at someone
behind him as he walked into Elise’s office. “I need you to get rid
of all this now before Elise gets here.” Jeremy was shocked to see
Elise standing there in her own office. “Shit! Elise, I’m sorry
about all this. I wanted to get all this cleared out before you
showed up. They have been arriving all day.” Jeremy walked over to
Trey and extended his hand out, “I’m Jeremy. It’s nice to meet
you.”

Trey shook his hand and smile,
“Likewise. Elise has spoken very highly of you.”

“Of course she did, darling.” Jeremy
gave Trey a smile. “Elise, can I talk to you in my office for a
second.” He was giving her the eye. FUCK! Something was up. Jeremy
addressed Trey, “I’ll only steal her away for a minute. Would you
like something to drink?”

“No, thank you. I’m fine.” Trey was
being very courteous.

“Yes you are, honey.” Elise had Jeremy
by the arm walking him out of her office as Jeremy waved over his
shoulder to Trey. All Elise could do was smile and shake her
head.

They walked into Jeremy’s office which
was also filled with flowers. Elise shut the door, “What’s
up?”

“First, you look fabulous! You’re
simply glowing.” Jeremy hugged her tightly, “Second, I missed you
so much.”

“I missed you guys, too.”

“Liar! There was no time to miss us
with that man on top of you.”

“Jeremy!” Elise couldn’t help but
laugh. “Stop stalling. What’s up with all the flowers? Trey didn’t
send them.”

“We know. Sit down, Elise.” Jeremy
pointed to the chair behind his desk.

“No! You are freaking me out, Jeremy!”
Elise’s heart sped up and her hands began shaking.

“Ok, I’ll just come out and say it.”
Jeremy took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “It’s
Rixby.”

“What?” Elise felt like she just got
punched in the stomach.

“He sent these.” Jeremy did his best
Vanna White impression with the roses on his desk.

“Back up! Start from the beginning.”
Elise was about to throw up. Jeremy had the same look. He and
Ashley went through it all with her. This was not good.

“Ok, so here’s what we do
know, we started receiving the flowers this morning. When the
billionth bouquet showed up, I decided to open one of the cards. It
said, "
One rose for every day we have been
apart
.”

“Rixby sent all these flowers?” Elise
was so confused. “Why now? Six years later. How random is this
shit!”

“Yes, they are ALL from him, I checked.
So here are the facts: we know he sent them and why he sent so
many. Do you want to know my theory on why this may not be
random?”

Elise couldn’t even speak. She just
nodded her head.

Jeremy took out his iPhone and pulled
up his Twitter account. “This picture was posted of you and Trey
last night.” He handed Elise his phone. It was a picture of her and
Trey at the concert. It was the last song of the night, and Trey
had his arms around her waist. It made Elise smile and took her
right back to that moment.

His head was turned away from the
camera because he was kissing her neck, but someone had to have
recognized him. He was hashtagged in the photo which looked like it
was re-tweeted thousands of times. “I think Rixby saw this, and
then did this.” Jeremy motioned to the flowers.

Elise was experiencing so many
different feelings and none were favorable. She wanted all of them
out of her office immediately and wanted to find Rixby Storm and
spit in his face. She hated him at this moment. Elise opened
Jeremy’s office door and started to exit. “Get all of these out of
here now! Where’s the new assistant?” Elise tried to stay
calm.

“She was getting the facilities guy to
bring up a big rolling trash bin for us to get these out of here.
She should be back in a second.” Jeremy followed Elise as she ran
back into her office to meet Trey.

“Trey, we can leave.” Elise smiled and
reached for his hand. “Jeremy, you got all this or did you need
more help?”

“We’ve got it, Love. Sorry we couldn’t
get it all out before you got here.” He walked over and hugged her.
He knew she would react this way, and he tried to rectify it. She
loved Jeremy so much.

“Tell the new girl that I’m sorry that
I missed her. I want to take her to lunch to get to know her. Can
you ask her to set up a reservation at her favorite restaurant?”
She couldn’t meet her new assistant like this.

“Absolutely, Doll.”

Elise tried to keep the tears out of
her eyes. She hugged him and whispered, “Thank you,” in his ear.
She laced her fingers through his Trey’s hand and began guiding him
out of the office.

Trey smiled as he extended his free
hand out to shake Jeremy’s hand again. “Again, it was very nice
meeting you.”

“And, you.” Jeremy responded. “Take
care of my girl.” He smiled up at Trey.

“I will.” It sounded like a promise.
After a few steps, he smiled down at Elise and asked, “Are you ok?”
He looked concerned.

“I will be.” Elise led them to the out
the office suite. They continued walking until they exited EDP
Cosmetic Offices and reached the elevator doors. Elise stood there
silently trying to keep her shit together. She kept her eyes
forward even though she felt Trey’s gaze on her.

“Hey.” He shook the hand he was
holding. Elise looked up at him. “If you want to talk about it, I’m
here. If you don’t, I’m still here.”

“I don’t, but thanks.” There was no way
in hell she was going to discuss Rixby with him.

“Ok. But, please confirm that this
isn’t some kind of stalker.”

It became apparent that from the
outside looking in with no details, this could be considered either
a lovely romantic gesture or a sick psychotic obsession. In
actuality, if Jeremy’s theory was right, it was a dog marking his
territory.

“No, this isn’t a stalker.”

“Would you tell me if you were in
trouble or in danger?” Trey took Elise’s face in his hands. She saw
fear in his eyes.

“Yes. I wouldn’t put someone else in
danger by proxy.” He let out a sigh of relief.

“Would you tell me if there was someone
else?”

“I already told you there
wasn’t.”

Thank you, Rixby Storm. Your little
gesture worked. You have officially started shit between her and
Trey. Mission accomplished. Elise felt the lump rising in her
throat. She really liked Trey, but she was damaged goods. He didn’t
need Toxic Elise in his life. “Look, Trey. Let’s just call a spade
a spade. I had a really wonderful time with you in Paris and for
the last couple of days. It was fun and exciting. But, this is
reality. Reality is complicated. Let’s just leave what we had
there.”

“Are you serious?” He looked hurt which
brought the tears pooling into her eyes. “The only reason I asked
you those questions was because I care about you and your safety,
Elise. I wasn’t insinuating that you were lying.”

“I know your intentions were honest,
but you don’t need someone like me in your life right now.
Especially since you are about to be under tons of scrutiny in the
media.”

“You don’t get to tell me
who I need or don’t need in my life, Elise. I’m a big boy and can
make that decision on my own. If you don’t want to be with me, then
say that. But don’t use the “
it’s not you,
it’s me”
load of bullshit on
me.”

“Have you seen the picture on Twitter?
Are you ready to answer questions to the press about your fling in
Paris?” Elise crossed her arms in front of her.

“Yes, I’ve seen the picture! My
campaign manager sent it to me and wanted an explanation. I told
him to go fuck off, and if there is any press surrounding it, I was
prepared to answer those questions.”

“How Trey? She was some girl I met on
the plane, and we just fucked a couple of times while I was over
there and a few times when we got back.”

“I’m glad that’s how you see it, Elise,
but I see it a lot differently.”

“That’s not how I see it. But, Trey,
there are things you don’t know about me and those things can be
damaging to your campaign. I won’t do that to you.”

“What things, Elise? Talk to me.” He
held her arms that were still crossed in front of her.

“Where do I begin? Oh, let’s start with
Martie. I come from a single parent household where I have no clue
who my father is. I grew up poor, really poor, Trey. At one point,
my mom was on government assistance so we could eat.” Elise had
never told anyone that, not even Ashley. She was so embarrassed and
swore that she would make something of herself one day so her and
her mother would never have to go through that again.

Elise continued, “I had an affair with
a married man when I was in college. I knew he was married, and I
did it anyway. How’s that for morals?” Tears were streaming down
Elise’s face as she watched Trey’s expression turn
vacant.

“See Trey, that’s the kind of stuff
that could get dragged out by the media. Do you see what I mean?
All that hard work that you did building your image to protect
yourself from this type of publicity can be wiped away if I am
identified in that picture, and that’s if they do just a little
digging.” Elise was wiping tears from her face as she tried to
catch her breath. She was bawling at this point.

“Elise, your company’s buyout could
have brought that same media out, did that stop you?” Trey was
rubbing his hands up and down her arms.

Elise put her hands on his chest. “The
situations are completely different. My press hurting me is one
thing; my press hurting you is another.”

The elevator dinged and there was a
cute blond with square black glasses pushing a hug black rolling
bin. She must have been Elise’s new assistant. Elise turned her
back and walked over to the seating area that was near the elevator
doors. She heard the bin rolling over the marble floor leading to
the doors of her office. Trey walked over to her and put his arm
around her.

“It can’t hurt me, Elise.” Trey drew
her into his chest putting both arms around her.

Elise backed out of his embrace putting
space between them. She looked into his gorgeous face and she
started to cried harder, “I’m sorry, Trey. I’m not willing to take
that risk.”

“I’m not willing to let you
go.”

“Don’t do this, Trey.”

Elise heard the doors of her office
open, and she saw Jeremy walk around the corner. Great, the new
assistant went and told on her.

“What’s going on?” Jeremy was looking
at Trey like he was about to shank him.

Elise couldn’t speak. She just kept
crying harder and harder. She hated Rixby Storm with every fiber of
her being, and she hated herself for her lapse in judgment that was
still hurting her six years later. But she would not make that
mistake again. She wouldn’t let Trey pay for her mistake,
too.

~

Trey watched the pain consume Elise. He
didn’t know what to do at that moment. Her friend Jeremy was
looking at Trey like he was the one responsible for what was going
on, and maybe he was.

“God damn, him!” Jeremy wrapped his
arms around Elise. “Why are you letting him do this to you,
Elise?”

Trey realized quickly that Jeremy
wasn’t talking about him. He wanted to know who! Who can make her
hurt like this? Trey wanted to know. “Who?” He directed the
question to Jeremy.

Jeremy looked between Trey and Elise
but didn’t say a word.

Trey raised his voice a second time,
“Who is hurting her like this?”

Elise just continued to cry. Jeremy
spoke up, “This isn’t really about him. This is about Elise being
hard on herself.”

“Yeah, I know. She wants to break ties
with me because she thinks her past is going to hurt me and my
campaign.”

“Are you FUCKING CRAZY, Elise?” Jeremy
was screaming. He held Elise out at arm’s length, “I’m not letting
you do this. This self-destruction has to end. I heard the old
Elise on the phone this weekend, and I will not let her slip away
again at the hands of that asshole!”

“Who?” This was the last time Trey was
asking before he was taking it upon himself to find out. He was
going to rip this asshole limb from limb when he found
him.