Divorcing The Billionaire On Valentine's Day

26. Adeline

ADELINE

I woke up in a bed too large to be Jay’s spare bed, but it wasn’t totally strange either. Weird as it sounded, it felt oddly familiar.

Every bone in my body ached the moment I got off the bed. My eyes were still heavy with sleep, but I couldn’t sleep in, not when my phone vibrated beside me for the umpteenth time since I opened my eyes. I checked the caller ID and already dreaded calling back. Instead I shot him a text and trudged my way to the bedroom door and out.

Missed your call. You good?

The beep followed me the moment I shut the door behind me.

Did you really go back to that house? I could taste the disbelief through the phone. Instead of responding, I made my way to the kitchen. There was no sign of Grayson anywhere. The previous day had been nothing if not weird. Grayson had actually managed to be a decent person for more than two minutes. It was probably just out of pity, but still.

I grabbed the first storage container I met in the fridge and tossed it in the microwave. The house was just as quiet as I remembered. Grayson already left for work if the neatly stacked dishes were any indication. The microwave blared to let me know I wasn’t going to die of hunger just yet.

I ate from the bowl of stir fry pasta as I made my way to Johnny’s room still in my pajamas from the night before. He was usually up by this time.

I met an empty room, but before I could invade any further, the doorbell rang, sending the shrill like sound throughout the entire house. I knocked on the bathroom door, “Johnny are you in there? Are you clearing your system?”

“Addie!” His tiny voice shrieked like it was an abomination for me to be there. It’s not like I changed his pampers once upon a time or anything. “I’m in the bathroom!” Well that was the reason for the knock, I wanted to say, but what would other adults in their right minds say about me arguing with a five year old. The doorbell cried out again.

“Sorry, was just checking in on you, come see me when you’re done in there, okay?”

“I will.” He sighed just before I left the room to get to the reason for all the ringing in the house.

I paused just before opening and took a peek at the eye hole. Jay? What was he doing here? And so early too. I mean for insane people like Grayson, it was the norm, but not for Jay.

“Is Kris okay?” I asked, barely able to breathe properly the moment I opened the door.

“Kris is fine. I’m here because of you Adeline. Why are you back here.” Never one to beat around the bush, Jay went straight for the jugular.

“Because I needed some time to clear my head with the whole thing with the blogs and Aaron.” I shrugged, trying to play it cool, it wasn’t cool, the thought of going back outside came with a paralyzing fear I couldn’t even explain. But, Jay was a worrier by nature, he wouldn’t let it go if he knew just how badly it affected me.

“Adeline we both know that if you needed to clear your head, Grayson Archer’s house wouldn’t be your first option, it wouldn’t even be in the top ten.” He didn’t waste a breath before he spoke. I should have expected it. Kris was more take it as it is, but Jay was the opposite, he believed every action had an underlying meaning behind it. I mean, he was hardly ever wrong and he was definitely right about this, but I wasn’t ready to tell them yet, I wasn’t ready to hear reminders of why the contract with Grayson was a bad idea. Scratch that, a horrible idea.

I offered to let him in, but he ached in brow at me instead of walking in, like something evil lived inside. Alright then, the front porch was perfect too. I shut the door behind me.

“What really is it, Adeline? You know you can talk to us anytime. “ I did. I just didn’t want to talk about that at that moment.

“It’s nothing serious, Jay. I’m only going to be here for a few days.” I held tight to the slipping thread of lies.

He pursed his lips, his eyes narrowed at me. “Are you really going to lie to my face?”

Guilt hit me like a tsunami. I knew how it looked. When I had to leave Grayson’s house after the contract ended, I had nothing to show for it, not even a house I could call my own. Even if we hadn’t been in contact for a long time, Jay and Kris had welcomed me with open arms, but what did I do with their hospitality? I ran off to the same man, to the same house the moment I was let in, it didn’t look good from any angle.

“Can you at least come in, let’s talk?” I tried again. He crossed his arms over his chest, an unimpressed look on his face.

“What are you hiding, Adeline? Is he blackmailing you? Because if he is, I swear t-”

“He’s not blackmailing me, I signed a new contact with him.” I blurted.

Jay staggered back like I had shot him. His face was unreadable, there was hurt somewhere in the mix of other emotions that danced in his eyes, which only made what I was about to do much more difficult.

He opened his mouth to speak then closed it, only to open it again like a fish out of water.

“Jay?” I called, the worry began to build up the longer he stayed silent, the longer he had that betrayed look in his eyes.

“Why?” He finally asked, barely looking me in the eye.

“That’s not important.” I leaned against the closed door. His eyes flared up like if he had the power to, he would smite me where I stood. “He is going to handle the blogs, but in exchange, I had to sign the contract, be Johnny’s nanny again.

“You know that doesn’t make any sense, right?” The disappointment was ahrd to miss, even if he didn’t outrightly say it, it was there.

“It does. Jay the plan wasn’t to be the town’s next gossip. I just wanted to go through college quietly and the blogs made sure the opposite of the was going to happen, I couldn’t let it continue.” I tried to explain, wanting more than anything for him of all people to understand just why I had to do what I had to do.

“And neither was being strapped to him either. You know he’s only going to do the same thing again right? Pretend you do not exist for as long as that contract lasts.”

“I’m not exactly in it for any for of friendship or bond either. It’s really not that complicated. He needed a nanny he could control legally and I needed someone to get rid of not just the blog posts, but clear the air as well, it was a win-win.”

“You can’t stay with him.” He said with a distraught look on his face.

“Jay…”

“Look Adeline, you can stay with us for as long as you need to, we can figure out a way to deal with the blogs on our own, we don’t need his help.” He sounded so determined, that I wanted more than anything to just agree, because I knew he meant every word. But that would be a mistake. Grayson was offering everything I needed at the moment, erasing the stories, a well paid job, freedom to go to school and what did I have to do in exchange? Be his son’s nanny.

“I can’t Jay. I need the money, I need his connections and this time it would only be for two years.” I explained, but it all fell on deaf ears.

“I like you Adeline.” He rushed, his cheeks reddened as he looked away, a cloud of regret in his eyes, but it only lasted a second. He met my gaze. “Hell, I think I might even love you. I know I shouldn’t even be saying this and especially not now, but if that means remotely anything to you, please don’t stay with him, he doesn’t recognize your worth.” He pleaded. It was unnerving. I had never seen Jay that way before. He was always composed, always knew the right things to say, but suddenly he stuttered.

I didn’t know what to say to that. What could I possibly say. I wasn’t even sure if I saw him as anything but family, much less a romantic partner. It just sounded… I don’t know, strange?

“I think you need to leave.” The words were out of my mouth before I could process them. I didn’t take them back. I avoided his gaze, the hurt look in his eyes, the disbelief, I ignored it all, went back into the house and shut the door behind me.