A Little Bit Married

Grey Patches

I turned to Gray, my chest heaving as the woman slowly approached us, then moved directly to hug Gray. My eyes widened before he even took avstep back, putting his hand between them. She stopped, looked at me, and then down to the hand he had put between them. Hurt immediately clouded her eyes, and she took a step back, swallowing hard.

"Nice to meet you again, Sylvia."

She nodded, then took his hand. The handshake was brief, and Gray put his hand around my waist and pulled me close to him.

"Angeline, this is Sylvia, an old business partner. She left to set up this place. Sylvia, here is my wife, Evangeline Gray Gavin."

She met my eyes, then blinked and forced a small smile. Slowly, her hand stretched out to me.

"Nice to meet you. Who knew Gray would get married to someone who wasn't Samantha?"

I swallowed hard. I could hear the spite in her voice and the fact that she was using Samantha's name so she could get under my skin.

I reached my hand out to her, just as Gray spoke up.

"Surely you have more self-respect than that, Sylvia?"

She let her eyes meet his, before she smiled again, another rather fake smile. "Of course."

She let go of my hand. "What do you both want?"

"A custom ring for my wife. I want her to be attended to, and her sizes and style are taken into maximum consideration."

"A wedding ring, I believe?"

"Yes," Gray affirmed, holding my wait a bit tighter.

She gave a small smile. "Well, I thought you said she was your wife. I thought she would have a ring."

"I don't need a ring," I spoke up, my fists clenched. "I am the one he chose in the end. No ring can beat that."

Her smile immediately fell, and Gray perked up, his eyes filled with amusement.

"Get to work, Sylvia. We don't have all day."

She turned away, then sent an attendant to us. The attendant came to us, and after a few pleasantries, she led me towards a small room.

Gray waited outside for me, and I hated just how uneasy it made me that he would be alone with that snake of a woman.

The attendant closed the door behind me, then proceeded to show me ring samples in a massive sectioned show glass. There was everything ranging from modern rings to vintage diamonds, and soon, one of the older ones caught my eye. It was a beautiful ruby and diamond combo, and from where I was, the light pushing through it, I could see an engraved name under it.

She brought it out for me to see, and I loved it even more. After that, she took my measurements and asked for preferred diamond size, colours, and alterations to the original design.

I wanted the same size of Ruby and diamond, but I wanted the name Gray engraved under it. She took down all the notes, including my finger measurements, then ushered me out of the room.

I stepped out just as Sylvia crossed over to where Gray was sitting with a cup of coffee.

"Black. Two cubes of sugar. Just how you like it."

He accepted it, then sat up. "I don't expect you to play stupid tricks with my wife's ring, Sylvia."

She gave a chuckle. "You don't trust me?"

"I don't trust your grey areas."

"They matched yours, Grey. You are not an innocent man. I am not an innocent woman. Perfection, don't you think?"

He chuckled. "I do not think of it that way."

"Why? Because of your wife? She was a mistake. You know you would have eventually left Smanstha, but for a woman like that? I am the one who helped you during your darkest phase, Gray. It is enough that you married another woman, but you haven't even looked my way in years. You didn't even cheat back when Samantha cheated and..."

"When is my wife coming out?"

She stopped talking, her eyes wide. "You really don't want to listen to me, huh?"

"Exactly. It doesn't matter what you did back then, Sylvia. You were saving your ass too. You knew everything with Samantha, and you made it go awry. You caused it. You would be rotting in prison, or worse, dead. Stop talking like you saved my life. I saved yours. You should be grateful to me."

"Will your wife ever understand? Will she see the bad things you did and still want to be your wife, because I would?"

"I honestly don't care. She will accept me. You are not special for accepting a man, Sylvia. Especially a man like me."

"But she is?"

"Yes," he said simply. "Because you both are looking at different things. She is soecial for sering the things she does."

She slowly stood up. "What of the child? What would you do with the child?"

He stood up, too, dropping the coffee where he had been sitting, his hands pushed into his pockets.

"I don't want him, and you know that. If you want, give him up for adoption, but I am not going to raise him. My wife is never going to have to see him, and you will have to bear the consequences of what you did."

Her teeth gritted hard, and she immediately leaned, grabbing the cup of coffee. Before anyone could say anything, she threw the coffee all over Gray, missing his face by an inch, but instantly wetting his suit.

It was still hot from the steam I could see, and my blood immediately boiled. Gray did not even flinch, but I immediately grabbed a cup of coffee from the receptionists counter. I wasn't sure who it was for, but I was lucky it was hot.

"How can you do this to me? He is your child!"

Gray said nothing, and she was about to say something else when I came between them, and without hesitation, emptied the cup of coffee over her head.