Because of His Future (For His Pleasure, Book 26) (8 page)

“Maybe,” she said, sipping at her
beer.
 
She turned and looked at his
slightly weary expression and realized that this entire time, all she’d ever
thought of Easton, was that he was some macho scary boss who hated her.

But now she saw he was just a man.
 
A man who looked tired.

He put his beer down on the bar and
scratched his cheek, looking suddenly uncomfortable.
 
“Also, I wanted to tell you that I’m
sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” she asked, puzzled.

“I treated you badly from the
beginning.
 
The first day you came
to work for me, I gave you a hard time and never eased up.
 
It wasn’t fair.”

Grace shrugged.
 
“You’ve been tense because of Kennedy’s
pregnancy and all…how is she feeling?”

Easton ran a hand through his thick
hair.
 
“She’s struggling.
 
But she’ll be fine.
 
Kennedy’s tough, just like you.”
 
 

“What’s she struggling with, if you don’t
mind me asking?”

“She’s got gestational diabetes and a few
other things,” he said.
 
“They’re
considering putting her on bed rest, which as you can imagine, she’s not at all
happy about.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Easton.”

He frowned.
 
“Anyway, because she’s been so fragile,
I’ve been very cautious about upsetting her in any way.
 
And when you got hired to work for me, I
was honestly just worried about Kennedy.”

“I don’t understand,” Grace said.

“You’re young and quite attractive, and I
haven’t always had the best track record with young, beautiful women who work
with me.
  
I treated you badly,
Grace, and you didn’t deserve that.”

“Well, I didn’t behave all that great,
either,” she admitted.

He laughed.
 
“No, you didn’t.
 
But all that’s in the past now,” he
said.
 
He took his beer and held it
aloft.
 
“Here’s to better days,” he
toasted.

“To better days,” Grace laughed, and
clinked glasses.

A little while later, Easton and Red left
the restaurant.
 
It was nice to see
Easton and Red speak briefly with Liam, and Easton and Liam even hugged briefly
before they left.

It seemed as though perhaps some of the
anger between the men had dissipated, which made Grace happy.

But then she was more alone than ever,
and Liam was more ensconced with his old college chums, his prep school buddies
and his rich friends.
 
They were
laughing and drinking and discussing old times together and Grace didn’t have
any place with them or amongst them.

She stood by the bar, nursing her beer
and watching, waiting for Liam to occasionally glance at her.

Those occasions grew further and further
apart and soon, his eyes appeared glassy and dull and he was clearly drunk.

Grace had had enough.
 
She walked over to him as he and a
beautiful red-headed woman were talking at close quarters.

“Liam, I’m going to leave now,” she said.

He turned, bleary-eyed towards her.
 
“Why you leaving?” he slurred.

“Because,” she said.
 
“I’ve been here for a long time and I’m
tired and…you just stay and have fun.”
 
Grace glanced at the gorgeous redhead and then back to Liam.

Liam’s cheeks were red from the
drink.
 
“Baby, come on,” he
said.
 
“Hang out, loosen up a
little.
 
Mingle.”

“I’ve done all the mingling I can handle,
I’m afraid.”

He shrugged.
 
“Take the car to the hotel,” he
said.
 
“Okay?”

She’d hoped that maybe he would want to
leave with her, but apparently not.
 
It didn’t feel right to leave him with these people, especially these
women…but Grace was sick and tired of standing by herself and watching Liam get
drunk.

Grace said goodbye and Liam have her a
hug and a kiss.
 
He whispered in her
ear.
 
“I couldn’t have gotten
through it without you, Grace.”

She smiled and walked out of the
restaurant, turning back once and seeing Liam shout something unintelligible to
her, and then his entire group of friends burst into some kind of old college
drinking song.

Their singing followed her out of the
fancy restaurant and into the cool air of the outside.
 
It was as if she’d just emerged into a
different world.
 
She breathed in
through her nose and then spotted the limousine, sitting there, waiting.

For a moment, she considered just taking
a cab and then switching to the subway, just being a normal person.
 
Maybe it would be a relief to just be
like everyone else again for a time.

However, she was slightly tipsy and
emotionally exhausted.

The least she could do was treat herself
to the car ride back to the hotel.
 
Once she was inside the limo, cruising back towards the hotel, she
allowed her mind to contemplate the way Liam had changed as the day had gone
on.

He’d needed her so badly to be by his
side, but as the day had drawn later, he’d begun to drift.

That’s
because he got drunk.

Was that really all it was, though? Grace
wondered.
 
Or was the drinking just
a symptom of the deeper issue?

Liam was still a boy in some ways.
 
He wasn’t fully matured, just like
Easton had pointed out.
 

The problem, Grace thought, was that Liam
didn’t have the luxury of continuing to act like some college kid on spring
break.
 
His family held a vast
fortune and it needed someone to manage it, keep it secure—and Liam
didn’t seem to have any interest in taking the reigns.

More than that, though, was the fact that
Liam might not be ready for a real relationship, either.
 
For all his talk about needing her and
loving her, his behavior recently had been nothing short of erratic.

His
mother just died.
 
Give him a break,
Grace.

The limousine stopped in front of the
hotel and Grace thanked the driver.

“I’m to head back to the restaurant and
wait for Liam, now?” the driver asked.

“Yes,” she told him.
 
“Thank you so much.”

The driver nodded.
 
“Welcome, ma’am.”

For a moment, as she got out of the
limousine, Grace felt like she was starting to belong just the faintest
bit.
 
Sure, she wasn’t used to
driving in fancy cars and eating at fancy restaurants and being gawked at by
reporters.

But somehow, maybe by osmosis, she was
learning how to survive.

Even Liam’s bitchy sister hadn’t been
able to truly shake her confidence.
 
Grace was still standing, still fighting.

She lifted her chin and felt a surge of
confidence as she brushed past the reporters and photographers who snapped her
picture and asked questions she ignored.

Once inside the lobby, Grace waved at the
concierge desk, knowing that they recognized her now.
 
She didn’t even need to say her name or
where she was going.

It’s
starting to happen
, she
thought.

Slowly,
ever so slowly, I’m being accepted as Liam Houston’s girl.
 
And as difficult as it is, it’s going to
get better as long as I stay strong.

Change
is slow, especially with these people who come from old money and all that
ancient snobbery.

She was almost at the elevator when a
barrel-chested man in a sharp suit stepped in front of her.
 
“Excuse me, Miss, but I’m going to have
to ask you to leave the hotel.”

At first, Grace was certain that he was
either playing a joke on her, or maybe confused in some way.

“I’m just going up to my room,” she
said.
 
“I’m staying with Liam
Houston,” she explained.

The man put his hands behind his back and
stood with his legs slightly spread, almost appearing to be formal.
 
She realized that this man was part of a
security team, as suddenly she was approached by two more people.

One of them was another security guard
who spoke into his headset.

Another, was the hotel manager, a short,
curly haired woman.
 
“I understand
you’re with Liam Houston?” the manager said, and it wasn’t really a question.

As Grace looked from one person to the
next, it occurred to her that they’d prepared for this moment in advance.
 
“I’m staying with him, yes,” Grace
repeated, as her heart beat quicker.

“Is Mister Houston on the premises as
well?” the manager pressed.

“No, he’s not.”
 
Grace swallowed.
 
“Is there a problem?
 
Why am I being asked to leave?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that at
this time,” the manager said, her face stony.

“I don’t imagine Liam will be very happy
to know that you’ve kicked me out of the hotel on the day of his mother’s
funeral.
 
Do you think he will be?”

“I don’t suppose, so,” the woman said,
but she wasn’t afraid, either.

Grace had the sudden frightening thought
that perhaps Liam was the one who’d told them not to let her up to his
room.
 
But that didn’t make any
sense.
 
“I’m going to call him
immediately,” Grace said.
 
“I’ll get
him back here if I need to.”

“That’s fine, Miss.
 
But you’ll need to call him from the
street.”

It was like a slap in the face, and it
hurt all the more because for just a brief moment—just a fleeting
second—Grace had allowed herself to think that maybe things were
improving.

She’d allowed herself to believe that
maybe she really was going to be accepted in this new world.
 

Now she knew differently.

The security team, along with the
manager, escorted her to the front exit like she was a dangerous criminal.

Everyone in the lobby stared as they made
sure she left.

Once she was outside, the paparazzi
started in again.
 
They were getting
in her face, asking personal, insulting questions.

And she had nowhere to escape to, because
she’d already sent the limousine back to the restaurant to wait for Liam.

“Just, give me some room,” Grace cried,
as she walked down the sidewalk and the media followed her, getting more bold
as they saw the blood in the water.

They surrounded her as she pulled out her
phone and tried to cover her face while she walked.
 

Please
hurry and answer
, she
prayed.

The first try went to voicemail.

“Grace!” the paparazzi shouted.
 
“Grace, why so upset?”

“Did Liam dump you?”

“Trouble in paradise?”

“Vera Houston says that you’re going to
be the ruin of her brother.
 
What do
you think about that, Grace?”

She tried to walk faster and redialed
Liam’s phone.

“Fuck,” she whispered, as it went to
voicemail again.
 
Now she tried to
text him.

Liam.
 
I’m in trouble.
 
CALL ME ASAP

And then she kept walking as the
reporters surged closer to her, making rude and crude jokes.
 
Trying to get a reaction.

Grace felt she could hardly breathe.

Finally, mercifully, Liam called her
back.
 
Grace answered, bowing her
head and trying to speak softly yet forcefully into her cell phone.
 
“Where were you?” she cried.

“I didn’t see you called until just now,”
Liam said.
 
He sounded a little more
sober than she expected, probably because her message had frightened him.

“I just got kicked out of the hotel,” she
told him.
 
“And now I’m surrounded
by the paparazzi, and I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean, they kicked you
out?
 
Out of
my
fucking hotel?
 
The
one I
own
?”

“Yes, Liam!”

“Did you have an argument or something?”
Liam asked.