Nostalgia

3·3

There was something about Mr. Grant that made me stiffen whenever I was around him. Especially when we were alone. The last time we'd been in a situation like this, I'd ended up breaking up with James. Now, I wondered what he'd try to take away from me.

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you either." My lips turned down and I shrugged. "But what can I say? Your son just can't live without me."

"He was doing just fine for four months until you reappeared in his life," he shot back sharply, his smile replaced with a deep frown that quickly dissipated.

"I wasn't the one that found him, Mr. Grant." I scowled. I'd been doing that a lot recently. "He found me and asked me to be his girlfriend."

Mr. Grant chuckled. "Fake girlfriend," he corrected with a smile. "You know, maybe I was too hard on you when I asked you to leave my son's life."

I didn't reply, but my subconscious did. You think?

This man made me break James's heart. He made me lie about cheating on James. He planted seeds of self doubt and did everything in his power to ensure that I saw what he did. A girl that just wasn't good enough.

"I should have offered you money!" He clapped as he exclaimed. "I'm sure your family could use some."

"With all due respect, Sir. Don't you dare," I hissed. He just stared at me in amusement and started towards me.

"Do you know how I was so sure you couldn't be good enough for my Jameson?" Mr Grant paused, both speaking and walking to me, taking my silence as an affirmative to continue talking. "It's because you never really made your own decisions. You just stood by and let others do the deciding for you. That is not a quality I want my son to tap into."

The silence spell on my lips were broken and I literally cried out. "You forced me to break up with James. You didn't give me a choice."

He tapped a finger to his chin, as if just remembering and then he laughed. "Ah, yes. I remember giving you options though."

I gritted my teeth. "It was either I broke up with him or you stripped him of the company."

He smiled. "I'm happy you remember. Though I'm slightly offended you didn't think about that warning when you showed your face at his hand-over party. Not that everything was handed over though. I still have full control of all our partnerships."

It took me a moment to piece everything together but when I did, it hit me like a slap in the face. Mr. Grant was behind this. He was the one that terminated the partnership and demanded a refund.

I took a threatening step forward.

Mr. Grant cooed. "You didn't have the balls to save your family from ruin when you had the chance. No, you simply had to come into my son's life." He was frowning now. Closing the gap between us slowly. "I told you. You are no match for my son. You're weak, you're indecisive and you're nothing but a distraction to his already shining career."

I took a step back when he was centimeters away and he stopped walking suddenly. An exhale left my lips.

All this time I thought James was the one who I was running away from. But I'm actual sense, it was his cunning, scheming, father. I should have never lied to James. I should have never broken up with him. This man, whatever he was going to do, it wasn't worth it because he'd do whatever he'd like no matter how hard I tried to stop it. The only thing I'd done was prolong his actions.

"You do like perfection, don't you?" I began in a low tone. "You like being in control. You like it when everyone dances to your tune. And those who don't, you force into dancing anyways because you don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself."

I let myself chuckle and straightened into my full height when the realization dawned on me. "You don't think anyone can be as good as you. Not even your own son! Pat only got spared of your madness because she came after James. And you'd think you'd spare your wife the foolishness but oh no, you make her pretend to be so perfect. You make her to appear like you. And you want James to do the exact same thing!"

Mr. Grant was fuming. The smile had completely vanished from his expression and he was balling his hands into tight fists.

I continued. No cowering. "What you don't know is that your son, is ten times more stubborn than you could ever be. He's more determined and he's a man of his word. Qualities I'm sure you do not identify with-"

"You listen to me, Camden-"

I stepped forward and glared at him. "No. You listen to me, Mr. Grant. You can take that partnership and shove it up your ass because I don't need it. Thanks to you, I've lost everything I had. I've lost everything. So I have nothing more to lose to you. So I can say and do whatever the fuck I want.

"So fuck you, Mr. Grant. Fuck your stupid rules as well."

Mr. Grant's left eye twitched. "You're going to regret ever stepping your foot here, Camden."

"No, she's not."

That wasn't me. Neither was it Mr. Grant. The voice had come from the direction of the door to the office.

James currently stood there looking slightly frazzled but perfect all the same. He had two cups of pumpkin spice latte in both his hands and a frown positions on his lips.

He marched into the room, the door swinging shut behind him, and then slapped the cups down onto his desk.

When he spun around, he glared at his father.

"How could you, Dad?" He sounded almost heartbroken. It made my chest feel tight. "I mean, I knew you were intense but I always told myself that it was for my own good."

His father stepped up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It is, Jameson."

James shrugged him off, looking more ticked off than before. "You're the real reason Avery broke up. You made her do it."

I bit down on my lip, suddenly feeling out of place here. This was a father-son argument. I was an intruder.

I took a step back and James whipped his attention to me, a sullen look on his expression as he took a step forward, towards me.

"Avery, I-" He struggled for words and I swallowed back tears. No, not here. Not right now. I couldn't take any more. "I'm so sorry. I should have-"

"James, don't," I cut him off.

What was I doing? This was what I'd wanted right from the moment I'd publicly announced that I'd cheated on him. For him to realize that I was lying somehow. For him to return to me. And he was doing so right now but...

"I can't." I took steps back, away from him and his dad. "I can't do this right now. A lot is happening and--" my voice broke off at the end, throwing me into a fit of sobs.

Through my blurred vision I could see James heading towards me, I could feel him. I couldn't breathe. I flinched away the second his arm came around me, shrugging out of his embrace and away from him.

I couldn't see. I couldn't think. But I could feel him. Everywhere. Like I was burning. I still loved James and everything that happened up until now... It only pried us apart. But did it succeed though?

I needed to get away and rearrange my thoughts.

"I'll fix everything, I swear," James promised softly. But I was too busy making my way out of his office.