The Billionaire And The Waitress (gxg)

45 - an agreement

      "So you're going to run away." 

      It didn't matter if Piper and the man lifting weights were still there. Adrien didn't care if they had an audience.

     Muse looked back over her shoulder, eyes flashing.

      "What?"

     "You're going to run away," Adrien repeated. "Like you always do. Anytime something happens, it's your first reaction. You just fucking leave."

     "You think you have any right―"

     "Yeah, I do, Muse. I do think I have the right to be mad at you, too. You know me better than anyone else does. You've seen more of me than I've let anyone see, ever. And I know it's unreasonable to ask you to believe me, or even forgive me. I'm not asking for that. I'm asking you for the benefit of the doubt, and you won't even give me that."

     "Okay," Muse said, turning back around and stepping closer to Adrien. "The benefit of the doubt. Let's go."

     Adrien stepped closer. They were both breathing hard, staring at each other. 

     "Here are the three things I know," Muse continued. "First, you've slept around with almost every eligible woman in New York City. Second, you're a liar. Third, you were with Piper, and she was naked." Her voice turned playful, mocking. "Let's put the pieces together. What does it spell?"

     "You want to play this game? Fine." Adrien let out a cold laugh. "One, I haven't slept with a single woman since I've met you. I haven't even looked at one. Two, I lied to you because I couldn't admit that I loved you, and I wanted to be married to you for real. Three, I don't even know why Piper is here in Greece. She wasn't invited to the wedding. That's why I think my father or Grey brought her to try and break us up. Nothing happened between us. It all went down in the minute before you arrived. Tell me you don't think that's suspicious."

      "I don't know what to think. But you know what I heard today? Grey telling you that I'm only another woman you're going to fuck and discard. Because that's just who you are. And you agreed."

      She hadn't realized Muse had heard that conversation. But if she was angry about it, there was no way she had stayed to listen until the end. 

      Adrien's skin felt hot, her blood simmering beneath her skin. She stepped closer.

     "Do you really think Grey knows me better than you, Muse?" 

     "I don't know," Muse said icily. "The man who grew up with you, who was basically a second son to your father, or some woman you met a couple months ago. Hard pick."

    "That's an interesting way to put it," Adrien responded, just as coldly. "The biggest misogynist in my father's women-hating business corporation, or my wife. You're right. That's tough."

     Muse shook her head again, with a heart-wrenching finality. 

     "It doesn't matter anyway. Grey was right about something. We don't work together."

     Even though Muse had already said they were over before―already told her she wanted a divorce, and that they'd part ways back in New York City―her words drove straight through Adrien then.

     And she realized she had been still been holding out on a sliver of hope that Muse would forgive her for lying, and they would end up together.

     The truth―that they didn't belong together―hurt Adrien more than slamming a car door on her finger at six, more than breaking her arm at twelve, more than her father telling her she was a disappointment at eighteen. 

     "You didn't hear the rest of the conversation between Grey and I," she said, almost desperately.

     Muse stared at her, unmoving. "It wouldn't change anything."

     "If that's what you want to believe," Adrien said, forcing herself to breathe evenly, "then we're done."

      "Lipstick on a pig, right? We've played house long enough, I think."

      "You really think I agreed with him." Adrien had never experienced heartbreak quite like this before. "You think that's what I care about."

      "Do you even care about anything except your business?"

      "Does that make it easier for you? To believe that?"

      "Are you really going to deny it? Do you know how many people have warned me against you, told me you were nothing but a ruthless, heartless womanizer, who would always choose work over love?"

      "So their opinions matter to you more than I do. I am telling you that you are more important to me than anything else in my life!"

      Muse only laughed."I'm telling you you're full of shit."

      Adrien couldn't help but look at her then, noticing her appearance as if for the first time. Her messy, curly hair, floating around her shoulders. The bare, tan skin of her arms glistening with sweat, bright against her lacy white tank top. The small skirt hugging her hips. 

      She wondered what they looked like, reflected in the gym mirrors surrounding them. Both flushed and heated, glaring at each other, eyes wild and feverish with rage. It must have been a sight.

     "You got your wife, and I got my money," Muse continued. "I don't fit into your world, and you don't understand mine. It was never going to happen. We get one last show, Adrien. It's over after the honeymoon."

     "One last show," Adrien repeated dryly. "We better make it a good one."

      Muse nodded, with a kind of cruel, heartless determination that rivalled Adrien's. "We will." 

     

***

My girlfriend is leaving tomorrow and I won't see them for weeks.

From the moon and back,
Sarai