Taming the Street Racer ✔️

ep | forever

I love y'all so much. thank you for 2 million reads <3

♔

Gray walks into the room as I'm trying to zip up my dress. I have one heel on, and my hair is only half blow-dried. We're supposed to be leaving for Gray's birthday dinner in fifteen minutes, and I'm all over the place.

"I think my zipper is stuck," I admit, defeated. I drop my fingers from my back zipper and turn to see him holding Archie, and they're both flashing me amused smiles. Gray spreads out a blanket on our bed and sets Archie down in our line of sight. He rolls onto his back and grabs his tiny feet in his hands, laughing manically to himself.

We both watch him for a second. "Where did we get this kid?" I ask.

Gray stands in front of me, already showered and dressed. "I don't know," he says, shaking his head. "His parents must be deranged."

"Must be," I agree, turning back around to look in the full-length mirror. "Can you zip me up, pretty please?"

He zips me into my dress, pressing a kiss to my shoulder afterwards and gazing at me through the mirror, smiling. I smile back, fluffing my hair.

"Something came in the mail for you," he says, reaching into his back pocket. I turn around and quirk my eyebrow. "I don't remember ordering anything," I say, looking down at his hand.

He holds an envelope out to me, and I look at the writing on the outside. I don't even have to read the return address to know who sent this; the distinct elegant handwriting is a dead giveaway. My mood darkens but I rip it open and read it anyway.

Then I tear it up into little pieces, throwing them onto the floor.

"Unbelievable," I mutter to myself. Gray doesn't say anything.

I shake my head. "Archer was born seven fucking months ago, and now she sends me a letter? Why even bother sending anything? God, she even has the audacity to ask to meet him, guilting me by talking about how special a grandbaby is. She's insane."

"You didn't tell her about Arch's birth?"

"She didn't deserve to know. He's ours," I spit. "Not hers, and I don't want that bitch anywhere near our son."

I feel my face redden just thinking about my mom getting her claws into Archie. I thought Gray would feel the same, considering all that she's put us through, but the only emotion on his face is concern--for me.

Without saying a word, he reminds me to take deep breaths.

"Riv, I think it'd be good for you to talk to her, at least once," Gray says gently. "Just to clear the air. Don't let her have this kind of power over you."

I shake my head. "Babe, I can't. She's the reason I forgot everything--why I forgot you. I may have forgotten what she said to me before my accident, but she can't erase my memories from my entire childhood," I say. "I don't want to see her ever again."

Gray nods his head, reading the distress written all over my face. "Okay, baby. I won't push you."

I breathe deeply a few times again, watching Archie sit up and flop forward onto his tummy, looking right back at me. His little fists curl around the edges of the blanket as he flails his legs behind him, burbling incoherently. I smile at him.