Sage

"I can't say your timing is the best, here." Greyson rubs the back of his neck.

I'm not sure why he answered the door shirtless but it definitely wasn't warranted. I came here to check on him and Scarlett, and to fix things. Instead I want him to finish what he started that time he barged into my bedroom.

Snap out of it Sage, the mother of his child is dead and they're in mourning. This isn't the time to be daydreaming about things like this.

I clear my throat. "If you want I can come back later..."

"Yeah now isn't a good time, we just got Bianca's urn and..." He pauses and looks behind him. "What are you doing?"

Without warning a shirt is flung over Greyson's shoulder and he is shoved outside. The door immediately slammed behind him, I caught a glimpse of what I'm assuming was Scarlett doing all of this.

Greyson stares at the door confused, then shakes his head. "I guess we can talk."

I watch him shove his long sleeved shirt over his head, and onto his torso. Then he seats himself on the steps of the front door, it was quiet and despite the cool tempature a nice day outside so I didn't mind talking here or wherever honestly.

There was an extended silence between us, I couldn't find the words to start. There was a mixture of emotions swirling through my head and all I wanted to do was just continue where we left off before we broke up. Not the marriage but the comfortability of being around each other.

"Listen, if you're here to finally end my suffering, you might as well just say it. I'd rather deal with everything all at once—"

Ignoring whatever Greyson was saying, I threw myself at him, something I should've done the moment I saw him at the hotel. For the first time in years I am holding Greyson and not fighting it because of some moral high ground I wanted to take.

So I kissed him, like I used too, but a lot better since I've had some practice throughout our time away from each other.

Greyson pushes me away. "I can't..."

"Greyson." My chest tightens.

He grins. "I can't believe it took you this fucking long."

"Fuck you." I smile and begin kissing him again, embracing him.

As soon as his tongue slipped into my mouth I stiffened and remembered that his mourning daughter is behind this door, sad over her mother. So as much as I wanted to continue I push him off and fix myself.

"We should probably relax until, you know?" I clear my throat.

Greyson sighs. "Yeah I got carried away, it's been months since I wasn't dealing with some shit, it just felt good to feel good."

"I'm sorry for your loss." I tell him, genuinely.

He pushes the stray hairs on his temple, back. "The one who is truly suffering through this is Scarlett, I feel so useless, no matter what I do there's nothing to take a pain like that away from her."

"I know, it took me a while before it felt normal to be happy again." I tell him.

Greyson agrees. "Shit, I'm still trying to feel that way."

There was another pause between us and I looked around, trying to find the courage to say what was on my mind next. I'd lose my mind if I didn't know, even though I'm sure asking at a time like this isn't ideal for anyone in this situation.

"So, I know this is bad timing, but where do we go from here?" I ask.

He looks at me, and sighs. "If this were a week ago I'd say my bedroom."

"Greyson," I smack his shoulder. "I'm serious."

He chuckles. "I'm being serious, do you realize how long its been for me, I'm pretty sure I'm a virgin again."

"You might be." I lean onto my wrist, enjoying the fact that he hasn't moved on but regretting that I made him wait so long. "I'm sorry for putting you through that, I just didn't want to hurt someone else for my own selfish desires. Deep down I knew it was only you, but the guilt of doing that to Travis overwhelmed me."

Greyson places his hand on my lap and gives it a comforting squeeze. "Sage, I won't sit here and say you didn't make some poor choices in this matter. But at the end of the day you are and always be mine, as I am and always will be yours. So you being here now is the only thing that matters and trust me it was fucking worth the wait."

"Still have a magical way with words." I smile.

He grins. "There's other magical things I have up my sleeve."

"Mourning daughter." I remind him.

Greyson rubs his face. "Bianca cockblocking even in death, she's truly an evil mastermind."

If only he knew her words were what gave me strength to come here, he'd probably say otherwise.

"You should go inside." I suggest.

He nods. "Yeah, she's probably going to want to stay home from school today."

"I'll call you?"

Greyson kisses my cheek. "Or come over later when she's asleep?"

"Mourning daughter—"

The door behind us opens and Scarlett is behind it. "Please do not use me as an excuse, I am not a child."

"You'll be my child forever." Greyson stands up, ruffling her hair.

She rolls her eyes. "Please, come in, just because my mother died doesn't mean my dad doesn't get to enjoy this. He's been waiting forever for you, Sage."

"Uh, are you sure?" I gulp down, suddenly feeling like the child in her presence.

Scarlett nods and opens the door wider. "I'd be happy to catch up, maybe we can go buy that coat dad?"

"Sure kiddo, I'll get dressed." Greyson nods his head and smiles.

Scarlett has always been way more mature than her age group, I'm not sure where she gets it from but it's truly admirable to watch. Not to mention she's only becoming more of a beauty since I last saw her, Greyson will have a heart attack once she enters high school if she keeps it up.

All the boys are going to want her.

Greyson leads us all into the living room, this was a nice change from that one bedroom condo. It feels like he truly gave away most of his bachelor habits to be a super dad.

It still felt weird to be here and that with little to no conversation about what happened these last few weeks, I'm welcomed without hesitation. I can't believe I put this off for so long, I'm really not the brightest person.

"So are you and dad back together?" Scarlett asks while Greyson went to get ready.

I shrug. "I hope so, I've kind've been pretty horrible towards him."

"Are you talking about your boyfriend?" She asks.

I cough. "Excuse me?"

"Mom told me that you had a boyfriend and were an idiot to pick a commoner over dad." She tells me. "Would you like a beverage? We have pretty much anything, maybe coffee?"

Dismissing the fact that Bianca gossiped about me to her daughter, I nodded. "A water is fine."

"Cool, I'll be back." She walks away.

As I sit here alone, observing the décor, my gut tells me I made the right decision. We'll have to discuss a lot of things but for now I'll enjoy the fact that in this instance Greyson and I are moving forward, together.

Interestingly enough all it took was the same woman who scared me off in the first place, without her I wouldn't have had the balls to do this. To make a decision I should've made a long time ago instead of dragging it along.

"Here you go." Scarlett returns with the glass of water and places it in front of me, then she sits down across. "So are you going to spend the night?"

Scarlett should be an interrogator one day, she just knows all the juicy questions to ask.

We spent the day with each other, Scarlett brought me up to speed on everything that happened the past few years. Greyson just watched as his daughter spoke and didn't say much, but I could see a small hint of peace in his gaze.

It's rare that I've seen him so relaxed and in the face of such a horrible time they're having I'm glad that at least for today they're both focusing on other things. I'm not sure how to accomplish Bianca's final request but for a girl like Scarlett I'll try anything, not to mention I have to work into Greyson's good graces.

We haven't spoken about anything real and kind've brushed past it, I'm sure when we have a moment where Scarlett isn't around the conversation will rear its ugly head. I've got a lot to apologize for.

I'm curious how his reaction will be if he ever finds out the person to push me to finally take the steps to getting back together with Bianca.

"Shit, this is the first time she fell asleep without crying herself into exhaustion." Greyson falls onto the couch. "Even if its only for just tonight I'm pretty fucking happy about that."

I sit down next to him. "It probably helps that she has Bianca's urn here, maybe its comforting."

"Probably, I'm just glad we had a good day, though I'm pretty sure Scarlett was putting on her adult face for us." He sighs. "The queen of hiding her feelings, she'll be a tough cookie when she's a teenager."

I chuckle. "Agreed, but she's got a father who would do anything for her. Scarlett will be just fine."

We both became silent and I felt the air grow heavy around us, with such a huge elephant in the room I can't pretend like nothing happened. No matter how nice the day we spent together was, there were definitely a few issues that we needed to clear out.

Greyson leans forwards and tilts his head to me. "You really hurt me Sage."

"I know." I drop my eyes onto the ground.

He rubs the side of his neck. "I'm not sure if I deserved that for the shit I put you through, either."

"You didn't, no one deserves that." I tell him.

Greyson grabs my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. "As much as I'd like to ignore it, I can't, that behavior worries me. I'm not even sure what changed your mind, clearly everything I did wasn't enough, or perhaps it was and it took a while for it to sink in."

"Actually," I pause. "I had a little push."

He slightly raises his brows. "A push?"

"Bianca kind've wrote me a letter," Here it comes, the moment I hoped wouldn't come about. "about getting it together and what not. That you're a catch and I'm an idiot to settle for a man because it's safer."

Greyson removes his hand from mine and I stiffen.

His expression didn't change much, it remained still and focused. I wasn't sure what he would say next but I braced myself for another possible argument, and plenty of apologies. I'm the best at making poor choices lately, why would anyone want to hear their dead ex pushed their love to being with them?

But Greyson just chuckled, and I became confused. "Bianca never ceases to amaze me."

"You're not mad?" My chest tightened.

Greyson shook his head. "I've spent weeks being angry at you, shit I'm slightly hurt what I said wasn't enough. But I knew you wanted to be with me, you're just a girl who was caught in an unfortunate situation. If Bianca somehow gave you the courage to do what was needed, then shit, I can't be mad because I got what I wanted in the end."

"Greyson." I instantly relaxed.

He pulls me in and hugs me tight. "You still need to make it up to me plenty, though. But I'm not mad, how can I be?"

I'll spend my entire life making amends for putting him through this, and I will do everything in my power to do the same for Travis. Even though everything worked out on my part I still hurt a good guy and I wouldn't want to ruin him for any future girls.

I'm just glad we got through most of the obstacles in front of us and I hope we continue to do so in the future.