Surviving the Pain (A Baby Saved Me Series Book 1) by P. J. Belden Page B

Aspen, knocking him back a few steps. Hudson started crying and Ember wedged herself between the two battling men.
    “You knock it off right now,” she yelled, shoving him. “Isa, will you watch Hudson a moment? I need to have a word with Grey.” Her voice was so deadly calm that Grey swallowed hard with nerves.
    “Sure, we’ll go play on the jungle gyms.”
    “Yay!” Hudson cheered and took off.
    Ember didn’t even utter a word. She just walked off toward the car. Far enough away from the guys overhearing and more importantly Hudson, who has already begun to wonder about his daddy or lack thereof.
    Once she reached her car, she spun on Grey hitting him upside the head. “What the hell is wrong with you? You just punched one of your best friends.”
    “Because he kissed my woman,” he growled.
    “I’m not your woman!”
    “Why not?” He almost screamed in her face.
    “I explained this to you when we parted ways, Grey.”
    He sighed, running a hand through is short hair. “Sage isn’t coming back, Ember. I could make you so happy. I promise.”
    “This isn’t about Sage. I mean it kind of is, but not completely. This is about me. This is about my son. More importantly, this is about the feelings that I don’t have for you. I’m not yours, Grey. I haven’t been for a very long time. And I’m not sure I ever really was even the six months we were together. I was trying to be, don’t get me wrong, but I just couldn’t.”
    “Just because you don’t love me doesn’t mean I can just shut mine off. In my eyes, deep in my heart, you’re mine.”
    Reaching up, Ember tenderly touched his cheek. The minute their eyes met, he dropped his head. Sighing, she pushed forward with what she had to say to him, hopefully, to get him to understand.
    “I’m not who you were meant to be with, Grey. If I were, then I’d love you just the same back. I love you but as a friend. Sage, he stole my heart when I was only thirteen years old. When he left, he took it with him. Don’t hang yourself up on me, when the girl of your dreams is out there waiting for you to notice her.”
    Grey looked up just then, and his saddened face turned into a glare. Just as Ember was about to turn around to see what he was looking at, Grey grabbed her spun her back to him and kissed her. His tongue pushed into her mouth, and his soft moan filled her ears as Grey pushed her back against her car, pinning her between his mouth and her car. Quickly, she brought her knee up and nailed him in his junk. Jerking back he looked at Ember.
    “What the hell?”
    “I told you before!” she screamed. “We are just friends. Did you not listen to a word I just said?”
    “I, uh, I’m sorry. I just wanted one last kiss to remember. You know the last day that we were together, I didn’t realize it would be our last. Here I thought my world was finally falling into place, and as I held you in my arms, completely sated, I thought it’d be like that forever. Was it just a goodbye fling? Give him a prize for waiting for six months?”
    Ember moved away from him before she did something stupid, like punch him. “How dare you?”
    “I’m sorry Ems. I…”
    “Don’t call me Ems,” she snapped quickly. “That’s Sage’s name for me. His name for me . Do you hear me? Call me ‘Emmy’, ‘Ember’, you can even call me a slut, but don’t use that name with me.” Even Ember couldn’t miss the desperate plea in her own voice.
    “I’m sorry. I completely forgot that… Oh God! When I first told you I loved you… I called you ‘Ems’. That’s why you cried, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes. Please understand Grey. The way you think you feel about me is the way I know I feel about Sage. I’m not trying to toy with you. I’m trying to save you from the pain that I’m in and save the woman you’re meant to be with from it, too.”
    He nodded his head for a while, not looking directly at her. “Yeah, I understand. We are friends. I’m sorry for