Chapter 5 No Choice
Grace screamed as Maddox lunged at Enzo.
She was sitting on the bed, tugging sheets to cover herself as she couldn't even do much, she tried yelling at them to stop but neither man paid her attention as they kept slamming into themselves.
"Stop! Please stop!" Grace screamed, kneeling on the bed and trying to get their attention.
Maddox got the first clean hit—his knuckles cutting right under Enzo's eye. Enzo barely flinched. He grabbed Maddox by the shirt, yanked him forward, and backhanded him hard enough to whip Maddox's head back.
"Enough!" Grace yelled, voice breaking.
They didn't hear her. Or maybe they didn't care. Maddox came back swinging, Enzo blocked with one hand, shoved him across the room with the other, the two crashing into the dresser, knocking things to the floor.
"Please..." she nearly sobbed, but her voice was swallowed by the sound of their bodies colliding.
Neither man wanted to back down. Neither man was willing to lose. She could see Enzo's muscles flexing as he wasn't putting on a shirt.
And Grace was terrified, shaking. She could only watch the fight spiral as Maddox lunged at Enzo again while the latter easily sidestepped him.
All dignity pushed aside, without having a second thought, Grace quickly jumped off the bed and ran to stand between them before both men could collide with each other again. Her small five feet, two inches frame was dwarfed by them.
"Stop!" She yelled with all her might, arms outstretched touching both men's chests. Maddox immediately obeyed and Grace could feel his heart hammering against his chest and Enzo on the other hand, the man just paused, folded his arms across his chest and looked down at Grace with amusement in his eyes.
She became increasingly aware that she was only putting on underwear and standing between two hot-blooded men, her cheeks quickly flamed as she put her head down and slowly lowered her hand from Enzo's chest.
He gave a short snort at her apparent embarrassment.
"Don't look at her like that!" Maddox barked.
Grace quickly turned to him, "That's enough Mad..." Enzo looked at both of them, said nothing and crossed the room to the wardrobe to pull out Grace's dress, before he could give it back to her Maddox had stomped up, snatched the dress and turned to leave while dragging Grace with him.
"Wait—!" But her words were caught by the door slamming behind her.
Grace complained the whole time she was dragged downstairs. She was mortified when she was dragged out of the house by Maddox still in her underwear but was thankful that he had parked his truck really close to the house, she shivered at the cold night air and didn’t fight when he helped her inside the truck and passed her dress.
But, she was still extremely pissed.
Just as she threw the dress over her head, Maddox got in after her and slammed the truck’s door causing the window winder to fall off.
"Careful or that wouldn't be the only thing coming apart from the car," Grace muttered sarcastically as she raised herself to pull the dress down.
Maddox's truck was old. The red paint was chipped, the door hinges screamed, and the passenger window winder only worked if you turned it slowly. The dashboard was cracked, the seats didn't match, and the engine made a rough cough before starting.
It looked completely out of place in Enzo's polished compound, but Grace didn't hate it, the old truck still moved, it was reliable enough and had so many memories of them. And that was enough for Grace.
"Why would you act like that?!"
Maddox completely ignored her as he stared at her bare feet, she realised what he was staring at, “You dragged me out before I could get my shoes. I could go back and fetch it.”
He gave a grunt-like noise and reached to the back of the truck to pull out a pair of black lace-up boots which he handed to her, “Really?” She asked staring at the shoes.
“They match your dress,” Maddox responded without looking at her as he unceremoniously dumped the boots on her lap and started the truck. Grace frowned but bent to put on the shoes anyway as they drove out of there.
It was a silent ride for a while before Grace spoke up, “How’d you know where I was?”
No response.
But still she pressed on, “I know you have a voice and you do talk Mad, how’d you find me?”
He only glanced at her, “Let it be Grace.”
Grace scoffed, crossed her arms and looked out the window while rolling her eyes, “As usual, always keeping things from me.”
As expected, he didn’t respond to that.
Maddox had always been such a worrywart. She hadn’t mentioned the part because she didn’t want him tagging along with his whole uptight and frustrating protectiveness.
Grace felt her eyes become a little bit heavy as she relaxed more into the passenger’s seat. She welcomed the warm jacket that was put on her and realised that as suffocatingly caring as he tended to be—Mad was her only real friend. And she was grateful that he’d come for her.
She decided she would close her eyes for a bit.
“Wake up, we’re here,” Grace’s eyes snapped open and she almost hissed at the bright lights that welcomed her. She lifted one hand over her eyes and squinted at the sight of a sign that read ‘Briarview’s General Hospital’
Hospital? What were we doing at a hospital?
Before she could voice her thought, Maddox had already gotten out of the truck and walked over to her side to open the door for her, “Come on.”
She put the jacket on and stepped out, “Why are we at a hospital? What’s going on?”
“Your mama collapsed.” He responded and walked away like that wasn’t some earth-shattering news.
“What?!” She screamed and ran after him.
Grace’s parents were Sarah and Grant Ainsley. Sarah’s mother who had unfortunately passed away but not before leaving Grace with the necklace she always wore.
Not too long after Grandma Julie’s death, her daughter Sarah was diagnosed with cancer and it had been a battle of survival ever since then.
So hearing that Sarah collapsed that evening made Grace’s heart beat faster due to fear for the third time that night. She quickly walked behind Maddox as he took her to the room Sarah was in.
Maddox paused at a door and gestured for her to go in, she ran in and paused a bit tears instantly welling up in her eyes as she saw her mom hooked up with many wires and IV tubes. She ran to the bed and fell on her mom, sobbing.
Grant was there as he stroked the back of Grace’s head before getting up to go stand with Maddox at the door.
“Grace dear?”
“Yes, mama…” Grace raised her head and saw Sarah’s tired eyes looking at her.
“Oh dear, you look pretty.” Sarah’s voice was strained as she tried to sit up but Grace didn’t let her.
“It’s alright mama, you need to lie down,” she said choking back more tears. It was heartbreaking seeing her mom like this, she decided to look away so she could control her tears a bit. And, it was then that Grace looked at the room, really looked at the room—it was spacious and quite nice for a normal person, even the bed was big.
This had to be a VIP room, they couldn’t afford this, their family was broke and everyone in this room knew that. As if sensing the question written in her face, her mom said, “He is a really nice man, my dear…” She took Grace’s hand in hers.
“…he’s been the one paying for all the drugs and all the chemo I’ve been getting.” Grace looked confused.
“Who are you talking about Mama? You said it was a kind friend who decided to help out.”
“Yes my dear, he’s a kind friend to the family and would be more than a friend to you.”
Grace already knew where this was going as she felt a growing dread start to fill the pit of her stomach, “More than a friend Mama?”
“Yes, my sweet girl…” Sarah gave a short and painful cough causing Grace to squeeze and rub her hand, “…I’m talking about your husband.”
And then she heard, “Good evening Miss Ainsley,” She turned and for the first time beheld the man she was supposed to marry.