Tempting Gray - Untouchables 02 Read Online Free PDF Page A

a terrible disease, my friend. I’m
telling you that because she’s never going to get well if you keep enabling
her.”
    In a flash of movement, Gray had Rudy by the
throat, his back slammed against the wall. “Fuck you! I’m not helping her be
like this. I hate that she’s like this. I want her back.”
    Rudy spoke in a pinched voice. “Whether or not
you see it, you are enabling her. She has all your money to purchase alcohol.
She has that big house with bitter memories of two miscarriages lingering in
the form of a permanently locked nursery door. She has nothing but time to sit
and stew and drink herself into oblivion. You give her that support. You give
her everything she needs to keep herself depressed and sick. That is the truth,
Grayson, whether you realize it or not.”
    Gray jerked back several steps feeling as
though he’d been hit with a shotgun blast to the chest. It was his fault. Of course
it was. It always was. He’d been born a bastard and would always be one. Unshed
tears came to his eyes. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
    Rudy’s face softened. “You must level with her.
Offer her the treatment at my rehab facility and tell her what will happen if
she doesn’t take it. You must go through with it. If she says no you have to
kick her out of the house, take away all financial support. All support
unless she agrees to treatment.”
    It felt like there was an arm shoved down his
throat ripping his heart out. “How the fuck am I supposed to do that? I love
her.”
    Rudy nodded gently. “I know, but if you don’t,
we’ll be having this same conversation next year, the year after, and the year
after. Forever, Gray. The alcohol won’t kill her as a vampire. But she’ll
forever be sick and the longer she’s sick with it, the longer it takes to
recover. She can be well again, Gray, but it’s not up for you to decide that.
It’s up to her. You have to realize that she may never choose to be well again.”
    Gray lit another cigarette, wishing it was weed
or something stronger to make him forget all this for a little while. “Listen,
I know I need to do it. But I don’t even know where to start.” He glanced at
Rudy, tired.
    Rudy took a seat, absently rubbing at his
throat. “Start by telling her about the rehab, show her the pamphlets I gave
you. Tell her what it can be like again. More importantly, explain to her what
you’re going to do if she says no. Kick her out onto the street. No apartment
set-up, no financial allowance. Take everything away from her.”
    “Yeah…yeah.” Gray sat in a leather sofa chair
and hung his head. His body hurt. His bones felt brittle and old, used up. Some
days, days like today and yesterday, he didn’t even want to be here. What was
the point of his existence anymore? He used to have a mate to love and cherish
and he’d done that. Those had been the happiest years of his life. But now? He
knew he still loved her, that’s why he couldn’t push her away so easily. But
that warmth between them had long turned to ice.
    Gray laughed, the sound bitter. “You know she’ll
turn to the first man she can sink her fingers into. She’ll fuck him, suck him,
let his friends fuck her, anything to keep getting booze. How am I supposed to
send her out there knowing she’s gonna do this?” His stomach spasmed at the
very idea, nearly making him heave. Crossing his arms did nothing to alleviate
the stress or pain. Hell, he actually broken out in a cold sweat instead.
    “She might do all those things. Or none of
them. We can’t predict how she’ll react, but eventually something terrible will
happen and whether she will find herself alone in a cold, unfamiliar place, it
won’t be a good place to be. She’ll wake up, Grayson. She’ll wake up and
realize whether or not she does want to live. All we can hope for is that she
chooses yes.”
    Eyes burned from a mixture of stinging tears
and cigarette smoke irritation. He scrubbed the palms of his hands into