Salvation

Chapter 19: How I was willing to take a risk

Chapter Nineteen: How I was willing to take a risk

Edited and Rewritten

Nathan's POV

The plane settled down, the turbulence disappeared, and I felt Grace's grip on my hand relax, and she slowly let it go, much to my disappointment. My hand suddenly felt cold, and I realised how much solace I had taken when she held my hand when searching for her own comfort.

"Now that I can dare to look out the window again; I still cannot get over this view,"

My gaze turns from my palm to Grace, who has her face once again pushed herself against the window; she reminded me of a puppy hanging its head out a car window. Grace glanced back once, her big eyes shining with awe and her face twisted in a glorious manner with her wide smile.

She was... in a word, magnificent.

"It's beautiful", Grace breathes out, a heavy thoughtful sigh leaving her, but her eyes never leave the roaming clouds.

My throat dries while my ribcage fights to contain my racing heart, and my hands itch to reach out and wrap her in my arms, but she wasn't mine to do that with. She would never be mine, and I have to come to terms with that, or I might lose her as one of the closest friends that I have ever known.

"Yeah, I don't think I will ever get used to the beauty," I say, and Grace smiles, looking over her shoulder at me for a quick second, and she steals my heart with that smallest gesture. She was so happy, happier than I'd ever seen her.

Grace settles down into her seat, a soft yawn leaving her mouth while she wraps her arms around herself. A smile drifts over her face, and her eyes flutter as she tries to fight sleep.

Bradley's eyes are burning into me, and I turn to look at the disapproving gleam. I force myself to continue to look at his face, feeling his disappointment wash over me. I had to face his disappointment; it was my reality. Grace had David, and as much as I disapprove of him, she chose him. Bradley looked almost sorry for me as if he knew how I felt, and that sadness on his face, the pity stabbed into my heart, but I had to face this pain. I knew that my heart couldn't survive another rejection. As well as knowing the pain Caleb and Natalie caused to me; I would never be comfortable putting Grace in that situation by telling her how I feel.

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I begin to send emails and make phone calls arranging for our stay at my house in Miami. I made arrangements for clothes to be brought every morning for Grace along with anything else that her heart desired. It was the least that I could do after changing the plans for the trip so quickly.

The sound of soft snoring came to my ears; Grace had drifted off to sleep with her head still leaning against the glass, which caused me to smile. My eyes take in her face, a small faint mark, which looked like bags under her eyes, has appeared where her makeup has faded, but even that did not take away from the beauty that she held.

"Drink?" Bradley asks me, his voice hushed, so he doesn't wake Grace. I nod my head, and he moves to the small bar at the end of the plane.

Bradley sits back down, passing me a glass of brandy on the rocks. I sip the liquor, waiting for Bradley to say something to me, but he doesn't, to my surprise. Instead, he drinks his brandy quietly.

Grace mummers and I glance towards her to check on her. She smiles in her sleep, her eyelids rapidly moving, and the lightest snore comes from her.

She is unlike anyone I have ever met; she is selfless to a fault and caring. She would never refuse anyone anything, even if it put her at a loss; she is the sweetest and kindest person. Her beauty radiates from the inside out. She is the best employee, the hardest worker that I have had in my company. The fact that she does it all for her boyfriend, who doesn't appear to be anything but lazy and utterly reliant on Grace.