Grey starts laughing, placing a finger over his lips, blowing “Shhh” through his liquor-soaked breath. “People will hear, Mr. Brooks. And you need to keep your secrets, right? What would Daddy think of his golden boy if he knew you were a thief.” His face shoots to mine. “Right, Cherry?”
Golden boy? Secrets? What is happening?
Liam smacks the table. “Golden boy? Really, dick? It’s not my fault your dad is an asshole. And what the fuck did I steal? You’re fucking wasted.”
Grey laughs and holds his hands up in mock surrender, but Liam looks at me, exasperated and as confused as I feel.
“It seems to me the only person with secrets is you, Grey,” I counter, narrowing my eyes on Laura.
Grey leans in closer, licking his lips and pointing at Caroline.
“No. You have plenty, or maybe you just tell them to your bestie. Since she seems to know all the secrets before me.”
Oh fuck. Caroline told him about the conversation in the limo. Likely the whole conversation. My head swings to Caroline. “What have you done?”
She doesn’t answer, giving a small satisfied shrug. My eyes drop to the table. I want to fix this, talk to him, explain. Tell him that I hate him right now but love him more. I lean in and bring my eyes to Grey, but his are so cold. He’s bleeding the kind of hurt I’m feeling. He really does hate me for not choosing.
“All this time I thought you wouldn’t admit you loved me more because you didn’t want to hurt Liam. Wrong. Then again, maybe Liam should know that your taste lies in older guys—specifically the kind who have wives. I never pegged you as the other woman type. Like mother, like daughter I guess.”
I can’t breathe. My chest feels so tight that all the words I want to yell are caught inside of me. I feel Liam’s eyes on me, questions behind them, but I can’t explain now. Jesus, this Grey is mean. I don’t know the brown-eyed boy staring back at me. He’d lured me in, just to slit my throat. Taking a deep breath in, I draw in all the resolve I have left and push away from the table.
“You’re the cruelest boy. Call me when you grow the fuck up, Grey. You know what, actually? Never call me.”
“Like I said, Cherry—” He grips Laura’s jaw as he says it, holding her chin up like he’s showing her off. “—I’ll be too busy. Busy dining on Laura. And also, how did you put it? Oh yeah, balls-deep in a little redhead. Funny enough, she tastes like cinnamon. I prefer it to cherry.”
I’m going to be sick. Liam is saying something to me, but I can’t hear him past the strumming of my heart. Slower and slower. He’s killing me, but I think that’s the objective. I need to get out of here before I snap.
“Grey, baby,” Laura whines, and my head shoots up.
It’s so dumb, but I can’t hear her say his name. Not like that. My palm comes down hard, slapping the heavy wood table in her direction.
“No. Don’t do that.” I hate how raw my voice is; he’ll know he got to me. “Don’t insert yourself where you don’t belong. I would’ve thought that you might’ve become tired of being the runner-up. This little show is for my benefit, not yours.” My eyes shift to Grey’s. “It’s still all about me. You’re just a prop, Laura.”
She rolls her eyes at me, and I catch it out of the corner of my sight, saying, “Mmkay. Jealous much, bitch?” and I make a mental note to return the favor when she begs me to stop making her life hell. She’s taken a place that isn’t hers and that won’t go without punishment, but neither will the fact that Grey gave it to her.
For now, I have to get the fuck out of here before I cry or scream, giving him exactly what he’s looking for.
“Laura, you have nothing for Donovan to be jealous about,” Liam throws out, standing next to me as Grey’s jaw tenses. “Let’s go. It’s enough now, Van. Fuck him. Fuck her. And you—” He scowls, looking at Caroline. “—you aren’t the girl I thought you were. I don’t know what you did, but I choose Van.”
I hear her intake of breath, and I hope she chokes on her fucking sadness. Taking Liam’s hand, I nod, feeling my eyes sting with the waiting tears. But Grey shoots from his seat, the chair falling backward and whacking against the floor as he yells at me.
“You don’t get to leave. I want to watch you cry. I want to hear it. Memorize the goddamn sound.” My breath becomes uneven as he hurls his hatred at me. “Tell me something, Donovan. Did your married guy share you too?”
Liam launches toward Grey over the table, trays hitting the floor, but I wrap myself around Liam, burying my face into his chest. “Get me out of here. Please… Please, Liam.”
Liam’s chest is heaving, and his heart is beating through his blazer. Hard. He pats my arm, letting me know he hears me, and leans to grab my bag before taking my hand to lead me out. I can’t look at Grey. I won’t. I never want to remember this version. He’s not mine—he’s a monster.
I’m pulled in close to Liam, my arm wrapped around his back as we walk around the table to the exit. I take deep breaths as we walk, feeling all the eyes in the room on us. Just make it out. I can do that. Sharp fingernails dig into my arm, shocking me as I shriek.
“What the hell!”
I spin around, taking Liam with me, to see Laura is standing in front of us. But it’s the faces five feet behind her that I stare at next. Caroline is staring at Liam, devastation written on her face. And Grey is standing, staring at me, drenched in desperation. He wants his pound of flesh, and he hasn’t gotten it. But what more could he do to me?
“Don’t go yet. It’s my turn.”
Laura pokes my chest as she speaks, but I smack her hand away.
“What the fuck does that mean?” I snap.
She grabs my arm again, and this time, Liam removes it.
“Ow, dick,” she complains. Watch yourself, Laura.
She continues to gripe, but as she shakes her hand, I see it. My hand darts out and I grab her arm, holding her hand toward the ceiling, and shove her jacket down. She pops a hip, feigning resistance, sarcasm thick on her tongue.
“Oh no. Let go. Get your hands off me.”
Her smile spreads slowly over those bruised lips as my heart stops. This is the real moment he planned. Everyone always wishes that the person you love most will know you deeply and true, but that just means they know how to really hurt you.
Fucking her was nothing in comparison to seeing the goddamn gray bracelet I made him around Laura’s wrist. That’s us. Everything we meant. All of us, wrapped in silver thread. Wrapped around my heart.
“He gave us away.” My words are for me, but everyone hears them and I don’t care.
I look up, tears streaming down my face freely now. I can’t hide them anymore. His eyes bore into mine as I unravel, string by string, in front of him. Nothing else exists. Just me and Grey and that twelve-year-old promise of love. Because that’s what this was. This was the first time I told him that I loved him, in the only way I knew how. He knew it, the same way he knew this would eviscerate me.
Liam takes my hand and tries to tug me away, but I jerk from him, feeling all the emotions that I buried. All the anger, the love, the hurt boil to the top, and I grip the bracelet around Laura’s wrist, tearing at it viciously, hearing her scream and seeing red bloom on her skin as I rip it off her.
“This isn’t yours!” My eyes lock to Grey’s. “This isn’t hers!”
She stumbles back, scared, but I’m still staring into his eyes. She can have every piece but this one. Not this. Grey beelines for me, but I hold my ground. Liam steps in front of him, laying a forceful hand on Grey’s chest to stop him, but Grey hurls Liam off, shoving him a few feet away and coming to tower over me.
All his hate mixes with mine as I hold up the bracelet to him. I don’t have to say anything. Neither does he. His hands find the sides of my face, lips crashing down onto mine, kissing me viciously, mixing with my tears that have fallen. He pulls back but only enough to whisper his words into my body.
“I wish I could hate you. I want to hate you… Donova
n…. don’t leave with him.”
I push his hands from me, looking into his deep chocolate eyes. “I would rather have my heart broken by him than ever be loved by you.”
Grey
MY SHOULDER’S SNATCHED AWAY, AS I’m ripped from her tearstained face, to meet Liam’s fierce scowl. His hands are dug into my blazer, tugging my chest up as he holds it in fistfuls, making us sway and jerk. He snarls and breathes so hard that it comes out like growls, gritting his teeth, threats spoken through them.
“You’re pathetic. You don’t deserve to be the one.”
“Neither do you,” I laugh, stumbling around my drunk feet, taunting him.
Fuck you. You aren’t a brother.
The first crack on my jaw is deserved but not enough. So as the second one lands, I close my eyes and take it. I want it. I want him to beat the hell right out of me because I deserve it after what I’ve done. A drop of blood for every tear. That’s fair. The taste of blood fills my mouth, and I know he’s split my lip, but before he gets in another shot, school security swarms us and drags his protesting body back. I’m pulled into the melee before we’re broken apart, and I’m pushed back toward the tables.
“Fuck you, Grey,” he yells, pointing his finger at me. “Why would you do this to all of us?”
I laugh, loudly, wiping the back of hand over my mouth, feeling the wetness drag over my hand. He has no right to be angry—he stole the only thing I’ve ever cared about. So he can go fuck himself. My hands lift like I’m conducting a symphony as he hurls put-downs and curses. It’s all music to my ears. His pain, knowing he didn’t protect her, seeing how much of her belongs to me. I want him to remember that. Liam wraps his arm across her stomach, with his back to me, but she stays facing forward, giving me those stormy eyes that see all the way to my soul as he whispers down to her.
I drop my arms, spitting the blood in my mouth to the floor as her eyes glisten with sadness. She’s pulled, taking slow steps backward, further away from me. Don’t leave with him, Donovan. Liam urges her to turn around, and with one last look at me, she does.
“Grey. We need to go.”
I look down at Caroline, who’s pulling on my jacket, but push her away.
“Why? I’m hungry. I’m staying.”
She grips my lapel with her small hand and glares at me. “You drunk fool. People got that on camera. Are you trying to load Evan’s gun for him? One misstep and he gets them to rescind the declarations in your mother’s will. What the fuck were you thinking, Grey?”
I jerk away from her, turning and walking through the room to the main doors, finally noticing all the phones. Shit. I wasn’t thinking. I was drunk on hatred. My palms push the heavy cafeteria door, heaving it open and leaving it to close on Caroline as I breeze through the doorway, heading to the front of the school so I can get the hell out of here.
“Grey!” Caroline snaps, following me into the hall breathily from running to keep up. “Will you stop for a minute.”
I spin around after the demand, making her eyes pop open and halting her in place.
“I was thinking about her,” I growl, taking a step closer but stopping. “That’s what I was fucking thinking about. Fuck the company. Evan can have it. Fuck everything.”
Her brows furrow as she approaches me slowly. I can see her thoughts as she tries piecing me back together like a broken puzzle. “Grey. You just need to sleep this off. You aren’t thinking clearly.”
Her hand reaches for my bicep, but I take a step back, looking down with disgust at her gesture. Reaching into my inside breast pocket of my blazer, I pull out my flask. “No. I don’t need to sleep this off.” Shaking it next to my ear, the slosh tells me there’s more, so I flip the top and take a swig, hissing a breath between my teeth. “There isn’t enough sleep. Unless I’m not waking up.” I hold it out, offering some to Caroline’s cold expression. She doesn’t like that answer. “You should be happy—this is what you wanted, Caroline.”
“No, Grey. You were supposed to make her jealous, but this—” She waves her hand at me. “—this is you going off the deep end.”
My shoulders jump as I laugh. “I told you not to speak about shit you don’t know. This is what love looks like when it isn’t returned, sister. That should feel familiar.”
Her eyes narrow as I turn back around and head for the doors again. She’s on my heels as I walk outside and stalk toward my car.
“You aren’t driving, Grey.” Like you could stop me.
She yells words at my back, but I’ve tuned her out. She won’t stop me. She should stop trying. I reach for the handle of my Porsche, but Kai’s hand smacks down on the window, holding the door in place.
“Whoa, Grey. What’s up?”
All the muscles in my jaw work over before I shift my face to his. “Get the fuck out of my way, Kai. I have shit to do.”
“Do not let him leave. He’s acting like a maniac,” Caroline bitches behind me.
Kai blinks, his face dropping, before something that looks like guilt takes over.
“Oh shit, Grey. Donovan told you.” His hand leaves the door as he steps back, but I don’t move. He knows about her and Liam?
Kai rubs the back of his neck and shrugs. “Damn. Listen, I took care of it though. Seriously, I thought I was going to kill Paul—” What the fuck is he talking about?
“Paul…last night?” The words fall out less like a question and more like I’m agreeing.
“Yeah, when he pushed himself on Donovan, I saw red. But she was a badass. Such a brawler. Scratched his face and all. I’m just sorry I let him get to her in the first place.”
Paul touched her. He pushed himself on her.
My neck feels like it’s on fire as my pulse thrums through my veins. All my senses zoom into focus, adrenaline hurtling through me as intense and violent rage take over. My fist comes down hard on the top of my car, buckling the removable metal hardtop.
Kai holds up a hand to try and calm me, but I’ve found a channel. Carved out a path for everything that has my body burning with hate and anger. I grit my teeth, stepping into Kai’s space, face-to-face.
“What the fuck do you mean Paul pushed himself on Donovan?”
His eyes blink rapidly as his mouth drops open in surprise, but it’s replaced by worry just as quickly. “Oh shit. Hold on. You weren’t…she didn’t. Oh fuck. I thought she told you, man.”
His hands come up in front of me in surrender as I push my chest against his, backing him up. His eyes dart to Caroline before he looks back to me, and I pivot to look at her horrified face, pointing my finger at her.
“You knew about this? And conveniently left it out, I bet?”
Her eyes drop to the ground, but she’s lucky I have bigger fish to fry. My head swings back to Kai, whose brows are drawn, lips pressed into a tight line.
“Grey, man…” He motions to Caroline. “She couldn’t have told you—she was off the rails last night. She probably didn’t even see it. Come on, calm down.”
Calm? Donovan is my calm, and now I know that last night, at a club I made way too easy to go to, she was hurt. I was willing to let Liam beat me as a consequence for hurting her today. Paul won’t get the luxury of just a beating. I’m going to kill him.
“I’ll handle you later,” I bellow over my shoulder at Caroline and smack my keys down into Kai’s hand before meeting his nervous eyes.
“We need to pay Paul a visit.”
Ringing. That’s all I hear. Like my eardrums are blown out. My head shifts heavily as I look from person to person. Everything on a lag. Nothing makes sense. I keep shaking my head, but I can’t seem to focus. My feet are moving, I think, but I don’t know where I’m going.
I twist my head to the right and see Liam speaking animatedly to someone in a cheap blue uniform. My head swings left to Kai’s face, lips moving, but I can’t hear him. A sharp pain courses through my body as he presses and shoves me by my shoulder, trying to stuff me inside Liam’s SUV, but I push back agains
t him.
Why is he trying to put me in the car?
My thoughts are all garbled, unconnected. It feels like the time I blacked out but times a hundred. Blacked out. My eyes shoot down, finally seeing it. Everything pulls into focus. Blood. It’s everywhere. My shirt. My hands. Splattered across my shoes.
My breath is coming out faster as I look, opening my blazer to see my shirt stained in it. Holy fuck. What did I do?
“Get in the fucking car, Grey,” Kai growls, successfully pushing me into the back seat.
My body rocks sideways as he slams the door. I open my mouth to try and find my voice as he positions himself in the front passenger seat, clicking the door shut, but have to swallow before I speak.
“Kai…” I croak out. “What the fuck happened?”
My hands start to shake, waiting to hear the worst. I remember my last thoughts before I came to Red Oak. I wanted to kill him for what he did to her.
“You raged. You beat the shit out of Paul Hearst. In the middle of his class. They have to take him to the hospital. And then when his friends came for you, you kept going.”
Flashes filter into my mind as he speaks, and I wish I could say I felt bad, but I don’t. That prick deserved every single hit.
“Nobody could stop you, Grey. Jesus. This is going to be all over the news. What the fuck were you thinking? I thought you were going to kill him. Fuck. Grey. This is bad.”
The reality of what I’ve done, the much bigger gun I just loaded, points directly between my eyes. I fucked my entire future. It’s over. The thought begins to weigh me down, but it’s quickly erased by another. Fuck that. I’d do it all again. All of it. Nobody touches her. Not ever.
My head falls back onto the seat as Liam gets in and throws a towel at me.
“Don’t get blood on my seats.”
“Fuck you,” I gripe, taking the towel and wiping my face.
“Fuck me?” he yells, turning in his seat to look at me. “I just saved you. They wanted to arrest you, you dumb prick. I bought you time, smoothed it all over for now with a big wad of cash. You should be sucking my dick.”
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