tricks of time ― grayson hawthorne [the inheritance games]

029. A TALK

Then it hits me. The will reading. Zara's ring. May it always lead True North.

"The will reading," I breathe out. Jameson smiles a little smile. "That's right."

"I'm not following," Grayson says from behind me.

Suddenly, all of it is coming together. "I broke into his study. Looked through all of his paperwork. All of it leads to True North. Something's there, I know it," he says. "I think the answers are there. All of them. We need to get there tonight. Latest tomorrow morning."

I scoff. "We can't just take a flight to Colorado!"

He smirks at me. "Why not?" He looks outside and I follow his gaze to see a perfect, sleek, black chopper resting on the lawn.

"You're kidding."

"I may have bribed our Pilot to fly us, in...an hour and a half."

"And Alisa?" Grayson says. "Oren? What are they going to say?"

"Well," Jameson says, looking back out the window, "they don't know."

I scoff, shaking my head, half in awe and half in panic. "And what will they do once they do know?"

"Well, we'll deal with that later, hm?" He smirks at me and then Grayson.

Me and Grayson lock eyes, both contemplating the situation. Again, Jameson takes our silence as a yes and smiles.

"Meet me outside this door at 10:25. Chopper leaves at 10:35. You miss it, you stay. Too bad." He begins to leave, but then freezes in his tracks. "Oh and, don't tell anyone."

Then he's gone. It's just me and Grayson in this dim-lit wing.

"I'm sorry," he says finally.

I know exactly what he's apologizing for. "Don't bother," I say coldly. "I'll forgive you when I want to. In the meantime, don't talk to me for the most part. Just don't." I warn him.

"What about Celeste?"

"I don't care what you want to do with Celeste. After the other night, I know what happened between us was just a routine thing you do." I'm avoiding his eyes even though I want to stare at them endlessly.

"Nothing happened between me and Celeste," he tries to clarify. "We just kissed."

"Grayson," I say between a sigh, "don't lie. I know you dated for two years, and I know she was just a pawn for whatever happened between you and Emily. Don't bother lying anymore, Grayson."

"So then why are you mad?"

I scoff. "Why am I mad? First of all, I'm mad because you always pin the blame on me. You can't man up enough to take the blame where it's due. And then I'm mad because you played me, the whole time. Yes, I didn't love you like that, so you decided to find a girl and recreate the whole scene with her? For what?"

"Are you really going to make me say it?"

"Say what, exactly? Because I don't know what to believe of yours anymore."

"I did it for validation, okay! All of it!"

"I don't understand."

"Don't you understand," he starts, "that the whole reason Celeste is even here is because of you? I was mad and upset that you didn't like me."

"How could I have loved you, Grayson? After all of the things you'd told me?"

He shakes his head in remorse. "I don't know, it's just that nobody's ever told me they didn't love me when I clearly told them before."

"Well you should get that ego checked out then," I joke.

He doesn't remark at the joke. Just continues on. "So I brought her here. I just wanted to feel something. I brought her here because of you."

My voice is soft now. A part of me feels bad for him. "So why did you pull this whole stunt, then?" My voice is no louder than a whisper.

"I wanted you to feel jealous. I don't know, okay, Leah? I know it was so messed up. I'm sorry."

"Okay," I say softly. I step closer to him. "I understand."

His face lights up, so very slightly. I'm so tempted to tell him. Tell him, Leah. Tell him you love him. "I think I just need some time," I say quietly instead.

I expect him to rage and scream, but he doesn't. He's acting like the other night again. "Okay. I-I get it."

I nod slowly. "Okay then."

A few seconds of silence.

"I should go," I finally say and start walking. He begins to follow suit, but I stop him. "We shouldn't come back together. You don't know what people may piece together. Especially Celeste."

He shakes his head. "I don't care what Celeste thinks," he says firmly.

"Still," I say. "Just come after a few minutes." I turn my back to him and walk off, watching him secretly eye a few of the paintings. Just as I'm about to turn the corner and leave the room, I freeze but my back is still turned to him.

"Just so you know," I begin to say, "you did a good job at making me jealous."

I smirk at myself. I can practically feel the alarm pouring out of him now and I dash down the corridor before he can talk. I hear his voice faintly following me, but it turns into a ghostly echo.

authors note

sorry if it was a bit confusing and sorry if i sprang the "mystery" thing up on you guys. please vote and comment like always.

word count: 2127 words