Paparazzi//Grayson Hawthorne

Chapter Fifteen

I wake up to Xander spread across the couch. His legs are thrown over mine as he digs his head into a pillow.

There are blankets strewn over Xander and me. They hadn't been there the night before.

There's a bowl of half-eaten snacks placed on the floor, out of the way so they wouldn't be knocked.

Xander shifts, moving in his sleep as he turns.

"Ash?" He asks, his voice raspy from sleep as he clutches a side of the blanket in one hand and he looks around, his eyes landing on me next to him.

"You're still here" He yawns as he lets go of the blanket, sitting up more.

He keeps his legs thrown over mine.

"I just woke up," I laugh as he looks around.

"Did you wake up last night?" He asks, his brows furrowing.

"No? Did you?" I quickly ask. I had figured he had been the one to move things around and place the blanket over us.

"I heard Gray come in quite late, but I was out like a light straight after I heard him" Xander lets a small laugh out as he thinks back to the night before.

"I suppose we should probably get up then," I laugh as I look around for my phone.

"What's the time?" Xander quickly asks as I spot both of our phones not too far away, plugged into charger ports.

I push Xander's legs off of my own as I stand, walking over and grabbing the two of our phones.I pass him his as I turn my own on.

"It's eleven," I offer a small, slightly lopsided smile.

"Holy shit, I don't think I have slept that much in years," Xander laughs as we start packing up the blankets and snacks.

We quickly finish cleaning when I bend down to grab a pillow from the ground, my hair falling near my face.

Or more or so, the little amount of hair I have, falling near my face.

I forgot I had cut my hair. That Xander and I had done something that Alisa did not take the most appreciation for us doing.

"Holy shit," I whisper as I realize.

"You okay?" Xander asks from where he is, not too far from me.

"I forgot we cut my hair," I laugh as I pull my hand through it, expecting to pull it through a lot more hair than I did.

He laughs as he looks over, probably seeing the shock still evident on my face.

"Yeah, we did. Are you still okay with it?" He asks, his voice soft as he moves closer slightly.

I look up, meeting his eyes as I feel my smile grow wide.

"I love it," I smile before hugging him quickly once more.

"I'm glad," He whispers as we both pull away, wide smiles on each of our faces.

After we clean, we both walk towards our wings. Xander stops at the entrance to mine, saying goodbye.

"I'll be back out later, yeah? Just gotta shower and get ready for the day" I smile as I start walking backward.

"I'll be waiting" He laughs as I reach my bedroom door and open it.

I freeze.

I can't breathe.

I don't know what's happening.

How has this happened?

Everything was getting good.

Xander notices.

So does Josh.

Josh stands not too far behind me before he pushes me out of the way, talking into something.

I can't look away from the sight in my bedroom.

I see Xander rush towards us.

I see him talking.

He's saying words, but nothing is going in.

I can't hear anything. Just ringing.

The ringing doesn't stop when I'm pulled to look away from my bedroom.

What has happened?

Why did this happen?

How did this happen?

I'm supposed to be safe.

I'm supposed to not be in danger while I am here.

But here I am, probably in danger.

I don't know what to do as I'm pulled into Xander's chest.

He's walking, leading me away.

I feel like I'm going to throw up.

The ringing is getting quieter.

I can only hear slightly as we leave my wing.

We're walking still towards another set of doors. Toward Xander's wing.

We're stopped on the way there.

Grayson.

I feel myself looking at him.

My vision is blurry. It's all fuzzy.

"Ash," I hear someone say as Xander continues to walk me toward his wing.

He sits me on a couch in his room.

Grayson is here as well.

"Ash, listen to me," I hear Grayson say.

"Gray give her some breathing room," Xander quickly interjects.

"What happened? She was fine last night. She was perfectly okay last night and this morning, so what happened, Xander?" Grayson raises his voice slightly.

"What did you do?" Grayson's voice is filled with anger.

What he says causes me to look up at him.

"He didn't do anything," I hear myself say. I don't stutter. I don't sound broken.

"Then what happened? I just want to help Ash. Come on, you said we would help each other, but I can't do that if you don't tell me what happened," Grayson's voice is soft.

I look between the two brothers.

Grayson is looking toward me; his face is filled with just as much worry as his voice.

Xander is looking at Grayson. A look of confusion is present on his face. Shock and confusion.

"What do you mean you said you would help each other? When did that happen?" Xander quickly says, his eyes flickering between the two of us.

"The night they inherited, I went to the hotel and talked to Avery, and then Ash found me, we talked," Grayson says quickly.

"What do you mean I was okay this morning?" I quickly ask Grayson, his words finally fully registering in my head.

His cheeks tint ever so slightly, "I walked into the theatre this morning and saw the two of you sleeping, and you seemed fine," Grayson quickly says.

He sits on the couch next to me, close but not too close, far but not too far.

"We cleaned up the theatre, and then I went to my room to clean up and-" I cut myself off, sucking in a deep breath.

"My room was trashed, all of my things were broken, and-" I try to make sure I'm taking regular breaths.

"On my bed was a lot of blood. I don't know if it was human, hell we don't know if it was real, but someone went into my bedroom and did all of that, and for what? To try to scare me?" I quickly finish.

I don't tell him about the note written on my wall in big, red letters that read 'STOP' but he doesn't need to know that, not right now.

"We'll figure out who did this, and they'll be dealt with, Ash," Grayson quickly says.

"My sisters," I quickly say, my eyes going wide as I realize that they could have had something similar in their rooms.