LOVER//Grayson Hawthorne [2]

Chapter 9 - It's nice to have a friend (Edited)

"Well that plans not going to work, and no amount of wishing will make it work. Our best bet is to figure it out ourselves." Jess sighed.

"But how? Tobias Hawthorne didn't give us another clue, and with no clue we can get no answers." Jess got up again and started pacing.

"Your clue might be connected to Avery's? Maybe she'll find something." Jess stopped pacing and turned to face me.

"But it's not Avery's mystery. This one's mine. So why would Avery get to do this too?" I didn't say anything as Jess continued. "She's my mother, so it's my responsibility to find her. Not Avery's. I try so hard to be the side piece in her mystery but this is my mystery and I will not be pushed to the side again."

"Avery is not pushing you to the side, you're just getting frustrated. We'll figure this out soon enough." I say, trying to calm her down. Jess shook her head at me.

"It was my mystery to solve but Avery's taken that again. She was the one who inherited the money even though my mother was connected to the Hawthorne's too, she was the one who was destined for a future worth celebrating, she was always the important one. If I had been important someone would have wanted me, my mother would have wanted me, and we wouldn't be in this mess." Jess looked down as if she was realizing what she had said.

She paused for a few moments, a few tears dripping down her cheeks. I went over to her and pulled her into a tight hug, her head resting on my shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry I said all that. It isn't Avery's fault my life turned out the way it did, I was just taking my anger out through her." She nuzzled her head further into my shoulder.

"Your life would have been a lot worse if I wasn't in it." I said jokingly, trying to lighten up the mood. Jess laughed slightly.

"I know you meant that as a joke but my life would be worse without you in it, you've helped me so much and even though this sounds kind of snobby I am really happy you've never been interested in Avery." She looked up at me as she said the words and I instantly felt a wave of guilt wash over me. I had liked Avery in the beginning.

Jess had always caught my eye but I had also liked Avery. Avery and her beautiful brown eyes and strong personality, what wasn't there to like. The one problem had been though that Jameson had also liked Avery, and I had seen first hand how two brothers fighting over one girl played out, so I shut my feelings down almost as quickly as I had realized I had them. And then I had kissed Jess in the pool and I had realized that it was never really Avery, the entire time it had been Jess. She, not only had the same eyes and strong personality but she had also been the one to choose me from the very beginning. Now looking into her eyes I knew I had made the right decision because I felt I loved her more than I could have ever loved Avery.

Jess caught my expression turn to guilt before I was able to hide it. "You did like her didn't you?" A wave of hurt flashed across her face. "I knew it! I saw the two of you when we were looking for the Davenport. I saw you two together!"

"That was months ago! And she was hurt, I needed to protect her!" I hated myself for raising my voice but if Jess was going to throw out accusations then I had every right to defend myself.

"I told myself that it was just you being worried about her but I saw how you looked at her that day." Jess's words fell to a whisper. "It was the way you look at me."

I shook my head. "Jess, believe me I don't like her. It's you, okay? It's always been you." Jess paused, and for a minute I thought she was going to yell at me but instead she kissed me. When she pulled away she rested her head on my shoulder again and we stood there for what felt like forever in peace and quiet, just the two of us, no mystery, no family drama, and no distractions.

As Jess pulled away I saw her beautiful hazel eyes and smiled at her. The entire time I had known Avery and Jess I had thought that their eyes were identical. The same dark eyes that reminded me coffee and hot chocolate, but in Jess's I saw more. Tiny hints of gold accented the coffee-colored irises. 

Those had been the eyes I had fallen in love with.

"I love you, no matter what happens I will always love you." I whispered to Jess.

...

Later that evening me and Jess met up with Avery, Jameson, Xander, and Max to find more about dates Avery had found on my grandparents rings.

8-3-75.

9-7-48

Those were the dates engraved onto the bands of my grandparents wedding rings. Avery had originally thought that they could have been the wedding date, or their birthdays. It was a code, not a date.

Avery searched for a while well the rest of use tried to think of what the inscriptions could mean. The numbers weren't familiar to me and apparently not to any of my brothers either.

Avery got a call, breaking the silence and went over to a corner and whispered to the caller. After a few very long moments she turned back to face us.

"That was Libby." She said, Jameson stood up and went over to stand next to her.

"Did she find anything?" My brother asked, which got a small nod out of Avery.

"She found a note from Toby." Avery didn't say anything else. Jameson grabbed her hand when she didn't say anything to us.

"What did it say, Heiress?" Avery gulped and instead of answering us held out her phone. On the screen was the note, and on the note there was two words.

STOP LOOKING.

...

Chapter 9 is done!

I'm not sure where to go with the mystery with Jess's mother but I do know how it's gonna end just not how it's gonna get to the end.

Anyways I love writing Grayson's pov and hope you enjoy these chapters as much as I like to write them.

One last thing I had a suggestion to write a separate Christmas book instead of doing a chapter in this book. So I'm going to do that but Jess won't be in it. I want to write the story without Jess so other people who have read the Inheritance Games but not my series to be able to read it. So I'll post on here when I post the Christmas special.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next chapter.