Penance - Uncovering the truth, Secrets and confessions, and Twisted pasts

Chapter 23

RING! RING! RING! Grayson's eyes snapped open, his body drenched in sweat. His heart raced, pounding like a drum in his chest. It took a few moments for him to realize that it had all been a vivid nightmare—a terrifying dream that had felt all too real. It was just a dream, he reassured himself, but its remnants clung to his mind like a lingering fog.

Glancing at his phone on the nightstand, he saw a missed call from Avery. Grayson stared at the device, mirroring the way Alison had gazed at hers several times. He watched as the call ended, unanswered. Avery was probably wondering why he never picked up his phone. Grayson scrolled through his missed calls from the past week, counting a total of 20 from Avery, including the recent one.

Setting his phone aside, he rose from his bed and made his way to the shower. He shed his clothes and stepped under the water, relishing the cold water until his entire body felt numb. Standing there, he watched the tiny droplets trickle down his blond hair, trying to push the fragments of his dream aside. Grayson didn't want to analyse, nor think of his dream, but the last part puzzled him: Alison hanging from a tree in the abandoned garden at Harvard didn't make sense. Not yet, anyway.

With a final deep breath, Grayson turned off the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, and returned to his room to retrieve fresh clothes. That's when he noticed Alison still asleep on a bed near the window. He had forgotten that she was still there, in his room.

Alison clutched onto a pillow, the blanket slipping off her legs, revealing more skin than Grayson felt comfortable seeing. He approached her, gently tucking the blanket back into place.

In her sleep, Alison stirred, turning to face Grayson. Even sleeping, she exuded a delicate beauty. A strand of her hair fell across her face once again. Grayson's hand instinctively moved to tuck it behind her ear. But then, he stopped. The vivid recollection of her hanging from the tree invaded his thoughts. His hand froze in mid-air before retreating to his side. With an unwavering conviction born from painful truths, Grayson refused to allow himself to want Alison—or Avery, for that matter. He couldn't risk putting Alison on the board, just like his grandfather did with Avery. He couldn't let Alison become another casualty, shattered and broken by his own actions.

Breaking his gaze from Alison, Grayson moved away to gather his clothes, putting his dream behind him, ready to face the challenges that awaited them both today.