𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 || 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞

Six

❥ "That little bitch." Avery stares blankly at the sheet of paper and the photos in front of us.

"Ms. Grambs, when was the last time you were in contact with Matthew?" I winced at the mention of his name. Relax.

I turned to face Oren with a cool and collective face,
"It's been at least two weeks.. I- I didn't think—" I didn't think this through. At all.

"I assure you, once Alisa gets involved, he won't be in the picture anymore."

My heart rate accelerated, "What is that supposed to mean? Are you going to—"

"What is going on here?" Grayson's voice sends an alert down my throat. He already can't stand me, so what will he think of this?

"Dickhead ex has been stalking her." Avery holds up one of the pictures to show Grayson. "And you." Grayson stares for a moment before walking over to Avery and taking the picture out of her hand.

"What the hell?" Graysons eyes meet mine and for the first time I don't see rage. I see hurt. Hurt for me.

Something about the way he looked at me, so warm and protective, it made me question something. Grayson Hawthorne acts icy, like nothing can hurt him, but there's always more than what meets the eye to these Hawthorne's.

"Don't worry Grayson, everything will be sorted."

As if on cue, Alisa rushes into the room, her heels clicking with every step she takes. "Why are you people giving me so many problems? The damage control is already at a peak with the inheritance situation!"

Libby enters the room seconds later, with Nash. "It's not her fault she's getting stalked." Defense was laced in her voice, and I couldn't help but smile at my older sister.

Alisa rolled her eyes, "You lot aren't the ones who will have to clean this mess up." She walked towards me and Avery and snatched the picture away from her hands. Examining it, she said, "We need a perimeter on Hawthorne House."
—
❥

"I'm really grateful for everything i've been given." Avery's words sounded fake, and anybody who knew her could attest to that.

"Really convincing, Av." I clapped my hands together for a couple of seconds, and Avery stared back at me, unamused. "What? You sound bland."

"Because I feel bland. This is a lot of pressure." Avery plops down next to me and I give her a lopsided smile. Her face drops. "Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't even ask. How are you doing?" She sits up on the bed, concern etching her features.

"I'm fine." Avery tilts her head. "What? I am!"

"I'm worried about you, Ev. You've been so off since we arrived here, and I—" She pauses, gesturing to the room around us with her hands. "This is a lot. But we need to be there for each other."

"I've been off? You're the one having secret. rendezvous with Jameson Hawthorne." Avery's face dropped immediately. "Oh come on, you're not that slick."

"We're just playing Tobias Hawthorne's game. Aren't you and Grayson too? Everybody's seen the pictures." Confusion fixes its way through my face and Avery shakes her head. "Shit, I—"

"What do you mean everybody?"

"I didn't know how to tell you, and Alisa said I shouldn't—"

"Spill."

Avery reluctantly pulls out her phone, and after various swipes onto different sites, she places her phone in front of my face. "Look."

Pictures. Me and Grayson.

On the news.

There were various sites claiming I was sleeping with him, and people calling me a con artist who slept her way into Tobias Hawthorne's foundation.

"Does Grayson know?" I said, gently pushing Avery's phone away from my face. She shrugged, "He's Grayson, he knows everything."

That was true. I may have just met him, but I already knew that Grayson Hawthorne was a force to be reckoned with.
—
❥

"So, theoretically, you have a stalker?"

I mentally cringed at the words coming out of Xander's mouth. "No."

"So it's just a guy who sends pictures of you and creepy messages?"

"Okay so maybe it's a little stalk.. ish? But I know the guy!" Reasoning with Xander was stupid, but it made me feel a little bit better. Matthew was stalking me, theoretically, but I didn't have to accept that now, right?

"Ms. Grambs." I told him to stop calling me that— wait what? I turned around to see Grayson standing next to my locker. In a suit. People were staring but it was evident he couldn't care less.

"You've got company. See ya!" Xander scurried away before I could protest, and my only option was to walk over to a blonde hair, gray-eyed Grayson Hawthorne.

Stop.

"I told you to stop calling me that."

"What else am I supposed to call you?"

"Oh jeez, I don't know, maybe my name?" To my surprise, Grayson cracked half a smile. That made me want to smile, even thought I shouldn't. "Why are you here?"

"We need to talk about your situation."

My partial good mood dropped. "I don't want to talk about it." So maybe I was avoiding a little too much, and by that I mean leaving the room when anybody talked about it, but what's the big deal?

Grayson's face stilled. "And I don't want to do a lot of things." His tone sharpened, and that was final. There was no way I was getting out of this one, because when Grayson Hawthorne wanted something, he'd be damned not to get it.

I opened my locker, attempting to cover his devastating features that were blocking the task at hand. "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

To my disappointment, Grayson slid in next to me by my locker, and we were close. Closer than before.

"I need you to promise me you haven't talked to Matthew."

My head jerked back. "What? You know I haven't—"

"Promise me."

"Fine. I promise." Now, I was looking straight into his icy eyes, sincerity laced in my voice. I wanted nothing to do with Matthew anyway.

Grayson looked like he was contemplating for a second before he said, "Eight, eight, one." And just like that, the conversation was over. We had loved on from it.
—
❥

a/n:

when the burn is slow 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️ sorry guys but i literally hate gym why do they make us do it like i'm so unathletic but ok

see y'all later :0