𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 || 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞

Two

"𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏," Xander said, poking his head next to me by my locker.

"Define help," I said, "because there's a lot that could go into that." Considering I had a full blown panic attack last night at the football game, there were a lot of things I needed help on. I needed to prioritize things in my life— more so, un-prioritize some things. People.

I was a senior, and because of my (stellar) record from my old school, I didn't have that many classes to take. Before everything— the inheritance, Grayson, the truth— college seemed nearly impossible. But now? It was tangible.

Focusing on school meant forgetting about Grant Ruth and Toby Hawthorne— and I wasn't ready to do that. I intended on finding Grant and making him answer every single question I've had about my life.

Why can't I remember things? What happened to my mom? Why can't—

"Earth to EMG!" Xander closed my locker and I flinched.

"EMG?" I said. "What does that mean?"

"Evelyn May Grambs, duh!"

"It's better than Ms. Grambs." I opened my locker back up and when I grabbed my calculus, I noticed a note stuck to the very back of the locker. "Xander, look at this."

"What is it?" Xander questioned, inching forward and squeezing his head next to mine. When he saw what I was looking at, he reached into my locker and peeled the yellow sticky note off the wall. There were multiple words written down.

𝐒!𝐮𝐭!

𝐂𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧.

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞? 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲?

𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲.

"Gosh, I'm gonna puke one of these days," slamming my locker shut, I fell back against the metal surface, and a loud groan escaped my lips.

"I know this is messed up," Xander points his finger at the note. "but, are you and Grayson?.."

"No," Xander titled his head. "I'm serious."

Xander wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me away from the lockers. "I know. I'm just looking out for you EMG. Things are getting complicated around here and Grayson," he swallowed hard. "I don't think he's over the Emily drama."

I knew that. That's why I told him we couldn't be together. So why does my chest hurt at a sentence I already knew to be true?

"I know,"

"Do you?"

I gently removed his hand from my shoulder. "Yes. Me and Grayson both want the same thing. The truth. That's the only reason we've been so close."

Lies. Lies. Lies.
—
❥

"Need some help?" Grayson walked into Hawthorne Foundations library, quickly glancing at all of the papers spread out on the desk in front of me.

So maybe I looked a little bit crazy.

"Nope," I said, popping the P at the end. "Just thinking." thinking of ways to find my I-thought-you-were-dead father who does-not-want-to-be- found.

"Hm," Graysons words trailed off and his tone suggested that he didn't believe me. I didn't even believe me. "then what are you working on? It seems like a.. mess?"

I looked up at him. "Are you not well aquatinted with the term mess?"

"Of course I am," Grayson grabbed one of the papers off the desk and examined it. He would find nothing, just like I had. "but that doesn't mean I make them."

Of course not.

He's Grayson Hawthorne, mess is not and will never be in his daily routine. He was tidy. The one time I had seen a glimpse of his room it was perfect. No clothes on the floor, no dust in the air. It was him.

Grayson placed the paper down on the desk and I could feel his stare burning lasers through my head.

Sighing, I dropped every single paper in my hand.

"Okay, what do you want?"

"I—" Grayson paused. "me and Jamie are going on a trip. To find my father."

Graysons father.

It was apparent Skye Hawthorne had been with more than one throughout her life, her sons being the living proof, but I knew she had never told them who their fathers were.

It could be dangerous. For all of them. For him.

Stop it. You made your choice.

"Sounds riveting." Shit.

Grayson raised his eyebrows. "Riveting? Since when was that in your vocabulary?"

My lips closed into a thin line before I said, "I've spent too much time at Hawthorne House, evidently." I gestured my hands to the walls around us. "Or anything Hawthorne related,"

Graysons mouth formed a small smile, one that I ached for all the time. "Well, I just thought I'd let you know," he looked down at the ground.

There was more to say. There always was with us.

After a short eternity of silence, I cleared my throat. I was already getting off track because of Graysons intrusion. "Right, well, you should probably get going."

"Yeah," Grayson said. "I probably should."

So why aren't you leaving?!

I am going to smash my head into the walls if he doesn't take his (beautiful) figure out of my line of view.

But I had been so busy wishing for him to leave, that I hadn't even realized when he had. And something in me felt incomplete.

Something was missing. Someone.
—
❥

a/n:

okay so guys 1). Evelyn still doesn't know Skye tried to kill her so that will play a part in the book 2). I have my plan with this series for the final gambit and you guys might hate be but what else am I good for if not creating angst 3.) can anyone tell me why wattpad won't let me upload background pics for the beginning of the story?! 4.) Evelyn hurts me bc she's so afraid to let Grayson love her because she knows he's not fully over Emily but he does want Evelyn. But, she knows she kind of "came back" from the dead bc grayson thought he killed evelyn all those years ago and she's afraid she'll just be filling the void of Emily.     So that was my almost weekend rant for u in the library during 5th period lunch :0

OKAY THATS IT SEE YA!! <3