𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 || 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞

Nine

❥ "𝐈 𝐎𝐖𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘."

Avery left Grayson and me alone in the altar, after watching Eve get dragged out the door grudgingly. The last thing I wanted was to be left alone with him, but there were things that needed to be said.

"You really don't." But he did. I had out all my trust in the boy, and he broke it. To say I felt used was an understatement.

"You know I do." Grayson say down next to me on the steps of the altar. "I, owe you more than you'll i ever know."

"I don't know what you want me to say," I said.

"I'm not asking for forgiveness, hell, you don't have to ever like me again." Grayson sighed. "But i'm just asking you to understand."

I could try to do that, because though I hated what Eve stood for to him, I knew why he did what he did.

"Okay," I said. "Fine."

Grayson shut his eyes tight. "Ever since Emily died, I have been tormented by it. Sometimes, I hear her voice, like a ringing sound in my mind." I could see him playing out the scene in his mind. Emily. Dead. Water.

"None of it was real, no matter how much I wanted it to be." Grayson turned to face me. "But you? You were real. You are real."

You were real to me, too. "So why? Why did you ruin everything?" It was brutal, but honest.

Something gave in Graysons face. "I wish I could tell you. Sometimes, I feel like I still owe Emily. And no matter how much I love you, apart of me might always feel this way."

He was admitting it, giving me an out. Grayson Davenport Hawthorne was never going to be over Emily Laughlin.

"I don't love her, I feel like I owe her something."

There was a difference, but that difference still caused the same problems at the end of the day.

Would we ever be able to make it work?

Every time, we just ran into this same wall we couldn't break through. I could only do so much for
him at the end of the day.

"I just need time," were the only words I could manage.

Grayson nodded, obviously pained, but didn't say anything about it. He never did. He was back to pretending like none of it mattered, when it all mattered.

"Right, I understand." Grayson stood up. "I'll leave you to it."

"Would you stop saying that?" I didn't know what it was going to take to convince him he was enough.

When Grayson Davenport Hawthorne didn't want to be convinced, it was pretty damn hard to try and convince him.

"I can't keep pulling you down, not when you're on the way up."

"What the hell happened to me and you? Remember what we said?" It would always be us. No matter what.

Grayson took one more swig of the bottle, finishing it off. "Things change. People change."

I shook my head, a small and pathetic laugh leaving my lips. He was willing to walk away from everything, while I was fighting to keep us.

"Fine," I said, a tear escaping my eye. "Have it your way. I won't stop you from self sabotaging anymore." I stood up and ran out of the wine cellar as fast as my feet could carry me.

Grayson called me the next day and apologized, saying he didn't mean any of it.

So no, we didn't break up.

But we might as well have.
—
❥

"How is my favorite Gramb sister?" Xander sat down on the couch next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"Not good," I grumbled. I was waiting for Avery to get out of the bathroom so we could run the USB on a computer.

"Cheer up, EMG." Xander squeezed my shoulder. "Does your sour mood have anything to do with Mr. Haw—"

"Don't even say his name," I snapped. "I will kill you."

Xander removed his hand from my shoulder and held his hand up, surrendering. "We wouldn't want that."

Avery walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. "Okay, let's do this."

Tobias Hawthorne's wing still freaked me out every time I was in it. Dead man walking vibes. All four of the Hawthorne brothers— along with me and Avery— were huddled around the desk.

"Are we ready?" Avery asked.

"Ready as we'll ever be, heiress." Jameson placed his head on Avery's shoulder. "Let's do it."

Avery plugged the USB in, and that's when I was met with the face of the man who started it all.

Tobias Tattersall Hawthorne.
—
❥

a/n:

so only 5 more chapters left..