forbidden love ~ g.d

e i g h t

Grayson's POV

I wait in the garden for Ethan to reappear again. A few minutes after he left he storms out into the garden. Grabs ahold of Jack's wrist, yanking him onto his feet. His fist connects with Jack's nose several times before the rest of us can process what is happening.

"You touch her again and I swear to go I'll-" Ethan shouts.

"The little slut deserves it" Jack spits blood into my brother's face. That's when I see Shay, tears streaming down her face as she begs Ethan to stop. It suddenly clicks in my mind.

"Yeah bro stop" I say calmly, making Ethan stop immediately. I bump him out the way as connect my own fiat with Jack's face.

"What's going on?" Aaron exclaims as blood splatters against the concrete flooring.

"He abused her" Ethan says, hugging Shay in his arms tightly. I turn to her, shocked that she couldn't tell me. My attention drifts away before I feel a sharp pain in my stomach. I fall backwards into the pool, my head hitting the bottom hard. I hear a loud splash before my world around me fades away completely.

***

"Please wake up baby" I hear Shay's voice as I slowly regain consciousness.

"What happened?" I murmur.

"Not important. Just open you eyes Gray" she instructs me. I open them slowly, the bright sunlight blinding me. A shadow is cast over me as Shay looks down on me, worried. A tear drops onto my cheek from her eyes as she wipes it away tentatively.

"Where's Jack?" I ask, everything suddenly flooding back to me.

"On the phone trying to book the next flight out of here." Ethan's voice booms through my head.

"I thought you were dead" Shay breathes. "You started floating on the top of the water"

"Well here I am baby girl" I say with a smirk. I sit up slowly, clutching my head.

"You need to go to the hospital" Ethan tells me.

"I'm not going anywhere while he's still here" I glare at Jack through the window.

"You don't have a choice" She says sternly. "Help me get him up" She orders as the two of them pull my onto my feet. I wrap and arm around both of their shoulders. I can walk perfectly fine but they like to feel needed from time to time.

"So I still don't actually know what happened?" I question.

"Jack punched you and you got knocked out in the pool" Ethan tells me as he seats me into the car.

"Not that." I shake my head. "Why were you beating him up? And why did I feel the need to get involved?" I look to Shay who shakes her head desperately at my twin.

"I can't not tell him S" Ethan pleas.

"Tell me what? I'm right here you know"

"Shay thinks she cheated on you" Ethan says bluntly as he straps himself in.

"What?" I exclaim as Shay pulls off the driveway.

"It's not how it seems" Shay says quietly. "Can we please not talk about it?"

"We have to talk about the fact that you cheated on me. With Jack?" I say looking out the window, willing myself not to get annoyed. How could they do that to me? I thought we were friends. "How long ago?"

"About a month"

"A month ago? For how long?"

"It was a one time thing. I told him it could never happen again" She mutters.

"Shay just tell him the truth" Ethan speaks up.

"Shut up" she says forcefully.

"What are you not telling me here?" I ask, puzzled.

"Jack forced himself on her-"

"Ethan stop" She pleas.

"No Shay. He has to know." Ethan says more sternly than I've ever heard him speak in my entire life. "He forced himself on her. She didn't have a choice."

"What did he do?" I ask. Shay reluctantly proceeds to tell me everything that happened. "And you thought you couldn't tell me?"

"I thought it classed as cheating. I thought you'd never find out."

"Shay you didn't cheat. I can't believe you've bottled this up for so long."

"Can we just forget about it? I did a pretty good job of doing so before it all got brought back up again" She sighs.

"Anything you want baby girl"

***

After spending 5 hours in the hospital, finding out there's absolutely nothing wrong and then driving back home, Jack is still there.

"I thought I told you to leave Jack" Ethan says slightly angrily.

"The next flight is tomorrow afternoon. It's fully booked but they're trying to find me a ticket" Jack explains.

"Can we all just make up? We never argue for this long. Not over some girl." Aaron complains as he sits on the couch staring at the black screen of his phone.

"She's not some girl." Ethan says. "She's my sister and I love her and I'm going to do absolutely everything I can to keep her safe so I don't loose another one" He blurts before bursting into tears on the spot. Shay immediately wraps her arms around him as Jack glares at her.

"Look at her one more time and I'll-" I warn through gritted teeth.

"You'll what?" Jack asks mischievously.

"Shut up Jack. None of us want you here so why don't you do us all a favour and get lost" Shay says loudly as she attempts to comfort my brother. I take him in my arms as he cries into my shoulder.

"It's okay Eth. Nothing will happen to her. We won't let anything happen." I whisper. Cameron and Ethan were always much closer than I was with our sister. They had more in common- they're the creative ones, the emotional ones, the loveable ones. I'm the stone cold hearted one who 'doesn't care about anyone or anything'. I think we're the last words my father ever said to me. I left the airport annoyed that my father couldn't appreciate the fact that I had prior engagements. I couldn't go to the family function and I felt no remorse about it. He yelled at me in the car on the way there and then as we checked our bags in. If only I could go back now. Tell him that some stupid event wasn't worth them losing their lives. They died on the way from the airport to where they were staying. If they hadn't had to drop us off. If they hadn't had to take a different route. If I'd argued back for just a few seconds longer. They'd still be here.

"We're in this together kiddo" Shay says joining our hug. We don't care that our friends are on lookers or that Marissa and Jake have just walked through the door. All we really need is each other. I won't let anything come between us.