But what about him? Who had ever taken care of Grayson?
There aren’t any words I can say to make this better. Instead, I simply keep my arms tightly wrapped around him. Encompassing him and doing my best to support Grayson as he processes the news that his mother will most likely not ever be coming home now.
She may have killed a horrible man, but the law won’t see it that way.
Time passes endlessly before there’s a horn honking outside.
“They’re here to take me. I haven’t been given any choice in the matter.” Grayson places a kiss on the top of my head, finally untangling us. “Thank you, Sunday. You don’t know how much it means to me to have you. Your support. This is going to be hard—on all of us—but we’re going to get through it.”
“Should I come with you?” A familiar strand of light flickers when I ask the question, and apprehension washes across my skin.
“Jane said you could stay behind.” He runs a hand through his hair, a nervous tick. “Fuck, I wish I could just take you home, but no, you shouldn’t come with. Shouldn’t be put in the public’s eye anymore than you already have been.” Grayson levels me with an intense stare. “I need you to stay away from the police station. All three of us are being taken there. You have your phone?”
I withdraw it from my shorts pocket and click it on to show him. The light that shimmered before is now gone, but in its wake is a deep unsettling feeling of déjà vu.
“Good girl. Jane is sending Luna to come get you and keep you company. And we’ll meet you at home once this mess is sorted. Please just stay safe for me?”
I go to tell him, I need him to know what I’m feeling, but the horn outside is relentless now as they lay on it.
Grayson pecks me on the lips before turning to leave. “I’ll be back soon.”
And then he is out the door, slamming it shut behind him.
He doesn’t even realize I haven’t agreed to wait for him here.
No, I have entirely different plans.
***
In my gut, I know that I shouldn’t be apart from the three brothers. That I should join them, even if it means waiting outside of the police station.
Less than two minutes after Grayson leaves, I find the keys to Darius’s truck. But when I do, I see the light again, it’s unmistakable, and this time when it flickers, it stabilizes. Red and purple and white, all swirling together wrapping around the keys, encircling my wrist, tangling up my arm.
I try to drop the keys, but I no longer can.
What is going on? Why are the strands back?
What has changed?
My vision clouds, it darkens, and I want nothing more than to run to my men—which was my original plan—but now I’m not so sure.
The red never leads to anything good.
My attention shifts to my phone in my hand, a second later it lights up, but not from the strands. Someone is calling me.
What is this?
Veronica’s name flashes across the screen, but it only causes my confusion and anxiety to ramp up.
I haven’t heard from her since before everything went down at the Thorne’s. Darius said she and William made it out…maybe she heard the news of Sterling Thorne?
I go to answer it, but then the stringed light that held the keys to my hands jumps from them to the phone, and the keys clatter to the ground with a loudclack!
I didn’t want to answer it, but it’s too late.
“Sunday?” It’s William’s voice on the other side. I will myself to end the call.
I instinctively know something isn’t right. This isn’t going to go well.
