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Story: Before & After You

It didn’t have to be. Greyson had said as much himself.

This could continue.

I could believe that, couldn’t I?

I thought I could.

But all I really heard was,liar, liar—

Liar.

Sixty-seven Before

“WELL, ISN’T THISfucking precious,” Jaymes seethed from behind us, and my back stiffened.

I guess we’d gotten away with not having this confrontation for long enough; it was bound to happen. But I didn’t want to do this today.Not today.

Greyson’s arm slipped from my shoulders as he turned around, leveling his stare on Jaymes. “What?” he snapped.

“You heard me.”

Greyson stepped forward, and I wrapped my hand around his arm to keep him from going any farther.

Jaymes laughed, a slowclap, clap, clapof his hands as he cocked his head to the side. “Fuck me, but I never pegged either of you as backstabbers. Makes sense, though.”

Was he for real?

“You’re clearly delusional,” I spoke up. Hewas the one who’d finally gotten what he wanted, only to completely piss on it by sleeping with Sara behind my back. “You cheated onme, remember?” I ignored the tiny little detail that, technically, I did cheat on him, too.

And he laughed again. “You know, I actually liked you, and that’s saying a lot for me. But you know me, Jess. Youknowme.”Know that you’re an epic dick and an asshole? Yeah, I do…“I might’ve called you my girlfriend, but we weren’t going to be official until you were willing to make it official,” he said.

And yeah, I wanted to punch him. I’d never gotten the chance to the last time, thanks to Greyson. But it wasn’t worth it. The truth was, I still didn’t care that much. Especially not now. Not when I had the one thing I’d wanted, standing right here in front of me, defending me, straining not to punch Jaymes in the face himself.

Jaymes pointed his finger between me and Greyson. “Can’t say this surprises me, though.” He laughed. “You’ve got a type, don’t you? Sad, little depressed bitches…just like your mom.”

My next breath got stuck in my throat, frozen in my windpipe.What the fuck?

I didn’t know if it was the stress of him leaving tomorrow, or the purely fucking shitty things Jaymes had just said about his mom and me, but Greyson…

He just fucking lost it.

He pulled out of my grasp and had his fingers around Jaymes’ throat faster than I could blink. His fist reared back and swung across Jaymes’ jaw. Once, twice, nailing him hard in the face.

But Jaymes just laughed the entire time. Dude clearly had some serious fucking issues.

I grabbed at Greyson’s shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go. He’s not worth it. I don’t want to spend our last day like this,” I said, and that immediately snapped him out of it.

He stood quickly, chest heaving, anger still simmering in his eyes. If he could’ve killed Jaymes with a look, he would’ve right then. There would be a pretty little outline of Jaymes’ body on the ground where he laid.

Greyson gave him one last shove. “Back the fuck off,” he spat, and turned back towards me, grabbing my hand and leading me away.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He shook his head. “Not your fault.”

We walked through the campus and down the front steps of our school in silence.

Greyson stopped us in the parking lot, in front of his car, and pulled me into his arms, letting the weight of the world settle onto his shoulders with one breath. “I don’t want to leave you tomorrow,” he said.