Page 48 of Not Her Day to Die (Star-Crossed #2)

W e are still a panting sweaty mess when Grayson finally and carefully withdraws from me, he gently lets go of my arms and helps me up off his desk.

Bending over, I gather up my clothes.

I’m ready to go home.

He smiles fondly down at me. “The bathroom is through there.” He points to the door next to his desk. “How did you even get here?”

Appreciative of him and with Axel’s advice in mind, I march to it. “Axel dropped me off and told me to get through to you, that you were being stubborn.”

Grayson chuckles. “Of course he did.”

***

Stepping out of the bathroom, I can feel a change in the atmosphere.

Grayson is turned away fully, his phone pressed to his ear. “I’m not bringing her down there with me! My brothers and I don’t even need to be there!” Grayson is pissed, and it is apparent with his tone. “Arrested if we don’t comply? You have got to be fucking kidding me!”

Gravel forms in my throat, and I swallow around it uneasily. Walking up behind him, I place a gentle hand on his shoulder .

When he turns, his eyes are red, glistening.

“What’s going on?” I whisper.

He tries so desperately to put a mask in place, but I can see right through it. I know with certainty something isn’t right.

“Fine,” Grayson agrees to the person on the phone. “I’m at the restaurant, I’ll be ready in five.” He disconnects the call.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Sterling Thorne was let out on bail just a bit ago.”

Bile forms in my throat. “How? How could they? With all of the evidence against him?”

Grayson exhales, his hand comes up, catching in my curls, he tugs me to his chest. “He’s dead.”

Grayson squeezes me tighter to him, clutching me as close as he can.

“Isn’t that good? I don’t understand.” My words are muffled against his shirt. Relief intertwines with anxiety. Why is Grayson so upset? Why won’t he just say it?

“Our mother shot him. She killed him. My brothers and I have to go in for questioning now. Jane couldn’t prevent it.” Grayson shakes as he continues to hold me to him. His heart is beating fast and quick in his chest.

I don’t struggle or attempt to pull away.

“I hoped after Sterling was sentenced she would finally come home, that she would have the closure she needed to get past him. Of what he did to her.” Grayson’s voice is gruff, saturated in a plethora of difficult emotions.

Understanding sparks in my gut.

When Grayson took on the role of protector, of head of household, he did it with the hope that one day she would relinquish him of it. That he would be able to relax and simply exist .

But then she never returned, and for years, Grayson was forced into a role that wasn’t his to take.

He helped raise his three brothers, kept a roof over their heads, food in their mouths.

Watched as this town gobbled them all up and spit them back out.

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 loud clack!

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.

But whether it is fate or something else entirely, my phone is frozen and I can’t end the call.

“Sunday? Please talk to me.” The desperation is evident in his tone. “Please, it’s about Veronica.”

Shakily, I bring the phone to my ear. “I’m here,” I say. “Where is she? Is everything okay?”

“No it’s not. I need you to just listen please, just hear me out and then I’ll let you decide.” There’s arguing in the background. “I’m going to tell her! She gets to make the choice herself!” William shouts away from the phone, his voice breaking. “Sunday, it’s Maxwell he has–”

There’s a loud thud followed by a grunt of pain. My ear is filled with a whoosh, a crash, and then continuous static.

For a minute I think the call may have disconnected, but then the static is replaced with his words.

“Sunday School. ”

Luna said they thought he was dead, and maybe for a single instant I believed her. Or maybe I just wished for it to be true. But in my heart I think I knew he made it out.

Knew that he would return.

Knew that we weren’t done with him yet.

Placing a hand over my erratically pounding heart, I inhale deeply before answering. “Maxwell.”