Page 39 of The Brothers Hawthorne

“Stop talking,” Grayson ordered.

“My emotions are real,” Xander continued. “Go on. Say it.”

“I’m hanging up on you now.”

“Who’s your favorite brother?” Xander called loudly enough that Grayson could still hear him even as he removed the phone from his ear.

“Nash,” he answered loudly.

“Lies!”

Grayson’s phone vibrated. “I’m getting another call,” he told Xander.

“More lies!” Xander said happily. “Give my regards to Girl Grayson!”

“Good-bye, Xander.”

“You saidgood-b—”

Grayson hung up before Xander could finish, switching over to take the incoming call. “Yes?”

On the other end of the line, there was silence.

“Hello?” Grayson tried.See?He aimed a mental retort at Xander.I say hello.

“Is this Grayson Hawthorne?” The voice that asked that question was female and unfamiliar. There was something about it—the tone, the timbre, the spacing in that question—that kept him from hanging up.

“To whom am I speaking?” Grayson asked.

“That doesn’t matter.” She said that like a simple truth, but the subtle rise and fall of her pitch and the way her voice sounded to his ears made him think that she was wrong.

Who this girl was mattered very much.

“To whom am I speaking?” Grayson repeated. “Or would you prefer I rephrase the question: On whom am I about to hang up?”

“Don’t hang up.” That wasn’t a plea, but it wasn’t quite an order, either. “You’re speaking with someone fromwhomthe Hawthorne family has taken a great deal.”

The way she tossed the wordwhomright back at him did not go unnoticed—and neither did the way her voice got a little quieter and a little deeper.

“I presume that when you saythe Hawthorne family, you mean my grandfather.” Grayson kept his own tone even. “Whatever Tobias Hawthorne did or didn’t do, it’s none of my concern.”

That was a lie, the kind that even Grayson couldn’t will into being true.

“My father shot and killed himself when I was four years old.” The girl’s voice was calmer than it should have been. “I was the only one in the house with him when it happened. And do you know what the last thing he said to me was?”

Twin muscles in Grayson’s throat tightened. “How did you get this number?” he demanded. In the back of his mind, he could see it.A small girl. A man with a gun.

“Shockingly, asshole, my father’s last words were notHow did you get this number.”

Grayson waited for her to tell him what those last words had been, and when she didn’t, he realized: She’d hung up.

I am not responsible for the things the old man did.Grayson stared at the phone for far too long, then put it down. The only things he was responsible for right now were testing that blank index card for invisible ink and getting dressed.

What the helldidpeople wear to high school parties?

CHAPTER 29

GRAYSON