Chapter 7 - Jade: You Hurt Me
“You’re running again, aren’t you?” His chocolate-colored eyes pierced right through my soul.
I hadn’t thought that anyone would come home, and I had thought that I could make a successful getaway. I had thought I could handle this place, but I couldn’t. So much had happened already, and the funeral was still two days away.
Seeing Astrid at the diner had been my tipping point. She had been the one nightmare from my past that had made my life so damn difficult. She was the bride of the devil.
She had made three years of my high school career unbearable. She had organized for people to mess with me for no damn reason. Well, there was a reason, and he was standing right in front of me.
“I don’t owe you an explanation, Grayson. Now please move.”
“Are you really that selfish that you are going to leave him in his hour of need? I knew you were a bitch, but this is low even for you Jade.”
His words stung. I didn’t want to leave, but I had been here less than 24 hours, and I just felt overwhelmed. I ran from this place for a reason.
“I tried but I can’t do it. I thought I could. I really did, but I can’t. This just hurts too much, and I feel like I’m drowning.”
“Boo-hoo. Get over yourself. Life sucks. We get it, but that doesn’t give you the excuse to just flake on your brother while he is mourning his mother. He asked you to come because he needs you, and you are just going to run out on him?” He was seething. “But then again, that is what you do best. You run when shit gets a little hard.”
He was piercing right through my chest. I could see the hatred he held for me plain as day in my mind. All those choices I had made years ago were coming back to haunt me.
“Are you talking about Ethan, or you are talking about you, Grayson?”
He scoffed, “Ethan, of course. Whatever happened between me and you is dead.”
I tried to sidestep him, wanting to get out of the house, but he blocked my path every single time.
Grayson then shoved past me, grabbing my suitcase in the process and rolling it back inside.
“Grayson!”
He ignored me and started carrying the suitcase back upstairs.
“Grayson, put my bag down. I’m going to be late for my flight.” I was lying. I hadn’t booked one yet, but he didn’t need to know that.
“I will,” he called over his shoulder. “In your room. You aren’t going to flake on Ethan, Jade. He needs you, and you are being selfish and a pussy.”
“Excuse me?” I stormed up the stairs to my old room where he had taken my suitcase.
“You heard me.”
When I got to the top of the stairs, he had already entered the room. I followed closely behind. He threw the suitcase on the floor, and it crashed with a loud bang, but I also heard a loud crack.
I rushed over to the suitcase that had cost me a fortune to purchase, and I saw a crack at the top.
“Are you kidding me?” I seethed, turning to face Grayson. “This suitcase cost me 500 dollars, Grayson.”
He scoffed, “Why would you even buy luggage for that much?”
“It was good quality.”
He quirked his eyebrow. “Clearly not. It cracked after being put on the ground.”
“You dropped it.” My fuse was very short, and he was testing me. “You know what? I don’t have time for this. I’m leaving.”
I went to grab my suitcase from the floor, but he grabbed my hand pulling me towards him. I smacked right into his chest causing me to look up at him.
“You aren’t leaving, Jade.” His chocolate brown eyes were mesmerizing, and his scent surrounded me. It was a delicious blend of masculinity and pine that had my heart hammering in my chest. I could feel his hot breath wafting against my face.