Page 173 of Lessons In Grey

“Talk later, Rags.”

I hung up, shaking my head. Fuck, I was losing her.

“Greyson.”

“I’m fucking coming,” I snarled back. I shoved my phone into my pocket and stormed over, yanking the mask from Azrael’s grip. “We need to find and kill this fucking prick, or I swear to God, I’m going to lose my shit.”

Azrael gave me a small smile. “Good.” He pulled his own mask from the duffle bag and slid it on. “Let’s go.”

I slid on my mask. It covered the bottom half of my face, tied on with four black silk strings. It was black, the smile wide and filled with sharp teeth. It started at the bridge of my nose, leaving only my eyes and up for the public to see.

I needed to get home. I needed to get back to her, no matter the cost.

45

Emily

March 19th, 2022

Itapped my pen three times, eyes lifting from my pile of homework to where Jeremy sat across the table, grading.

It hadn’t been much easier these last few weeks, but I was putting in effort to understand more. The up in meds helped, but Matthew was concerned about what that was doing to my liver and kidneys.

After the proverbial beat down Matthew and Jeremy had gotten after Grey found out they were forgetting to tell me the updates, things had gotten better. They both repeated the messages exactly as Grey sent them, and I was learning to be okay with the fact that it wasn’t my phone those messages were coming too.

Malachi had started coming by once a week to visit. We had signed the papers, giving the Glass companycompletely over to him, he had even talked to me a little about my publishing company, although not for long. I was hoping next time he stopped by, we could really go over it. He was a criminal, yes, but he was an incredibly successful businessman too. Anything he had to say about how I went about this would help.

I was starved for touch, starved for affection, starved for everything, but this last week, I was feeling down for an entirely different reason.

His eyes finally lifted. “Yes?”

My eyes fell to his papers. Finals were coming up and the stress of school was getting to everyone. I could see the circles under his eyes, and it didn’t help that the time difference between us and Grey was consistently changing.

“Em, you’ve gotta tell me. I can’t help if I don’t know.”

Ash and Syn had found a house. They were going to put down a down-payment and move in after graduation. They were still coming over from time to time, but now they were truly starting their lives, they didn’t have time to drink and watch television. I was so incredibly happy for them, but God, it was lonely. A different kind of loneliness than I had felt before.

“Do you think he’ll make it to graduation?” I asked, finding his eyes again.

Jeremy straightened, sympathy coating his beautiful blue eyes. “I can’t answer that.”

I nodded, turning back to my work. “I know.”

“Emily—”

“It’s just graduation,” I replied with a shrug. “It’s not that important.” I had bigger things to worry about anyway. I found a building to look at for my publishing company, although I probably shouldn’t be too hopeful. It was only me right now. I didn’t need an entire building, not yet.

I had forms to fill out, a plan to figure out, things to do. Graduation, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’tthatimportant. Not more important than hunting down a man who was tryingto hurt Grey.

“It is important, and I can’t promise you anything, but I do know that he will move Heaven and Hell to be there for you.”

I tapped my pen three times before reaching for a gummy worm, sliding along my tongue slowly, praying the sour crystals would scrape away all the bad like they were supposed to.

When I finally swallowed, my eyes lifted back to Jeremy’s. The light blue, his long lashes. “Your eyes remind me of Charlie,” I finally told him. “Not the color, but the light. The goodness in them.”

He straightened, a soft smile touching his lips. “Yeah? Bet I’m funnier though.”

I laughed lightly and rolled my eyes. He was. He was far funnier than Charlie. “I never thanked you and Matthew for staying,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “So, thank you. I know it hasn’t been easy.”