Page 67 of Lessons In Grey
Islid the two keys into a red box with a green bow and while the excitement of seeing her face light up when I handed her this box gave me a type of nervous energy I wasn’t quite used to, worry filled me as well.
I checked my phone again. It was 1 o’clock. She hadn’t texted me once.
She wasn’t asleep, I knew that much. She could never sleep in that house, that’s why she tried to get every minute of rest she could at the school. My other thought was that perhaps she was just nervous, which was why I had been sending her encouraging texts all morning, but it wasn’t like her to ignore all of them.
Even on her off days, she sent me a smile.
Beckett had said to me once that I had always been attracted to broken things. Things that needed fixed or saving. That’s whyI was invaluable to his brother.
We each had a part to play in The Family, aside from our titled positions.
I was the soft, compassionate one. Jack was logical. Azrael was the weapon we brought in when nothing else worked, unhinged, untethered. Everett was the passionate one. Malachi, he was our leader, and Beckett? Well, he was mostly just the fun Uncle, the advisor, I would say.
I thought it as an insult, being so soft. I thought I was seen as weaker than the others because I cared too much about the souls of this world. It took a long time for me to understand that just because I liked helping people, it didn’t mean that I was weak.
I wasn’t sure what Beckett would say about me now. I suppose Emily was as broken as they came, but it wasn’t her brokenness that had drawn me in, it was her ability to craft words into something that could destroy hearts or mend them.
She was…beyond everything. Beyond beautiful, beyond intelligent, beyond emotional. She was beyond. My beyond.
I set the box on the kitchen table and called Malachi, mainly just to keep my mind off of Emily, but also because I had seen a car following Emily recently and it kept slipping my mind to call him.
I hadn’t thought much of it this last month, but I suppose it was time to question my father on why he thought it necessary to put a man on my girl without telling me first.
“Greyson, good afternoon! How are you doing on this fine Saturday?”
It was a beautiful day out. “Who do you have on her?” I asked as I opened the fridge. I wasn’t hungry, but fuck, my mind wouldn’t stop.
“Matthew,” he answered, no less cheery than before.
Matthew? God. “Why?”
“Because you care for her. I may not be the most loving of fathers, but when my boys find their soul, I must abide by myown rules, even if I have yet to approve.”
His rule to protect our souls at all costs. I had thought it dumb when I had just been a teenager, but I understood it now. My soul was out there walking around, breathing, living,being. It terrified me every second that we were apart.
Malachi saw it all though. My brothers and I had our nightly fucks all around the world. Toys we kept around for days, sometimes weeks on end. I never knew how he could tell the difference between playthings and souls, but I did appreciate his superpower.
“Where is she?” Shit, this wasn’t about that.
Even so, it couldn’t hurt to check.
“Home. Lovely, by the way. Beautiful little neighborhood.”
“Does he have eyes on her window?”
“Curtains are closed.”
I worked my jaw, my hand tightening around the neck of the water bottle I had just grabbed. Shit.
“Are you expecting a call?”
“A text,” I said through my teeth. Control it.Controlit. You are better than Azrael,control it!
Malachi was quiet a moment. “Would you like me to send Matthew in?”
I closed my eyes, a war waging in my mind. “I trust her. She is strong, she is, I’ve seen it.”
“Not to be crass, Greyson, but every kitten needs to be taught that it has claws before it can learn how to wield them. You have a good heart, my son, you’re a protector. Follow your soul and let the barrel of the gun lead the way.”