Follow Me |e.d.|

chapter nine

-Grayson pov-

I walked into our room to find Ethan, hunched over the desk and furiously writing.

I immediately walked over, hesitantly putting my hand on his arm. "E? Are you okay?" I noticed the smudged pencil on his hand, he's been here for a while.

"Fine." He grumbled.

When we first got ourselves into this mess Jace made Ethan do all of his dirty work. Kidnappings, beating people up, and even killing some people. Ethan put on an outwardly mask of being tough, but on the inside it was killing him.

Eventually Jace found a new hit man—Corbin. And he started giving Ethan the jobs no one wanted—cleaning the bathrooms, stakeouts, and looking after new recruits.

"Okay." I said softly, stepping away as I watched him.

Ethan has always had anxiety, but it went through the roof once Jace was done with him.

Ethan says it's the guilt of all of the terrible things he's done to people.

It used to be worse, he would suffer from horrible panic attacks. Now, he's learned how to manage it. By writing. He's never let me see what he writes.

Finally he turned around, his hands smudged with charcoal, his hair tousled, and his eyes strained.

"What happened, E?" I said gently.

He shook his head, indicating he didn't want to tell me at the moment.

He looked down at his hands, staring at the dark marks.

Finally he spoke, his voice raspy and low. "I heard a girl screaming so I went out into the hallway..." He swallowed. "Corbin and another guy were dragging her...they...they said the chloroform wore off and she started screaming..." He paused.

I nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"I helped them stuff her sock into her mouth to shut her up..." He looked away, not meeting my gaze. "I guess it reminded me of another time, and triggered an attack."

"What other time E?" I asked quietly.

I've also learned that is helps him to talk through things.

He cleared his throat before saying, "Similar situation, the chloroform wore off, used her sock to shut her up..." He closed his eyes. "I killed her a week later."

-Blair pov-

Freya dropped me off at my room, I walked inside and starting closing the door when she said, "Wait!"

"What?"

She looked nervously around us. "Look, I know we said you'll be fine, but there are a few people you should stay away from..." She whispered.

"Who?"

She lowered her voice even more. "Jace, of course, and...my older brother, Corbin, he's tall with red hair like mine...and.." She stopped, bitting her lip.

"Who, Freya?" I was starting to get annoyed.

"Ethan."