Forever And Ever

25. Emery

I keep my head on Grayson's chest long after Devyn and Leia walk out of my room.

"Can we go for a drive?" I ask Grayson quietly.

"You want to?" He mumbles.

"Yeah," I breathe.

"Okay, let's go," Grayson says as he stands up, pulling me up with him.

We walk through the living room and Devyn turns to look at us but doesn't say anything.

Grayson unlocks his car and opens my door for me.

"Thank you," I smile up at him.

"Stop thanking me," he sighs and shuts the door before walking around to the driver's side.

I look up at the sky and see dark clouds. It's probably going to rain soon.

We drive for I don't know how long before any of us speaks.

"Are you okay?" Grayson murmurs, slipping his hand into mine.

"Yeah, why?" I smile softly at him.

"You're just so quiet right now," his eyebrows knit together in concern.

"I'm fine, Gray. Promise," I squeeze his hand.

"Okay," he sighs, his eyes flicker to me for a second.

"When is your trip? The one you're going on with Devyn?" I ask quietly.

"Next week," he answers hesitantly.

He and Devyn are going to New York to celebrate their graduation in a couple of months.

"You think Devyn would find out if I stayed home from school all week?" I waggle my eyebrows at him.

"As much as I'd like you not to go," Grayson laughs at me. "I'm pretty sure he'd find out somehow."

"Damn," I murmur. "How about you just stuff me in your suitcase then?"

"I think your brother would kill me if I stuffed his sister into my suitcase," he chuckles.

"Oh, come on," I grin up at him. "He wouldn't have to know. I wouldn't say anything and we just won't tell him. He'll never find out."

"Don't tempt me, Emmy," he smiles.

"Fine," I sigh dramatically.

"It'll go by fast," Grayson squeezes my hand reassuringly. "And if something happens, just call me. I'll come back and—"

"No," I smile softly at him. "You need to stay out there and not worry about me. It's supposed to be fun for you, and it's not going to be if you're stressing about me the whole time. I'll make sure I don't stay home alone anymore."

"Okay," he peruses his lips.

"Besides, I've always wanted to go to New York, so if you go, you can take pictures for me and it'll be like I did go," I tell him.

"Okay," he laughs softly.

I grab my phone as it beeps with a message.

Devyn: Don't come back home yet.

"What the fuck?" I mutter.

"What's wrong?" Grayson looks over at me for a second, before turning his attention back to the road.

"Devyn just text me to tell me not to go back home yet," I murmur.

Emery: Why not?

Emery: Did you blow something up?

Devyn: Not something. And I didn't blow them up, FYI. Just don't come back yet. Stay with Grayson.

"I think we should go back," I chew on my lower lip.

Grayson nods and quickly turns the car around the first chance he gets. It shouldn't take long to get home because we aren't that far. We've just been driving in circles pretty much.

We pull up to the house and see a car pulling away. It's too dark to see much but I have a feeling I know who it is. My breathing speeds up and Grayson swears under his breath.

We jump out of the car as soon as Grayson parks it and quickly walk inside.

"Who was that?" Grayson demands the second we walk through the door. When Devyn looks up at us, it's clear who it was. Devyn has a cut on his lip and his hair is a mess. Jack.

"I told you not to come back yet," Devyn grumbles.

"Yeah, well, I'm not a very good listener," I mutter.

My hands are trembling at the thought of Jack coming back here again. He's not going to stop.

Grayson works on grabbing stuff to help Devyn clean his cut as I quickly walk to the bathroom. I lock the door and rest my head against it.

My hands are shaking so badly and tears stream down my face. Jack came back here again. He's not going to stop. This is going to keep happening. It doesn't matter how many times I try to stop him. I don't want him to be able to touch me again. I can't deal with—

"Emmy?" I hear Grayson knock on the door.

I quickly open it, not trusting my voice to answer him.

He walks inside the bathroom and shuts the door behind him.

"Hey, look at me, Emmy," he says softly, willing me to look up at him. He takes my shaking hands and kisses my fingers gently. I look up at him and he smiles encouragingly.

"Good job, Emmy. Good," he nods. "Now I need you to breathe. Come on, Emmy. I need you to focus. Focus only on me, don't think about anything else. I'm right here, he can't hurt you again, I won't let him. Take deep breaths for me."

I try to do as he says, but I end up just gasping over and over again.

"Good job, baby," he kisses my fingers again. "Keep breathing. Just like that."

I spend another five minutes gasping down air, and Grayson keeps telling me how good I'm doing.

"How'd you know how to do that?" I whisper after I'm sure I've calmed down.

"I used to have really bad panic attacks," he says softly.

"I know that, but I didn't have—"

"I think you did, just not a very bad one," he says gently.

"Oh," I murmur. "Is Devyn okay?"

"He's fine," Grayson searches my face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am now," my face flushes and I look down. "Thank you. I don't know if I would've been able to calm myself down."

"Don't be embarrassed," he says, tilting my face up so that I'm looking into his eyes. "You don't ever need to be embarrassed, especially because of something like that."

Looking up at Grayson, I realize just how much I love him. I'm one hundred percent in love with him.