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"A few days?" I bit my nail, my heart racing. My eyes jerked to the door as I heard girls talking in the hall. I lowered my voice as I spoke next. "What do you think thatmeans?"
Grayson sighed. "I have no idea," he admitted. "I don't know why Josh would – it doesn't make any sense. He was getting outsoon."
"I can't...I'm not in Charleston right now," I said quickly. "I can't...there's nothing I can do." Oh, shit. What if Erika needed meright now? I looked around, panicked. Should I call theguys?
"Calm down, Baby," Grayson said with a chuckle. His rough voice grated through the phone, low toned and sent shivers down myspine.
"Don't tell me to calm down," I snapped. His chuckle reverberated through thespeaker.
"I was hoping you had heard from her," Grayson said when he managed to stop laughing atme.
I hesitated, but eventually gave in with a deep breath. "The last time I saw her was the night I ran into you at the club," I admitted. "She was visiting her parents and wanted to take meout."
"Is that the night you were drinking?" Neither the question nor the way he asked it was in any wayinnocent.
"It's none of your damn business what I do with myself," Ihissed.
"I don't like it," he growled. "It's one thing if you're out with one of your boyfriends – they're all idiots, but at least I trust them to look after you. By yourself,you're–"
"They. Are. Not. My. Boyfriends." I spoke each word individually through clenched teeth, enunciating eachsyllable.
"Really?" Grayson asked. "Then maybeMarvin," he hissed the name, "just threatened me because you're such goodfriends."
I was speechless. My mouth gaped as I held the phone in front of me, staring at the screen. I shouldn't have been shocked. I knew Marv didn't like Grayson. I knew putting them together was volatile. But when had he had time to do that? Grayson was quiet on the other end for several moments as well and then with a small curse, he began talkingagain.
"Shit, I'm sorry," he said. "It doesn't matter. I – fuck – I'm sorry, Harlow. I'm just going out of my fucking mind. Josh is off the radar. I've tried looking through all his old contacts. I can’t… Marvisn’t—"
I cleared my throat and tried to stop my racing heartbeat. "Why does Marv hate you somuch?”
He was quiet on the other end of the line, but I knew he hadn’t hung up. I could hear his soft breathing, and then, “That’s probably something you need to ask him.” His voice was gruff,tense.
“It has to do with both of you,” I said, “andIris.”
He sighed. “Yea, itdoes.”
“So, why can’t you tell me?” I pressed. I wanted to know why Marvwasso volatile when it came toGrayson.
“It’s not that easy. Marv has hisreasons.”
“Then why do I feel like you purposefully antagonize him?” I snapped. “He isn’t just threatening you for noreason.”
“He doesn’t trust me.” Well,thatmuch was obvious. Before I could say anything more, he continued. “And he shouldn’t. Harlow, what happened between Marv and me – well, I don’t completely blame him for his hatenow.”
“If you really feel that way, why don’t you justapologize?”
“Not everything can be fixed with anI’m sorry, Harlow,” he snapped. “Sometimes things are more complicated thanthat.”
“So. Uncomplicate. It,” I said through gritted teeth. God, it felt like I was constantly saying that. “You – and the guys, because they do it too – all make it sound like it would be so difficult to set aside your differences and just get over the past. The past is the past, why can’t we leave itthere?”
“You don’t even know what that past is,” he argued. “For all you know, I could have killedsomeone.”
I paused but, no, he was just goading me. “Didyou?”
“Did I what?” I could hear him practically panting on the otherend.
“Did you kill anyone?” I didn’t think he had. He wouldn’t have been in Iris if they thought he was capable of that. And I just knew he had been part of Iris. It was the only thing that made sense. Grayson had already admitted as much anyway, though he hadn’t said the actualwords.
“No!” He huffed out a frustrated breath. I would bet anything he was tugging a hand through his hair right then. “Jesus, I’m just trying to make apoint.”
