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It rang, and rang, andfucking rang.
“Hey!”
“Maxine, oh thank fuc—”
“You’ve reached Max. I hate voicemails so this better be fucking important. If it is, make it quick, otherwise, email me at—”
I ended the call with a deep sigh and nearly cracked my phone from clenching through the frustration.
“Grey!” AJ shouted, and I spun to find them both waiting by the sidewalk expectantly.
You know what...fuck it.
I tried.
Corvus said himself that AJ was one of us. If he meant it, then there was no reason for him to want to rip my fucking head off. If he didn’t...well, that would be his problem to deal with because I couldn’t very well go and hunt him down backstage and leave Ava Jade’s side. Not with the possibility of her stalker still being out there.
He could be here right now. From his text messages, it seemed like he was always lurking.No, I’d stay with her and deal with the consequences later.
“Coming,” I hollered, jogging over to them as I pocketed my phone, reaching for the joint dangling from Becca’s fingers at her side. I put it to my lips for a good long drag and exhaled deeply, coughing a bit as the smoke scraped up my lungs. It was good shit.
“Greyson Winters,” Becca trilled, taking her joint back with a look of approval. “Welcome to the party, handsome. Let’s go find you a ticket.”
Dare I say it?
As Becca dragged me through the paint chipped doors of the underground venue, jostled on both sides by other anxious fans, I had to admit it…I was havingfun.
We weren’t even in the main venue yet, and already I could feel it, a bubble of excitement in my chest ready to explode. As we were herded down the narrow corridor and out onto the floor, a smile pulled at my lips and lifted the edges of my eyes. Eyes that must’ve shone with the glow of the neon lights pulsing above in time to the music.
The band currently on stage was one I wasn’t very familiar with but enjoyed listening to nonetheless. I let Becca pull me into the meat of it, brushing shoulders with her and Grey and about six other people as we danced.
Becca laughed as the song came to an end and those around us cheered, I tipped back my head to let loose a wolfish howl, raising my hands to clap with those around me.
I caught Grey staring and whatever bit of ice remained crusted around my heart began to thaw at the look on his face.
It was as though I could read his mind with that single glance.I’m happy you’re happy, he seemed to say, but more than that. There was relief there, too. So deep that it hurt to look at. Had I been that withdrawn lately?
Thinking back to the night of the attack, I realized I had been. I’d hardly left the loft save for classes and the odd meal with the guys. And they’d left me to process everything on my own, only popping in every now and again to ask questions, showing that they were working to hunt down my stalker just as surely as I was.
They wouldn’t like what I had planned to finally catch the motherfucker, but if everything worked out, whoever it was would be dead and then none of us would have to worry anymore.
If he wasn’t dead already. My phone had been oddly devoid of threatening messages since last week, and I was starting to think the fall really had been too much for the bastard to recover from after all.
It would make things easier for me, that was for sure, but truth be told, I wanted to be the one to finish him off with my bare hands, and maybe a blade or two. It was a waste for a sadistic fuck like him to die without my being a part of it.
Too easy.
“Hey,” Grey shouted as the band on stage announced that they would play one last song before welcoming Primal Ethos on stage. “Where did you go just now?”
“Hmm?”
“Come back,” he urged me with an encouraging grin, slipping his hand into mine. But something pained flickered behind his amber eyes and I saw worry there that I hadn’t noticed before. Something was going on, but whatever it was Grey seemed resolved not to let me carry any of the burden of it. Preferring to be a grouch the whole way here, at least until now.
“Stay in this moment, AJ. You deserve it.”
Something fluttered in my chest, and I gave his hand a squeeze, nodding that I agreed even if a part of me thought I deserved all the misery the world could muster to give me. I’d ask him what was eating at him later. Help him if I could.
“Come on, Aves!” Becca screamed, twirling as the last song from the opening band started to play, holding her hands out to me as she came to a stop. “Dance with me, babe!”
