A Ruthless Game | Grayson Hawthorne x reader

12

     "What the hell happened last night?!" Jameson barged through the door.

     Grayson, Oren, Alisa, and I were all in one of the many Hawthorne libraries. Alisa and I were sitting in antique leather armchairs while Oren stood firmly and Grayson leaned on a pillar made of dark oak.

     "Ah, Jamie. There you are," Grayson started. "I assume you heard about our little scare in Blackwood last night."

      "What were you thinking?" Jameson stormed toward Grayson, pushing him off the pillar. "She could've gotten killed because of you," Jameson's tone was sharp enough to cut glass. "Again."

      A muscle twitched in Grayson's neck. "That's enough, Jamie."

     "You just couldn't help yourself, could you? You just had to take her out there, didn't you?" Jameson stepped closer to Grayson.

     I get the feeling they're not talking about me anymore.

     "That's enough, Jamie. She is not Emily."

     Just then, the doors to the library opened once again. This time my brother walked in.

     "Y/n!" he ran over to me. "Are you alright?" I stood up and hugged him.

     "I'm fine," I assured him. In all honesty, I've been so wrapped up in everything that I forgot all about Aidan.

     "Where were you?" Aidan turned to Oren. "Why weren't you protecting her? That is your job, no?"

     "Aidan..." I rested my hand on his shoulder.

     "My team and I are looking into the threat, and Miss Pierce will be under stronger supervision," Oren spoke.

     Grayson took a step forward. "Oh, don't even get me started on you," Aidan looked at him. "What were doing with my sister in the woods at night?"

Grayson opened his mouth to speak.

     "Aidan, it's fine. He was helping me with something," I spoke up. "Just drop it. No one got hurt. That's all that matters." I looked around the room. Grayson's eyes were filled with regret. "I have to go."

"Oh wait," Alisa called after me. "Before you go, I wanted to get you out more, so this Saturday you'll be attending a charity gala and next Sunday an NFL game."

"What a great idea!" Aidan exclaimed. "Send the girl who could have died a just a few hours ago into the public eye. What could go wrong?"

"I am only doing what I think is best for my client."

"I agree with Aidan," Grayson interjected.

Just then, the library doors opened for a third time. This time Xander and Thea stood in the doorway.

"Why's everyone look so serious?" Xander questioned. "Actually, don't answer that. Anyways, since Thea will be staying here this weekend, Mrs. Laughlin is preparing a special dinner tonight."

A special dinner just for Thea. Great! I glanced over at Alisa and saw her looking between me and Thea. I saw the moment a light bulb went off in her head, and I knew I wasn't going to like whatever idea Alisa had come up with.

"What is it, Alisa?" I asked.

"I want you and Thea to go shopping for the gala together. I'll tip the press. It'll be good publicity."

"What?" Thea and I both exclaimed at the same time.

•  •  •

     I practically ran to my room. I wanted to escape all the madness that was my life now.

     "I could've died last night," I whisper to myself. "I could have died," I said, chuckling this time. That's my life now. Billion dollar fortunes, vacation house galore, paparazzi following my every move, and death threats. What fun!

     "Ms. Pierce" I turned to see Grayson following behind me. "I'm sorry for the events of the other night."

     "It's not your fault, and besides, nothing happened anyway," I assured him. "For all we know it could have just been an animal. I'm the only one who saw something, and my eyes can be unreliable in the dark." I think I was trying to convince myself of this more than Grayson.

"I shouldn't have brought you out there," he said lowly.

Just then Mellie approached us. "Dinner will be served in an hour. You'd better start getting ready, miss."

• • •

I changed out of my sweats and into black slacks and a cream cashmere sweater. Then, I curled my hair and did some light makeup. This took me right up to the hour mark, so I walked to the dining room.

When I arrived, Aidan was standing outside of the door talking to Alisa. That was the first time I've ever seen her smile. Skye, Zara, Nan, Nash, Xander, and Thea were already inside. We were just waiting on Jameson and Grayson.

Finally, everyone was seated. Jameson sat to my left, Aidan on my right, and Grayson across from me. This totally won't be awkward. Before we were even served our food, I could feel Aidan staring daggers into Grayson.

"A toast," Skye stood holding a glass of champagne.

"Put the glass down, dear. Lord knows you've already had enough," Nan spoke. I tried hard to stifle a laugh.

"A toast," Skye repeated through gritted teeth. "To y/n," she smiled. Everyone raised their glasses and looked at me.

"To you, Hieress," Jameson whispered in my ear.

The look on Thea's face caught my eye.  I've never seen someone look so smug. What was she going to do?

     As if to answer my question, she raised her glass and began to speak. "A toast," she said. "To Emily. May she rest in peace."

     Jameson slammed his glass down on the table and stormed out. Grayson's grip on his glass tightened, and his face contorted a little.

     Zara shot Thea a dirty look. "What?" she asked innocently.

• • •

     I waited about 10 minutes then excused myself and went to find Jameson. After 15 minutes, I found him on outskirts of Blackwood Forest.

     "Jameson!"

     He turned and looked at me. "Heiress..."

     "Whatcha looking for?" I asked, trying to brighten the mood.

      "A clue of any kind," he sighed. "A symbol. A number. Anything."

     "Need any help?" I smiled. He tossed a roll of duct tape to me.

     "Look for carvings on the trees. Mark off the ones you've checked," he explained. "We've got our work cut out for us, Hieress."

Hours had passed, and we were still looking. I glanced at my phone and saw it was close to midnight.

"Jameson, look." The tree in front of me had a carving. "Tobias Hawthorne II," I read.

"I don't think this is what we're looking for but-"

Jameson's thought was cut off by a deafening sound. I felt a sudden pain in my shoulder and saw tree bark and leaves go flying. "Get down!" Jameson yelled. But I didn't hear him. The world went silent as I looked through the chaos.

Finally, my body was slammed into the ground as Jameson pulled me down. Bang! I realized now what the sounds were. Gunshots. And one had hit me. I looked around. My shoulder and the surrounding ground were covered in blood. Jameson's body covered mine. I heard yelling in the distance. Heavy footsteps approached the two of us.

I've been shot.

I realized now that this threat wasn't just a shadow in the dark like I had previously hoped.

It was real.