Mr. Grey

Chapter 44

***MR. GREY'S POV***

Two. More. Weeks.

Just two more weeks and school will be completely over. The teachers will be packing up their things, the underclassmen will forget everything they learned and focus on summer activites, and the seniors will be graduated and moving on with their lives. More importantly, Sasha will be completely out of my life and Danni can become my whole life.

Sasha texted me about our little arrangement early Friday night. She proposed that I drive her to the empty warehouse just outside of town the following morning. I was going to reject her offer at first but the sooner we get this stupid kiss over with, the sooner I can focus all my energy back on Danni.

For the rest of the night I watched tv while eating Domino's, trying to keep my mind busy but Sasha was all I could think about. I played different scenarios in my head but none of which would get me out of kissing her.

I was half asleep on my couch when I heard my phone ring from the kitchen. I groaned and decided to let it go to voicemail. Just a few moments later it rang again. My muscles wouldn't allow me to get off my couch. When my phone rang again for the third time I forced myself to get up. I stumbled my way into the kitchen and used one of the chairs to help me stretch.

When my sense of balance returned, I went over to my phone which was charging on the counter. When I saw that it was Danni who had called me three times I was immediately awake. I called her back and she answered instantly.

"Lucas..." Her voice cracked. "...It's Sasha."

"What? Where are you? Danni?" I couldn't think straight. Danni was obviously crying, so much that I could barely make out her words.

"I'm...I'm at...I'm at the hospital." Fuck. I'm starting to get tired of the hospital.

"Danni, just breathe. Is anyone there with you?" I grabbed my keys and was at the door in a matter of seconds.

"My dad's here." She croaked. Her dad? Why is her dad at the hospital with her? Did he cause this?

"Don't worry, I'm on my way." I hung up the phone and sped out of my driveway and to the hospital. Before I met Danni I would have had to use my GPS to get to the hospital but now I knew it by heart.

Thankfully it was late and there was absolutely no traffic. I parked in the closest spot to the entrance as possible and sprinted to the front desk. An older woman was there and I told her Sasha's name. She obviously didn't care for my urgency because her typing was painstakingly slow. She finally was able to direct me to the ICU and I was gone in a second. Running past the elevators, I practically broke the door down that led to the steps. Taking them three at a time I finally got to the right floor.

Almost immediately I locked eyes with Danni, standing outside Sasha's room. Her eyes were red and her face was completely pale. She must have just stopped crying. I more calmly walked over to her and offered her my arms. She willingly accepted and I pulled her into a tight hug, the ones she loves the most.

"Everything's okay." I softly repeated to her. I could feel her tears falling off her chin and onto my shoulder but I didn't care.

"Lucas..." She said dryly.

"What's the matter?" I broke our hug and put my arms on her shoulders. I noticed her nose was irritated from wiping it repeatedly with a tissue. Her bottom eyelids looked swollen and there was a small amount of crust forming on the inner and outer parts of her eyes.

"She died." Her eyes were glued onto mine. I was speechless. A million questions went through my brain in a matter of seconds but all I could do was just hold Danni in my arms.

"Sh-sh-sh" I repeated. I held on to her with all the strength I had at one in the morning. Before I knew it I felt a hand on my shoulder and pulled me away from Danni.

I didn't even get to see the owner of the hand before it met with my face.

"Dad!" I heard Danni practically scream. The punch wasn't enough to knock me to the ground but I did have to take a few steps back to regain balance. I stood up straight to see an older man with hair that went to his shoulders. Danni had her hand on his chest and he was examining his hand. It didn't seem as though he was looking for any wounds, he looked surprised with himself.

"Oh... My god I really don't know what got into me." He looked at Danni apologetically. She looked back and forth between him and I then finally went over to me and looked at my face.

"You should get some ice on it." She said calmly. "I'll go get a nurse." With that, she walked out of sight and it was just me and her dad alone in the hospital hallway.

"I really am sorry." The man said truthfully. "Just seeing Danni hugging you made me... jealous, i guess you could say." He let out an awkward chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm Jack by the way, Danni's father." He held out a hand hoping that I would forgive him. I hesitated but shook it anyways.

"Lucas. And don't worry about it." I tried to find the right words. "I would have done the same."

"You have kids?" He asked casually.

"No, actually." I said bluntly. "I moved here just last summer."

"Gotcha." Jack nodded and tried to think of something to say. "How do you know Danni by the way?" He didn't seem angry which calmed my nerves just a bit.

"I'm her calculus teacher, actually." I needed a reason as to why I was here. Think, goddamnit.

"No kidding! How is she doing? I'm assuming well considering her whole deal with MIT and all that." I was beginning to like this guy. Danni hasn't told me anything about him ever since the whole incident at Christmas. I just assumed that he was completely gone from her life.

"She's doing excellent." I emphasized. "She's incredibly intelligent, a great girl." I tried my best to not sound completely creepy.

"That's great to hear." He smiled with his mouth closed. "She gets that from her mother." He put his hands in his pocket and looked around. Thankfully Danni came back just in time to break the awkward silence.

She was holding an ice pack and was about to put it on my eye for me but stopped herself and handed it to me. "Sorry it took so long." She smiled briefly.

"Don't worry about it, thank you." I took it from her and put the burning cold ice pack on my eye.

"How's your sister doing by the way? Is she still getting her radiation?" Danni took a seat outside of Sasha's room. It took me a second to realize she was giving me a reason to be here.

"She's doing much better, thanks for asking." I was amazed at how clearly Danni could think considering one of her classmates just passed away.

"I'm sorry to hear about your sister, Lucas." Jack met eyes with me then went over to Danni. "We should get you home, you need to rest." He took her hand and helped her up. "We can come back tomorrow, I'm sure the police are going to want answers." Danni just nodded and followed him to the elevator.

"Nice to meet you, Jack." I walked with them to the elevator then signaled that I was going another way.

"You too. And thank you for taking care of her when I was gone." For some reason, I didn't think he was talking about just tonight....

"Anytime. Drive safe." My words made Danni flinch ever so slightly and I knew exactly why Sasha died tonight.

She was driving while drunk.

***A/N***

Sorry for not updating/giving you guys a heads up on Thursday! It's been such a hectic week you have no idea. Now that I have the time, I'm going to try and update every day this Memorial Day Weekend! Thank you everyone for reading and understanding! Love y'all!!!