Page 137 of Eleanor & Grey

“Karla. What happened tonight?” Greyson asked once he and his daughter finally let go of each other.

She rubbed her left hand up and down her right arm, that was covered in some kind of junk. “Missy called me and asked if I wanted to hang out. I thought it was some kind of joke because she spent the past year ignoring me since she started dating Colton Stevens, a senior jerk, and well, Colton said he wouldn’t date her if she hung out with a freak like me.”

“Who’s Missy?” I asked.

“Karla’s old best friend,” Greyson answered. “Go on. She called you and what?”

“Well, she and Colton came and picked me up, saying they wanted to make up for not talking to me. They wanted to take me to a party at his parents’ house, since they were out of town, so after some convincing, I agreed to go. Then, I got here, and everyone just started calling me a freak, and they…they…” Her eyes watered over and she shivered, clearly reliving what had happened. “They said that my face looked like trash, so I should smell like it, too. And they all started dumping stuff on me, and rubbing raw meat and crap against me.”

Greyson was visibly livid. He glanced to the house. “Stay here, Karla.”

“What? No, Dad! You can’t—”

“I said stay here,” he ordered, marching straight for the house where the party was currently taking place. He pounded his fist on the front door. When a boy answered it, he had a smug look on his face.

“Uh, yeah?” he said, looking at Greyson.

“Are you Colton?” Greyson asked. “This your house?”

“Yeah?”

Greyson pointed to Karla. “Did you do this to my daughter?”

Colton looked down at Karla and then chuckled a little. “No, I think the tree did that to her when she got fucked up last year.”

Greyson tensed up and his hand formed a fist. The moment I saw this, I hurried up to the porch and stepped between the two.

“Greyson. Breathe.”

“Yeah, old man. You might have a heart attack,” Colton remarked, looking smug as ever. I wanted to hit him, too. “Hey, look everyone. Hunch called her daddy to come save the day. He smells just as bad as she does,” he joked, looking back into his house and making his friends laugh.

“Listen, you little shit,” Greyson hissed, his hands gripped tighter than ever before. “If you ever come near my daughter again, or say some bullshit about her, I’m going to—”

“Going to what? Kick my ass? Newsflash, old-timer, I’m seventeen. If you lay a hand on me, I will call the cops. You can’t hit a minor. I’m not stupid.”

“Let’s find out,” Greyson said, pulling his fist back, but I caught it midair.

“Greyson, you don’t want to do this,” I whispered.

“Trust me, I do,” he argued, his eyes piercing into Colton as if he was seconds away from murder.

“Greyson, look at me,” I ordered.

“No.”

“Greyson, look at me,” I demanded once more.

“No.” He tightened his arm even more, and I could feel the intensity coursing through his veins.

“Grey!” I placed my hand on his cheek and forced him to look my way. We locked eyes and I lowered my voice, feeling chills race over me as I stared into his fiery eyes. “This isn’t you. This isn’t you,” I softly spoke. The force of his arm began to relax and he began to lower it right as Colton decided to speak again.

“Yeah, and how about you get off my porch and go take a shower? You smell like your disgusting daughter,” Colton huffed.

For goodness’ sake, it was as if this little prick wanted to get his butt kicked.

Greyson’s strength resurfaced as Colton’s words hit his ears, instant anger rising once more throughout every inch of his body. He was so tense that I wasn’t certain I could hold his arm down much longer, but luckily I didn’t have to.

Lorelai came marching pass me, with butterfly wings on her back, and she kicked her leg up in the air, right between Colton’s legs. “You leave my sister alone, you little bitch!” Lorelai shouted, kicking Colton straight in his privates.

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