Page 38 of Lilies in Autumn

“Yeah, well don’t. Which way?” I point him in the direction of my hall. Luckily, the common room and my hallway are empty, saving me from one tiny slice of mortification today. With Grey’s long legs, we’re in front of my room and pushing our way inside in seconds. CeCe bolts upright on her bed and gasps at the intrusion. Even in her sleep-addled state, she takes one look at me and knows something is very, very wrong.

Granted, Greyson carrying me into my dorm room at ten in the morning is a giveaway.

“Aves, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Her eyes narrow on Greyson’s hold. “You slimy motherfucker. What did you do to her?”

“Put me down, Grey,” I whisper. His arms don’t budge. “Grey, please.”

A grunt is the only response I receive before my feet are back on the ground. “C,” I start, my voice breaking almost instantly. “S-someone saw us, saw me.”

CeCe climbs off her bed and runs over to me. Her hands grip my shoulders, as though she can physically hold me together. “Aves, what do you mean someone saw you? What happened?”

I take a breath and recount how Grey and I were together in a classroom and someone, somehow, snuck a picture of us in a compromising position. I don’t give her particulars on what we did in that room because there’s only so much chaos I can experience in one day. And, if I know anything about CeCe, a revelation like that would send us into complete mayhem for the rest of the morning.

“Wait a goddamn minute, Ava Maria,” CeCe fumes, dropping my shoulders and pacing the room. “Are you telling me some cretin took a picture of you without your knowledge and then accused you of being a whore?”

She knows the answer to the question and doesn’t wait for my response before she continues, “I will kill them, snuff the life out of them with my bare freaking hands. If they think I don’t know my way around a ten-inch scalpel just because I’m an English major, they have another thing coming.”

Grey steps closer to me, reminding me of his presence. With Cece’s ranting, I nearly forgot he was in the room with us. “She’s kind of terrifying,” Grey whispers loud enough so that I can hear, but quiet enough that CeCe doesn’t notice. I smile at his observation. It’s times like this when I thank God I have her on my side.

“You have no idea.” She once put bleach in Mikayla Johnson’s shampoo during a sleepover because she told me I couldn’t eat a donut for breakfast since I was too fat. Where she found bleach, she never said.

“Okay, so, here’s what we’re going to do—”

“No,” I cut her off. “We’re not going to do anything. I am going to lay low and pray to God that this just goes away.”

“And how exactly do you plan to lay low?” CeCe questions me, not buying into my plan based on her tone.

“I’m going to go to class, hang out with my best friend and new friend, and come back to my dorm and sleep.”

“And what about me, vixen?” Grey’s voice fills the space. Stealing my shoulders, I turn to face him. Before I can respond, he continues, “We talked about this. You’re not icing me out or pretending I’m not there. I don’t give a fuck what this pussy behind the phone says. It’s not fucking happening.”

“But I care, Greyson,” I rasp, trying everything I can to keep the tears from spilling over. “They’ve threatened me, taken pictures of me, and called me a whore, all because I’ve been in your orbit. What if—” I stop, a sob breaking free. “What if they send it to my parents? Greyson, I can’t have my parents see me like that.”

He stares at me, taking in the tears freely running down my face. “Is this what you want, vixen? To be done with me?”

I shake my head. “It’s not that I want it, Grey, but what choice do we have? I need to think about what’s best for me. I can’t risk having my naked body advertised around campus.”

Grey steps close to me, bringing his hand to my face before capturing my lips with his. The kiss is brief but possessive, as though he’s marking me as his and taunting me to challenge him. “I’m going to figure out who this asshole is and fucking end this. Answer my texts.”

“Grey, I just told you—”

“Oh, I’ll leave you alone, physically. But, like I told you, I want to know you, and I’m going to get to fucking know you, vixen. We’re not over, not by a long shot.” He places a quick kiss on my lips before turning toward the door and walking out of our room.

“Holy shit,” CeCe breathes out.

“I know.”

I threw myself on my bed after Grey left, blocking out reality, and CeCe’s constant stream of threats to my blackmailer, as she calls them, by napping the morning away. I don’t feel better when I wake up hours later; I don’t look better either. Truthfully, I don’t smell too good. The musk of sex lingers on my skin and permeates the air, reminding me of how good Grey made me feel before everything came crumbling down. I huff and roll to my side, what a shit show. While most college freshmen are free to explore their newfound freedom and sexuality, I acquired a fucked-up peeping Tom, determined to have me star in the next Marymount porn. It’s not lost on me that this would only happen to me.

Picking up my phone from the docking station on the table beside my bed, I check the time, noting that I have two hours before my next class. I have missed calls and texts from my mom and Sera and a voice message from Grey. I know he’s determined to find the person responsible for the texts and picture, but I can’t deal with him right now. Whether it’s Felicity or one of her followers, I just want them to leave me alone. Even though it sucks, it seems like avoiding Greyson for the foreseeable future is the solution to this problem.

Unlocking my phone, I bring up my mom’s contact information and call her. It’s just before noon, so she should be on her lunch break. The phone rings twice before she answers, nearly shouting my name into the receiver.

“Ava! Baby, we miss you so much. How is everything? How are your classes? Are you making friends? Any boys?”

I laugh, rolling my eyes at the rapid-fire questions so typical of my attorney mother. “Calm down, Deborah. One question at a time before you give me a headache.”

“You’re so difficult, Ava. Let’s start simple, how are classes?”

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