Page 74 of Lilies in Autumn

“Hello? Shouldn’t you be in class right now?”

“Ava, get back into a building right now,” Grey says with panic in his voice.

“What?” I question. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Ava, baby, listen to me. Go to the nearest populated building and wait for me. You cannot walk around by yourself right now.”

“Grey, you’re scaring me. What the hell is going on?”

“Vixen, I love you, and I’ll answer everything when I see you, but right now, I need you to listen to me and stay calm. I’m coming to you. What building is closest to you?”

“Uhm…” I pause, glancing around the quad. “Howard Hall is closest, but I don’t see any lights on inside.”

“Fuck,” he grinds out. “Okay, stay on the phone with me. Walk to Vernon, Dante has a class there in the lecture hall. When you get inside, slide into a row in the back.”

“O-Okay,” I stutter, my instincts telling me that something is very, very wrong.

“You’re doing good, vixen. Is anyone around?”

I look around and notice that other than a woman sitting with her head buried in a book at one of the nearby picnic tables, there’s no one around. “I see one person at one of the picnic tables outside Howard, but other than that, there’s no one close by.” I hear the start of Grey’s engine, followed by the crunch of his tires on gravel. Grey’s driveway and road are smooth, as is the parking lot by his ethics class. “Where are you?”

“I was at the Alpha Nu house.” His voice is tight like he’s trying to rein in his anger.

“Alpha Nu? Why would you go there? Did something else happen?” My anger starts to rise. The only reason Grey would step foot in that house is if he felt it would help me or our situation. Whatever reason he has for going there is, undoubtedly, a good one.

“Vixen, let’s wait until I get there to talk about it. I’m a few minutes away from lot sixteen. How close are you to Vernon?” Lot sixteen is at least a ten-minute walk from Vernon Hall, but it’s the closest parking lot to my destination.

“I’m just passing Howard, so maybe five minutes away.” I pause, looking back toward the picnic tables where the woman was sitting. I don’t see her anywhere. “So weird, there was just someone sitting at the picnic tables, but it looks like she left.”

“Baby, I need you to start running,” he pleads.

“Greyson, I doubt I need to—” I’m cut off by pain searing into the back of my head. “Fuck!” I yell, dropping down on all fours and dropping my phone on the ground.

“Ava! What the fuck just happened?” I hear Grey yelling through my phone. Before I can pick it up, a pair of white tennis shoes step into my line of sight. Looking up, I see Felicity standing above me with a malicious grin and crazed eyes.

“Tsk, tsk. So clumsy, Ava,” she taunts, shaking her head in mock concern. “Here, let me help you.” Felicity lifts an object in her hands—is that a freaking bat?—and poses like a psychotic Playboy bunny. “Say, ‘Bye-bye, Grey Grey.’”

“No—” I feel the smack of the bat against my head and hear the screams of Greyson coming through the phone at my side. But it’s too late; the pain consumes me, pulling me under until all I see is black.

—

Grey:

“Ava! What the fuck just happened?” I yell, pressing down harder on the gas. The moment Ava mentioned a lone person sitting outside Howard, I knew, I fucking knew, she was in danger. The thud that was captured by the phone’s receiver, followed by Ava’s screams, will haunt me for the rest of my fucking life. I press down harder on the peddle, breaking every speed limit in this goddamn town. My blood is pumping, and I’m eating up the distance between the road and campus, fully intending to drive on the fucking sidewalk to get to her. My jaw clenches as I hear the saccharine voice of the only person stupid enough to hurt what’s mine.

“…so clumsy, Ava,” Felicity’s disgustingly high-pitched voice assaults my ears.

“If you fucking hurt her, I’ll kill you. I swear to fucking God, I will fucking kill you for this!” I yell into the car’s speaker. “Leave her the fuck alone, you fucking cunt.”

Her voice takes on an eerie quality, “Say, ‘Bye-bye, Grey Grey.’” The call cuts out; I dial back her number but get forwarded to voicemail after one ring, letting me know that that bitch has the phone in her hand and that it’s still on. Not wasting time pulling over, I tell Siri to dial Dante and blow through every fucking traffic light before I pull into campus.

“Yo, Gre—”

“Call the fucking cops and tell them to meet me at Howard Hall. That fucking bitch has Ava.”

“Grey, what the fuck—”

I cut him off again. “Fucking Felicity. Call them now. My location is on, fucking track me.” Two years ago, Lincoln, Dante, and I shared our locations as a damn joke and just never turned them off. Our drunken decision just saved me a shit load of time. I hang up on him and pull into lot sixteen. It’s a five-minute walk from the lot but it will be a thirty-second drive if I floor it through the sidewalk.

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