Page 92 of Freestyle
Gray exhales through his nose. Not angry, not surprised, just ready. His fingers tighten around the phone, jaw locking as he rereads the messages.
He doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t blink. Just breathes in slow, measured silence.
Then, voice like flint, he asks, “How long have you had these?”
I swallow. “Just now. They all came in at once. I—I woke up and saw the screen light up.”
Phoenix is already on his feet, pacing like the floor’s not solid under him, but Gray never breaks eye contact with me.
“Okay,” he says, calm but razor-edged. “Then you did the right thing telling us.”
Gray’s voice is quieter now, but lethal around the edges. “They’re escalating.”
Phoenix nods once, already climbing out of bed, reaching for his phone, grabbing a hoodie. “We lock this down now.”
Gray pulls me into his chest without a word and I go, because this is the only place I feel like I’m not coming apart.
“I’ve got you,” he whispers against my hair. “We’ve got you.”
“Give me the phone. I can trace the number. We aren’t waiting around anymore, we’re taking this fight to him.” Gray tosses him the phone, then begins rubbing circles along my back.
Across the room, Phoenix catches the phone mid-air, already moving. He doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t ask if I’m sure, he just says, “I’ll find him.”
And somehow that scares me more, because I believe him.
Gray tightens his hold, like he can feel me spiraling. Like he knows how close I am to unraveling.
“Breathe, baby,” he murmurs in the shell of my ear as goosebumps trail along my skin.
I do.
Not because I remember how, but because he does. Because Gray’s saying my name like it’s a vow, and suddenly the air comes easier, like my lungs forgot how to collapse when he’s this close.
In front of us, Phoenix is already in motion. Quiet, dangerous. His fingers fly across his phone screen, jaw tight, mouth set like he’s already halfway into war.
“We’re not waiting,” he says without looking up. “Alberto is done with his little mind games. This endsnow.”
“What’s the plan?” I ask, hesitantly.
The anger on Gray’s face is barely restrained, simmering beneath the surface. But it isn’t the heat I see, it’s the steel.
He nods toward Nix, giving him the floor.
And that’s when the panic truly hits.
Because whatever Nix is planning, I don’t think I’m going to like it.
“Do you remember when we were talking about your favorite place on campus?”
My stomach flips. “The fountain.”
“You’re going to walk through those doors and go straight there. Don’t talk to anyone, don’t look at anyone. Just walk, and when you get to the fountain, sit down and wait for us. Understood?”
I nod.
“No! We are not using her as bait, Nix. That’s totally out of the question. No way in hell. Are you even listening to yourself right now?” Gray growls. the vibration from his voice almost palpable, and I swear the ground shakes beneath his feet.
“I-Ican do it. Will it lead him to me?” I ask, a nervous twinge in my voice.
