I nod, grinning. “Hell yes, that woman makes the best Shepherd’s pie. Is Ems home this weekend again? “
He nods, looking deep in thought. “Yeah, she seems to want to be home a lot lately. I hope I don’t need to worry about her and Andrews again?”
I snicker and he looks at me with one brow cocked. “What?”
Sighing, I grab his hand and tug him out of the common room and into the quiet hallway.
“Okay, you don’t have to worry about Andrews with Ems, because he’s seeing someone.”
“He is?” Grayson asks, and I can hear the relief in his voice. “Who’s the poor girl?”
“It’s Lottie,“ I tell him quietly.
He blinks and looks at me, surprised. “Lottie, as in your quiet friend, Lottie?”
I nod. “Yep, that one.”
Grayson shakes his head. “Is she crazy?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him with a shrug of my shoulders, “but she really likes him, Gray, and he’s told her all about him and Ems. She said he treats her good.”
Grayson scoffs, not looking convinced.
“At least you know he won’t be sniffing around your sister, and well, Lottie is big enough to make her own decisions. If he hurts her, then I’ll just have to be there to pick up the pieces.”
Grayson pulls me against his chest and rests his chin on the top of my head. “I guess you have a point.” He’s quiet for a moment, and then he leans back so he can look at my face. “I was thinking we could do something with Olly this weekend. There’s that new superhero film on at the cinema?”
“I love that idea,” I say, “But be honest, you just want an excuse to see the movie, don’t you?” I ask him with a knowing smile.
“Who, me? Never,” he says, giving me a cheeky wink.
When the other find out we’re going to the movies, it seems all the boys want an excuse to watch the movie, and it ends up being a group of us, including Dom, Izzy, Ben, Jacob and Molly.
Olly is bursting with excitement at the idea of being out with Dom and me and all our friends. It’s Grayson he adores though, and he gets a piggyback ride off him from the car park to the cinema, laughing delightedly.
Olly doesn’t move when the film comes on. Grayson nudges me and he gestures to Olly who is sitting between him and Dom and he is avidly watching the screen with his mouth gaping open. We share a secret smile. I love how Grayson is with my little brother, he always makes time for him and that means a lot to me.
We all pile out of the cinema and Grayson suggests we all head back to his for a barbecue. Olly is delighted when Grayson tells him he can come with us.
We pull up at Grayson’s’ home and all pile into the house.
“Go on through to the back,” Grayson tells us as we enter. “I’m just going to go change into some shorts.”
The weather is surprisingly nice today and even I am a bit warm in my jumper, even though it isn’t that thick. We head out through to the back and Dom takes charge and starts the barbecue up and he sends Izzy, Molly and I to the kitchen to get the meat from the fridge and all the supplies.
I’m piling the trays of meat up in my arms when I hear raised voices upstairs. I look at Izzy in question as she has clearly heard the same thing, looking towards the hallway puzzled. Two seconds later, Ems comes running downstairs in nothing but her panties and a t-shirt.
“Ev, you have to come stop him! He’s going to kill him.” Ems begs me, pulling me by my arm into the hallway.
“Kill who?”
“Grayson. He’s going to kill Owen. He found us in my room.”
The penny sinks in and I turn as Ems is dragging me out, “Izzy grab Dom, I think world war three is happening upstairs.”
Ems drags me upstairs and as we ascend and I can hear Grayson shouting and Owen asking him to calm down. We enter Ems’ bedroom, finding Owen in nothing but his boxers on one side of the bed, looking on edge, and Grayson standing on the opposite side, fists clenched and steam almost coming out of his ears. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this mad.
“Stay by the door,” I softly tell Ems, and she makes a noise of protest. “Trust me, stay here and let me handle this, okay?”
She looks frantically over at Owen. “Just don’t let him kill him, I care about him Ev.”
I quietly approach Grayson and wrap my hand around his bicep. “Gray. I know you’re mad, but this is Owen, one of your best friends.”
Grayson’s eyes remain fixated on Owen. “I’m going to fucking kill him.” He glares across the room at Owen, who gulps and looks towards the door as if wishing he could escape through it. “They were on her bed, kissing and shit.”
“Okay. So I know that can’t have been something you wanted to see — “
“Oh shit,” Says Dom, as he rushes into the room with Izzy close behind him and he takes Owen in his boxers.
“He broke the rule,” Grayson hisses, “We don’t hit on each other’s family.”
I nod, gently stroking up and down his arm. “But you kind of broke that rule with me.”
He turns his head and glares at me.
“Except you’re not fifteen and I haven’t known you since you were in nappies like this fucker has with my sister!” He growls.
“I’m sixteen Grayson and you can’t treat me like a child forever.” Ems pipes up behind me and I eyeball her to shut up before she riles him up even more.
“Look, I know this looks bad, but why don’t we let them both get dressed and then they can come downstairs and we can all talk this
