Grey zone

My blindfold is ripped off by Kai and I see Jace running his hands through his hair before barging towards me. I don't even have a chance to say anything, before he takes out a pocket knife from his jumper and slices my hands free from the chair.

I shake the numbness out of my hands and stand up with a scrunched up face, full of chagrin at the redness of my wrist.

Jace abruptly grabs my wrist and raises it up.

I give out a yelp and glance at his tense shoulders, feeling his grip on me like a vice. He clenches his teeth, locking his jaw and proceeds with a glare at the other two whilst Kai slowly approaches the situation.

"What the fuck is happening here," He says deeply in a tight tone. He lets the burning red mark be in clear view.

To my absolute shock, Elijah is the first to reveal himself now, taking off his black mask and shaking his head and fixes his afro with a look of annoyance passing his features before his gaze lazily falls on me.

My jaw nearly drops to the ground, with a million questions whizzing all over my mind. Elijah isn’t even Jace’s social group.

Why the hell is he here?

"Don't blame me. It was Grayson's idea," Elijah claims nonchalantly.

I shake my head in disbelief and stand up before them. “You guys are unbelievable,” I scoff, with my heart still racing like crazy. I squint at Elijah and he stares me down with a flash in his eyes like he wants to say ‘surprise!’ or ‘fooled ya!’

Jace's burning glare switches to Grayson swiftly. "Take that bloody mask off," He says in a low voice.

It's strange seeing Jace like this. It's strange to finally see the obvious similarities of him and Healer. To finally see Jace in his own and true front as Healer instead of the arrogant rich boy I’ve always seen him as.

Grayson rips his mask off to reveal a deadly expression, similar to Jace's. His heavy eyebrows are knitted together, and his sharp cheekbones are accentuated under the dim light, making his features more defined, and his dark hair slightly shiny.

They hold the same expressions, but both contrasted each other so much.

"What?" Grayson presses. "You think I would've just done nothing? She knows everything now!" His cold glare travels to me, and I cower a little as it intensifies.

"You didn't have to do this, Gray." It was Kai who spoke up this time. He steps forward into the circle and takes his cap off with his fringe falling right beneath his clear eyes. I can't help but just look at him.

He looks so much like my brother. The resemblance is uncanny and it tugs at my chest, making my heart ache slightly.

"Her father's a cop Jace...." Elijah adds quietly as he rubs his face with frustration, huffing out a loud sigh, taking his playful gaze off me.

Grayson begins taking menacing steps towards me. Jace swiftly drags me behind him, and I stumble backwards. They're both seething, chests moving up and down heavily and their eyes cooly assessing each other's thoughts.

Gold to grey. Grey to gold. Day to night. Night to day.

"We can't trust her," Grayson starts. "Girls like her will tell everyone." I swallow thickly, as Jace takes a threatening step closer.

"Quit this, Gray. You've kidnapped someone. We can't become monsters."

Grayson's eyes darken at this and he hardens his gaze. "Monsters? We're already ones aren't we?"

He looks around to Kai and Elijah who have their heads down, wanting anything but to be part of this tense atmosphere. "Look at the TV and newspapers. They call us a threat to society, vigilantes, and all other shit-"

"Well do you want to be that?" Jace counters. Grayson swallows thickly, and narrows his eyes. They stare at each other again, for a few more seconds, before I can't stand the thick silence anymore and come between them, pushing their hard chests away from each other.

"You guys seem like you're about to fucking kiss or something," I say.

Grayson suddenly bunches up the hood of my jumper, and lifts my head up so that I'm forced to look up at him with wide eyes.

"Let go of her, Grayson." Jace's voice is deadly now. Too low for even Kai and Elijah to hear but yet so strong and full of authority. He grips one of Grayson's hands that are on me, tightly, and I feel the others begin to edge closer.

"I don't trust you," Grayson hisses. I stare at the ever empty grey in his eyes. Something feels so lonely in them so hollow and just hopeless. Maybe Grayson sees himself as a threat to me, someone I should be afraid of, but all I see is fear and desperation.

"I don’t care what you think,” I hiss back. I stare at him a bit longer before knocking his hands off me. His eyes seem to flinch when I do this, catching him a bit off guard. I back away and look at him with heavy eyes. "I'll forget this ever happened. You're right, my father's a cop, and they already have a witness. Times like this is when you shouldn't be kidnapping anyone."

A side of his lips curve up, and he scoffs. "You’re telling me what to do now?"

I urge myself to suppress my glare but fail miserably. I can feel my face heating up, and my breaths becoming heavy with annoyance and fury. "It took me less than a few days to find out who you are. Yet you psychopaths want to run around kidnapping people to gain even more attention?." I warn through gritted teeth.

I look around in what seems like a large basement in some building or complex.

“Now where the fuck am I?” I ask as I pick up a sock from the dirty concrete floor that I've just noticed that has gone astray through my struggles.

I make my way out, brushing past Kai on the way who has slight humiliation written on his features. It’s hard to open the heavy door, but I do so and climb the winding stairs up, filled with the stench of metal and maybe even piss.

As I reach the top, I see a row of other doors all lined up. The whole building seems to be harbouring apartments and everything is out in the open. I approach the railings to look down, and see a small parking lot.

I make a sound at the back of my throat in confusion. Not long after though, the door behind me bursts open again and Jace is beside me.

"Are you okay?" A cool breeze happens to blow his hair away from his eyes, revealing beautiful light copper eyes, lit with embers of oranges and gold.

"I'm okay...." I muster, crossing my arms.

"They...." I look up to see him staring intently at me, with darkened eyes. "Did they hurt you?"

I shrug it off. "Apart from my feelings, no."

"I'm sorry," He says. I brush away a few strands of hair that have strayed from my pony-tail, and I suddenly become very conscious of my appearance.

I freeze at the sudden close interaction and he scratches his head, looking down slightly with his arms flexed and a conflicting look on his face.

I can only nod and try to suppress a yawn. To be honest this day has physically and mentally exhausted me and I just can't wait to just collapse on my bed and sleep.

But now that he's here, I can't just go home yet. This the first time I'm seeing Healer for who he truly is: Jace.

"Why couldn’t you just tell me who you were?" I ask quietly. “I already knew anyway.”

"I just didn't want you to think of me differently," He replies, slowly looking up, his blazing eyes always directly looking into mine again. "I knew what you thought of me so I only wanted you to see ‘Healer’. Not me."

I didn't say anything at first. I guess he's right. I judged Jace way too early. There's a reason why he doesn't go to school, why he was so adamant in dropping out of our project, why he doesn't make any friends out of his circle. It's because he's got more to his name than being just Jace Archer ‘the-most-wealthiest-student-of-Sevit High’.

But what I still don’t understand is why? Why do they have to do this?

"J-Jace, you’re like one of the richest heirs in the world…” He doesn’t say anything. “Why are you doing these things?

“It’s not about the money." He answers simply, with an unreadable expression. A corner of his soft lips curve up slightly before he looks away. “Well definitely not for me at least.”

Even though he's kind of smiling, it's sad.

His eyes fleet to a door nearby. He points to it, the shabby cream door with the number twenty-three. “That’s our quarters. Our safe house.”

I look around again at the rest of the apartment complex, filled with cracks, different smells and broken parts.

I laugh at the absurdity. “You of all people chose this place to be your headquarters?

“I bought the whole place out,” He says, crossing his arms. “It’s quite a camouflage don’t you think?”

“I guess…” I shrug and look back up to face him. “So is there a train I can catch to get home? I literally don’t know where the hell we are.”

Jace's breathes an amused chuckle that doesn't reach his eyes though, and holds up a long key. "You think after what happened to you, I'm letting you go home by yourself?"

"You're right. That'd just be rude."

Jace leads me to his motorcycle, and I hesitantly climb on.

The wind, the noisy continuous sound of the motorbike speeding through the roaming cars, and honking are loud and blaring; yet, all I can seem to focus on his my heart ramming in my chest as he gently takes my hand with his and pulls it closer around his waist.

"If you fall, I'll have to take responsibility," He says loudly over the busy streets, under his helmet.

I hesitantly wrap my arms around him tighter. I yawn, and my head unconsciously rests on his back.

I hope he doesn't mind.

"Keep-keep your eyes open, Arden."

I nod, even though he can't see me. "I know." Last thing I want to do is fall asleep on the back of a running motorbike. I let the scenery pass before my eyes, until my familiar neighbourhood does.

Just because I'm tired, that doesn't prevent me from remembering. I guess I now know where Healer lair is.

When no one else does, not even the cops.

He stops in front of my house, and I hop off. My fingers fumble to take my helmet off and I can see him reaching his hands to help. But my heart sinks a bit to see him retract them.

I hand him the helmet, with a small smile. "I'll see you around right?" I ask.

"To be honest, I'm hoping we won't." He looks way before his gaze falls on me again. "But I guess I can't help it now."

I look down briefly, with a smile playing on my lips. "You haven't asked me yet."

"Ask you what?"

"If I'm going to tell." He shifts his body slightly, and holds my gaze.

"You wouldn't be able to get away with that." His eyes light up and he smirks cockily.

And then I see a bit of the Jace I thought I knew, in him. His arrogant playfulness that never failed to trigger me. But this time, I’m no longer annoyed and wanting to rip the hairs on my head out.

This time, I anticipate the next time we meet.

I tilt my head to the side, and try to suppress my own challenging smirk.

"See you around then... Healer."

My mood has been lifted a bit after the debrief with Jace the next day. But that doesn’t mean I’m still not pissed at Elijah and Grayson for kidnapping me, as I make sure to shoot Elijah a death stare every time I walk past him in the hallways or see him flirting with a group of girls in the cafeteria.

At the end of another long day, I pack my books into my bag and close the locker with a bang, with Blair on my mind, still not answering my messages and failing to show to classes today.

She must be pissed that I bailed on her.

I strap my bag onto my shoulders and my head whips to a husky voice of Elijah coming towards me. "Hey!" I immediately take a step backward as he comes closer, reminded of the situation yesterday.

He looks at me with those electric green eyes that complement his dark complexion. I can't take my eyes off of them, like they're melting into mine.

I guess Jace isn't the only one with nice coloured eyes...

"What's with the look?" He asks, with a smirk. "Have you fallen for me already?"

All my fear vanishes, and I cross my arms with an exaggerated look of disgust. "No.... Just wondering the many ways to kill you after what you and that shit head did to me."

His eyes light up in amusement, as my frown deepens. "I'll make sure to convey this to him."

"Do whatever you want," I say, turning around to leave. But as soon, as I do, I feel his active footsteps behind me and then falling into place with mine. "What do you want?" I ask, rolling my eyes. I don't even have to look at him to know he's got that annoying yet charming smirk on his face, still.

"You’re different. Not like other girls you know?" I glance around at the prying eyes of so many girls, all with an envious and dangerous glint in their eyes like a knife's, and I stop in my tracks to face him.

I roll my eyes at his statement. “Different? Because I got kidnapped so easily by you?”

He nods sarcastically, and only huffs his chest more, out of confidence. "Are you running out of girls to kidnap now? Would you like me to introduce you to more?"

He scoffs. "There's no girl in this school that I haven't got a hold on."

I scoff. "Then what am I? A duck?" I roll my eyes, and attempt to make my escape but he sticks to my side like glue.

"You say your dad’s a cop" Elijah starts. "What kind of stuff has he got on us?" I stop to a halt and sigh, finally understanding what this is all about. I look up at his piercing grass green eyes that are gazing at mine, swirling with curiosity.

"You don't have to worry. I promise I won't tell anyone about you guys..." My tone is soft, and I try to make sure he hears every ounce of sincerity in my words.

Even though he holds his playing smirk, his eyes darken and the piercing green in his eyes become more deep. He stops me in my tracks and I’m forced to a halt. “I don’t know what you have over Jace or why the hell he’s making you an exception. Remember that you’re just a girl with a low status cop as a father and nothing you say will be viable." He says in a matter-of-factly way as he cocks his head to the side like he's teasing me.

“You can blabber all you want, but I can make your life here a living hell if you do -paint you as a crazy bitch who’s obsessed with us.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Do not wield your star status as a weapon against me. I haven't given you any reason to not trust me and honestly rather than a threat, an apology would be-"

Someone from behind, grabs my hand before I can finish my sentence. My head whips to face Grayson, who has an amused but dark expression that brings a wave of overwhelming emotions to pass over me.

"I'll take care of her," He lifts his sharp and structured chin up to gesture to Elijah. "You can leave."

Elijah plasters on a wide grin, and nods. "Do it before ‘Lover boy’ comes again.” I can only assume he’s referring to Jace.

"Hey!" I thank god that not many people are around to witness this anymore. If Elijah suddenly talking to a poor little scholarship student is enough for the school to gossip about, the quiet, aloof and bad boy of the group, Grayson, holding the said student's wrist, is.

I use my hand to attempt to rip his' off mine but he only tightens it, causing the veins on his muscles to bulge. "Let go!" I huff. "How many times do you have to kidnap me before it becomes trauma?"

Although I'm addressing all this to him, I feel like I'm talking to nobody, as he doesn't even spare a look towards me.

We're in the deserted hallways now, and he lightly pushes me against the wall. "How did you know about us?" Grayson demands. "Did Jace willingly tell you?" He narrows his eyes at me, and my brows knit in confusion.

"Why are you acting like you’re so great at hiding?" I hiss. "The cops may be clueless, but I’m not. You were sloppy and I pieced it together. Jace didn’t say shit." I can feel Grayson leaning in closer until I can feel his body heat radiating.

My heart picks up, and I hold in my breath.

"You’re a ticking time bomb, and we can’t have that." He says defiantly. I hesitantly peer up to see him looking intently at me, his gaze is sharp, and it makes me nervous.

His seemingly soft lips pressed together into a line, and for a moment, I can only focus on his face. The dark hallway makes his jawline look more chiseled, and the bridge of his nose to be taller.

He is honestly very handsome too.

"So what? Kidnapping wasn’t enough so you’re going to kill me to shut me up?" I ask out of frustration. "Don't think of me as a burden, or someone who had discovered your secret...." This time, it's him to look confused. He leans back a bit and searches my eyes for something I'm unsure of.

"Can't you just consider it as me sharing your secret with you?"

He doesn’t answer for a long time until he scratches his head in frustration and looks at me again. "Go." I look at him with wide eyes and he maintains his smouldering glare.

"You... You're-" I struggle to form coherent words, but my feet complies with his order, and I shuffle away from him. I turn around, but he speaks up again from behind.

"You." I slowly turned around to his side glancing at me, with his body still facing the wall, and his lips twisted into a scowl. “Don't ever appear before us again." His hard eyes leaves a nauseating feeling.

It's a feeling of injustice you feel when someone despises you for no reason. When you've done absolutely nothing wrong but that person would hate you regardless.

I feel a stone forming in my throat, one that I desperately want to choke out, along with the words that I want to spill.

"What did I do so wrong?" I whisper, barely enough for him to hear. He shifts his head to face me, with a look of chagrin still so vivid in his eyes.

I suck in a deep breath, as I recall the time Grayson had contributed into saving me. No matter how much he hates me, I still can’t seem to completely hate him back.

"All I wanted was to survive." I say. "I didn't ask to be a part of this." My eyes drift away from him, and I find myself staring blankly at the ground. “Everything would be easier for me too if I didn’t know.”

He seems to be taken aback, as he furrows his thick eyebrows in slight confusion.

"Everyone wants to live," I state. "Why do you hate me for it?" My voice now sounds a few octaves higher, and my eyes slowly travel back to him, with his body now fully turned to face me. He has a semi calculating look like he's inspecting my face, my emotions, trying to decipher me like I was an enigma.

"If I didn't scream, or if I refused your help back then, I wouldn't have figured you guys out and we wouldn’t be having this conversation and having all this be so damn twisted." I exclaim.

With a deep but shaky breath, I stare boldly with clear and glistening eyes, straight into his.

"You can’t undo time. But you can now know to do things differently -to make things right."

___

Grayson Knight... Um any opinions?

Little broody aye? *eye roll*

But do we maybe see some chemistry here....?

Did you think Elijah was ever in Healer at first?

Hope it wasn't too obvious aha.

Please vote for faster updates <3