Twenty-Five

Grayson Rhodes Taylor

"Good morning" Ambrosi greets as I trudge into the kitchen. It was far too early for me to be up, especially with the time difference but it was better than tossing and turning in bed, but I could hear Auriella and Ambrosi up so I decided to just head downstairs.

The penthouse was lit up in a golden glow as the sun was rising. The view out of the floor-to-ceiling windows here was breathtaking.

"Morning," I respond, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. Ambrosi had barely looked up from his laptop as I entered the room and never uttered any more words but his first few which I was appreciative of. I liked the guy but I was both too exhausted and anxious to bother with any chatting right now.

I look up from my phone as I hear rapid footfalls coming from the steps, Auriella was quickly descending the curved staircase carrying an endless pile of assorted things stacked one on top of the other. I immediately stand up and go to help her, taking the majority of the things out of her hands.

"Thank you." She breathed out quickly but never stopped moving. Not once in the few months, I had known her had I ever seen Auriella looking frazzled and it shook me, she was normally so calm, albeit her enthusiastic, bubbly personality. "I'm missing something."

Her gaze was frantically scanning around both the room and the pile of things she had accumulated looking for something.

"What?" I ask in an effort to be useful.

"I don't know?" She brushes her hair out of her face doing a once over the things again.

"Okay?" I look around too. "What do you need to take?"

"Model portfolios, outfit details, lists of hair and makeup artists. Fabric samples and vendor details." She lists off and flips through the files she was carrying, a frown forms on her face as she flips back before she sighs. "And I found what missing, thank you Gray was."

"Um, you're welcome." The statement comes out more as a question as I have no idea what I did but as long as I was a help. Auriella takes the stairs two steps at a time as she comes back with another binder to add to her dozen of them.

She buzzes around again still looking overwhelmed and I'm feeling lost on how to help but thankfully Ambrosi takes over.

"Ells sit and have breakfast please." He instructs without looking up from his computer screen and Auriella starts to protest. "Sit down Ella. You have a long day ahead of you and if I let you leave with your brain ticking how it is right now then your boyfriend will hunt me down. Your boyfriend had breakfast delivered for you."

Auriella rolls her eyes but rounds the counter and hugs Ambrosi's neck from behind and presses a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thank you, AJ."

Ambrosi doesn't say anything but I see a small smile rise onto his face as Auriella disappears and reappears holding a box filled with an assortment of things, I get offered some but I decline. Pastries before a day filled with basketball training aren't the best idea. I watch half amused as she digs into her breakfast, she wasn't looking at her phone or anything just fully absorbed in her food. The kitchen was silent as Auriella ate and Ambrosi worked on his laptop, I was absorbed back in my phone.

"How's A.T. doing?" Ambrosi questioned Auriella.

"Good, we have a launch coming up soon and all the products are ready for it..." Auriella trails off, staring at the sky out of the ginormous windows.

"But?" Ambrosi asks, catching on like I did that there was something she wasn't saying.

"I just kind of miss it, especially now with all the excitement that comes with launches." Auriella leans her head down on the palm of her hand. "And I just miss home in general, like there are so many things I'm missing out on."

"You miss England?" I ask curiously, she had never really shown that she didn't want to be exactly where she was at that moment in time but I need to remember Auriella is a lot of a better actor than most people.

"Not the place, just my life you know. Don't take this the wrong way Gray, I love spending time with all of you and getting to know you a lot better but it just couldn't be more opposite than my normal life you know." I take a minute to look at her and then I remember exactly where we were. In a massive penthouse in the heart of New York City, where we had gotten to a private jet and were driven around by a chauffeur the whole day.

I felt uncomfortable here because it was so different to how I was raised and anything I had known but it hadn't occurred to me that Auriella would feel that way back home, she was in a whole other continent from where she was raised, placed into a house with more family drama than anyone should have been subjected to all while having to hide away her true self to keep us all safe.

"I understand," I reply because even though I understood what she was saying I couldn't relate.

"Maybe being back in the heart of all the chaos will help." Ambrosi offers. "I know it isn't the headquarters but you and Alexander have a pretty impressive building here in the city, and you will be consumed with the fashion shows."

"Maybe." Auriella shrugs, she stands up and goes over to Ambrosi and gives him a quick hug, Ella whispers something in his ear with a smirk and whatever she says has Ambrosi's face changing to an ashen white. Auriella steps back with a laugh and comes over to give me one. "I have to go, enjoy training okay, don't be nervous and remember you deserve to be there as much as any of the others."

"Thanks, Leigh."

Ambrosi and Auriella do some sort of secret handshake before she mutters something to him in Spanish and disappears through the elevator doors.

"Is she going to be okay?" New York was a scary place and I was worried for my baby sister.

"Ella's always okay," Ambrosi says it like he's repeated the sentence many times in his life. "She's going to be in her element today, you'll see just how incredible she is later when we get to the show but for now think about the sport, that should be the most important and only thing you think about from now until the end of practice. This can make or break your career, Grayson, you better show off today."

"I'm looking forward to it," I say truthfully, I truly was.

<><><>

"Good work today." One of the coaches calls out as we all circle around him.

There were at least two dozen of us, maybe seen more and a lot of them were people I had either played against or admired for most of my teens. I hadn't been able to listen to my sister's words when I got here, I was daunted by the thought of playing here these incredible players and with these admirable coaches, I was nervous through all the drills and warm-ups even though I was able to keep up with everyone but then we started playing and it was like my mind was blank of anything else and I was zoned in on the game like I never had been before.

I had never collectively played with and against people at this level altogether and I was able to keep up. In fact, I was doing more than keeping up.

I had never felt more capable in my abilities than I had today.

Ambrosi clasps a hand on my shoulder in support and congratulations. The guys around us disperse to their bags.

"It's good to see a new face in these circles, Rhodes. I'm looking forward to working with you." The head coach nods his head in support towards me. That was something that had taken me off-guard when I had gotten here. They hadn't been using my surname, here I wasn't 'Grayson Taylor' Here I was Gray Rhodes, I don't know why everyone was using my middle name as my surname but for once I felt like I had a separate identity than the person who was tied to my messed up family.

Truthfully, I did know why, and I know exactly how these elite coaches came to know about me even though they had never once seen me play before.

I keep silent as I leave the changing rooms with some of the guys, we were all competitors on our home turf, and there were many rivalries between us but there was some sort of truce on these grounds, even when we were playing against each other there was nothing personal about who wins or loses, we were all there to learn and that's what we did.

"Are you guys coming with us, there's a cool place like a block and a half from here?" Jordan West, one of the oldest and best players invited Ambrosi and me. He was joining the NBA draft very soon, he was still playing at a colligate level but had been captain of his team from his sophomore year. He was tall, even taller than me and was a chill guy anywhere but the court, on there he was incredible. "And your gorgeous friend can join us, Valiente I heard she's back in New York with you."

"You and Auriella don't stand a chance, pretty boy." Ambrosi fires back, laughing. "We have plans maybe tomorrow."

Jordan shrugs with a laugh. "Worth a try, tell Auriella I say hi."

"I would but Xander would murder me." Ambrosi chuckles. "See you tomorrow, West."

As we walk away I glance back at Jordan heading in the other direction and then to Ambrosi very confused. "He likes Auriella, like Everleigh."

"You do realise your sister is very attractive, Gray. It shouldn't be a surprise that boys flock to her." I grimace at the thought.

"I mean how, she and Xander are always together."

"Umm. I'm pretty sure they met when Ella and Xander broke up for a hot minute last year." That has me swivelling my head quickly to him, I never thought I would ever hear him say that, in my mind it seemed impossible for them to even fight past light-hearted banter let alone break up. Ambrosi takes mercy on my curiosity. "You have to realise that Ella and Xander have been through more together than any people should have, I'm pretty sure if they weren't in love with each other they'd be trauma bonded for life. The two of them rely on one another more than anything and it's so hard when they both need different things out of life. They hardly fight fight but when they do it's catastrophic. Auriella had to move to Los Angeles to deal with an expansion or something for like four months and Xander was in Germany if I remember right. Before they left they broke up over something or the other and while they were broken up Ella met Jordan and they kind of just flirted on and off for a few weeks before she and Xander got together again, it wasn't anything but a bit of fun and they both knew it. But Jordan always seems to bring it up when we see each other and it drives me mad."

"Woah." I process the story. "It seems impossible that they would ever break up to me."

"It does but it's happened before and honestly I think it will happen again. Not that they aren't happy they are just two very strong-willed individuals that are bound to sometimes set each other on fire. They'll always get back together though, that I'm sure of." "It's so weird to think that they would ever willingly break up."

"They're still human, and even though they both sulked the whole time they needed to grow as people, it's life."

"Yeah."

"Come on, dude. Ella sent suits for us tonight; we need to hurry if we want to be there in time."

<><><>

"Congratulations." Ambrosi pulls an exhausted Ella into a hug. She lets out a breath hugging back her best friend. I stay back as the two of them exchange a quiet conversation. I hang back for a moment. This whole experience had been mind-blowing and it was incredible to me that Ella had been the one who pulled it all together. The outfits, the atmosphere and the service in this place were all spectacular.

And when I had put on the suit Auriella had made for me I realised just why people paid her thousands of dollars for her outfits, it was one of the most comfortable things I had ever put on in my life, not to mention how it looked.

My new goal in life was to make lots of money so I can buy everything from her.

Ella walked up to me with a grin as Ambrosi jumps into the waiting SUV first. We were in a quiet space, the opposite end of the exit everyone else was using.

"So did you enjoy the show?"

"It was incredible, Ella," I state honestly. "I've never been so proud of anyone in my life."

Auriella's grin widens to something more genuine as if she was new to the praise. "that means a lot, thank you for coming Gray."

"Thank you for having me. I know you were trying to keep this side of your life separate from us." She shrugs, turning away to slide into the car.

"Well, life doesn't work that way." She shakes her head. "I didn't plan on having brothers, but now you're in my life Gray, you Ezra and Eli. I can't speak for the others at the moment as I still don't know them well but you three are going to be in my life whether you like it or not."

"You act like you have a choice. You're our little sister, Ella. And you will have a hard time trying to get rid of us. After all, I think stubbornness runs in our blood."

"Yeah," she nods. "I think it does. Not sure where we got everything else from though."

"I think that will stay a mystery." I laugh. "Oh and Ella," She pauses by the car door and turns to look at me, with her full attention. "thanks for helping me get into the basketball camp."

She smiles a small smile. "All I did was send a couple of anonymous videos to some people I knew, Gray. It was all you."

"Still." I tuck my hands into my pockets and shrug. "Thank you, Ells, I don't know what I would have been in my life if I hadn't met you. You've changed so much for me and I just don't know how I'll ever repay you."

"You're my brother, Gray, you'll never have to repay me. It's what family does."

"Yeah." I agree softly, if I could do the same to her I'd do it in a heartbeat.

"If you guys are done being all sappy, can we get going please?" Ambrosi whines from inside the car making both Ella and I roll our eyes.

"Come one Gray, let's go sleep," Ella says with a wistful look like it's the best thing she could ever imagine.

"Let's get you home, Ells."

Guess who's back after disappearing for ages!!!

Life update, I turned 18 and this version of the book turned 1 year old so yay! To celebrate, here's a chapter in Grayson's POV that was meant to come out of Saturday but it took me days to find the time to open my laptop so here's a late upday

Hope you enjoy it

Ara <3