45
October 12th
We are still a panting sweaty mess when Grayson finally and carefully withdraws from me, he gently lets go of my arms and helps me up off his desk.
Bending over, I gather up my clothes.
I’m ready to go home.
He smiles fondly down at me. “The bathroom is through there.” He points to the door next to his desk. “How did you even get here?”
Appreciative of him and with Axel’s advice in mind, I march to it. “Axel dropped me off and told me to get through to you, that you were being stubborn.”
Grayson chuckles. “Of course he did.”
***
Stepping out of the bathroom, I can feel a change in the atmosphere.
Grayson is turned away fully, his phone pressed to his ear. “I’m not bringing her down there with me! My brothers and I don’t even need to be there!” Grayson is pissed, and it is apparent with his tone. “Arrested if we don’t comply? You have got to be fucking kidding me!”
Gravel forms in my throat, and I swallow around it uneasily. Walking up behind him, I place a gentle hand on his shoulder.
When he turns, his eyes are red, glistening.
“What’s going on?” I whisper.
He tries so desperately to put a mask in place, but I can see right through it. I know with certainty something isn’t right.
“Fine,” Grayson agrees to the person on the phone. “I’m at the restaurant, I’ll be ready in five.” He disconnects the call.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Sterling Thorne was let out on bail just a bit ago.”
Bile forms in my throat. “How? How could they? With all of the evidence against him?”
Grayson exhales, his hand comes up, catching in my curls, he tugs me to his chest. “He’s dead.”
Grayson squeezes me tighter to him, clutching me as close as he can.
“Isn’t that good? I don’t understand.” My words are muffled against his shirt. Relief intertwines with anxiety. Why is Grayson so upset? Why won’t he just say it?
“Our mother shot him. She killed him. My brothers and I have to go in for questioning now. Jane couldn’t prevent it.” Grayson shakes as he continues to hold me to him. His heart is beating fast and quick in his chest.
I don’t struggle or attempt to pull away.
“I hoped after Sterling was sentenced she would finally come home, that she would have the closure she needed to get pasthim.Of what he did to her.” Grayson’s voice is gruff, saturated in a plethora of difficult emotions.
Understanding sparks in my gut.
When Grayson took on the role of protector, of head of household, he did it with the hope that one day she would relinquish him of it. That he would be able to relax and simply exist.
But then she never returned, and for years, Grayson was forced into a role that wasn’t his to take.
He helped raise his three brothers, kept a roof over their heads, food in their mouths.
Watched as this town gobbled them all up and spit them back out.
