Page 73 of Leave Me Broken

Payson shoots me a look from the passenger seat like would you deal with him? I reach over and thread our fingers before placing a kiss on her knuckles. “It’s fine,” I tell her.

“Oh, me next,” Parker chimes sarcastically.

Payson rolls her eyes and turns for the window. I meet Luca’s eyes in the mirror but he’s no help because he is loving this, sporting a big smile.

We pull up outside Payson’s granddad’s. Payson and Parker are still ignoring each other, making the silent car even more awkward.

I angle my body toward Payson so I can see Parker and her both staring out their windows. “He probably won’t even ask and if he does, tell him he was misled. It’s not an issue, okay?”

They grumble agreements.

Payson reaches for the handle but stops and furrows her eyebrow. “Whose car is that?”

Looking past her into the dark yard, I frown. And even more when I recognize the vehicle. I glance back at Luca but I never told him about my chat with Jethro, so he’s as confused as Payson. I unbuckle my seatbelt. “Luca, take Parker home. I’ll call when I need a ride.”

Payson’s worried expression deepens when I push my door open, walk around, and pull hers. I grab her bag at her feet. “Ash, what’s going on?”

I sigh and take her hand. “I don’t know but we will find out together.”

24

Payson

The last thing I expect to see inside my grandpa’s trailer is Mr. Gilbert sitting in my nana’s chair with my grandpa in his, crying.

My heart beats painfully hard in my chest because this makes little sense. Grandpa cries, but usually at church during prayer. Not in his living room with—Olivia’s dad.

“Grandpa?” I ask timidly, stopping in the kitchen and bouncing my eyes from my sad grandpa to a very stern Mr. Gilbert. At least he looks like his normal self. I can’t look at my grandpa, if I do, I might cry. Or, even worse, I won’t and that will feel somehow worse.

“Sit down, Payson.” Mr. Gilbert gestures for the chair he was sitting in. He narrows his eyes to Ash.

I walk across the room slowly, looking at Mr. Gilbert the whole time. Until I go to sit down and remember how my ass looked in the mirror after Ash was done with me, then I veer to the right and stop next to him, facing the room. “I’d rather stand.”

Ash isn’t smirking like I almost expect and my already tight stomach sinks. The tension in the air is even more than the car with Parker. But worse because the room is also filled with my grandpa quietly sobbing.

“What is going on?”

Mr. Gilbert pulls his lips into a firm line. Grandpa dabs at his eyes with his handkerchief before he lifts his head to look at me. I suck in a breath and prepare for whatever is about to come out of his mouth.

“Mr. Gilbert stopped by to deliver some news.” He sniffles. “I think you’ll want to sit down for this, Ray-Ray.”

“Why are you delivering news? You’re a lawyer. I don’t understand.”

For a second, his forest green eyes soften but then he’s back to looking like his normal butthole self. He flicks a look to Grandpa while I glance between the two men who couldn’t be more different from the other, wondering what the hell is going on. Grandpa is the best man I know, he’s kind and generous and would do anything for anyone. Mr. Gilbert looks like he steals candy from babies and spits on puppies.

“I’m your uncle,” he blurts so suddenly I almost don’t understand him.

But I do. I heard and understood his deep voice perfectly.

He said he’s my uncle.

Someone could drop a pin in the back of the trailer and I would hear it with how silent all three men are right now.

“You’re . . . my uncle,” I repeat. It doesn’t make sense for him to be my uncle. My grandpa has never mentioned it. No one has even mentioned him, ever. I wasn’t sure my family even knew he existed. If he was my uncle, my grandpa would have definitely mentioned something. I know he would have.

But he didn’t.

And, he’s not saying anything now.