Page 19 of The Lie
“Oh god, what happened?” I look over his face for any signs he’s in physical pain.
He doesn’t say anything; he just lets out a loud sob and wraps his arms around me. I feel his body shake as he sobs uncontrollably into my shoulder. It’s breaking me to see him like this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Grady cry in my whole life. I rub his back. I don’t know what’s happened.
Who hurt him? Jace? God, he needs to get out of his own fucked-up head and think about others around him. What happened to Jace in the last four years that’s made him this way?
“Come take a seat. I’ll close the door and keep the cold air out.” I pull away from him, holding his arms so he knows that I don’t want to stop hugging and comforting him.
He looks away from me and sniffs. I see him wipe his cheeks, trying to hide any evidence he’d just been crying on my shoulder. There’s nothing wrong with crying. We all have the right to our feelings and emotions, whatever they may be.
I close the door and feel my nipples harden from the chill in the air. I cross my arms over my chest to hide them. I’m not wearing a bra. I was going to sleep after the movie so I got comfy and took off the bra hours ago, like Madison did. We called it “free the boobs” and laughed as we threw them across the room and sighed in relief.
He moves over to the sofa and sits. His hands cover his face as he leans over and drops his head to his lap. I move slowly and sit beside him. Placing my hand tenderly on his back, I start to rub, but he begins sobbing again. I’m not sure if I’m making this better or worse. All I want to do is wrap him up in my arms and protect him from whatever is hurting him.
Grady is a good guy, one of the best out there. He deserves nothing but the best. So, seeing him hurt this much makes my chest hurt. Jace did something. I don’t know what, but from the way he was calling out to Grady before with Daniel holding him back, something went down, and Grady is here hurting because of it.
I will go toe-to-toe with Jace. It doesn’t matter that I’m shorter, or that I have a cast on my arm, I will hurt him for hurting Grady.
“Do you want to talk to me? Or do you want some water?” He doesn’t change position or say anything, so I try again. “Maybe a shot of whiskey?”
He sits up, blinking at me a few times as he gazes into my eyes. “Your dad has whiskey? I thought he was a beer drinker.”
I chuckle. It’s true that my dad prefers beer over whiskey. He doesn’t drink much, but I’ve only really seen him drink beer.
“It’s kinda old, but isn’t that stuff supposed to age anyway? What’s a few more years?”
He chuckles and nods.
“Okay, whiskey it is.”
I practically jog into the kitchen and open the top cupboard above the fridge, and right at the back is the unopened whiskey bottle. I knew where to find it, since I spotted it a few weeks back when I was looking for a container to make mac and cheese in.
With a jump, I reach my hand up. Fuck, I need a chair. I should have grabbed one when I came in here. Turning, I slam into Grady’s hard body. I grab onto him to steady myself as he pulls down the whiskey bottle and gives me a half smile. I let go of him and take it from his hands with a nod and smirk. This will be interesting.
“Yeah, my mom gave this to Dad for his birthday one year. I remember only because Dad said he didn’t like whiskey, and I was confused why she would buy him something he doesn’t like for his birthday.” I shrug. I guess it had been a sign that their marriage wasn’t good. Not that I would have realized that then. I’d just been a kid and hadn’t known what to look for.
“Two glasses?” he asks, and I wiggle my brows and stick out my tongue. It makes him grin.
“Can’t let you drink alone.”
We put the whiskey bottle on the coffee table. I’m sure Dad will be okay with us having a little. It was just collecting dust back there, and the last thing he needs is another remind of Mom in this house. Maybe it’s best if we don’t tell Dad at all. He’s pretty cool about stuff, but I’m not sure how cool he is about underage drinking in his house.
There’s not a shot glass to be found, so our tall water glasses are all I have to work with. Grady pours a generous amount of the amber liquid into my glass, and when I move to stop him, he just smirks at me as he moves to pour his glass. I shiver at the thought of the taste. Whiskey is not my liquor of choice, and I’m about to break my no drinking rule for it. But for Grady, tonight, I will happily break that rule.
I take a small sip and swallow. “Gah, shit.” I open my mouth and stick out my tongue. Fucking gross. How do people drink this shit straight? I release a deep breath, and I feel like I’m breathing fire. That stuff is strong as hell.
I turn to see Grady pouring himself another. He chases it down right after the first and starts pouring another. Fuck, whatever happened must be bad.
“Hey, wait, slow down. Let me catch up.” I hold my hand to stop him, and he looks down at my cast.
“Shit, you’re supposed to be on bed rest, and I dragged you down here in the middle of the night. I’m so sorry, Mila.”
I shake my head. “No, you didn’t. I’m not on bed rest anymore, but I’m still on babysitter watch. Got Madison over here.”
He looks around, then to the stairs. “Is she upstairs waiting for you?”
“No, she passed out over an hour ago. A fourteen-year-old girl is babysitting me and fell asleep and now I’m getting into trouble with the cute boy next door.” I giggle and Grady does too.
It’s cute, though. She tried so hard to stay awake, but she said it was a rough two weeks, and I know that’s because of me. She needs all the sleep she can get.
