Page 57 of Grace of Spades
"Stingray, please." I beam heading to the passenger side, but he stops me and hands me the keys.
Yep, I died. I am positive I am in heaven. I don't know who is in charge of the paperwork up here, but I'm glad they are shit at their job. God knows I should not be going to heaven. So I will be enjoying it while I can.
I let out an excited squeal as I get into the car. I feel like Ray will get a kick out of this so I snap a selfie and send it to him with a "dude's insane" caption. I decide to send it to the guys too at the last moment before putting it in my jacket pocket.
Andras is chuckling at my excitement as we pull through the gates and onto the road. He directs me down to a pancake house. Oooh, baby. I love pancakes! This is the best birthday ever. Like, by a landslide.
We see Grandma and Grandpa sitting at a table and head towards them. They stand up when they see us and I'm immediately brought into a group hug.
"Happy birthday, sweetie! We were at your fight last night! You were amazing!" Grandma gushes.
"Thank you. Those girls were good." I smile.
"They were." Grandpa grins looking at the light bruising on my face. "But you still won." He beams as we sit down.
"So how did your tattoo go?" Grandma asks. I pull out my phone to show her a picture so I don't flash the restaurant but my phone has been flooded with happy birthdays from the guys.
"Oh, I know that look. You have a sweetie?" Grandma says with knowing eyes. I'm not sure how to bring up my fournew sweeties so I just shut up and blush as I bring up the picture of my new tattoo. I show her and she looks pleasantly surprised but there are shadows behind her eyes.
"That's beautiful, Grace." She whispers.
"What are those scars from?" Grandpa demands. Oops.
"Not here, Dad." Andras scolds. I give him a thankful smile as the waitress takes our order.
"So what are you up to for your birthday?" Grandpa grouses still on the scars.
"A few friends are coming over to go swimming before we hit up a party." I smile at his effort.
"That sounds like fun." Grandma smiles.
"It should be." I smile.
"Is that Christian boy coming over?" She asks and I don't know how I should handle this.
"Yeah, he is," Andras says not looking up from his coffee. Oh boy. He totally knows! "Calm down, Grace. I already discussed it with him. I was rooting for him." Well, that's news. I wonder how he will react to the others.
"Uh... okay," I say awkwardly as our breakfasts arrive. Yum, pancakes!
We chat pleasantly for the rest of the morning and I learn about what mom was like before the drugs. Turns out she and Andras were always a bit wild, not unlike myself but where Andras and I take out our feelings with action mom internalized it and when it all became too much she tried to drown it with a high.
I wish I knew her back then. I know it's a useless wish but I can't help it. Other people got parents that loved them. I got parents who only thought of me as a paycheck or something to be used to trade for drugs. When I wasn't just a nuisance anyway. Nothing kills a buzz like a kid who's crying because she's hungry.
Luckily, the conversation outside of my mind is cheerful and nostalgic. It's nice to hear that she wasn't always like how I knew her.
"Is there a funeral?" I ask suddenly.
"Um... yes, it's tomorrow," Andras says. "There is no pressure to go or not to." He adds.
"Thank you. I'll think about it." I admit. They all nod and there's a moment of silence before we get up to leave.
21
Liam
I feel so weird being with the other heirs. Keir and I used to hang out when we were kids but that was a long time ago. I park my bike beside Grace's. Looks like I'm the first one here. I head to the front door and knock. I'm greeted by a very stern, very large British butler.
"Grace is down in the gym at the moment. Be good to her or even your father won't find your body." The balding man in a trim black suit says in an icy voice. Holy shit. This dude is terrifying.
