Page 36 of The Long Game

“It’s just…it’s weird,” Grady began, trying to explain. “He’s my cousin, but I don’t have family. I haven’t for a long time.”

Jack pulled up to a red light and turned to face Grady. “But what if you do?”

Grady was shaking his head before he consciously thought to offer a denial. He didn’t have any family. Hedidn’t. His family had abandoned him and he’d moved on. It had hurt like hell, but it had been fourteen years ago and he was past it. He’d moved on.

Now, buried somewhere in the hot mess churning in his chest was a spark of hope that kept rising to the surface and that he kept crushing down ruthlessly. He’d worked hard to get to this place, goddamn it. He’d built a good life by cutting every oneof them out of his heart. By learning he didn’t need family, he didn’t needanyone, to be happy. To be fulfilled.

He jumped when Jack touched his arm.

“It was hard,” Grady blurted, tripping haplessly through his own emotional minefield. “When they disowned me, I was totally unprepared—not just for them to be that cruel, but also to live without them. I grew up in a close family and extended family was all around us. They weren’t just the foundation but the whole fucking house. They claimed to love me, and then just…threw me away.”

Jack made a hurt noise in his throat and captured Grady’s hand without glancing away from the road.

Grady clung to Jack, embarrassed that he’d said so much and by the lump lodged in his throat.

“Did you think about going back?” Jack asked.

“You mean, pretend I’m straight?”

Jack nodded.

“No. I had fantasies of them coming to their senses, of them reaching out and begging me to come home, but I never truly believed they would and I never thought I could go back. They didn’t give me the choice. There was no offer to be allowed back if I changed my ways or some shit, it was justyou’re dead to usand that was it. It was over.”

Grady gazed up at the Pathways Center and, for the first time, wondered if that was true.

7

Grady was prepared to talk his way past the front desk, past Gabriel, and past Colton’s reluctance to speak with him if he had to. He didn’t know what the fuck he was going to say or do to convince everyone this was a good idea, but he was determined.

So, he was surprised when they were informed Colton had not only agreed to speak with them but was already waiting in one of the small meeting rooms near the lobby.

Jack shrugged guiltily. “I told Gabriel we were coming.”

Grady nodded, not trusting his voice. He followed Jack down a hallway, overwhelmed by what he was about to do and by Jack’s thoughtfulness. It had been a long time since anyone had taken care of Grady and not left him to face a challenge alone.

Jack stopped outside a door and gave Grady a look that belonged on a second-grade teacher’s face right before shoving their student out onto the stage for the talent show. “Ready?”

“No,” Grady admitted.

Jack smiled and opened the door anyway.

Colton sat on one of the two love seats tucked at a ninety-degree angle in the corner of the room, an open can of sodaon the coffee table in front of him. He watched them come in, expression guarded.

Jack didn’t hesitate, moving to the empty loveseat with Grady following in his wake. Jack smiled, said good morning, and asked, “Are you okay if I visit, too? I can wait out front, if you’d rather talk alone.”

“No, you can stay,” Colton said.

Jack sat closest to Colton, and Grady settled next to him, turned so he could see them both. He folded his hands into his lap and reminded himself that before this week he’d been able to have difficult conversations without holding anyone’s hand.

“How are you today, Colton?” Grady asked.

He made an unimpressed face, eyes going hard. “I’m fine, but you can skip the small talk and ask what you really want to know.”

Unsure where to start, and regretting not coming in with a plan, Grady fell back on his interview training and opened with some basics. “Did you run away or were you thrown out?”

“I ran,” Colton said.

“Why?”

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