Grace parked in front of Josiah's apartment complex, turning off the car and trying to make herself get out so she could go talk to him.

He wasn't answering his phone and she wanted to ask him about what her dad had said.

She wouldn't let Isiah tell her exactly what he'd done, preferring to hear it from Josiah himself. It made her feel like the reason he didn't tell her he was a felon was because it was something terrible.

Climbing the steps slowly, she paused in front of the door before knocking and stepping back.

Hassan pulled the door open, eating a fried chicken wing, "Wassup G."

He'd started calling her that and she didn't mind because it made her feel... cool? She didn't know exactly how to explain it.

"Hey. Where's Josiah?"

Stepping aside, he allowed her in, pointing to the couch where Josiah was on his phone playing 8 Ball Pool.

Grace didn't feel any kind of way that he was ignoring her because he'd expressed earlier that he wasn't in the mood to talk.

He pulled his phone away from his face to look at her, "What's wrong?"

Josiah asked that question because Grace had expressed to him multiple time that she'd rather die than step foot back in the same house as his mama.

"I wanted to talk to you."

Hassan looked between the two of them, "Y'all finna argue? 'Cause Fae in there sleep but I'll wake her up if y'all tryna go in there."

Faelyn didn't accept Grace's offer to move into her guest house, stating she would've felt awkward living with people she didn't exactly know.

Sighing, Josiah rolled off the sofa giving his brother a silent stare to leave the room. After he was gone, he looked towards Grace.

"Maybe we could talk outside?" She didn't want anyone to hear their conversation.

As if his family didn't already know.

On the way to her car, Grace went over her plan again. She was going to bring it up in a way where he would know where she was going and connect the dots, so she wouldn't have to actually ask.

"I asked my dad to give you a job." Grace stated quietly when they settled in.

Her plan worked since Josiah immediately knew what she meant, "Thank you, but I didn't ask you to do that."

Grace stared straight ahead, her hands clasped together as if she were at a funeral, "I was trying to be nice."

Seeing that he had to take the lead again, Josiah sighed and emotionlessly told the story to Grace, finding himself growing more irritated the longer it took him to finish.

He realized he should've told her, and he fully planned on doing it, but on his own terms. To him, recounting the night when he murdered a 17 year old girl should be something he did when he was ready.

It made it even worse that she'd already given him head, and he fully planned on having sex with her if they would've made it to his apartment.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Grace asked.

She wasn't mad at what happened, he genuinely didn't know the girl's age. No, he shouldn't have driven drunk, but he did and there was no changing that now.

Grace was just wondering why he didn't open up to her, let her see personal aspects of his life as she had done for him.

"I would've told you eventually. It's not something I run around telling people."

The bitterness in his voice should've alerted Grace to let the subject go, but she continued, "I just think that you had multiple opportunities to tell me."

He looked at her incredulously, "What we not gon' do is sit here and act like we just be in ya' bed talking 'bout some deep shit."

"You talked to my mom for hours, I told you my brother was in rehab, you were the first person I told about the internship."

"And still, damn near everything I know about you I found out from somebody else."

The words flew out of his mouth in a venomous tone, Grace looking at him in surprise, "What?"

Though it was too late, Josiah wished he could take his words back.

Grace was still staring at him waiting for an answer, "Everything you know about me?"

It wasn't hard to figure out who his source was, and it was even easier to figure out the source's source.

And Grace felt betrayed.

"So is it supposed to be like this 'cheat sheet'? You say the right shit and I keep giving you pussy?"

Josiah winced, "You know it ain't like that. We-"

"No I don't know shit." Grace interrupted, "You can get out now, and go tell Brielle to tell her mother to eat a dick."

He didn't move, trying to think of a way to fix what he'd said. Josiah still didn't think he was wrong in not telling her yet, but he did feel he shouldn't have lashed out at her.

Grace pressed the button to start her car before leaning over Josiah and throwing open his door, "You're still sitting there for what?"

Realizing this wasn't the time, Josiah exited the car, barely closing the door before Grace began backing out.

• • •

Celina stood in the kitchen humming as she pulled out ingredients to make Grace breakfast.

Since she began interning at her father's office, she would be up early, and Celina would make her something.

Grace was finally growing up in Celina's eyes, leaving behind her childish mindset and attempting to be an adult.

It made her happy to see the young girl she'd practically raised blossoming into something beautiful.

She believed she had Jo to thank for that, though at the same time, it worried her that Grace was only doing this because she was now seeking validation from him.

What happens if something goes wrong?

Not wanting to let those thoughts cloud her thinking, she resumed scrambling the eggs until she heard the sound of Grace's heels against the tile.

"Good morning." Celina greeted happily, turning to face a slightly puffy-eyed Grace.

"What's wrong?" She asked, setting the spatula down.

"I trusted you more than I trusted my own mother."

Celina was confused about what she meant until Grace kept going, "To know that you would talk about our family when Mason and I loved you hurts. It hurts so much because you've known us since before I can remember. I've confided in you things I haven't spoken about to anyone else, and you didn't give a fuck before you told your daughter who, for some reason, told Josiah. I don't know what she said exactly and I don't care. My dad fucking hates us and he still doesn't talk shit about us."

Tears were running from Grace's eyes at that point, and Celina didn't know how to respond.

"It's fine though." She sniffled, vehemently wiping away her tears, "How can I blame you when you were just doing what you get paid to do?"

As Grace walked outside to go to the internship she wasn't excited about anymore, she felt isolated and alone.

She wished Mason was home.

_______

my sis did not overreact 😑 i'm trying to figure out why brielle talks to much likeeee.

thanks for reading 💕