The bed Josiah was in felt much better than the couch that'd he'd be sleeping on when he left.

Grace's hand softly stroked his face as he rested his head on her chest, feeling her heartbeat beneath his ear.

"She can move in here if she wants." Grace volunteered randomly.

They'd talked about Faelyn's situation before they had sex, though it wasn't an in-depth conversation.

"Don't you gotta ask somebody?" Josiah muttered, feeling himself grow sleepier.

"No. We have a guest house out back. Not that it matters, but nobody will even know she's here."

"A guest house?"

"Yeah, for like when people come visit and don't wanna stay in the big house."

He laughed at her saying big house, "I know what a guest house is Grace. I just ain't know people actually be using 'em."

"We never really have company anymore." She laughed with him, "But Haiden used to stay out there until she got an apartment."

Josiah had never heard her mention a 'Haiden' before, so he asked who she was.

"She's my best friend, but that may be a stretch now. We haven't talked in weeks."

"Why?"

There was silence as Grace pondered if she wanted to tell him the reason she wasn't talking to Haiden was because she had referred to him as the help.

That was another reason why she was upset when Josiah didn't defend her against Lia. She'd done it for him, and he wasn't even present.

Taking her silence to mean she didn't want to talk about it with him Josiah retracted his question, "I was just asking, You ain't gotta tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's not that. We had a misunderstanding." Grace replied, "I've really just been ignoring her calls and texts."

Josiah didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't, simply nodding his head.

They were quiet again, until Grace leaned to get her phone, "I'll ask Faelyn if she wants to stay here. I mean she's a weirdo, but she's a sweet weirdo. I can't imagine getting put out while pregnant."

He didn't understand why she wasn't at least asking her brother about Faelyn moving in since they seemed to be close.

"You ain't gon' ask ya' brother how he feel about somebody staying in the backyard? What if they run into each other and he beat her ass with a bat or some 'cause he don't know her?"

"First of all," Grace snickered, "Mason lives in his head. He wouldn't notice if somebody was sleeping in the bed with him."

Her voice changed as she kept talking, "And he's not home right now anyway. He's in rehab."

That must've happened recently since Brielle hadn't mentioned anything about it a couple of days ago.

"Shouts to him." Josiah responded, "It's hard to get help for an addiction."

Grace's hand never paused its movements, "You sound like you're speaking from experience."

That was the moment he could've told her about what happened due to his own addiction, but the thought of the conversation made his stomach do flips.

So he instead stayed quiet until he needed to get up to go home.

"I'll walk you out." Grace offered grabbing a shirt and pair of shorts.

She usually walked him to the door, but never all the way to the car.

Josiah was aware of the change, leaning on his car door as he waited for her to tell him why she'd done it.

"So I talked to my dad earlier today."

He liked giving her time to gather her thoughts seeing as she seemed to struggle with that. It took another minute or so before she continued, "And I'm interning at his office. I know it's not an actual job, but I feel like it's a start."

Grace's words sounded unsure, and he realized it was because she didn't know what kind of the reaction she'd get from him.

Even if she did talk too much, Josiah was very thankful for the information Brielle had given him. It was because of her he was able to put together that in that moment, she needed validation.

He may have overdone it, Grace's feet lifting off the ground as he embraced her in a hug, "I'm proud of you Grace."

She smiled widely, wrapping her legs around him, though it wasn't sexual in the slightest, "I really appreciate you."

It helped him to communicate more knowing that she may need for him to speak his thoughts aloud.

And she soaked up every word of encouragement, the tiniest bit of praise making her happy.

So maybe they were perfect for each other.

• • •

Mason was confused as he walked to the visiting room, wondering who was here to visit him since his mom and Grace had come the day before yesterday.

Not that they couldn't come multiple days, they just would've told him yesterday when he called.

As soon as he walked through the door, he saw the woman waiting for him at the table, and that started a whole new line of questioning in his head.

Sighing, he walked over, slowly pulling out a chair and sitting down, "What do you need Allison?"

Allison's eyes roamed over Mason's face, basking in the resemblance he had to his father, "I heard about your situation and wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm alive." He responded simply, irritation starting to seep into his voice.

Mason's motto was 'One day at a time'. Anything else and he'd probably lose the almost week of sobriety he'd had.

The longest he'd gone without cocaine since he'd started using.

"How did you even get in? You're not on my list."

"You should know by now that money makes people do whatever you ask." Allison smiled while reaching in her pocket and placing a set of keys on the table, "I got this for us."

Mason already knew what the keys were for.

"The closet is small, but we've been together in much smaller places."

He stood from his chair, "Which closet?"

Allison smiled happily and led the way.

_______

i am.... disgustedddd.

thanks for reading 💕