Page 70 of Heal For Me

Ouch. I don’t know which is worse, her yelling at me or her yelling about me like I’m not even here.

“I was out here too. So was your father. She was doing just fine but tripped, it was an accident.” Will standing up for me definitely doesn’t help my situation. She shoots him a glare before turning on me again.

“Then it’s all your faults. Come, Nelson. Let’s go home.”

“I thought you were staying the night.” Beverly frowns.

“Plans change,” she snaps and turns. “Nelson.”

Nelson turns in his grandpa’s arms to look up at me. “I had fun playing with you.”

I hate being yelled at, and I hate the situation I’m in, but it’s not Nelson’s fault, so I force the best smile I can and pray my voice comes out semiregular. “I had fun too.”

His dad scoops him from William’s arms and offers me a regretful look. He mutters something to Ash, who only gives him a tight nod in return.

“Bye, Uncle Dinoash. Bye, Aunt Payson and Papa.”

I offer a wave but freeze when I see Grace glaring at me in the background. She apparently wasn’t the one to tell him to call me that. Stupid Ash. Thankfully, she says nothing, but the look on her face says enough.

Beverly follows out after her daughter.

The air around me is thick and difficult to breathe, and not just because of the humidity.

William seems unsure what to say when he sighs and lifts his hands in a shrug. “Grace can be a bit. . .”

“Cunty,” Ash growls.

“Ashley,” William scolds, but seeing how angry his son is, he sighs. “I will let you two talk. Ashley, put Payson’s clothes in with the dry cleaning. It goes out tomorrow.”

Dry cleaning . . . of course.

Before he walks inside, he tells us good night, but I’m the only one that replies. He closes the door, and Ash still doesn’t move.

I walk over and drop next to the pool, letting my feet dangle in the water. It’s not as cold as I thought when we fell in, I think it was just a shock because I wasn’t expecting it.

The water ripples with each kick and then Ash eventually drops behind me and places his feet in the water on either side of mine.

“I’m sorry my sister is such a cunt. I will speak with her tomorrow because I’m afraid if I were to do it tonight, I might strangle her.”

He might not be joking, but if I don’t laugh, I’ll cry. I lean back against him, and he wraps an arm around my body, holding me to him and not caring I’m wet.

“It’s fine. Don’t argue with your family over me.”

His heart speeds up and thumps against my back. “I’ll argue with anyone when it comes you. The only reason I didn’t let her have it is because Nelson was there. Unlike her, I don’t want him to see me angry.”

That makes me love him even more. “I appreciate that.”

“But she has it coming. No one speaks about you that way, family or not, I do not care. No one.”

And that makes me love him even more than that.

“I love you.”

He blows out a long breath and lowers his scratchy chin into my neck. “Not nearly as much as I love you.”

I don’t know about that, but it’s probably close.

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