On the Edge (The Grange Complex Book 1) novel Chapter 18

Sasha

This was bad idea. Dexter wasn’t behaving like himself; he was simply too nice and I didn’t know if it was because we were going to see my parents or because I had told him about my precious baby. Last night he looked so vulnerable and lost. Normally my coping mechanism would’ve stopped me and shut the truth away, but yesterday everything was so different. I felt as if I wanted to share my secret with him.

Now I was standing outside my parent’s home, anxious to have him next to me. Mum knew that I had sworn off men for good, and I didn’t want her to think that there was something going on between us. He was the exact type of man that I didn’t want to get involved with, and this trip was just a favour.

I knocked a couple of times and then walked inside, feeling slightly nervous. Dexter was standing right behind me with that unusually calm expression. 

“Hey, Mum, it’s me. I brought someone, a friend,” I shouted. When I looked back at him he was smirking behind me. What was I supposed to say? A boyfriend?

Mum came out of a room wearing a green long dress. She was off today and she was probably in the middle of baking. Being in the kitchen relaxed her. Mum worked hard, normally a fifty-hour week, while Dad drove around Europe. I learnt from an early age that both my parents were proper workaholics.

“Sasha? Are you okay, hun?” she asked.  

“Yes, I’m good. I need you to sign some paperwork. I think we forgot to complete this one form.” I then pointed at the Scottish sex god standing behind me. “By the way, this is Dexter, my neighbour.”

My mother smiled widely. “Hello, Dexter. It’s nice to meet you,” she said, eyeing him intensely.

Dexter looked puzzled, staring at her with some sort of recognition in his eyes. “Mrs Scott, it’s lovely to finally meet you,” he said, finally snapping out of it and shaking my mother’s hand. “I’m sorry to be so forward, but I recognise you from one of Joey’s photographs that he had in his apartment.”

Mum’s face paled and her eyes went wide with shock. For about a minute no one spoke. Tension mounted in the air and I felt like someone had dropped a large stone between Dexter and Mum.

She grabbed my arm suddenly and said, “Sasha, can I please have a word with you in the other room?”

Before I had a chance to say anything, she was dragging me upstairs. I shot Dexter a confused look, shrugging my shoulders. She shut the door to the bedroom quickly, like she was afraid that he would follow.

“Mum, are you okay? That was quite rude,” I pointed out.

“You should go, and take that boy with you. I told you that I don’t want to talk about Joey,” she stated, rubbing her hands over her thighs nervously. This was getting silly now. I had no idea what had happened in the past, but the guy was dead and he was my uncle. I needed to know the truth.

“This is the man that I was telling you about, remember? Dexter. He knew Joey and apparently they were close. What’s going on? What are you so upset about?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. I’m not going to discuss this with you or him. Find a buyer as soon as you can. I don’t want anything to do with this whole thing,” she insisted.

I folded my arms over my chest, trying to figure out what she was hiding. I’d never been interested in family drama, but she was keeping stuff from me—stuff that was obviously important.

“These things take time. I won’t be able to just sell it overnight, Mum. And I’m not leaving until you tell me what Uncle Joey did to you or what happened.”

“This has nothing to do with you, Sasha, and I won’t be digging out any crap right now.”

“In that case, I’ll ask Dad. He should know more about—”

“No, don’t you dare! I don’t want to worry your father; he’s on the road. Sell it as fast as you can. Tell that man downstairs that I’m not feeling well. I don’t want to see him.”

If my mother convinced herself about something, then that was it. She was stubborn as a mule, and she wasn’t prepared to talk about it. I wished that we had the same connection we used to, before I’d moved to London. It was my fault that we had drifted apart.

“Fine, but eventually you’ll have to tell me what’s going on,” I muttered and left the room. I felt like a complete idiot. It looked like I didn’t know my family after all.

I went back downstairs and told Dexter to wait for me in the car. He didn’t question me. Mum signed the paperwork and fifteen minutes later, I was walking away from the house.

Thoughts about my childhood and school were moving through my mind. I was trying to remember family gatherings, events that mattered, but nothing came to mind. No one had ever mentioned Joey before.

“Are you all right, Barbie?” Dexter asked me when I got into the car.

“No, not really. I’m confused. Something is wrong. My mother has never behaved like that. She was perfectly fine until you mentioned that photo.”

“I’m not wrong—she is the woman from the picture. It should have clicked earlier. Joey carried it with him all the time. It was pretty fucking important to him.”

“She bluntly refused to explain anything. This doesn’t make any sense,” I muttered.

“I don’t know what to say, Barbie. Joey was a very private person. I never asked him about the picture,” Dexter said. I sank back to my seat, knowing that I had to tell him about the letter.

“Dexter listen, at Harry’s party, after you showed up when I was changing, you dropped a letter. I think it must have been in your jacket pocket,” I began, wondering how he was going to react when he found out that I have read his private correspondence.