Chapter Forty-Six

We were soon driving out of the gates and towards town, I had given Austin the address which seemed to be on the outside of town, a place which I personally, had never been. I had no idea what to think going into this, it does seem like a simple job of just delivering some unknown packages to these unknown people. But now I know how Markus works and what goes on in his brain, I'm worried that some issue is going to pop up which will be dangerous. The silence that was filling the car was soon broken, by Austin letting out a sigh. 'I'm sorry Payton, I keep telling you that I won't let Markus involve you in this mess but look, you're sitting right beside me as I do one of his jobs!" He says shaking his head as he went, I knew he would be beating himself up about this, but he doesn't have to! 'Come on, we knew it was going to happen at some point" I say with a little smile to lighten the mood, I've known since I first learnt what Markus likes to get up to, that I would be involved in some capacity. 'I have one request, please remember that I'm here and can hear everything that is happening. I beg you not to make out or anything" Jacob's voice says which did make me jump, I have to admit that I did forget about him for a few minutes. But his comment alone did make me chuckle as I look out the window. I soon also remember that Austin can't hear the conversation as he doesn't know it's happening! When I turn back to look at him, I see him sending me a confused look, think Payton. 'Sorry, I'm getting tired and I tend to laugh at everything when that happens" I say hoping he brought my excuse, I didn't need him finding out what I'm doing before we catch Markus! 'If you're getting tired, I could always drop you off at home so you can have a few hours sleep then once I'm done, I'll pick you up again" he suggests which was really sweet that he would offer to do that, it was honestly, sounding rather tempting. 'Tracker" is all Jacob says which reminds me what's on this car right now, Markus is probably watching on the map where we are! 'No it's okay, I would rather stay here with you" I say sending him a smile to let him know I was okay, even though yes I would rather be a home, I also wouldn't want him to do this alone. 'It'll be a nice break from the house" I say leaning my hand against the door to look out the window, it's always so pretty driving at night where you see all the lights and things. Austin looks over sending me a smile before looking back at the road, this telling me he has brought my lie and will continue on this journey with me. The car was silent once again, but by the looks Austin kept giving me, I knew something was playing on his mind. 'You said you needed a break from the house, by house do you actually mean Roman?" He asks completely out of the blue, I look over at him sending him the most confused look, where the heck did that come from?! 'Trouble in paradise?" Jacobs voice asks which now wasn't the best time for him to ask me that question, one because I couldn't answer his question with Austin sitting there and two, I have no idea where that question even came from?! 'It doesn't take a genius to see that you aren't happy with Roman anymore" Austin says when I don't go to speak, I just shake my head at how stupid he was sounding right now. 'I have you know that I am happy with Roman and have loved him for years" I say attempting to back myself up but also my relationship with Roman, things are changing and I'm gonna need him more than anything going forward. 'You can love somebody all you want, but that doesn't automatically make you happy with them" Austin says while I just stare out of the window, why is he saying all of this? 'The only reason that you're seeing this change in your relationship is because you had a break from him, in that break you saw how much more freedom you had" he says while my mind begins to agree with him, not that it wanted to which causes a sigh to leave my lips. 'It's never not been me and Roman" I say looking over at him with sad eyes, I'm at a point now that I don't know what I would do without Roman. 'Maybe it's time you find the real Payton, not the one that Roman is making you be" he says looking at me before turning to the road, where he pulls up the car at a really expensive house. Austin gets out of the car and moves to the side door, I sit there as she shifts through the packages until he finds the right one. Once he has, he closes the door but sticks his head back through the drivers door to look at me. 'I'll lock the car but I need you to stay here okay?" He asks looking at me, I send him a smile with a nod of my head before he closes the door and locks it. I watch him walk up to the house for a second, the conversation that we just had still swirling around my head. I'm happy when I'm with Roman, I missed him so much when he was away and I'm so happy he's back. 'Are you alone?" Jacobs voice says breaking the silence, at first I nod my head but I soon remember that he can't actually see me. 'Yeah I'm alone now, Austin's gone to the first house" I say as I look up to see where he was, this is when I spot him waiting for whoever the person was to answer the door. 'I just want to say that I know what you and Austin just spoke about isn't any of my business, but I can't help but agree with what Austin is saying" he tells me also agreeing with Austin, why am I the only person that has my viewpoint on this?! 'If being with someone isn't making you happy, you need to take a step back and see what you really want" he says giving me advice, what he was saying was also making sense which worried me. 'But I don't know what life is like without Roman" I say placing my head on the window as I spoke, I really don't know what to do with this situation, which all started because Austin declared his feelings for me. 'It sounds like you need to find who you are without Roman" he tells me which is what I was scared of, since I left school Roman and I have always planned our lives, being apart was never a part of the plan. 'But I also have to say that I don't know your relationship, I might be barking up the wrong tree so take what I say with a grain of salt" he tells me which did make me feel better, yeah me and Roman are the only ones that truly know our relationship. 'Thank you Jacob" I smile before I see Austin making his way back to the car, I tell Jacob this before Austin opens up the car door and climbs in. 'How'd it go?" I ask looking over at him with smile, he just shakes his head before pulling the car away. 'It was weird" he says as we turn the corner, I send him a look not understanding why it would be weird. 'I know for sure that the man I just delivered that package to, is somebody Markus always claims that he hates." He says looking at me with a confused look, which does confuse me. Why would Markus send someone a package who he claims he doesn't like? 'We can never guess what's going on in Markus's mind, I bet even he doesn't know half the time. So there isn't much point us trying to make sense of any situation that Markus has the power in" I say sitting back in my chair, we could be going over the theories for hours and still have no answers. 'Where's the next address?" Austin asks after agreeing with me, I pick up the piece of paper that I put on the dashboard to look, but it confuses me. 'All the paper says is the house on the hill" I say looking over at him confused, does he have any idea what this means? 'I know where that is" Austin quickly says whilst turning the car around, I bet Markus got worried that we were going the wrong way for a second. 'Markus drove me passed that house once, he told me he was going to make the man that lived there pay one day" he says which did worry me slightly, so we're sending a package that Markus is meant to hate to another person! What is going on?! 'It seems that all the packages that Markus is sending out, seem to be to people that he claims to hate" Jacob says saying what I was thinking, but just didn't know why. 'I'm going to have to work out why" he says with a little sigh, better him than me! 'Most of the things on this list is explained like that" I say skimming down the list Markus gave me, maybe I should have done that before. 'Who knows what Markus is planning" Austin says leaning back in his chair as he drove, whatever he's planning doesn't sound good. 'That's also something I need to work out" Jacob says in my ear. This is a weird conversation.