Chapter 26 – Nalia
Twenty-Six
NALIA
Billie
“They’re so cute,” Cat says when Nalia leans over so my dad can whisper something to her. Whatever he says makes her smile, and when he sees it, his face goes soft like it always does when he looks at her.
Rolling my eyes at my best friend I turn to my stomach on my towel. She isn’t wrong. they are cute, so cute it’s gross, and they look like they belong together, which is weird, because I always thought my mom and dad were meant to be together until I saw him with her.
And now, now it kinda feels like she and Zuri have always been in our lives, which is even weirder since at first, I really thought that I would hate her.
“Oh crap, they’re coming back,” Cat hisses, sucking in her already flat stomach while lifting her chest, and I laugh. “Don’t laugh,” she laughs with me, then sighs. “They aren’t even looking at us.”
“Probably because my dad told them how old we are.” I remind her of that embarrassing detail.
I honestly wish I could scrub that introduction from my brain, but it’s now stuck there, and I will probably have nightmares about it for the next month because it was that humiliating.
Not that my dad noticed when Nalia was introducing us to her cousin’s sons, who were both seriously hot.
Glancing their way, I try to see if they are looking in our direction. I doubt it, and it would be hard to tell anyway because they’re both wearing sunglasses.
Taking my eyes off them when my cell phone beeps, I pull it out and check the screens and it’s a message from my friend, Tori. When I open it up, my stomach bottoms out.
“You can’t be serious,” I whisper, and Cat rolls towards me, and I can feel her looking at my screen as I click on the link.
As the page loads, I see that she wasn’t lying.
Aaron’s picture fills the screen along with some information about him, including that he likes cats, even though he told my mom she couldn’t get a cat because he’s allergic to them.
I slide through the photos on his profile and feel sick.
As sick as I felt the first time I found him on this same dating app right after he moved in with my mom.
Nalia
“So, it’s officially official, you found your guy.
” Ashlyn grins, then adds, before taking a sip of her drink.
“I wasn’t sure that he was the one for you since your relationship has been pretty much drama free since you started talking about him, but now that I know that the cops have been called, I’ll start looking for a wedding party dress. ”
“I wish I could claim that logic is ridiculous, but it is actually pretty accurate,” April mutters from her lounger.
“So, what is Logan going to do?” June asks, bringing the conversation back around to me, telling them that the cops who came over last night confirmed this afternoon that the bikes left at the end of the driveway were Matthew’s and his older brother’s.
The same kid that we’ve been having issues with this school year.
“There’s not much he can do; the boys claim that they know nothing about the vandalism, and their parents said that the boys were home all night, so it couldn’t have been them.”
“Then how did their bikes get there?”
“Apparently, they were stolen from their front yard.” I make air quotes.
“Yeah, and I’m Mary Poppins,” April mutters.
“Basically, but maybe the cops showing up scared them, and they will stop being little pricks.”
“You can hope,” July says, then adds. “At least no one is being stalked or shot at.”
“This is true,” Hanna mutters quietly so that she doesn’t wake up the sleeping boy on her lap.
“Okay, enough with the small talk, I want to know how last night was,” Harmony says, and all the girls look over at me. I’m not one who gets easily embarrassed, and I have never really been shy, but still, I feel my cheeks warm.
“It was good.” I look across the yard to Logan and like he feels my eyes on him, he looks my direction and grins.
“Just good?” Willow presses.
“Really good.”
“He fits in,” December tells me with her eyes on the guys who are all sitting near the barbeque with beers chatting with my dad and uncles who are manning the two grills they set up to feed everyone.
He does fit in, and since we got here, no one has asked him to arm wrestle or fight to the death.
And the kids instantly settled in like they have been here a dozen times, then again my mom told them the moment they walked in the door to make themselves at home then proceeded to show them the pantry and all the snacks, where the drinks were and what bathrooms are on the first floor, so they wouldn’t need to go searching.
“Did it take you guys a while to get used to being so happy?” I ask, picking up my drink from the table next to me.
“I’m still not use to it,” April whispers, and all the girls nod.
“Just enjoy it,” my cousin Cobi’s wife, Hadley, says quietly as my gaze catches on Billie, who is sitting with Cat.
Both the girls have kept to themselves most of the day, but I’ve noticed more than once the two of them whispering while looking over at Max and Mitchell, my cousin December’s stepsons, though she just refers to them as her boys.
“What’s that about?” Jax’s wife, Ellie, asks when Billie suddenly gets up from her towel next to the pool and tosses down her phone.
“I don’t know.” I get up and walk over to Cat, who is watching her friend walk towards the house, obviously upset.
“What happened?”
“Umm.” Cat lifts her head, her sunglasses meeting mine. “I…”
“Did something happen?” I glance down at Billie’s cell phone, and the image on the screen makes my stomach bottom out. Even only meeting Aaron once, his face is familiar enough that I recognize him immediately in the photo on what I know is a dating website.
Leaning down, I pick up her phone, then slide through the photos that were uploaded onto his dating profile.
“He had deleted it,” Cat whispers, and I take my eyes off the phone to look at her. “But he must have put it back up while he was gone over the weekend.” Oh god, I look at the house as Billie disappears inside. “Should I go talk to her?” she asks.
“I got her, honey.” I hand her Billie’s phone, then walk over to my lounger and grab my cover-up from the back of my chair.
“Is everything alright?” Willow asks as I put my cover-up on.
“Yeah,” I lie. “Do you mind keeping an eye on Zuri and Cooper?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks.” I turn and head for the house, avoiding looking at anyone as I walk through the yard. I don’t even look in Logan’s direction because I’m worried that my face will give away that something is happening.
Once I’m inside, I take off my sunglasses and glance into the kitchen, where my mom and aunts are all standing around the island.
“Did you guys see Billie come through here?” I ask as they all look at me.
“I think she went to the bathroom,” Aunt November tells me.
“Thanks.”
“Everything okay?” Mom asks.
“Yeah,” I leave them and head down the hall, stopping outside the bathroom door. “Billie.” I knock.
“Just a second,” she calls out, sounding like she’s crying, and my heart breaks.
“Can I come in?” When she doesn’t answer I push the door open and inch and peek inside.
Seeing her standing in the middle of the bathroom with tissue pressed to her eyes I open the door enough to squeeze in then close it behind myself.
“Hey.” I wrap my arms around her, and she starts to sob. “Oh honey, I’m so sorry.”
“You know?”
“I saw your phone,” I whisper as her tears soak through the thin material of my swimsuit cover-up.
“I can’t believe him.”
“Cat mentioned that you saw him on that site before.”
“Yeah,” she chokes out, “right after he moved in with Mom.”
“Can I ask why you were on there?” I’m not sure that right now is the time to bring that question up, but it worries me that she’s on an adult dating site.
“My friend Tori’s older sister found her dad on there when he was married to her mom, so we all started looking as a joke.” She lets me go and takes a seat on the edge of the tub. “I didn’t really think I’d find Aaron, but I did.”
“Okay.” I put down the seat on the toilet and sit down.
“When I found him, I was mad, but then he wasn’t on there anymore, so I’ve been thinking that maybe I was wrong, and it was just a mistake.
” She shakes her head. “But Tori just sent me a link to his dating profile when we were outside, and some of the photos he used were taken at my mom's house, so they had to be uploaded recently. Right?”
“Maybe?” I hand her some more tissue.
“My mom loves him.” She drops her eyes from mine. “Like, really loves him, I can’t tell her what he’s doing.”
“No, you can’t,” I agree. “But your mom needs to know what is going on.” If I were her, I’d want to know that the man I moved into my house and had around my kids was on a dating site looking for other women.
And if he’s hooked up with anyone else while they have been together, he’s putting her in danger, which is absolutely horrible to think about. “I’ll talk to your dad about it.”
“No.” She shakes her head.
“Honey,” I say gently. “Sh…”
“What if he thinks I did this?” she cuts me off. “What if he thinks that I’m just trying to get my mom to leave Aaron so that he and Mom will get back together?”
“Are you?” I ask not thinking that she is, and she sits back.
“No, and…” She shakes her head, “My dad is like totally obsessed with you, so that wouldn’t even work.”
“I wasn’t worried about that,” I tell her honestly. “But your parents are friends, and if I were your mom, I’d want a friend to be the one to tell me what’s going on.”
“I guess you’re right,” she says as there is a knock on the door. I start to get up to answer it, but it’s pushed open slightly and Logan pokes his head inside. When he sees that Billie is crying, he frowns and looks at me.
“What happened?”
“We need to talk,” I tell him, getting to my feet.
“What happened?” he repeats, looking at Billie.