AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Exactly!” I agreed.
Nick was my best friend’s brother, which made this whole thing even weirder.
Nick chuckled. “I don’t want you to ever think that you’re not…welcome, or anything like that, Olivia. Just because your mom and I are married now, and the baby will be here in a few months, it doesn’t mean you’re not still her daughter.”
“I know,” I mumbled.
“Do you?” He questioned.
I sighed. “It’s weird,” I admitted reluctantly. I felt like my mom was replacing me…like I wasn’t good enough. I knew in my heart that wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop me from thinking it.
“I don’t want you to feel weird about this, Olivia,” Nick’s eyes narrowed.
“How could I not feel weird?” I countered. “What if the situation was reversed? How would you feel if your mom was marrying your best friend’s brother and having his baby?”
He shrugged. “When you put it that way…I get it. I do.”
“I’m a big girl, Nick,” I told him jokingly. “Seriously, don’t worry about me.”
“I want you to be okay with me and your mom being together,” he whispered.
It was kinda to
o late for that. But I didn’t tell him that. “Nick,” I eyed him, “you love my mom and that’s what matters the most. I’m okay.”
He stared down at me for a moment, not believing me.
“Really,” I added.
“Alright,” he sighed, his eyes zeroing in on something across the room. “I better get you back to your boyfriend before he bites my arm off or something.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Trace standing with his hands shoved into his pockets, glaring at Nick. My mom was speaking to Resa, Nick’s mom.
I shook my head and smiled at Nick. “Did he miss the wedding or something? I’m pretty sure you just said ‘I do’ and it wasn’t to me.”
Nick chuckled. “Yeah, he must have missed that part.”
The song ended and Nick released me. “Thanks for talking with me, Olivia.” With a smile, he disappeared off the dance floor, in search of my mom.
“Somebody was a Chatty Kathy,” Trace appeared at my side.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him to an empty table. “He wanted to talk,” I told Trace, sitting down beside him. “So, we talked. There was no need for you to glare at him like that. He is my step-dad.” Ew. That word seemed too strange to comprehend.
“Sorry,” Trace mumbled, bowing his head. “I know that. I’m just very overprotective of you.”
I swallowed thickly, feeling like he’d punched me in the gut. Trace had always been protective of me, but after I was nearly murdered he gave that word a whole new meaning.
“I highly doubt Nick’s going to kill me,” my voice was barely above a whisper.
“I’m sorry,” Trace repeated, “I can’t help but freak out a bit when it comes to you.”
“It’s been two years, Trace. I’ve moved on,” somewhat, “and you should too.”
His fingers tapped restlessly against his knee.
“I wish that bastard hadn’t killed himself. He deserved to rot in prison for what he did to you,” Trace seethed, his teeth gritted.
“At least, he can never hurt anyone else now,” I whispered, feeling very small. For some reason, whenever the conversation turned to Aaron, I always felt like a small child and wanted to curl into a ball.
