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16
The sun is setting as Aiden crosses into King City, right as Charlotte calls. I put her on speaker and mute the car’s music so we can both hear her.
“Hey, Char, you’re on speaker. Aiden’s here.”
“Thank God! I’ve been texting but you haven’t answered.” Her voice comes out in a rush. “Where are you? Are you home?”
“No, we’ll be home in about . . .” I look at the clock, then at Aiden, who shrugs and fills in the blank for me. “About twenty minutes.”
“Good,” comes her relieved voice. “My parents are out of town for the night and Jake’s throwing a party. You need to come.”
Aiden and I exchange a glance. We were supposed to talk out what to do about this whole Luke situation. I’m still feeling frazzled about it. Can I really just go to a party and pretend Annalisa’s not the daughter of my mortal enemy?
“Amelia?” Charlotte prompts. “Come on. It’s going to be a bunch of Jake’s friends and they’re all college kids and I don’t want to be outnumbered in my own house. Anna and Julian already bailed; I need at least one of my girlfriends here. Mason, Noah, and Chase are coming, but you know how they are at parties, I probably won’t even see them the whole time.”
I try to gauge Aiden’s opinion, but he just downshifts and says, “Up to you.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Charlotte continues, a hopeful note in her voice, “no one will crash since it’s a college party, so no Ryan.”
I can’t bail on Charlotte. House parties are part of feeling normal, and I’m trying to feel normal despite everything spinning out of my control. “Sure, we’ll be there.”
A high-pitched squeal emits from the phone and I hold it away from our ears. “Yes! Awesome! Look hot—well, you always do—but still! See you soon!” She ends the call before I can say anything.
“Guess we’re going to a party,” Aiden says.
We pull into Mason’s driveway in no time. Natalia offered to watch Aiden’s brothers while we went out today. We’re picking them up so they can get ready for a birthday sleepover they were invited to, then we’ll get changed and go to Charlotte’s house.
I’m tempted to sit and wait in the car so I don’t have to face Natalia, Mason, or Brian, but that feels rude, so I walk up to the door with Aiden and he rings the doorbell. Natalia opens the door, a wide smile on her face as she takes in Aiden and me.
“Amelia! So nice to see you again! Come in, come in.” She ushers us in and closes the door behind us. I glance around, waiting for Brian to pop up.
“It’s good to see you too.” My face heats but I do my best to ignore it and try to plaster a look on my face that doesn’t scream her husband is cheating on her. I hope it’s not a grimace.
She gestures down the hallway and into the kitchen. “I just made enchiladas, Mason’s favorite, so the boys are eating. There’s plenty for everyone, come, grab a plate.”
It does smell delicious, but I feel like throwing up. I try to hide the deer-in-the-headlights look on my face behind my hair. Where is Brian? The sick feeling in my stomach doubles over on itself at the thought that he might be with my mom right now.
“We ate already, but thank you, Natalia,” Aiden answers since I apparently swallowed my tongue. We did pick up some fast food, and I’m grateful for it, because every second I stand here talking to Natalia is like a punch to the gut. She’s such a kind, sweet woman.
“Are you sure? Do you want to take some home for lunch tomorrow?”
I force myself to stop eyeing the stairs in anticipation of Brian.
“We’re okay, really, Natalia, thank you.” Aiden smiles in his disarming way, and she concedes.
“All right, well, let me grab the boys.” She walks away and then pauses and turns back. She lowers her voice. “Also, Aiden, between you and me, I think something’s up with the boys. Maybe they should cut down on the violent video games, it might be affecting them more than you think. They’re arguing and yelling at the TV . . . well, more than normal.”
Aiden’s eyebrows draw together. “Really? Thanks for telling me. I’ll talk to them.”
“And Aiden, as I keep offering, you boys are more than welcome to stay here. Sell your house. You don’t need to move out; I love having a full house.”
Aiden shakes his head. “Your help with the custody and mortgage paperwork is more than enough, thank you, Natalia.”
She gives Aiden a small frown and mutters something about stubborn teenagers, but heads down the hallway, calling for Jason and Jackson. I think about what she said about the video games. Is Greg’s death affecting the twins more than we were led to believe? Are they bothered about Andrew? Aiden’s been sheltering them from the truth about the death threats, both from their biological dad and from strangers online.
“Hey,” Mason greets us, appearing from the kitchen. He’s wearing a gray crew neck sweater that accentuates his broad shoulders and jeans.
“Where’s your dad?” I blurt and internally curse myself. Even Aiden shoots me a what the hell–play it cool look.
If Mason thinks it’s weird, he doesn’t let on. “He had to go into work today. You’re coming to Char’s right? You haven’t been answering in the group chat.”
Is being at work code for being with my mom? I clear my throat. “Yeah, sorry, we’ve been busy today and didn’t check our phones. We’re coming.”
Mason leans against the wall beside us. “Cool. Fun date?”
No.“Absolutely.”
“Oh, also, dude.” Mason straightens up and lowers his voice like Natalia did. “Something’s up with the twins. We were playing Return of the Zombie Aliens and they were yelling about killing and calling each other liars and they started pushing each other. Like, it was worse than any time we played at the beach house.”
Before Aiden can say anything, the twins appear.
