“I’m fine. It’s not my family that’s going to be torn apart. I guess I just feel bad for Mason.”
I really am fine. I should be mad at my mom for sending me away not because she understands me but because she wanted more alone time with her married boyfriend. I should be mad at her for knowingly being a mistress, but she’s supposed to be the adult here. She should know what’s right and wrong and not rely on her teenage daughter to teach her how not to be a scheming bitch.
Okay, maybe I’m a little mad at my mom, but that’s probably normal. I did just find out she’s a homewrecker.
11
We pull into the driveway of the beach house a bit after seven o’clock since we stopped a couple of times to eat. My first impression of the house is that it’s beautiful. Not so big that we’ll never see each other, but not so small that we’ll invade each other’s personal space. Aiden grabs our bags from the trunk and we walk onto the porch, waiting for someone to open the door for us.
“Finally, you’re here!” Noah says when he opens the door. “We figured you guys decided to pull over and f—Ow!”
Aiden cuts Noah off when he shoves my duffel bag into his chest, forcing him to grab it.
We step into the small foyer and close the door behind us, and I’m greeted by a spacious, brightly lit open area, with couches and a television, where the twins and Julian are playing a video game. Just to the side of the living area is the kitchen and an eating area right beside it. A porch runs from one side of the living room all the way to the end of the eating area, visible through all the windows and clear sliding doors.
Mason’s standing in the kitchen, and my stomach instantly starts hurting when he waves at me. I avert my gaze, but before he can comment on my rudeness, Annalisa and Charlotte appear at the top of the stairs, which are to the right of the foyer.
“Amelia! Finally! Come look at the view from our room!” Charlotte exclaims, and I don’t waste any time following her up the stairs—anything to avoid Mason, even if it’s putting off the inevitable. You’d think I’d be better at hiding secrets, but this is different—it’s not about me, and it’s really going to hurt him, destroy him even. I don’t know if I’ll be able to face him at all over these next two weeks.
Noah follows us with my bag since he refused to let me carry it when I offered, and Aiden stays behind to say hi to his brothers.
“There are three rooms downstairs. Noah is in one, Aiden is in the other, and Julian and I are in the bigger one,” Annalisa explains when we get to the top of the stairs. “This room here is Mason and Chase’s, the one down at the end of the hall is Jackson and Jason’s, and this one is yours and Char’s.”
“How did Noah and Aiden score rooms by themselves and everyone else has to share?” I ask, more out of curiosity than anything.
“We figured Aiden should get a room to himself since he just got out of jail and deserves a nice room. You know, since the bunks in prison are terrible,” Noah jokes and I laugh despite knowing I probably shouldn’t.
“And how did you get a room?” I reply with a smile.
“We put Mason’s, Noah’s, and Chase’s names in a hat and the name we pulled out is who got the room to himself,” Charlotte answers.
“And I didn’t rig it, despite what Mason says!” Noah defends himself loudly enough that Mason can hear from the kitchen.
“You sit on a throne of lies!” Mason calls back.
“He’s just jealous he’s not incredibly good looking, funny, smart, talented, and lucky like I am,” Noah rationalizes, opening the door to the room Charlotte and I will be sharing.
My eyes are immediately drawn to the queen-sized bed, for no other reason than because Chase is lying down on it, flipping through one of Charlotte’s magazines like he has all the time in the world.
“Oh, hey, Amelia,” he says casually. Annalisa and Charlotte just shrug.
The room is nothing luxurious, but apparently we got the nicest one because we got the balcony. Noah puts my bag on top of the dresser and sits down beside Chase, while Annalisa, Charlotte, and I cross the room and head for the balcony. I slide open the balcony door and see the grass of the backyard, which eventually turns into sand, then ocean. It’s so peaceful.
“Char, did you end up knocking people out for this room after all?” I tease her, wondering how we landed the balcony and gorgeous view.
“They let us have it since you’re paying for all our food and stuff,” Charlotte answers as we step back into the room and close the door.
“Plus, we figured that you two would be least likely to jump off the balcony in a drunken stupor,” Annalisa says, giving Chase a sharp look.
“Once! It happened once and I landed in the pool!” Chase defends himself, adding in a mumble, “They never let me live that down.”
I’ve only ever seen Chase drunk once, when he showed up at Charlotte’s resolved to declare his love for her before I stopped him, but clearly this guy does some pretty dumb things when he’s had too much to drink. Drunk Chase stories just get weirder and weirder every time I hear them.
“Technically, it’s Aiden’s money,” I clarify. “He should get first choice of rooms.”
Annalisa scoffs. “Please, have you met the man? He wouldn’t let us give him the better room instead of you.”
I hide my blush behind my hair.