I laughed. “I told Zac in the car that I thought the oldest one—Sammy?—could have been seven or fifteen, and I wasn’t sure.”
That made her laugh too. “They were both ten-pound babies.”
I didn’t mean to make a face, but I did, and fortunately it only made her crack up more.
“Everyone makes that face. Don’t feel bad.”
It was my turn to laugh, all awkward. “I’m sorry. How big was she?” I asked.
“She was a preemie. She was only about four pounds.” Her hand went to tweak the little girl’s bow.
Zac had explained in the car that they had originally meant to be Fiona’s foster parents, but they’d only made it a few months before deciding to adopt her.
The other woman glanced over her shoulder before turning back to me. “Bianca, before they come back, I wanted to ask… how’s Zac doing? I’ve been really worried about him. I’ve been so busy, and he doesn’t tell Aiden the same things he tells me, so I don’t really know if he’s doing okay mentally.”
Did I want to talk to this woman who I barely knew about Zac?
One look at her face, and thinking back on her brief mentions, and I knew he cared about her a lot.
So yeah, apparently, I did.
“He is now. He’s stressed, you know. During the off-season, I was worried about him too just from some things he was saying.” She frowned like she didn’t know about that. “But he’s really been focusing, and he hasn’t been going out at all that I know of except to do things with me. He’s under a lot of pressure, but he’s still being himself.”
She was already nodding before she finished talking. “I didn’t know about the off-season. Last year, I knew he was really struggling and making some dumbass choices I wanted to kill him over, but I wanted to make sure he wasn’t blowing steam up my ass when he’d tell me he was doing better now.” One corner of her mouth went up a little. “He told me you’d kick his ass if he didn’t keep his shit together.”
I snorted. “Nah, he doesn’t need me. He knows what he needs to do.”
She squinted at me a little, kind of smiled, and then shrugged a shoulder. “He’s got a heart of gold, that one, but I still—”
“What are you two gossipin’ over?”
It was Zac who set his hands on top of my head, fingers slipping through my hair.
“You,” I told him.
He groaned, his fingers still kneading at my scalp. I wanted to moan it felt so good. And of course that was when his phone started ringing. I heard him sigh and knew he pulled it out after he took his hands off my head. He tapped me on the shoulder. “It’s Amari. I’ll be right back.”
I tipped my head back to meet his gaze and nodded.
He smiled at me before he turned around and walked off a little bit. When I turned back toward the table, five faces were looking at me. Three small ones and two big ones. Vanessa was the only one smiling. I hadn’t even heard the other three come around.
They stared at me. They stared at me expectantly. I didn’t think a child had ever made me want to squirm more. Because I knew what they were doing. What they were asking themselves.
“I’d never do anything to hurt him or take advantage of him. He’s been my best friend since I was Fiona’s age, give or take,” I explained, so hopefully they wouldn’t keep looking at me like I was the bad guy.
The older boy narrowed his eyes at me with his little-kid/teenage face. “What’s his favorite color?”
“Sammy!” Vanessa hissed at him. “Don’t use that tone of voice with her, and you aren’t giving an interview.”
He was interviewing me? I almost burst out laughing. He really was worried I was going to… what? Hurt Zac? Not be his friend?
“Mom, you said that we need good friends. Not a lot of them, just good ones. And I just want to see if she’s a good one or a bad one,” the little boy replied, super seriously.
Well.
I met Vanessa’s eyes right as she was going to scold him and tried to tell her it was fine. She must have got what I was implying because she said, “Three questions before he gets back and that’s it, only because it’s okay with her. We don’t assume we know what other people think or feel, do we?”
“No, Mom.”
I was pretty sure even the Aiden man was trying to bite back a laugh when I glanced at him. He was staring at his wife really hard, telling her who the hell knows what with his eyes.
Then the little boy focused back on me and asked, “What’s his favorite color?”
I folded my hands on top of the table and told him, “Green.”
It was the right answer because he asked another question, ready to fucking go. “What’s his favorite food?”
“Spaghetti.”
He narrowed those little boy eyes at me a little more. “Do you love him?”
Wasn’t that the fucking question. But I told him the truth. “Very, very much.”
The seat beside mine got pulled out, and the next thing I knew, Zac was slipping into it, asking, “What are y’all talkin’ about now?”
I nudged him. “Still you.”
That hand of his landed right between my shoulder blades as he smiled. “What about me?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I joked right before the older boy, Sammy, asked about food.
It wasn’t until a couple minutes later that my phone vibrated. I took a peek at it.
ZAC IS MY FAVORITE 2 new message.
When the hell had he changed his contact information again?
I opened the text.
ZAC IS MY FAVORITE 2: Want to run around with me after this?
To do what? I wondered. I really did want to go home and get a video edited. I’d only come here because he’d asked.
I texted him back.
Me: I’d rather go back to Trevor’s if that’s all right. I really need to get some things done.
It wasn’t until half an hour later, while we were busy tearing up a pizza—while I noticed that the Aiden man ate three salads—that he messaged me back.
ZAC IS MY FAVORITE 2: Whatever you want darlin
I woke up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and peeked out the front door.
I paused.
There were only two cars in the driveway: mine and CJ’s. A certain BMW was missing.
Back in my room, I texted Zac.
Me: Are you okay?
I waited an hour to get a response that never came.
Chapter Twenty-One
It was my cell phone ringing that woke me up the next morning.
Cranky and tired, I glared as an unknown New York number flashed across the screen as I held it up to my face with one eye closed.
Was it WatchTube?
“Hello?” I hoped I didn’t sound as tired as I felt. I’d forced myself to go back to sleep after an hour of waiting for Zac to text me back, and I’d tossed and turned all night, totally restless. The times I woke up enough, I’d checked my phone to see if I’d had new messages in my inbox.
But there hadn’t been shit. Just a couple emails and some social media notifications.
I’d been expecting a stranger, but that wasn’t what I heard. “Bianca, it’s Trevor. Where the hell is Zac?”