think she was lying about that?”
I think about it for a second, then shake my head. “She was telling the truth.” I meant what I told Mia the other night. My mother was a piece of work, but when she was caught in an act, she didn’t lie.
“Yeah, I didn’t think she’d lie about that,” Cole sighs. “Not with that whole good riddance veiled insults she alluded about Mia leaving, which means she really doesn’t know where Mia is.”
I groan, staring at the sky, begging for strength not to murder the best QB who has a bright future ahead of him.
“Dude, we know that already,” I groan. “Are you hellbent on getting a broken nose today?”
“Nah, look at the bigger picture, asshole. What would a girl like Mia do after finding out that the woman who raised her has been having an elaborate long-ass affair with your dad, the man who ruined her father’s life?” he questions, then a shudder rolls off his shoulders. “Dude, I’m still stunned with that one.”
Stunned? Try disgusted.
What happened between John and Nancy was more than an affair. They were in love, but I don’t want to talk about that. Because it probably means dad interfered in Nathan’s life because he wanted Nancy to himself. It’s fucked up, selfish, but damn, I get it. I’d do the same for my Little Minx.
“Other girls would have broken down and cried or whined,” Cole says with a soft chuckle. “But not Mia.”
Yeah, but not my Little Minx.
“Mia would set the whole damn house on fire with that black heart in her chest.”
At this point, with everything that has happened with Mia, I’m convinced that she’s some kind of arsonist; at least an arson with everything that has to do with me.
“Exactly! So, why didn’t she?” Cole asks.
“How high are you right now? Nancy died and that was after that shit at the police station,” I mutter, that horrible feeling coming back to bite me in the ass. “She was going through a lot and adding that shit between dad and Nancy… I guess it was too much.”
But that still doesn’t mean she would have run, does it?
“Yeah we know that, but what we don’t know is what happened after that.” Cole pushes away from his car. “After passing out where did she go? Who carried her out of the room and where did they go?”
A strange sensation takes root in my stomach and I pause, my mind racing.
“Holy shit!”
Why didn’t we think of this earlier?
I push away from my car too and fish out my phone. I quickly type in my password and bring up the surveillance app that shows the CCTV footage from the cameras around the property and inside the house that dad had installed when I was younger.
Now that I think about it, did he have cameras placed in the house to monitor Courtney when Aiden was there as well. Was dad watching out for my brother all long? I don’t dare trust him to go that far for him, but there was something about the way he confessed that morning. Anything is possible with him and until I find out what, everything’s up in the air.
I quickly type in the dates and an estimated time of when everything went down.
I stop when I see Mia cutting through the property from the tree-line, headed for the house with her phone pressed to her ear. Who was she talking to?
I press play and watch as she hesitates in front of the house, then she seems to psych herself up because she steps closer to the door and enters the house.
I watch the way she holds herself, so different, like her guard is up, like the first time she moved in our home. I want to reach in and scoop her up in my arms and just take her to my bed where she let me actually see her. The real her. All soft, vulnerable and honest.
“There’s your mother,” Cole says, jerking me back to reality and he’s right.
“Courtney,” I mutter, staring at the two women in the hallway.
“She’s still your mother,” he counters, peering over my shoulder.
“Shut up!”
We watch in silence as they talk. You can clearly see from Mia’s body language that whatever Courtney is saying is upsetting her.
Courtney keeps talking, and I zoom in to see Mia’s face. Her face is impassive. If she hadn’t let me see her real self, I wouldn’t have been able to see that her armor is taking