The Wall of Winnipeg and Me - Mariana Zapata Page 0,158
him!” Zac’s mouth went even wider, his blue eyes darting from one side to the other like he couldn’t handle what I was telling him. “He got—”
“Aiden?”
“Yes.”
“Our Aiden?”
I nodded solemnly.
Zac still didn’t believe me. “You sure?”
“He told me. He has the bruises to prove it.”
“No. He wouldn’t.” He looked away and then looked back at me. “Aiden?”
“Yes.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it. “I don’t know…” His lips moved but nothing came out. “He doesn’t…“
“I know. I know he doesn’t.”
“What the hell took him so long? I told him a week ago,” he suddenly noted in exasperation.
Good gracious. He was making faces because Aiden had taken too long. Uh. “Because when I went to the Thanksgiving Day game, Christian called me honey or something, and was just being a creeper in general—wait. It doesn’t matter. Why did you say anything to him anyway? I told you that as friends. Circle of trust.”
Zac huffed and gave me a look that resembled one of Aiden’s a little too closely. “Why wouldn’t I tell him?”
“Because it didn’t matter.”
Yeah, he was definitely giving me one of Aiden’s faces. “If I was the one you were married to, I’d want him to tell me.”
“Traitor.” That made sense, but I wasn’t going to admit it.
The blond snorted. “Van, think about it for a second. Aiden’s not—he’s not going to give you a hug, tell you you’re pretty, and call you his best friend, but I know him, and he cares about you.”
Now he does, I thought. “If I die, he can’t get his papers fixed so easily.”
His blue eyes narrowed and he gestured toward the front door. “If you die, who else would he have that gives a shit about him?”
What was that supposed to mean?
“C’mon. Let’s go inside. I’m starvin’,” he finished up.
I took one more peek at the bright blue lights and followed him in. We had barely opened the door when the persistent beeping of Aiden’s ringtone started going off from somewhere in the kitchen. I ignored it and headed toward the fridge, pulling out leftovers from the day before.
“What do you have?” Zac asked, peeking over my shoulder as I scooped food onto a plate.
“Pasta.” I just handed it over. There wasn’t a point in asking him if he wanted it. Of course he’d want it.
“Yum,” he said, without even tasting it.
Aiden’s phone began to ring again just as I set my plate into the microwave to warm up. By the time it was done, the phone had stopped ringing and started up all over again. I sat down to eat, and it started beeping. Again.
“Who the hell is calling him?” Zac asked as he stood in front of the microwave watching his food heat up.
Leaning to the side, I dragged Aiden’s phone over and glanced at the screen. TREVOR MCMANN flashed across the screen. Ugh.
“Trevor,” I said.
Zac made an impolite noise. “I bet he’s callin’ about today.”
I winced. He was probably right. “Have you talked to him?”
“I talked to him on Thanksgivin’. I figured if he started talkin’ a whole buncha nonsense, I could pass the phone over to my mama,” he admitted with a laugh.
The phone started ringing one more time. Good gracious. I picked up his phone and hesitated. This was my fault. Wasn’t it? “I’m going to answer. Should I answer?”
“Take one for Team Graves.”
Damn it. I answered. “Hello?”
“Aiden what the—?”
“This is Vanessa.” I made a face at Zac mouthing, ‘Why did I do this?’
“Put Aiden on the phone,” he demanded without any pretense.
“Ah, I don’t think so,” I said quickly.
“What do you mean you don’t think so? Put him on the goddamn phone.”
“How about you hold your horses. He’s napping. I’m not going to go wake him up, buddy. If you have a message, pass it along. If you don’t have a message, I’ll make sure to tell him you called.” Either way, I wasn’t going to tell Aiden shit. Trevor just didn’t need to know that.
“Goddammit, Vanessa. I need to talk to him.”
“And he needs his sleep.”
Trevor made a noise that was more than a huff and less than what? A growl. I could tell how pissed off he was right then, how important he felt the conversation he wanted to have with Aiden seemed to be. The thing was, I didn’t care. “You and I haven’t had a chance to chat lately, but don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. This shit today is your fault. I know it is.”