Chapter 121

Aria’s POV

With a groan, Liam slowly blinked open his eyes. He carelessly rubbed his forehead for a moment, apparently unaware of me in the bed tucked into his side. Yawning, he looked around the room, his face growing more and more confused. Then, he glanced down at me, and startled so fiercely, he nearly fell right off the side of the bed.

“Aria?”

“Why are you in my bed?” I asked him. With the new space between us, it was easier for me to retract now as well, away from the warmth and the comfort. I wormed my way to the opposite side of the bed, lifting the blankets to cover my modesty – only to realize that I was still wearing my clothes from last night. “What happened?”

“You had a little too much champagne last night,” Liam said. “I, uh, carried you out of the party since you couldn’t seem to walk on your own. When we got here, you… well, you wouldn’t let me go. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, but you were very persistent, even half-asleep. I guess I must have passed out myself at some point.”

Glancing down at myself, I noticed that dress, bra, and underwear were still intact and undisturbed. My chest hurt slightly from wearing a bra all night, but the rest of me felt fine.

“Nothing happened,” I said.

“No,” he replied. “Not if you are thinking…” He cleared his throat. “No.”

A flash of relief surges through me, only to be followed immediately by dread. Sitting up, I bring my knees up while dropping my face to meet them.

“What’s the matter?” Liam asked.

“I got drunk in front of all of our co-workers.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Liam shifted like he wanted to move closer to comfort me, but glancing around at the bed, he stopped, deciding better of it. “Everyone was having a good time. I doubt anyone even really noticed.”

Maybe everyone had been drinking, but they would have still noticed the boss carrying out one of the drunk employees. “Liam…” I didn’t need him to lie to me to keep my feelings from being hurt. What I needed was the cold, honest truth.

“I’m serious, Aria. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

I still didn’t know whether to believe that, but for now, I was inclined to, even if only for the sake of easing my splitting headache.

Glancing around, I realized I hadn’t even set out any water before falling asleep.

“Headache getting you?” Liam asked.

I nodded.

“Stay put.” As he crawled out of bed, I saw that he was still wearing his clothes from last night too, though they were severely wrinkled now. “I’ll be right back with some aspirin.”

“Thank you,” I said and flopped back on the bed. When I did so, the sun was immediately in my eyes and I groaned.

It was going to be a long day.

William’s POV

Mom and Dad were being boring today. Dad said Mom had too much fun at the party the night before, so she needed her rest. William didn’t understand how anyone could have had fun at that lame event. No one even went into the pool!

As if Mom being asleep for most of the day wasn’t boring enough, Dad was totally distracted about everything. He walked around like a zombie, totally lost in thought. Joe and William tried to invite him to play a few times, and though he did so, he would stare off into space a lot.

“What’s wrong with him?” Joe asked William, when Dad had excused himself to make lunch.

“No idea,” William replied. Sometimes, in the past, Dad would get mad at William’s birth-mom and become kind of grumpy. But he wasn’t grumpy today, just distracted, so William didn’t think he was fighting with Mom. It had to be something else. “They’ll figure it out.”

What did William care really, in the end? No one was fighting, so everything seemed fine. Even if it was boring.

After lunch, Dad asked William to go see if there was any mail yet. William had been complaining a lot, so maybe Dad thought he needed a walk and some fresh air. After, William decided he would ask Joe to play some tag. It was pretty nice outside.

Obeying his father, William walked down to the mailbox and peeked inside. The mail had come early today, but there was only one letter in the mailbox. William grabbed it and pulled it out without giving it much thought.

But then he saw who the letter was from. This was the same place that had done the DNA results on his hair and his dad’s. Why were they sending another letter?

William knew better than to open other people’s mail, but this felt like a kind of emergency. Maybe something went wrong before? Had they made some kind of mistake or something?

His heart racing, he shredded the envelope to get to the letter, then pulled the letter out to read it.

As he’d already seen the other letter with Joe, he knew right where to look to see the results of this one.

There was his name. Under it was Liam’s.

The words beside it made William go cold all over.

Not a match. No biological relation.

What did this mean? How could this be? How could William go from having a mom and a dad to losing both? Which letter had been wrong? The one before, or this one?

“William?” Dad called from the door.

William turned toward the street. Stuffing the letter back into the envelope, he hid them both under his shirt.

“Everything okay?” Dad asked.

William hurried back to the house. “I’m fine,” he said, not really meaning it. Before Dad could ask more questions, William took off in a run back to his room. There, he slammed closed his door and refused to come out for the rest of the day.

Not even when Dad came by to check on him, or to tell him dinner was ready.

“I’m not feeling well,” William told him, a lie Dad seemed to believe.

When it was bedtime, Joe stopped at William’s door, knocking. “William? Can I come in?”

“Do what you want,” William said. He’d hidden the letter in his backpack, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. It made him irritable and uncertain.

Would Dad make him leave when the truth came out? Should William start packing now?

Joe opened the door and sneaked into the room, closing the door behind him.

“Dad said you weren’t feeling well,” Joe said. “But I thought maybe you just didn’t want to spaghetti again, so I brought you something.” Walking closer to where William was sitting on the bed, Joe upturned his pockets, revealing six different candy pieces still in their wrappers.

It was a good haul, from the candy dish their parents kept on the highest shelf. Joe would have had to have gone out of his way to acquire them.

William knew he should be grateful, but looking at Joe, all he could see was a kid who had the life William himself wanted. Joe always had a good mom with Aria. He never had to suffer under a cruel one like Sophia.

And Dad… He’d taken Joe in as his own without any questions asked.

William, meanwhile, had to prove his relation with a test.

A test that was now untrue.

William had no blood relation to Aria or to Liam. How soon until they asked him to leave?

“William?”

“Get out,” William snapped, quiet at first.

“What?” Joe asked.

“Get out!” William said louder. “I hate you, Joe! Just get out!”