Say Nothing... (The Speak Series Book 2) (5 page)

"Yeah, who’s this?" I answer irritation evident in my tone.

"It's Vonne. Is Ari with you? I just wanted to check on her."
Why is she calling my phone?

"Oh, hey Vonne. No, she's at her house. Why don't you try her cell?" I ask still confused.

"I am calling her phone," she says laughing. "Are you feeling okay?"

I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at it for a minute.

"Shit! You're right. I just bought her a new case. She kept dropping her phone, so I got her a shatterproof one that looks like mine. I must have grabbed hers by mistake."

"No worries. Is she okay? She didn't look so hot after she fainted. She said she was fine, but I know her." I'm not sure how much Ari has told Vonne about her nightmares. Knowing Ari, she probably hasn't told her at all.

"She was shaken up a bit, but she's okay."

"All right. You sound busy, so I'll let you go. Can you tell her to call me?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Cool, thanks."

The workers are done just a few minutes later. I lock up the house and head back to Ari's.

Meghan Trainor's “Like I'm Gonna Lose You” is blaring from the speakers as I walk through the front door. The sound of her hairdryer carries down the hall.

"Babe," I call out, making my way to her bedroom.

I lean against the doorframe and watch as she sings along to the song. Wrapped up in the emotion of it, she really does have a beautiful voice. Her eyes are closed as she rakes her hands through her damp hair. I rap my knuckles against her bedroom door to get her attention.

She startles. "Shit! You scared me."

"I'm sorry, but you couldn't hear me over the live performance you have going."

She smiles and shakes her head as she walks toward me. I pull her to my chest, and she rests her head against my shoulder letting out a sigh.

"You sure you're okay?" I ask. She nods but doesn't answer.

"Vonne called. She wanted to see how you were doing. I accidentally took your phone." She tenses and pulls away from me.

"Yeah, I know. I answered yours by accident too. Um . . . your uncle called."

She turns away from me and heads toward her closet. The sound of sliding hangers begins to fill the room.

"Oh, yeah. What did he want?"

"He was getting ready to board his plane and wanted to say good-bye. He also wanted me to tell you he was sorry he would miss your graduation, but he'll call you as soon as he can."

I'm hiding in my closet. Forcing myself to have a neutral reaction when he mentions his uncle is something I'm going to have to work on. He's really good at reading me and the conversation is still too fresh. The music helped to distract me. He approaches the opening of my closet, resting his hands on my doorframe. I peek up at him briefly then go back to looking for something to wear.

"Are you sure that's all he said?" I'm taken aback by his question.

"Yeah. Why?" I ask nervously.

"I don't know. You're just a little jumpy. Just wanted to make sure. He wasn't being rude or anything?"

I fidget with the hem of my shirt unable to meet his eyes.

"No . . . um. He, he was just surprised to hear me answering your phone. He was fine. That's all he said."

"You would tell me, right?"

He's staring a hole into the side of my face, and I can't bear to look at him. He'll see it in my eyes that I'm lying. I pray for my closet to swallow me up. Just then, my phone rings. He slides it out of his back pocket and hands it to me. I give him a weak smile as he places it in my hand. I move past him and back into my room. The screen is flashing my sister, Alba's, name.

"Hello?"

"Hey, hoochie! I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she teases.

"No, I'm just getting ready to head over. What's up?"

"Nothing. Mom just wanted me to give you a call and ask what time you were coming over."

"We'll be out of here in about twenty minutes. I just need to change. So in about an hour."

"Cool. I'll tell her. Hurry up, I'm starving and Mom wants us to wait for you before we start eating," she says whining.

"All right, drama queen, let me go so I can finish."

"Bye."

Ben is standing with his arms crossed, leaning against the opening of my closet. I felt his eyes on me the whole time. He's waiting for me to answer. I meet his eyes and grin.

"I better get changed. The natives are getting restless," I say waving my phone.

I attempt to move past him and back into my closet when he grabs my wrist, stopping me.

"Ari."
Fuck.
I know that tone, and I can't look at him; I’m afraid of what I'll see in his eyes.

"You know I would do anything to protect you, right?" There it is; the fear and concern are evident, and it forces me to look up.

"Of course," I answer before leaning in and pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

"I'm fine, okay? Stop worrying. It's just been a tough week, and I'm trying to sort it all out. I'm sorry for acting a little off." He doesn't answer. He keeps his eyes on my face assessing what I just said.

I go in for another kiss, and this time, I deepen it. I just need a break from thinking. His body finally relaxes, and he begins to reciprocate. His hand slides up the back of my neck tugging at my hair as our tongues begin a perfect dance. I force myself to pull away a little breathless.

"Okay . . . okay. You heard me on the phone. My sister is starved, so we can't start anything we don't have time to finish."

He gives me a mischievous grin and pulls me in a little tighter. "Oh, I'll always make time to finish."

"Yes, I know you'd have no trouble finishing," I say chuckling. "But we don't have time. Rain check?"

He nods as I press another kiss to his lips and go back into the closet to grab something to change into.

We pull up to my parents’ house an hour later. Poncho Sanchez “Yumbambe” is playing down the driveway. Ben looks over and smiles at me as I roll my eyes.

"I'm just going to apologize now for whatever we're about to walk into.” He chuckles as I tug at his hand and walk us toward the front door. We walk inside without knocking. The music is too loud for anyone to hear us anyway.

I follow my nose to the kitchen where my mom and dad are in full
Dancing with the Stars
mode.

"
Mija
,” they both call out as I round the corner.
Oh, God!

They reach out their hands to us. My dad pulls me into a full spin. My mother, who is shimmying her shoulders, attacks poor Ben. Oh, what the hell. I give in and start shaking my ass to the music. I look over, and Ben is following along rather well for a frat boy who only listens to Jay-Z.

The song finally ends, and my sisters are shaking their heads at us, clapping.

"Hey Ari, he can dance pretty well. He's a keeper," my mom calls out over her shoulder as she goes over to the wireless speaker to lower the music.

"Thanks, Mom. I think I will." Ben smiles, pulls me into his side, and kisses my cheek.

The rest of the afternoon goes by like usual. We eat and we chat; only this time, my mom isn't asking if I've found Mr. Right. Today, he's sitting next to me. I avoid all conversation about yesterday's fainting spell. I can tell they're all still concerned, including Ben. So when the subject comes up again, I use the opportunity to excuse myself from the table.

"I'll be right back."

Ari squeezes my shoulder as she excuses herself from the table. The conversation was flowing nicely until her mother decided to ask again how she was feeling. She's been okay most of the day, even though she seems to be distracted. Her mother waits for her to leave the room before continuing our conversation.

"How is she doing, really? I'm sorry. The question should be how you are both doing?" she asks.

"It's okay, I understand your concern. She scared the hell out of all of us yesterday. I've been keeping an eye on her, and she seems fine, just a little distracted. It's been a rough couple of weeks, and she's helped me through a lot. If anything changes, I'll let you know. Deal?"

"Thank you,
mijo
. I'm really glad she has you," she says smiling.

"I'm lucky to have her."

Ari returns a few minutes later. "Are you ready to go?"

"The trial starts tomorrow, and I have some laundry to do." I smile and get up from the table.

"Sure, I'm ready. Thanks again, Anna, for having me over." It's still weird calling Ari's mom by her first name, but I'm afraid calling her Mrs. Muñoz might get me in trouble.

"Of course,
mijo
, anytime." She gets up from the table and kisses my cheek then moves over to do the same to Ari.

"Take care of our baby," Alberto, Ari's dad, says as he reaches out to shake my hand.

"Always."

We finish our good-byes and walk back to the car. Ari slumps into her seat keeping her gaze directed out the window. We pull out of her parents’ driveway without a word and head back to her apartment.

"You good?" I ask, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just doing a mental rundown of all the stuff I have to do this week. Just getting a little overwhelmed."

"Anything I can help with," I ask.

"No, I got it. You're staying over, right?" she asks.

"Yeah. Umm . . . I actually wanted to talk to you about that." I look away from the road, and she's staring at me with eyes full of concern.

"What is it?" she asks nervously.

"I was wondering if I could stay with you for a while." Her shoulders sag in relief, and she lets out a breath.

"Of course. You didn’t have . . .” she starts to answer.

"Wait, I'm not finished," I interrupt. She stops talking, so I continue.

"I'm not sure what I want to do with my grandmother's house yet. It's weird being there alone. I'll pay rent. I'm not gonna be some mooch."

"Will you shut up?" she interjects. "Of course, you can stay with me for as long as you want. It's weird when you're not there. I like having you with me." She leans over the center console and kisses my cheek.

"Now, stop rambling and get us home." She sits back in her a seat with a wide grin.