Chapter 46

Nathan

I sighed heavily as the two mischievous culprits standing before me removed their masks.

“Who are you?” Olivia asked, sounding frightened.

I shook my head. It was none other than the naughty neighbor kids, Jake and Max. They were a couple of bratty teenagers who I had already caught on more than one occasion getting themselves into some trouble or another over the years, but nothing quite like this.

Their tear-stained faces revealed a mix of fear and guilt, their mischievous facade crumbling in the face of consequences.

“Really, guys?” I groaned, folding my arms across my chest. “Why would you do something like this? You can’t just creep around other people’s houses in the middle of the night and scare the living daylights out of a pregnant woman.”

Jake, the taller one, sniffled pathetically. His voice was barely above a whisper.

"We thought it would be funny," he confessed, casting his eyes downwards. “Olivia is an outcast, and… No one believes that she’s the real Luna.”

Max chimed in, his voice trembling. "Yeah, we thought it would be a good joke, you know?"

“A good joke?” I asked. I noticed Olivia shifting uncomfortably where she stood next to me. Lately, it felt as though suspicions about our ‘relationship’ were slowly mounting. But I didn’t expect anyone to try to mess with her for it.

Jake bit his lip, still staring nervously down at the ground.

“Apologize to Olivia,” I said.

Olivia shook her head. “No, it’s alright—”

I suddenly turned to face her. “You deserve an apology,” I growled.

The two boys, hearing my growl, both jumped and looked up at Olivia with big eyes. “We’re sorry,” they said, almost in unison.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I had to contain my laughter at the ridiculousness of it all.

But even so, my frustration rose, and beneath it simmered a tinge of disappointment. These kids had crossed a line, and their actions had hurt someone I cared deeply about. With a firm grip on their shirts, I pulled them towards their own doorstep, determination in my eyes.

"Come on," I said sternly, my voice laced with resolve. "We're going to have a little chat with your mom."

As we reached their front door, their mother appeared, her face etched with concern and confusion. "What's going on?" she demanded, her voice filled with worry.

I wasted no time in telling her the truth about what her two sons did. “Your boys were outside my house wearing masks, pressing their faces up against our windows, and scaring the hell out of my pregnant mate.”

Their mother’s mouth hung open. “Jake! Max!” she chided, grabbing them both by the ear as I shoved them away from me. “Didn’t I raise you better than this?! No phones for a week! And you’ll be scrubbing the entire house from top to bottom tomorrow!”

“No, mom—” Max, the smaller one, whined. “We said we’re sorry—”

“Sorry isn’t good enough,” she said. She looked up at me then. “I promise they’ll make up for their trouble. If you have any work that needs being done, no matter how grueling, they’ll be doing it for you.”

“Mooom…”

“Quite, Jake.”

The boys hung their heads, their guilt palpable. Their mother's stern scolding resonated through the air, punctuated by the sound of a swift spanking that carried across the breeze to me as I walked back down the path and headed home.

Returning home, I found Olivia standing on the porch, a spectator to the entire ordeal. Our eyes met in the moonlight. I stopped and looked up at her from where I stood for a moment.

Shit, I thought to myself as I watched her standing there, her bare legs exposed from her shorts, her cardigan pulled tightly around her shoulders as the ocean wind ruffled her long hair. She was beautiful.

I felt something stir in my groin again, but I quickly quelled it. I wanted her so badly, but I knew that it wasn’t a good idea to get too close like that. We had made a deal, after all, and neither of us wanted to ruin our lifelong friendship, which we only just recently rekindled. Sex was bound to create tension and cause hurt feelings.

However, as we stared at each other, I saw Olivia’s full lips turn up into a smile. A soft giggle escaped those very lips and carried across the air to me like the sounds of an angel.

We couldn't help but dissolve into laughter. It was a bittersweet reminder of our own mischievous childhood antics.

She chuckled, her voice filled with nostalgia as I walked up to meet her on the porch.

“Remember that time we pranked the old lady down the street on Halloween? We threw toilet paper in her tree, and our parents found out, making us clean it all up.”

I chuckled, memories flooding back. “Oh yeah, we thought we were so clever until we had to face the consequences. Good times. My dad made me do all of the household chores for a month.”

Olivia laughed, throwing her head back a bit to expose her slender, long neck. “My dad made me run miles with him every morning for a month,” she said. “All over some toilet paper.”

“I think I remember that,” I said. “I think I saw the two of you running in the mornings, at least once or twice. He was such a fast runner, and you were dragging your feet and practically on the verge of death.”

“Let’s not forget the third culprit,” she said with a soft chuckle. “He got away with it, though.”

I had to laugh a bit as I remembered it. Alvin was fast, and he ran away before we got caught. When we told our parents that it wasn’t just us and that Alvin was even the one who suggested the plan, no one believed us because he was so soft spoken and sweet.

But then, Olivia’s tone changed, and she uttered words that caught me off guard. "I miss Alvin."

I froze, a mix of surprise and a twinge of jealousy creeping into my heart. Alvin had always been a significant presence in her life. He was a significant presence in both of our lives,

But lately, something felt different. I’d been catching myself feeling more jealous than usual lately. The thought of them possibly having feelings for each other had always lingered in the back of my mind, but now those thoughts burned into me like a hot iron.

Trying to mask my unease, I replied with forced nonchalance. "Yeah. Same."

Olivia glanced at me, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil brewing inside me. "We had some incredible memories with him. He was always there for us."

Another pang of jealousy shot through me, my emotions churning in a whirlwind of confusion. At the back of my mind, it almost felt as though there was a little voice scorning her for even speaking of Alvin.

You’re mine, I wanted to say, although I knew that wasn’t true. Olivia had the right to choose anyone she wanted. If she wanted Alvin, then I shouldn’t have been so angry about it…

But I couldn’t deny the fact that even seeing the way that her lips moved and curled when she uttered his name, when I wanted her to be saying my name, and even more secretly I wanted her to be saying my name while her body was laid out on my bed, made me feel almost sick.

Summoning a weak smile, I responded, "Yeah, he really was."

We stood there in a brief moment of silence, the weight of unspoken emotions hanging heavy in the air. There was so much more that I wanted to say. But for the millionth time, I shoved that urge deep down into the pits of my stomach.

“Well… Goodnight,” I said. Before Olivia could respond, I brushed past her and went inside.

That night, as I laid sleeplessly in bed, I vowed to myself that I would no longer let my confused feelings for Olivia become entangled with the real purpose behind why we were doing any of this.