Another Life (Book 3)

Chapter 5

Emilie's POV

My jaws clench as I glare at her. She's staring anxiously back at me, playing with the edge of the duvet. "Say something," she whispers.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sierra asks, pissed off. "This happened nearly two months ago, and you kept it a secret. Why?"

She looks up, her eyes meeting mine before meeting Sierra's. "I didn't know how to tell you. Or if you would even understand. Emilie would have killed her."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"Show us again," I say, surprising everybody. Grace looks at me puzzled; her mouth opened but her words were delayed. "Show us again."

We watch the entire journey of their friendship again. Every time I see Sloane's stupid face, I want to strangle her. I should've never let Grace go to that stupid dinner by herself, but Sierra was pregnant, very pregnant, and I didn't want to leave her home alone with Lee at night. I trusted Grace to take care of herself, and she disappointed me.

I stand from the bed, letting my feet carry me to the door. "Emilie," she calls. "It's not what it looks like–"

"Do not—!" I'm aware that I've raised my voice and made a conscious effort to lower it. "Do not call my name out of your mouth." My voice breaks as the pain I feel begins to choke me. The betrayal. From Grace. Again. "Friends my ass. You knew exactly what you were doing. Friends don't do that, Grace. And yeah, okay... let's say it's not what it looks like and she's to blame and she assaulted you. You stayed friends with her and you bonded with a fucking stranger."

"She's not a stranger."

"She is to me and Sierra. She is to our kids."

"I know it looks bad, but it's not what it seems like. I don't feel anything for her, I promise. Not like that."

"So, you completely throw away something meaningful for something meaningless then, huh? Do you hear yourself, Grace? Because you're not helping your case right now."

She stares at me, defeated, then looks at Sierra for help, but Sierra is just as pissed. She slips out of bed. "I think we all could use a breather. Some space? I'll go check on the twins and I probably won't be back for the rest of the night. Graciela, I hope you know this is not an easy pill to swallow and we'll need time to process and digest this."

She disappeared out the door before either of us could answer. I glare at Grace one last time before I left the room too, slamming the door behind me.

The next two weeks pass in a drag. Things weren't better. In fact, they were worse. With the babies, they were better. We finally found a sleeping schedule for them, thanks to Mom, and now they only wake twice during the night. They also go down an hour before Irelee does, so we get that hour to spend with her, which is just her and us. Of course, now, we never do it together. We take different nights, but the important thing is that we're doing it.

She's adjusting better to the twins too and helps a lot with trying to feed the babies and dress them. I never spank my daughter or resort to any type of punishment other than time out, but last Saturday morning, after being already told a billion and five times not to lift the babies, she did. She picked Jaylin up from his mamaroo while I was cleaning the kitchen. Sierra was upstairs taking a shower, and Gracie was at work.

I just glance up in time to see the baby puke on her and what did my squeamish six-year-old, hard-hearing daughter do? Released the baby. So there he is, falling to the ground and then she looked at him, looked at me and camouflaged the fuck away from the scene. God bless my teleportation, and I did whip her ass.