BELONGS TO ME

Chapter 7

Camila

As we pull out of the restaurant parking lot, Ally in the back seat beside me, her hands fall to her stomach and I shift in my seat to face her a little better.

"Have you felt the baby kick yet?"

"I think, but it's hard to tell," she shares. "It sort of feels like I'm a bowl of water and every time I move, it splashes around."

Carl and I chuckle and look to her tiny belly, just beginning to show through her clothes.

"You want to feel, don't you?" She lifts a perfectly manicured blonde brow.

My smile is instant, and I laugh. "I don't want it to be weird, but yeah."

She shakes her head. "You guys are too much," she muses with a grin, and my eyes narrow, but then she grabs my hand, placing it on the highest point of her stomach.

Warmth spreads through me instantly, my skin pricking as I gently cup her belly over her shirt. I glide my palm forward and backward, and then down the bubbled slope a tiny bit.

"It's so hard," I whisper. "Perfectly round and tiny." I lift my gaze to hers.

She nods, moisture building in her eyes as she tries to smile, but I imagine she's all over the place. Happy she has a piece of the man who won't be here to see their child come into the world, and sad for the very same reason.

I can't imagine.

"My mom and Aunt Sarah," I mention Ross's mom. "Are going to have a heyday. Seriously, he—"

"Or she," Carl pipes up.

"Is going to be so spoiled. You'll basically have a babysitter anytime you could possibly want one."

That makes Ally chuckle, and her head falls to the headrest. "Yeah, your mom literally calls or texts every day to see how I'm feeling and all that."

"She's been talking about grandbabies for like four years now. As soon as Ross got engaged, I swear she flew out to see Aunt Sarah, just so they could go celebrate the fact that a baby was in the near future."

"Have they met Sabrina?" she teases. "'Cause that girl won't even share Ross's hoodies. His baby? Forget about it."

We chuckle and then Carl pulling up in front of the driveway of Ally's place.

Her brother meets us in the driveway, opening Ally's door before she has a chance.

She climbs out and Justin pokes his head inside.

"Sabrina said you're headed down to the beach ?" He looks to Carl, then glances behind him to make sure Ally isn't in earshot. "What happened, she changed her mind?"

"She only agreed to brunch beforehand, and she kept yawning and shit, so we didn't push," my brother tells him.

Justin nods. "She says she's sleeping fine, but she's been up as early as Sabrina all week. She keeps reaching out to Troy's mom and people back home about where he was buried, since there was never a funeral announcement, but no one knows a thing and that shitty woman won't respond."

"Can Keana ask around now that she's back?"

"She's asked a couple people but got the same answers." He shakes his head, knocking on the roof. "All right well, have fun. I'm staying home with her, but Ross and Sabrina headed that way about ten minutes ago."

"Let us know if we're needed," Carl tells him, a frown pulling at his brows.

"Yup."

My brother nods and puts the car in gear. "We gotta pick up our shit at the house. See you later."