Page 99 of Finding Olivia (Trace + Olivia 1)

Avery swiped her hand across two chairs, that I hadn’t seen in all the mess, dislodging the clutter that had been sitting on them.

I took a seat on one of the chairs and she took the other.

“Tell me,” she munched on her Frosted Flakes cereal, “did you have sex with him?”

I blushed and looked away.

“You did!” She shrieked and I heard the sound of her cereal and milk sloshing over the lip of the bowl. “Shit,” she muttered, looking at the mess she had made. “Oh well,” she shrugged. “So,” she grinned, “how was it? Did he have big dick? I bet he did.”

I did not want to share this kind of information with Avery, best friend or not, it was personal.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I muttered. “And I am definitely not telling you that.”

“Give me a range here, please?” She begged. “Good? Bad? Off the charts? This big or this big,” she held up her fingers in different lengths.

“Shut up, Avery! I’m not talking about that with you!” I waved my hands back and forth. “As far as how the sex was, I don’t think I’m the right person to judge it,” I mumbled. “I don’t have a lot of experience.”

“That doesn’t matter, trust me,” she finished what was left of her cereal since most of it had ended up on the floor.

“Off the charts,” I reluctantly answered since I knew she wouldn’t drop it until she got some sort of answer out of me.

She squealed shrilly. I was surprised the windows in her bedroom didn’t shatter.

“My little Livie is all grown up,” she pretended to wipe away a tear.

“Oh please,” I rolled my eyes.

“I really am happy for you though,” she smiled. “Now,” she eyed me seriously, “I think you owe me an explanation as to why you’re here.”

“You’re right,” I sighed and began to divulge everything about Derek being my real dad and what had happened with Aaron. It was wrong of me to keep Avery in the dark, even if I wanted to. She was a good friend, and she deserved to know the truth of why I had called her in the middle of the night, desperate for a place to stay.

“Holy fucking shit,” she whispered when I had finished.

“That makes no sense,” I mumbled.

“I couldn’t think of any other words to express what I’m feeling right now,” she shook her head back and forth, still trying to absorb the information. “This is…” she pulled at her hair, “…shocking.”

“I’ll be right back,” I stood.

“You better,” she narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t worry. I only want to grab the pictures,” I smiled.

Once in the guestroom, I flipped through the photos again. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the fact that the man in the pictures was my real dad.

I made my way back to Avery’s bedroom before she hunted me down.

I handed her the stack of pictures and her jaw dropped open. She looked from the pictures and back to me.

“Holy shit,” she whispered. “He’s definitely your dad. You look just like him, Livie. I can’t believe this.” She flipped to the picture of Derek and my mom. “She looks so happy and young,” Avery smiled. “They really loved each other.”

I looked at the pictures in Avery’s hand and finally managed to say the words that had been stuck in my head since my mom told me. “This changes everything.”

c h a p t e r

Eighteen

I walked out of Avery’s room and nearly collided with my mom.

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