Downfall | ✔️

Chapter 46.

"Are you sure?" Mason asks, stunned.

I lean against the brick wall, "I don't know. I mean what else could it be? He's cheating on her, Mason." I sigh.

"But, Steve—of all people, Steve." he furrows his brow, his tone strained as he tries to wrap his head around the concept.

"Shh! Open the door and shout it at her why don't you." I roll my eyes.

"We're outside, Amara. She doesn't have supersonic hearing."

"I don't want to believe it, Mase. How the hell could he do this to her? To Isabella. To that unborn baby." my chest aches as I think about it.

"I-" I watch as Mason attempts to think of something to calm my nerves. "I don't know.." he sighs in defeat.

"Yep." I chew the inside of my cheek with nervousness, I called Mason as soon as it became a semi-reasonable time to be awake—he came straight here and we've been outside talking for what feels like forever, I can't face Carol.

The clicking of the front door startles us both, "We should leave soon if we want to avoid traffic, Steve's coming back in a few hours." Carol smiles, poking her head out.

"Okay." I fake a smile in return.

"Mason, what am I going to do? I can't lie to her, I can't pretend I'm okay with this when I'm not—I'll crack as soon as she asks me what's wrong." I ramble, the panic of my annoyingly transparent emotions setting in.

"Don't worry, you can do this—okay? You may be a fucking awful liar; but you know that Carol can't find out you heard her talking on the phone. I'll come with you, be your buffer." he tells me calmly, stroking my arm.

"I can't believe I just offered to be someone's buffer, me—a fucking buffer. Can you believe that?" he chuckles. The idea of Mason being a buffer to... anyone, is horrifying. But I know that if I want to keep things quiet, it's my only hope to avoid me spilling everything out in a hopeless attempt to stay silent.

—————

"What made you want to join us on our boring trip home?" Carol chuckles, eyeing Mason in the back as Izzy continuously attempts to strike conversation with him.

"I just didn't want to leave Amara to drive back home alone." he tells her without hesitation. An amazing liar, I can't tell if that's a good thing.. or a miraculously bad thing.

"That's lovely of you, she's a lucky girl." she smiles warmly.

"So, any plans for tonight you two?"

"Uhm, not- I don't think so—" I begin to stutter.

"Nothing special, we'll probably just watch a movie or something." Mason covers, making me want to sink into my seat. Why the hell am I so awful under pressure?

"Okay..," Carol chuckles, "Are you excited to see daddy, Iz?" she eyes her daughter in the mirror.

"Yes!" she chirps excitedly, kicking her feet.

I look at Mason, as he looks back at me with a sour expression. She's so blissfully unaware—as for Carol, I don't know how she's doing this.

"You guys should come in for dinner, we'd love to have you and I'll never pass up on some extra time with my darling girl." she smiles, nudging my shoulder playfully—I could cry, physically cry. What is going on?