***Chapter 52***

**Ali's POV**

I was glad when my phone broke the moment, after the initial second of everyone tensing in fear of a new A message, it gave me an excuse to leave that room. I didn't know how to process this just yet. And having the girls witness it wouldn't help anything. It was easier to keep things from them than let them nose into everything. I could talk to them about things later, but now I needed to get my head around this. It had been another moment where despite this starting with me, and it being my brother I had been shut out again. It was an eerie sense of deja vu to when I came back. They had dealt with Mona as A together, and had worked together to try and find me while I was missing, whereas I had been on my own. And in that, they had developed close relationships without me instead of because of me.

The girls that I had put together, formed into a group of friends, didn't need me. And I was suddenly the outsider. That had been a hurdle that I was working to overcome with them, the choices I'd made when I got back to town and not letting them have an opinion on things had soured things a little. But during the trial, they had all started trusting me again. It felt like we had moved on, until Charles had kidnapped them and they came back even closer than before. They shared looks meant just for them, didn't share all the information they had, but expected me to spill everything. And didn't let me ask the questions that we needed to know the answers to.

It was one thing to see Jason fawn over Aria. He had never been subtle enough with his crush on her, it had been so obvious even during his stoner days. And honestly, I liked him better for her than Ezra. But the fact that Charles also was seemingly obsessed with Aria rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't want to acknowledge the twisting knot in my stomach. But it was there all the same. I didn't know why it bothered me so much that he was trying to kidnap her again, and using Jason as a means of delivery. It wasn't just the protective streak that I normally had over the girls, they were my friends and Charles had already literally stolen them away from me before. It was that it was focused on Aria.

I could feel my lips turning down, normally I could mask my irritation but it wasn't working so well at the moment. I felt like I was losing control of this. What little control I had to begin with.

The sun was bright when I moved outside, forcing my face to relax into a smile as I came out to talk to Lorenzo. It slipped right off my mouth when I saw him though. Standing against his car with his left arm tucked into a sling and a massive bruise across the side of his face.

"Lorenzo, what happened?" I questioned, ignoring the normal greeting.

No one had told me he had been injured yesterday, just that he had gone along with Toby. He shifted a little, clearly in some pain.

"Took a couple hits from the ballshooter yesterday." he offered with a shrug, but it quickly turned into a wince at the movement.

"Are you okay?" My eyes were scanning over him, evaluating even before he could answer. His movements were stilted, clearly there were more bruises there than what I could see.

"I'll be fine. Just a few days off work." he assured, brushing it off again.

My brows crinkled down, forming a dip as I frowned at his response. Letting him know that I didn't really approve of the response that he gave.

"You said you needed to see me?" I diverted back to his text, letting him off the hook with his injury.

I could see the embarassment on his face, the slightest blush beneath his darker skin. He glanced away for a moment, not able to make eye contact. He had it bad. The realization delighted me. Though I tried to ignore it, too close to the manipulative habits that I was trying to break.

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You kind of disappeared on me there." he explained, leaning back against his car.

It was meant to be smooth and non-chalant, but his movements had to pause and jerked as he moved through pained muscles. Probably something wrong with his back. I shifted slightly, arms folding across my stomach. I know it closed me off, but I tilted my head forward to let him know I was still here in the conversation with him.

"I didn't really have much of a choice there. My dad took my phone and drove me to another state." I realized I was challenging him. This was so hard, not playing the same games that I was so comfortable with. I took a breath. "I wanted to talk to you. I'm sorry."

"I understand. And I didn't blame you." he reassured, mouth spreading into a big smile. His bright white teeth on full display. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I know yesterday was a lot."

I could feel the smile spreading across my lips as I moved next to him, leaning against the car as I mirrored his posture. Lorenzo seemed to enjoy my more genuine responses. It also was reassuring that though he had a rough day yesterday he was still checking that I was okay. It felt really nice to be cared for that way. I leaned my head towards his shoulder, not far enough for any weight to rest on him, but just enough that he could feel me touching him. I wanted to be mindful of his injuries.

"Thank you. I'm doing alright." I let it fade, not pushing anything. I wasn't really ready to go back inside and being with Lorenzo was a lot easier. "Though I am worried about how you're going to manage with only one arm."

He had recently moved into his own apartment, everything was apparently settled, but instead of someone being around to take care of him he was all alone. He didn't look too bad today, other than being stiff. But I could tell that he was in pain. And he could only eat take out for so many meals. As I leaned against him, I considered making him something to feel better.

"I do also have the paperwork for the girls soccer program that I said I would bring over." he interrupted after a moment of quiet. "It's on the front seat."

I took that as permission to open his car, so I moved around to the other side, opening the passenger door and seeing the folder of papers on the seat. As I leaned in to grab the papers, I saw his keys still in the ignition. It was such a silly habit, that I could only blame it on the fact that he was a cop who patrolled. But it seemed like a terrible plan and a great way to get your car stolen. My eyes glanced over the key ring, a thought immediately percolating in my brain. No, I couldn't do that. I grabbed the papers and closed the door behind me. As I did, I saw Hanna walking down the driveway. Apparently whatever was happening inside had wrapped up. The opportunity to ask Aria more specifics about why Charles was so interested in her slipping through my fingers. My lips turned down again for a moment, before I wiped it away.

"Did I interrupt something?" Lorenzo asked, as Hanna walked past towards her car, waving as she did.

"Just checking in on what all happened yesterday." I explained vaguely enough.

I was going to respect the plan of not saying anything just yet. Not even to Lorenzo. He was still a cop. Just like I expected Spencer to be able to keep it from Toby. Jason was for the moment included in our circle of communication, but even he would get cut out if need be. I waved to Hanna as she left, and at least she smiled back.

"Guess I should get going." he offered, moving away from his car as I walked around.

"I'll bring the paperwork by a little later." I leaned in for a kiss, just a quick one before pulling back. It had been awkward enough having my dad catch us the one time, there was always the chance he could be on his way back home again.

"I'll hold you to that." it was teasing, not really demanding that I come over. But I knew he wanted me to.

I waited outside while he drove away, watching his car roll down the street. It seemed like even though he only had one good arm he could still drive. I was pretty sure I had the ingredients for chicken noodle soup. There was undoubtedly some chicken stock in the pantry. Cooking lately had been pretty soothing to me and a way to concentrate on trying to solve things without anyone disrupting me. That and church were my quiet places to think. Plus after living reasonably rough for two years, it was nice to have full access to a kitchen whenever I wanted again.

I had a lot to think about as I headed towards my porch where Spencer was leaving and heading around the house towards her own. I didn't know why other than maybe wanting to give Aria and Jason space. I could feel my irritation rise up again. That Jason was prioritizing Aria over our brother again. The brother that was the reason he insisted that something was mising in our family. That he met yesterday at an arcade. And maybe it was that the cops had been following them, but it felt like his fault that Charles had gotten away again instead of being in custody where we could get to know him.

I let Spencer move over to her yard without stopping her to ask and moved up the porch into the entry hall. They weren't in the living room anymore, so I moved into the kitchen and saw Aria kiss Jason. Of course. As much as everyone else who turns over a rock in this town finds me underneath, whenever either of my brothers turned over one it was always Aria underneath. I held my breath as I moved to the bathroom. Planning to separate myself until I'd calmed down enough to have that conversation. Aria was my friend. I knew that. She like the others had looked for me when I'd disappeared and been tormented my whole absence. Even before that, she was the one that I could push just right and she would go along with me. Tearing apart her dad's office had just been one of those instances. She had anger that she shoved down, and needed me there to release it. I washed my hands, tempted to splash some water on my face to help clear the anger away quicker, but as I looked in the mirror I remembered that I had put on makeup and didn't want my mascara to run.

Aria was gone by the time that I left the bathroom, which was honestly for the better. Jason was still in the kitchen though, he looked reasonably relaxed in there and it burned at me that he was so absorbed in Aria.

"I thought you wanted to get to know him." I dove straight in, if you caught Jason off guard he tended to reveal more. Or yell. It depended on the day.

"Ali, can we not do this now?" he tried to push off, rubbing at his forehead as though at a headache, which meant it was a safe day to push. I doubted he would yell. He didn't have the energy for the fight.

"We should have done this last night. But you were too busy with Aria for us to have a conversation."

His hand tightened on his mug, jaw setting and I saw his gaze harden. He was going to get defensive. It was like watching him prepare for a fight, the way that he tensed up. Even after years away, he hadn't changed his tells. It was a familiar game. Everyone in the family had learned how to shut Jason down, get him to fight, poke just the right place and he'll reveal what you want and forget about whatever he wanted to talk about.

"If you had really wanted to talk to me, you would have said something before she came over. But you went to bed." he was trying so hard not to fight with me, tamping it down. "I didn't realize you were awake when she was here."

His tone had changed, trying to inquire exactly how much I knew. Which wasn't much. But if he didn't know that I'd likely get more out of him. He'd be preoccupied trying to respect whatever privacy of their moments together, and trying to figure out what I knew.

"I assumed that's why you shut down conversations today." I pushed, not giving an acknowledgement of when I had realized Aria was here. "Instead of letting us figure out how to get to know our brother."

I needed to keep repeating that to him. Needed to keep reminding him about what we were so close to having. We'd lost our mom, and my dad frankly sucked, but that didn't mean we couldn't be a family and be there for each other. And that it couldn't include Charles.

"Have you considered maybe he isn't someone we should be getting to know." Jason ground out.

"How can you say that?" I snapped back at him, all the anger from before was rising back up in me. "I thought you went there yesterday to get a chance to meet him and know him."

"Do you even listen to what he did to your friends?" his voice raised, the coffee cup forgotten on the counter as his hand waved in the air angrily.

"You didn't seem to have an issue with it until you heard about Aria." I accused back, fury raging in my chest. "But you seem to have forgotten that. Forgotten about everything but Aria."

"Is that what this is? Are you pissed that for once in your life not everything is about you?" His words hit closer to the truth than I really wanted to admit.

"No, I'm pissed that apparently both of my brothers can't think about anything but what's between Aria's legs." I lashed out, knowing it would only escalate this more. But my plan had gone out of the window with the anger.

"Jesus Christ, Ali. What's wrong with you? Why can't you admit he's a bad person? Do you really want someone like that for a brother?"

"It's not like he's the only one." I sneered back, voice dropping from the near yelling it was at as I watched him freeze, anger still twisted on his face. "Or were you stoned enough that you forgot about your perverted little NAT club?"

I watched his face fall as he stood there frozen. Shock lanced through me that I had said that. I knew instantly that I had gone too far. I had pushed him beyond where I intended. I could feel myself deflate as I saw the hurt transform on his face.

"Fuck you." he whispered into the suddenly silent kitchen.

I couldn't say anything. All the witty comebacks and the fight had gone out of me. And I didn't know how to undo the hurt that I had just dealt him. My mouth was open, shaping as though there were words that would make it better. But nothing came out as he headed for the door. I didn't know what he would do now and I was afraid what I had pushed him to, as the front door slammed shut.

**End Chapter**

So sorry everyone about not posting. This was probably not what you had expected, but it was the only way I could cover what needed to be covered. Ali was hard for me to write, but this won't be the last you'll see of her perspective. On a personal note, I've had some stuff happening with my personal and work life that has made it hard to write, especially from a new perspective character. I'll try to continue posting throughout November before taking the month of December completely offline.

Thanks for sticking with me. Let me know what ya think of the chapter.