Cruel World (The Tribe Book 1)

9. Jealousy

"There we go, bubba, all clean and pretty!" I announce smiling, as she smiles back. I pass her to Martin and we return to the café where Amber is banging on a pot.

"I've made up a roster for all chores and tasks that need doing in the mall. And before anyone asks, Alleia asked me to do this, and expects it done. You have all day to do your task but we recommend doing it earlier rather than later so that you don't have to worry about it. Everyone rotates between a few tasks, one per day. And for the younger kids, one of us older kids needs to check to make sure you did it properly. Everyone got it?" Amber tells us, and everyone nods, even the baby babbling in agreement.

"Ok, this starts tomorrow. But right now I need to see Dal and Lex, everyone else can clear off," I comment, and they all go.

"Boys I need you to go outside and get a few things, I have a list. It's supplies that we're running out of that I don't have stashed away. There's not much but it might take a while. If you can't find anything that's ok, I have contacts that owe me a favour and will be able to get anything you can't. Can you do this for me?" I ask. They read over the list and nod, getting ready to head out.

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It's now the afternoon, and the boys left straight after lunch to get everything. The baby has just woken up for a nap in Martin and I's room, and Trudy refuses to look after her still, so Martin and I are entertaining her since we finished our chore today, which was laundry. In order to know who's stuff was what, we had to label everyone's stuff, which meant it took longer but we managed to finish while the baby was asleep.

As we are entertaining her, Bray comes in to spend some time with us and the baby. He takes her when she reaches for him and begins bouncing her, making her happy.

"I need to look for one of those baby bouncers, for when she gets a bit bigger. Can stick it up in any doorframe and she can bounce to her hearts content," I comment, and the two brother and the baby agree with me.

"I went out for a bit, had a look at what Ebony and the Locos are up to, you can see which ones are the fanatics because they hang onto her every word. They've organised searches for you, thinking they'll find you in a ditch or an old warehouse somewhere. They didn't even mention the mall because Ebony seems to have forgotten your affections for Leia," Bray tells us.

"Sounds lovely," Martin comments.

"Trudy came onto me this morning, telling me how once upon a time she 'was in love with Martin' but not for a long time, and that she's 'always been in love with me, only me'. She even tried saying we'd be little family, me her and the baby. Till I shot her down and reminded her that the father of her baby is around, and that Alleia would always be in the picture with you as well. She got real crabby after that," Bray continued. I gave him a confused look.

"Really? Why?" I ask.

"Can't seem to fathom that you're just my best friend, you're like my friggin twin sister, and she seems to think we have something going on behind her and Martin's backs, even though I have no interest in her either," he says, shuddering at the mention of being with either of us. I fake gag at the thought, since he is like my brother, and Martin sees this and laughs at my face.

"But why all the jealousy? I thought we sorted all that out when she had the baby?" I ask, gesturing to said baby who reached out and tapped my hand, making me smile.

"I have no idea, she seems hung up on me, but also depressed at the same time, like postnatal depression," Bray sighs.

"Wait, I noticed that too. Ever since getting better she doesn't seem to care about her, just you, unless the situation benefits her. But she seems like she's got some kind of depression, because her mind automatically goes to negative, and she's not functioning well," I say, thinking. (A/N I'm not claiming to be an expert or know anything about postnatal depression or depression in general, this is just meant to be Alleia making sense of everything in her head.)