Snippet #2349702

Zayn listened intently as Billy spoke. “Oh, um… Well… I recently moved here.. with my fiancé. We’re from Texas. I have a white cat, named Jake. I work, as you know, in the hospital and at the local coffee shop.” Zayn regarded Billy. So she had a fiancé. That would certainly explain her seeming not to care about him. This line of thought was not allowed to continue as Billy was speaking again as she looked out the window. “My fiancé and I split after I came home to find a Scarlett Johanson look-a-like in my bed… I still have Jake, though. What about you? And little miss Hailee. What does she do? Is she in ballet? She would be a great ballerina.” Zayn chose to say nothing, knowing that his daughter would be speaking to the woman. Sure enough, as soon as Hailee had heard her name she began talking. "Mommy won't let me take dance, but Daddy says that when I get to live with him I can! Can you dance, Ms. Billy?" The little girl watched the pretty woman. She really liked her. She continued speaking to Billy, telling her how she preferred staying with her father. She didn't go into any detail but Zayn was sure that Billy would pick up on the fact that Sarah had lost interest in the child and was only keeping Hailee from him to hurt him.

Hailee then turned back to her ice cream, ignoring the adults once again. Zayn smiled gently at Billy. "As to your earlier question, I'm afraid that I can't tell you much about my life before moving to California. I've never spoken to the media about my life before Pillar of Society. They have no idea where I'm from or who my family is. Which is how I'd like to keep it. I don't need reporters swarming my parents. They already can't stand me. I've not spoken to them in eleven years and I'm not even sure that they know they have a granddaughter." The handsome man paused for a moment, looking down at the table. It was a nervous habit that he'd developed as a child, a sign that he was uncomfortable about the topic. He looked back up at Billy, his brown eyes staring into her blue hues. "Anyway, I moved out here with the guys when we were signed to our record company. It wasn't long after that that I started dating Sarah. We were together for ten years and I came home one night and found her with some guy. I broke it off with her that night. She of course swore that she'd have.." he nodded towards Hailee, not wanting the girl to realize what they were talking about. "As of right now, she's doing pretty good on keeping that promise. I've not felt like performing. Jay's been trying to get me back to it. I need to to, I know. We were in the middle of a tour when all of this crap happened." Zayn was still staring at Billy. He wondered if he should explain to her why he'd gotten the alcohol poisoning. No. He wouldn't say anything unless she did. No need to talk about that in front of Hailee.