Chapter Twenty
Every time I think about this morning, I laugh. I’ve been giggling all damn day as I picture the way he spat out his coffee and immediately thought he’d been poisoned.
Poor Louis though, he was a mess for a good thirty minutes after Malakai skulked off to lick his wounds in the gym. It took a lot of convincing to assure him he wasn’t about to lose his job.
It’s been a few hours since then and despite not having anything to do in this damn house, I’m in a cheerful mood. I took a swim this morning and picked a book from the library in the living room before I’d sat in the sunroom and read for a while, but then I became restless and now I’m wandering the halls.
No one speaks to me still but that’s okay, I’m finding comfort in the silence.
That is until I find Malakai in the kitchen.
He’s now in a suit, hair styled, and face freshly trimmed, his shoulders looking impossibly wider with his hunched over stance. There’s a folder in front of him.
I calm my heart as I walk into the kitchen, heading for the coffee machine.
“Sit down, Olivia.” His voice startles me, not because I wasn’t expecting him to talk but because I wasn’t expecting that deep stern tone to come out of him.
“I’m getting coffee,” I grumble, reaching for a mug.
“Sit. Down.”
Someone’s still sour about the salt. It just makes me want to do it more.
“You don’t tell me what to do.” I snap at him.
“Olivia,” He growls.
I hear footsteps behind me and glance over my shoulder to find Sebastian blocking the way out.
Okay…
“Fine,” I drop onto the stool and cross my arms, “What’s got up your ass? Is this about the salt? It was a joke, Malakai, get over it.”
“Salt?” Sebastian queries.
“It isn’t,” He turns with the folder in his hands, cocking his head as his eyes run down the length of me. “I have a question.”
“Well ask,” I sigh impatiently, “And if I think you deserve it, I’ll answer.”
I hear a quickly stifled chuckle from behind me, but I don’t turn to confirm it, not when Malakai glares at Sebastian in a look that could maim a man.
“Is there anything in your past you might want to tell me about?”
I feel my spine stiffen but I quickly relax, shoving down the emotion that rises with that question like I have done many times before.
“I stole an orange from the market when I was five,” I widen my eyes dramatically.
“Olivia,” he says my name like he’s scolding a child.
“Malakai.”
“Try again,” He grinds his teeth, making the muscle pop in his jaw.
I tap my finger on my lip, fighting off memories from a time long ago, a time I’ve buried and try my hardest not to think about. It’s not even overly bad but it is humiliating, and that feeling is not one I like to feel. I hide all that behind a mask of indifference.
“No, I don’t think there’s anything you should know about me.” I say without emotion, “Or anything I want you to know either.”
He tosses the folder down onto the counter, “Open it.”
“Malakai,” Sebastian steps forward, “Perhaps…”
“Open. It.”
Nerves flutter through me as my fingers grasp the edge of the folder. Suddenly a hand slams down on top of it. “I’m stepping in here.” Sebastian snaps, “Not like this, Malakai.”
“Move, Bast,” Malakai steps forward and I’m suddenly sandwiched between two very big men, Sebastian at my back, Malakai at my front. This is a lot of testosterone.
“You’re making a mistake.” Sebastian warns.
“How I handle my wife is none of your concern.”
“Um, I’m right here,” I wiggle, trying to free myself, “What the hell is going on?”
Sebastian pleads with me when I meet his eyes but for what, I don’t know.
“What’s in the folder?” I ask.
“Open it and find out.”
Sebastian shakes his head.
Oh, for fuck’s sake, whatever it is can’t be that bad!
I snatch the folder off the side and rip it open, several pages falling out and onto the floor.
All three pairs of our eyes drop to the photo laying face up in the middle of the kitchen.
I think I squeak as my very naked body stares back at me.
“Where did you get these?” I breathe, feeling tears prick my eyes, those memories pushing at my wall I have erected in my mind to keep them back. It’s not that bad. It’s not that bad.
“Someone kindly delivered them this morning.”
“Malakai,” Sebastian warns.
“Who?”
Silence. I finally drag my eyes from the image still on the floor, no one bending to pick them up.
“Who?” I ask again.
“We don’t know.” It’s Sebastian who answers.
“I have an idea,” Malakai says.
“I don’t understand why you have these.” I swallow, rubbing my eyes to try keep them dry.
It was a long time ago, back when I drank too much, partied too hard and trusted the wrong men.
It took a lot of effort, money and begging to have these buried. Six months of my life was chaos because of these images.
Frantic need to bury them again spurs my moves as I drop to my knees and start to gather all the photos. My eyes are blurry with the tears I can’t keep back now all those feelings that come with this time in my life, rush to the surface. Humiliation. Betrayal. Regret. And deep-rooted sorrow that I let myself trust people who didn’t deserve it.
“Shit,” I hear someone say through the roaring in my ears. “Kitten.”
Hands touch mine and I flinch away, shoving everything in the folder before I get to my feet and I run.
“Olivia!” I hear him roar behind me.
But I need them to be gone.
I feel them chasing me, hear them call my name but I don’t stop, not until I’m back in that grand living room with all the books, a roaring fire right in front of me.
I toss the folder into the flames, the cardstock catching immediately as it begins to eat away at the folder and all the images inside.
“What are you doing!?” Malakai hisses behind me.
“They have to go.” I say quietly.
“What happened?”
I shake my head, back and forth probably too many times it makes me look a little manic.
Only Willow and my sister know the story. They were the ones who helped me bury it, quickly and quietly so my father never found out, so the world didn’t see.
There were people who did see them, a whole room of people but they were dealt with, served legal papers that forced them to keep quiet.
I wanted to hurt Malakai for bringing these up. For finding them and using them against me.
“Olivia,” It’s Sebastian who touches my arm, but I move away from his touch, watching the flames eat at the evidence of my humiliation.
“You’re a fucking prick, Kai.” Sebastian growls at my side.
“I’d like to be alone now,” I say quietly.
But they keep arguing, shouting at each other but I don’t hear them.
So, I just walk away, and they don’t follow.