Chapter 15
Fifteen
Olivia
Prom Night
I stand at the top of the stairs, Hayden kept telling me that I have to get ready at his house, because he said I would have more room, and so my parents could see us together, they're coming over too.
The fabric hugs my body perfectly, it’s deep emerald green, with delicate straps that shimmer when the light catches them. It isn’t designer, but tonight, I feel like magic.
We looked at so many dresses, but this was the one, and I knew the moment I stepped out of the changing room and saw the look in Hayden’s eyes. There was something there in that moment I knew this was the one.
When I reach the bottom, Hayden turns to face me when his mom smiles and looks at me.
He looks... devastating. A black suit tailored to his body like it has been sewn just for him. It probably was. His dark hair falling slightly over his brow, and those eyes, the way he’s looking at me makes me feel so hot at the minute.
“Holy shit,” he whispers, then steps closer, holding a small corsage with a white flower and a hint of gold.
“For your wrist,” he murmurs. He slips it on, his fingers brushing my skin and I swore my knees go weak. “You look... Olivia, there are no words. I think you just broke language.”
I laugh, cheeks warm. “Stop it.”
“I’m serious. Everyone’s going to be jealous of me tonight.”
“You two look so perfect together.” I turn to my mom as she wipes a tear away, and I smile at her. There was a part of me that thought maybe I was going to lose her before she got to see any of these events with me. So, her being here now is amazing.
“They look good together,” Hayden’s mom says.
I glance away, but the blush on my cheeks is not going away, and everyone sees it. His hand hovers at my waist as we pose for photos, his mom fussing over us with her camera. I catch him staring more than once, and each time, I look away, my heart racing.
The man I want, doesn't want me, and it’s killing me not to just try my luck and see what happens.
Prom is like nothing I expected it to be.
This is how the rich do it, twinkle lights strung above a yacht-sized dance floor, a live band that plays actual romantic jazz, and that changes after a while with a DJ, and food I can’t even pronounce.
But none of it matters. Not when Hayden hasn’t left my side once, since we walked into this beautiful hotel.
His hand rests on the small of my back every time we walk, and it sends goosebumps rippling up my spine.
I’ve read about it in books, how that one touch can set everything on fire.
I never thought I’d feel it, but every time he does it, I feel like I only belong to him, and no one else in the world matters to me.
We dance, he twirls me, laughs with me, and holds me close when the music slows. His arms curled around me just right, as if my body has always been meant for him.
When the slow song starts, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“What’s so funny?” he asks, his voice warm in my ear.
“Nothing. My mom’s been saying all day how crazy it is that we’re not together.”
I stop when he starts laughing too. “Mine said the same thing.”
We both fall quiet, then his hand slides further around my back, pulling me closer.
“Olivia...” he starts, “I never wanted to ruin what we have. You’re my best friend. But I can’t lie, I’ve thought about us maybe being together for two years now. Maybe longer, I don’t know.”
I look up into his eyes, heart pounding. “I’ve been thinking about you like that too.”
His lips curve into the sexy smile I love seeing on him. “Yeah?”
I nod. “Yeah, but like you I was scared it would ruin things between us.”
“Olivia Banks,” he says, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. He looks around, then pulls me closer to him. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
He grins like a little kid who’s just won the last sweet on the table.
He leans in closer to me, and in this moment the world around me disappears. The moment his lips touch mine softly at first. A brush. A question, and I answer with everything I have inside me. My arms curl around his neck as his hands find my waist, anchoring me to a world I never want to leave.
His lips move with mine like they’ve been made to know me. I can feel his breath, taste the faint sweetness of punch and the warmth of something deeper. Every moment I have dreamed about this, isn’t even close to how perfect I feel.
How perfect this feels.
When we pull apart, my chest heaves softly, his forehead resting against mine, and I can’t hide the smile.
“I know it’s crazy,” he whispers, “but I’ve been in love with you for too long. And now that you’re mine, I’m never letting you go.”
Tears stung my eyes.
“I love you too.”
Present Day
I'm so happy I don’t have a class this morning, now I can see if I can get my car fixed. I mean this was the last place I wanted to spend money, but if there's an emergency with mom I need my car.
Making my way to my car I stop, what the hell is going on?
“Wait!” I shout, half-jogging toward the guy. “What are you doing?” I stop by him as he tows my car, I’m allowed to park here, so I have no idea why he’s towing it.
He barely glances at me. “Called to pick it up.”
“I didn’t call anyone,” I snap, breathing hard, and stand face to face with him so he can see I’m not messing around with him.
He grins like this is a joke to him. “A friend called me; he told me you might fight. Go talk to him.”
“Who are you?” That’s the first thing I need to know, so I know where the hell my car is going.
“Blake, my friend has all the details.” He turns around and continues to tow my car.
“What friend?” I blink, my stomach already tightening, because there's no one in this place who'd help me, so this has to be a joke.
He lifts a sheet of paper, then tears it off his pad and hands it to me. “Crawford called me, I came.” Blake doesn’t wait for me to say anything else, mainly because I have no words at the moment.
He gets in his van, leaving me there with a receipt, a fully paid invoice, and a whiplash of confusion. What the hell is Hayden doing? Why would he pay for this? I’m the last person he should be helping.
I’m pretty sure I would be on his kill list if he had one.
Still holding the paper, I find myself walking toward his house, because that’s what you do when someone wrecks your sense of reality.
Still confused about what's happening, I check my purse. I don’t have much on me at the moment, but I pull out what little cash I do have. I scribble a note; This is all I have now. I’ll get the rest to you soon.
Just leave it at the door, Olivia.
I don’t have to talk to him, I don’t even have to see him, but there's no way I’m letting him pay for my car, that’s not happening.
I look up at the house, and take a deep breath, quickly slip the note in and get out, that’s all I have to do.
As I move to slip the note through the crack, the door opens.
“Hi, Olivia,” Miles says, surprised, like I’m not standing here completely unraveling. “H, someone’s here—”
“No—no, no. Please just give this to him.” I thrust the paper toward him, but he doesn’t take it, doesn’t even put his hand out to try and take it from me.
He stares at me for a moment; it’s the same look Declan had in his eyes when he picked me up from the hospital. Hate.
I see Hayden walking toward the door, and everything inside me crumbles. He stops by the door, Miles leaves, and I look anywhere but at Hayden, because like before every time I see him a knot in my stomach pulls to the point I want to cry, because I can’t be with him.
“I just came to give you this,” I whisper, my voice small and cracking as I hold out the envelope.
He doesn’t say anything, just walks back into the house. I follow him inside, my hands shaking.
“Hayden, thank you… but here.” I place the envelope on the table, wishing I could sink through the floor. His eyes are burning into me, as they move up and down my body and if I didn’t know him so well I wouldn’t notice the slight movement in his body, but I do know him. I know him too well.
His voice is low and sharp. “Why did you do it?”
I freeze.
He steps closer. “Why, Olivia?”
I look away, my mouth is dry. I can’t say anything. I can’t speak the truth. It will be trouble, trouble I can’t afford to get into.
He shouts now. “Say something! Say anything!” I’ve never heard him shout before, and it takes me by surprise.
My body jerks with the force of his anger. “I… I’m sorry.”
The words are barely a whisper. I shouldn’t have said anything. I should’ve kept quiet, but his voice scared me.
His face twists. “You’re sorry?” His voice rises, breaks, raw with fury.
“You’re fucking sorry? I was ready to give you everything, Olivia!
Everything!” I flinch as he takes another step closer to me.
“I would’ve given you the damn world! I only ever wanted you, wanted to love you, and you broke me with a snap of a fucking finger.
” He steps closer with every word, each one a blow, and I’m doing everything not to cry at his words, but I know it’s all true.
He would have given me the world. He would have made me smile every single day.
“I hate you. I fucking hate what you did to me. You killed everything I believed in. I loved you. I fucking loved you, and you…you stabbed me.”
My chest aches. My legs feel like they’ll give way. I can’t breathe; I can’t talk because there are no words I can say to him to make this right.
“I hate you,” he snarls, but his eyes glisten like he’s battling with himself. “But I’ve only ever thought about you.”
As quick as the words escape him, his lips are on mine. What the hell is happening?
The kiss is fire, pain, and fury all at once.
I can barely breathe beneath it. I should push him away, but I can’t.
It’s like drowning in everything we could have been.
I pull on his t-shirt not wanting him to stop, wanting him to keep kissing me, praying he continues to kiss me, but then he pulls back. Eyes hollow. Mouth trembling.
“You’re back,” he mutters, shaking his head. “And I fucking wish you never did.”
He turns to walk away. “Hayden—” I whisper, reaching out, but he doesn’t stop, why would he?
I stand there, shaking, still feeling his lips on mine, never wanting to stop the feeling.
“You fucked up,” a voice says behind me. I turn to see Mason, arms crossed, eyes cold. “He hates you, but he never stopped loving you.” I say nothing. I can’t, I know his whole family hates me. “He’ll never forgive you until you tell him why you did it.”
“I can’t.” the words escape in a whisper.
Mason leans in close. “You broke him. We put the pieces back together, but some are still missing. So, if you break him again, I swear, Olivia, I’ll burn your whole world down.” And with that he walks away, his threat still in the air around me.
And I stand alone, tears fall as I pick up the envelope off the table, crumpled, rejected, like me.
How do I tell him I’m sorry, how do I tell him that since that night I’ve never been with another man, because I only love one man. I love Hayden Crawford, and no one else.