Chapter 19
Nineteen
Hayden
Present Day
“How was the target?” Miles asks, handing him and Mason the coffee they ordered when they called me to say I need to come to school. I came for my morning class then left, but for some reason they think I need to be here.
“An asshole, but I have most of his day mapped out. So why did I need to come back here?” I ask sipping on my coffee looking around to see who's still here.
“Here.” Miles throws an envelope on the table, and I shake my head.
“She’s asking when her car will be fixed,” Miles tells me, and I don’t look at them as I pick the envelope up and see the money.
She’s trying to pay me again for her car.
I should take the money from her. I don’t owe her anything.
“She said she'll get the rest of the money for you later.”
“Is she still on campus?” I don’t have her number to send her a message, so it looks like I have to talk to her.
After last night I was hoping not to see her.
I have no idea how I ended up at her dorm.
I was driving then sat outside looking up at her room.
I should have driven away, but I couldn’t.
It was never meant to go as far as it did, but the look on her face I knew she wouldn’t say no to anything if I asked.
I should have stopped it, but the second her lips touched my dick, I was gone.
I had thought about Olivia and having sex with her for years, until she fucked me over.
But again, I’m thinking about her, and how we could have been.
How I was going to show her, the romance novels she reads are nothing compared to real life.
But now all I want to do is hurt her the way she hurt me, the way I was hurt after.
I want her to remember what she did, the same way I remember what happened to me.
I have no idea what she reads in books, but fuck was it the best blowjob I’ve ever had.
She knew what to do, without me having to tell her.
The fucked up thing about it all, on the drive back to my place, the only thing I could think about was, who else has she done that with.
How many men have touched something I’ve never touched.
Touched what was meant to be mine, now all I want to do is break her.
How fucked up am I? I want her to hurt, and cry for me, beg me to stop, and beg me to leave her alone. There's something wrong with me. I need to hate her, and nothing else.
“I haven’t seen her leave, she might be with her dad,” Mason looks over at the group of girls walking past the table.
“See you back at the house, mom wants us there for dinner.” I grab the envelope and walk into the building. I have no idea what section her dad works on, so it’s a guessing game for me.
One floor done and nothing, as I walk past a classroom I hear Olivia’s voice.
“Dad, why are you being so stubborn!” she shouts at him. I lean back on the wall for a moment, listening to what they're saying.
“I don’t know why you are being so stubborn, take the money. Mr. Cain said I can work a double shift this weekend.” It looks like I’m listening to them arguing. I don’t care, and I’ll stay here until I’m bored.
“Olivia, sweetheart—”
“No, this is why I got the job. So, I can help.
I don't know why you're being so stubborn.” I never heard her fight with her parents, ever.
So, this is something new for me, I always saw her as this happy girl, who loved her parents more than anything.
They do say you fight with the ones you love the most.
“Olivia, we're lucky to have you as our daughter. You've helped since you got your first job. But you need to save for the future, you've got a degree to pay for yes.”
“And I’m very lucky to have gotten a scholarship which is helping with the funds for me. Not all of it, but most of it.” You can hear it in her voice, she’s tired of this fight, but I also know her well enough when it comes to her parents she won’t back down.
“And what about law school?” her dad asks. Even I know how much law school costs, so that’s a good question.
“I am… saving—”
“See, you stuttered, that means you haven't thought about it.”
“I have thought about it. I swear I’ve thought about it most of my pay at the minute is going toward helping mom, any extra money I'll put into a savings account. Plus Mr. Cain is giving me extra shifts when I ask for them, so I’ll save the extra money.
” Olivia is trying very hard to make her point, but it seems like her dad isn’t having any of it.
I always knew Olivia was going to help her parents with everything, but I didn’t think she'd still be helping them. But then again I don’t know how much all the treatments cost.
“Dad, I've got enough here to get the lawyers to start the paperwork again.
Once this is done, that's one less stress for Mom.
Let's just do this. We had the money before, but we had to use it on treatments. We’re spending money on treatments again, so I saved for this, and I have the money now Dad, so please, just take this off our list. I have half of it, the lawyer said.
As soon as he gets this half, he'll start the paperwork, and when the time comes to the next part, I'll have enough.”
“Olivia, you’ve been…I want you to live your life, be happy. All you do is work, study, look after your mom.” Her dad chokes on his words.
“No, Dad, I'll always choose mom.” She goes quiet, and I wish I could look in to see what’s happening. “I chose mom before, I lost my happiness, I lost my future, because—”
“Olivia.”
“You know how hard that was for me, you know how I didn't sleep for months, how I still wake up at night. I'll always choose mom, and now I’m choosing mom over saving my money. So, take it, please.”
I stand in the doorway, she wipes the tears away and puts out the check for her dad to take.
I move to stand within the door frame, and cough to let them know I’m there, so they can stop this conversation. They both turn to me. “Hayden.” Mr. Banks looks at me, ignoring him. I turn to Olivia.
“Come on.”
“Where?”
“Your car's fixed. I'll drop you off.”
“It's okay. You can write the address down. I can catch an Uber. I need to help my dad with these tables anyway.”
I look between them both and shake my head.
“Olivia, I can sort the tables out. All I have to do is stack them on top of each other.” I watch them both staring at each other having some kind of secret conversation, stupid.
I should tell them both to fuck off and tell them exactly how I feel. Yet here I am keeping my mouth shut because my mom taught me better, my mom taught me how to respect people.
“How long is it going to take you?” I ask, breaking the silence.
“Twenty minutes. Let me know where my car is, and I'll pick it up. It's fine. You don't need to help me.”
I let out a chuckle and push myself off the door frame and walk into the classroom.
“No, I don't need to help you,” I say, picking a table up and putting it on top of the other, then the next one. Twenty minutes, for a few fucking tables, they would spend all that time arguing over money. “Where do these tables need to go?” I ask not looking toward them.
“In the corner, son—”
“No, no, no, you don't get to call me that. You never get to call me that. Because if I was your son, you wouldn't have done what you did.” I stop myself from losing my calm. “Are you two just going to stand there and stare at me or move these tables? I have other shit to do.”
They both start moving the tables, and I continue working on one side by myself, listening in the conversation again.
“Dad, please just take it.”
“Thank you, Olivia, this means a lot to us.”
“Always. I'll start saving for the second half. I'll open savings for law school tomorrow. Promise.”
Finishing the last table, I walk over to both of them and stare at Olivia. Her eyes are beautiful as always, and I remember how they looked up at me when she was on her knees in front of me. Fuck how I would love her there again.
“One more thing—” I throw the envelope on the table. “If you ever give me your money again, I'll burn it, and that's a waste for both of us. Unlike you, I don't need the money. I don't want your money. Don't need your money, and I'll never ask you for money—”
“But it's my car.”
“So?” I walk away without another word. But exiting the door, I shout back to her. “I'll wait for you by my car.”
I hear her walking behind me, and I get my phone out to message Cain.
Hayden
How many hours does Olivia work at the club?
Cain
Too many, but she wants the hours I need a good member of staff behind the bar.
Putting my phone into my pocket as we get out into the car park, I get in the car, it’s a twenty minute drive to Blake's garage, so it shouldn't take me too long.
As we drive, I hear Olivia say softly,. “Thank you.”
I don't turn to her, and I don't reply back. Taking a deep breath in, I look over at the dash as my phone starts ringing to see who it is, my mom’s name appears. Answering.
“Hi mom, I’m not alone,” I tell her.
“My conversations with you are not going to be R rated Hayden.” I laugh at her tone, because she knows what I’m talking about.
“You never know. You might have seen something stupid while watching a movie,” I joke with her.
“I learnt my lesson the hard way with that one, when you and your brothers made fun of me.” Now this has me bursting out in laughter. It was so funny, we told mom not to watch Game of Thrones with us. She didn’t want to listen, not even an episode in, and she never watched another episode with us.
“How can I help you today, Mother?”
“I just want to remind you about dinner tonight.”
“I know told Mason and Miles. I’ll call Declan.”
“No, I trust you'll be there, you never miss family dinner. The thing is, I've just found out from Declan, it's also Trixie's birthday today, so me and dad have got her a gift, but I thought the three of you might want to get her something.” Mom stops when I let out a chuckle.
“What am I meant to get her drawing stuff? That's all she ever does.”