Chapter 10 Leo
CHAPTER TEN
Leo
I’m walking, head down, phone in hand, doing the usual thing. Scrolling through the Christmas ad emails that have already started coming through, responding to texts, zoning out in that early morning haze that comes with the start of a shift.
My feet are on autopilot, taking me down the familiar streets, my mind a million miles away from the world around me.
Then, bam.
I slam into something or someone. My phone nearly flies out of my hand, and I stumble back, cursing under my breath.
“Shit!” I grunt, catching myself before I can faceplant on the sidewalk.
I glance up, about to mutter an apology, when I see her.
She’s standing there, arms crossed, looking at me as if I just committed a felony. Her face is flushed, her brows drawn together in a deep frown. She’s not smiling. Hell, she’s not even blinking.
And I can’t help but notice how intense she looks. She’s ready to throw down over the fact that I didn’t watch where I was going.
“Watch where you’re going,” she snaps, cutting through the air sharply. “You nearly knocked me off my feet.”
I blink, thrown off by the sudden fire in her eyes.
“Sorry,” I mutter, stepping back.
But it’s too late. The words fall flat. I’ve already pissed her off too much.
She doesn't even acknowledge it. Instead, she gives me another pointed look.
“Yeah, right,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes. “I’m the one who has to be careful when people like you can’t even look up from their damn phones!”
Alright, this is new. Most people, when you bump into them, give you a pass, maybe a quick apology, and everyone moves on. Not this woman. She’s got a sharp edge to her, one that could cut through steel if she wanted it to.
I can feel the irritation rising in me, but I push it down. “I said I was sorry, alright? It was an accident.”
Her eyes narrow. She’s not buying any of it. “You think I care about your apology? Maybe if you weren’t glued to that thing, we wouldn’t be having this conversation! There are other people in the world, you know.”
That hits a nerve. I don’t know what it is about her, but she’s starting to make me feel I’m the one in the wrong here.
I raise my eyebrows, trying to hold onto some of my patience. “Excuse me? You don’t get to lecture me just because I was texting. It was an accident.”
She lets out a derisive laugh, and I can see the sarcastic edge creeping in. “Oh, so now I’m the one in the wrong for expecting people to be aware of their surroundings? Yeah, real smooth.”
I don’t know what happens next. The words come out before I can stop them. They’ve been waiting in the back of my throat for this exact moment.
“You don’t have to be such a bitch about it.”
The second the words leave my mouth, I know I fucked up. But it’s too late. Her eyes widen, and I can see I’ve gone way too far.
But I can’t gather the words back and stuff them in my mouth again, however much I want to.
Her jaw tightens, and I see the shift in her eyes, a flash of anger that takes the air out of the moment. The tension between us thickens.
“You really want to go there?” she spits out, filled with venom. “You wanna make this my problem when you’re the one who can’t keep his eyes on the road? Fucking hell, is this how you walk around your small town all the time?”
I’m standing a little straighter now, feeling the heat rise in my chest. She’s pushing all the wrong buttons, and I can feel my patience cracking.
“You don’t know this town at all, do you?”
The words are out before I even think about them, and once again, I realize I might be pushing too hard.
She rolls her eyes, her posture going rigid. “Oh, because I’m Outsider Olivia Quinn. Real nice.”
That stings. But I’m not backing down now.
“Maybe if you actually took the time to know it, you wouldn’t be so quick to judge people,” I fire back, digging myself deeper into this mess. “Olivia Quinn, I’m Leo Griffin, as if that means a damn thing.”
Her gaze is hard now, laser-focused on me. “Judge people? I'm just trying to get through my day without running into assholes like you. I have stuff going on, you know?”
I don’t know what to say to that, mainly because her eyes seem to be flooding with tears, so I stand there, unsure of how this conversation became a full-blown argument in a matter of seconds.
But I don’t really think this is about me…
But we’re both locked into this weird standoff, neither of us willing to back down, and I can feel my pulse pounding in my ears.
She lets out an exasperated sigh and shakes her head.
“You know what? Forget it.” She turns to walk away, throwing one last look at me over her shoulder. “You’re not worth the energy.”
And just like that, she’s gone, leaving me standing there, feeling as exhausted as if I’ve just been dragged through a ringer.
I don’t know what the hell just happened, but something about her, about this, has me feeling off balance in a way I don’t enjoy.
I get to the fire station, still replaying the encounter in my head. There’s something about that woman that’s got me messed up. And I don’t even know her.
But I can’t shake the feeling that we’re not done. We’ve only scratched the surface of whatever strange tension is between us.
I walk into the break room, ready to grab a cup of coffee and forget about the morning.
The familiar smells of burnt toast and the buzz of idle chatter fill the space. Karl’s already at the counter, humming some stupid tune under his breath while Jesse leans against the wall, half listening to whatever Karl’s saying but clearly distracted.
“Morning,” I grunt, pulling open the fridge to grab some milk.
“Morning, grumpy,” Karl shoots me a grin, clearly not bothered by anything. He’s always the first to make light of whatever's going on. “What happened to you?”
“Urgh, I just had a run-in with a very unpleasant woman.” I roll my eyes. “Olivia Quinn, or something. I ran into her by mistake, and she went crazy at me. Insane.”
Karl freezes. His eyes widen, which is a weird reaction.
I glance at Jesse to see if he’s seen this, but strangely, all the color has drained from his cheeks as well.
What is going on?
It’s as if they’ve both heard that name a hundred times, and none of them are eager to talk about it.
The silence is uncomfortable. I feel I’ve walked into the middle of something I’m not supposed to know about.
Karl clears his throat first.
“Olivia Quinn, huh?” he says guardedly. “She’s… interesting. I er… met her at the Halloween party.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” I mutter. “She’s got a temper on her, that’s for sure. Did you see that?”
Jesse finally speaks, but it's not what I expect. “Yeah. She’s got a lot of… stuff going on.”
“Stuff?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
What the hell does that even mean?
“Yeah, she’s my sister’s best friend, and her whole world has basically just imploded. So maybe give her a break.”
Shit.
And I called her a bitch.
That was a mistake.