Caleb
Ipull into Derek's driveway and kill the engine. Olivia's face won't leave my head no matter how I try to push it away. She was so upset when Derek confronted her at that soccer field. She held it together until he turned his back and then she just let go, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.
The man crossed a line tonight, and I can't sit back and let him think that I'm going to be a part of this little scheme he's cooked up anymore.
I get out of the truck and walk to his front door and knock, and Derek opens with a glass of whiskey in his hand and a glare on his face. He steps aside and lets me in, and I walk past him into his kitchen without waiting for an invitation. I feel like a caged animal about to tear into someone.
"You want to tell me what that was today?" I ask him, turning around to face him as he leans against the counter.
"I drove past my son's soccer practice and saw a stranger playing with him in a public park.
" He takes a sip and sets the glass down, and the look on his face is almost disgust. "I had every right to be concerned.
" He can't possibly think I'm going to fall for this load of crap.
He had no worries about my being there. This was entirely a chance opportunity he seized to try to make Olivia break down in public.
"You didn't look concerned, Derek. You acted like a total ass and made her cry in front of the other parents." My hand curls into a fist in my pocket as I clench my jaw, willing myself not to hit him.
"She needs to understand the consequences of her choices." He folds his arms over his chest and tilts his chin up. "I've told her a dozen times to keep you away from Ethan and she ignores me. At some point, I have to make it clear that there are repercussions."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I snap, consciously gluing my feet to the floor so I don't approach him.
He's purposefully inciting something he knows is innocent.
"Your eight-year-old asked me to kick a ball around, and you fucking hired me to be around them. What game are you trying to play?"
"You just don’t understand. This is a pattern, Caleb.
You're over there every day fixing things and eating dinner and playing house with my family.
How does that look to a judge?" He wags his eyebrows as if I’m in on this scheme, and it pisses me off.
He planted me hoping it would make Olivia look unstable?
What does he expect, that she'll never date again?
"It looks like a neighbor helping out a single mother who could use a hand. That's how it looks." I need to calm myself down or I’m really going to hit him. "What if she just starts dating someone, Derek? Do you mean to tell me you've not brought a single woman home around Ethan?"
Derek pushes off the counter and takes a step toward me. "You're losing perspective. I hired you to gather evidence, not to become part of her life. Besides, I'm able to properly vet the women who come into my home and she doesn’t say a word about who's around Ethan."
Now my blood is boiling. "Does she get a say in what women you bring around Ethan?"
He chuckles, shaking his head as he sips his drink again. "It's not part of your job to worry about that, okay?"
"My job is to observe and report the truth, and the truth is that your ex-wife is a good mother.
" I hold his stare and don't blink. "She keeps a clean house. She feeds that kid home-cooked meals every night. She shows up to every practice and every school event. She works full-time and still makes time to play with him in the yard. You’re not trying to find dirt. You're trying to plant it."
"The medication—"
"Millions of people take antidepressants and sleeping pills and raise their kids just fine. You're grasping at straws and you know it."
His jaw tightens and his nostrils flare as he takes a long drink and sets his glass down. "Just do your fucking job. I'm not paying you to flirt with her. I'm paying you to check up on her. If there's no dirt, then there's no dirt. Got it?"
"Fine," I growl, grateful that he's not canning me right now for standing up to him.
Apparently, he still thinks I can do this job—or will do this job.
Right now, I'm more worried about protecting an innocent woman from a monster, and with only a few weeks left in this contract he put me on, I'll be glad when it's over.
Maybe then I can come clean and really protect her.
"See yourself to the door, thank you. I have company coming and I'm going to shower before she gets here." The man slinks off down the hallway like the snake he is, and I watch him go before I stomp out.
Olivia has every right to be afraid of this man. He may not be abusive in the way some men get physical with their partners and ex-partners, but he's dangerous, and I see right through his disgusting plan.
As I climb into my truck, I think of the way she turned into my chest and clung to me after that altercation.
She was trembling, not at all her normal, happy self.
In fact, after all the things I've seen her put up with, it was the first time I ever saw her look anything but pleasant.
He really has a way of shaking her up. She's genuinely afraid of him, and I hate that for her.
When I pull into my driveway, I get out and walk into the garage, opening the small fridge I keep next to the workbench to grab a beer.
I really got myself into a pickle this time, and I'm not sure how to get out of it.
I've fallen for this woman I was supposed to be observing, and if she learns who I really am, she'll never trust me.
But if I don't tell her, she'll never know what sort of a jackass her ex-husband is.
Sinking into the old lawn chair next to the fridge, I hear her footsteps on the driveway.
They're so quiet, I might think someone is sneaking up on me for a moment before Olivia rounds the corner into the spread of light cast by the single fluorescent bulb hanging in the center of the garage ceiling.
She looks tired, but she carries herself gracefully.
"Hey," she says quietly.
"Hey." I take a pull from the beer and set it on the bench behind me.
She walks in and leans on the tool cabinet across from me. Her eyes are red-rimmed, which means after she calmed herself at the soccer field, she wasn't all that calm. She was probably just crying at home and heard me pull in. God, I hate that man.
"I wanted to apologize for today," she says, crossing her arms over her chest. "For the scene at the field. You shouldn't have had to deal with that."
"You don't owe me an apology." If only this woman knew how I really feel about her, she'd understand that she could be weak and vulnerable around me and I'd carry it all for her.
"I feel like I do. You got dragged into this whole mess, and now he's probably going to use you against me in court somehow.
" She rubs her forehead with the heel of her hand, looking exasperated for a moment before her rosy smile returns.
"I should've been smarter about the whole thing. I know how controlling he can—"
"Olivia." I wait until she looks at me. "Your kid wanted to kick a ball around with someone he trusts.
That's not a crime and you don't need to apologize for it.
" How badly I want to stand up and walk over to hug her.
I'm just not sure how she'd take it, and I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do.
Sure, we had sex and I know something is brewing between us, but it'd be better if I just stay aloof.
If this goes sideways, she'll be so hurt already.
Imagine if I let her really bond to me hard.
She nods, but I can tell she doesn't believe me. She picks at a loose thread on her sleeve and stares at the garage floor.
"He called me on the way home," she says.
"Left a voicemail telling me he's filing a motion to modify custody.
He says the situation with you proves I have poor judgment and I'm exposing Ethan to inappropriate influences.
" Her chest deflates and the ever-present sunshine in her expression and body language fades a little, like the sunset drawing back the curtain on the truth.
"Three years I've been fighting him, and every time I think it's over, he finds a new angle. "
"He won't win, okay? No court is going to believe I'm a bad influence any more than they would his lady friends he has over." The double standard is so disgusting, I want to drive back over there and take pictures of the man with whatever woman he's dragged home tonight.
"He's not bluffing, though. He follows through on everything because that's how he controls me.
He makes a threat and then he executes it, and then he watches me scramble and that's his whole game.
" Her voice cracks, and she forces a smile to hide the emotion.
I wish she didn't feel the need to do that.
I set my beer down and push off the workbench and walk over to her, gently taking her hand. She curls her fingers through mine as we stand face to face. It takes everything in me not to hug her.
"I'm so tired, Caleb," she whispers. "I'm tired of being scared all the time.
I'm tired of watching every move I make because he might be watching too.
I second-guess every decision because it could show up in a courtroom six months from now.
" She pulls away and her hands hang at her sides.
"I just want to raise my son and be happy and not have to fight for the right to do it. "
"You shouldn't have to fight for it," I say softly, curling a stray hair around her ear.
"But I do. Every single day, I do."
It physically pains me to know I've been on the wrong side of this battle. Derek is going to use what I give him and twist it to make it sound evil, and I've already given him enough to do that. It's something I can't undo, and I hate myself for it.
"You're not alone in this," I tell her. "Whatever happens, you're not doing it alone anymore. Okay?"
She looks up with eyes so full of trust and gratitude, it makes my throat clench and my gut churn. I don't deserve that trust after what I've done.
"Go get some sleep, okay?" I press a kiss to her forehead absently, then pull away knowing I shouldn't have done that. It's better than sleeping with her, but to a woman this vulnerable, it might be more intimate. I don't know anymore.
"Goodnight, Caleb. Thank you again for being there today."
Olivia walks away, and I reach for my beer, watching her go. If I don't figure out how to fix this fast, it's gonna blow up in both of our faces. And that kid is going to be caught in the middle.
I have to find a way to stop Derek Bennett from destroying Olivia's life, and I need to do it fast.