8. Bax
CHAPTER 8
Bax
“S o, Olivia,” Talon prompts casually as he and I work together to reframe the window we just installed in Kourtney's guest room while Olivia’s dad and Liam install motion-sensor lights across the back of the house.
“Don’t fucking start,” I mutter, not quite under my breath, then sigh when he starts to laugh.
“Start what? She’s cute.”
She’s not cute. She’s gorgeous.
Well, okay. She’s cute as fuck too. But she’s also funny, and whenever I’ve had my arms around her, she seems to fit against me perfectly, like she was made to be right there .
“How pissed is Liam going to be when you start dating his sister?” he asks, his voice nonchalant.
“Are you done?”
His gaze locks on mine as his expression turns serious. “She’s the one, isn't she?”
I shake my head, even though I’ve been ignoring my own thoughts about that being the case. “How could she be? I knew her for years when she was a kid and didn’t feel shit.”
“Like you said—she was a kid. You never saw her as anything other than that.” He glances toward the door. “And you just said you ‘ didn’t ’ feel shit. Do you feel something now?”
“You said it yourself. She’s cute.” I don’t know why I’m not admitting to what I felt the moment I saw her in the bar over a week ago. Maybe because it wasn’t something that just hit me, it didn’t smack me in the face. There was no explosion. It was just… some kind of weird recognition—something that I assumed had to do with the fact that I knew her, even when I thought I didn’t.
“I’m not Liam. You don’t need to lie to me. I see the way you look at her.”
I tense. “I don’t look at her in any way.”
“Bro, you look like it’s killing you not to touch her anytime she’s close.”
Fuck.
“If she is who I think she is to you, I’m just telling you, you can’t fight the inevitable,” he says seriously.
“She’s young,” I finally spit out the main thing that keeps popping into my head… besides the fact that she’s my best friend’s sister.
“Jesus.” He laughs. “You say it like she’s in high school. How old is she?”
“Twenty-six, twenty-seven, I think?” I shake my head.
“She’s not young.” He rolls his eyes, motioning for me to hand him another piece of trim.
“She's years younger than I am.”
“And?” he prompts.
And… I don’t fucking know. Because her age doesn’t really bother me. I just feel like it should. Maybe it would if she was immature, but she’s not. She’s smart, and she has a career and goals for herself. And honestly, now that I really think about it, she’s not that young.
“Just admit it’s the fact that she’s Liam’s little sister that is throwing you off.”
“Hey, guys.”
He and I turn toward the door, where Olivia stands now dressed in a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved top that crosses in the front and is so short I can see a strip of her stomach that I’d like to be better acquainted with. When her gaze pings between my brother and me, and then her brows drag together slightly, I wonder if I have the same look on my face that I saw on hers when I walked into the house earlier while she and Amy were talking quietly. Like I just got caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. Which now makes me incredibly curious about what she and her mom were discussing. “I ordered pizza. It just got here, if you want to take a break and come eat.”
“Thanks, doll,” Talon says, and her eyes come to me.
“We’ll be out in a couple of minutes,” I tell her.
“Okay.” She looks from me to the window. “It almost looks like nothing ever happened.”
“Once we finish, you won't even be able to tell it was broken,” I assure her. Then ask, “Did Kourtney ever return your call?” She tried to call her earlier but never got a hold of her, so she just left a message asking her to call back when she had time.
“Yeah, but we only spoke for a couple of minutes. She was on her way to work. She was worried but relieved that no one actually broke in. She’s going to have a couple of security companies come out to give her some quotes when she gets back to town.”
“That would be good. In the meantime, the new outside lights will help,” Talon tells her, then adds, “And if you get scared, I’m sure Bax won’t mind you staying with him next door.”
Fucker.
Her eyes come to me, and she shifts on her feet.
“You’re always welcome at my place,” I say, wanting her to know what he said was true, even if having her under my roof is its own kind of torture.
“Thanks.” Her tongue runs across her bottom lip, and she glances over her shoulder. “Food is in the kitchen whenever you guys are ready to eat.”
I jerk up my chin and don’t know what Talon does because I don’t take my eyes off her until she disappears out of sight.
“Thanks,” I grumble at my brother.
“You’re welcome.” He grins. “Just helping you out.”
With a shake of my head, I let out a breath and then focus on the task at hand. Once we finish the trim, we head down the hall to the kitchen, where Liam and Olivia’s dad are standing, holding a plate of pizza. Olivia and Amy sit at the small dining table that is tucked up against the wall.
“There are sodas in the fridge,” Olivia calls out to us as I pick up a plate and grab two slices of pepperoni pizza.
“Thanks.” I go to the fridge and grab a Coke for myself and one for Talon before I lean back against the counter and start to eat. Talon makes his way across the room to sit with the girls, who immediately launch into questions about his wife and kids. And, of course, he’s all too happy to pull out his phone and share pictures with them.
“Did you check the camera at your place to see if you could see anything from last night?” Liam asks quietly, and I focus on him.
“I checked. I only have the one camera on my door, and it didn’t pick anything up. I asked the neighbors if they had anything, but none of them have cameras.”
“Olivia said you think it was the guys who were supposed to drop off her stuff,” her dad says, and I nod as I chew. Then I swallow before I answer.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. I’ve never heard of anything like that happening around here, not in this neighborhood. Then, the day after the run-in with those guys, the window is broken in the middle of the night?” I cock a brow.
“Makes sense to me, too,” he agrees with a nod.
“The police have their information, and I sent my cousin Cobi a message this morning, letting him know what happened. He’ll make sure they are looked into.” I look toward the living room when the doorbell goes off, then glance at Olivia when she gets up.
Setting my plate aside, I follow her to the door. When she swings it in, annoyance causes my hands to flex at my sides. I should have guessed Lincoln would be back at some point. From his questions last night, it was obvious that he wouldn’t let seeing Olivia again be an opportunity he’d pass up.
“Lincoln, what are you doing here?” Olivia asks with a happy smile, holding the door open for him to come inside.
“I was on my way to work. I just wanted to swing by and check on you.” His eyes come to me briefly before he dismisses me and focuses on her once more. “How are you doing today?”
“Good. Great, actually. Bax and his brother got the window replaced, and my dad and brother are putting up some motion lights outside.”
“Good.” His tone is soft, and so is his expression.
“Lincoln?” Amy comes around the corner into the living room. “What are you doing here?”
“Hi, Mrs. Gannon.” He smiles as she gives him a hug. “Just checking on Olivia.”
“You’re always so sweet.”
What the hell is happening to my insides right now? I swear I either need to puke or punch something.
“Is Keller with you?”
“No, he’s with his mom today. I’m on my way to work.”
“Keller?” Olivia asks.
“My son.” His gaze becomes laser-focused on her, like he’s watching for her reaction to finding out he has a kid.
“You have a son?” she asks, smiling.
“Yeah, he’s seven.”
“Wow.” She shakes her head, never losing her smile. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” He laughs, and if I weren’t in my feelings about this whole situation, I would laugh too, because she’s a total dork. “Well…” He glances out the door. “I should get going. You still have my card, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Call me or send me a text, and we’ll schedule a time to catch up.”
“I’d like that. I’ll send you a text later this evening,” she replies.
“Sounds good.” He takes his eyes off her to look at her mom, dipping his chin. “Mrs. Gannon.”
“Bye, Lincoln.” She smiles as Olivia shuts the door. “I adore him,” Amy tells Olivia, linking her arm through her daughter’s, and I wonder if she’s ever said the same thing about me in that tone.
I grew up with her son, which means he and I got into trouble together, and she knows about my history with women. Maybe not all the details, but I know she’s heard rumors since she sat me and Liam down more than once to talk to us about “being safe” when we were younger.
“I didn’t know he stayed in town,” Olivia says, walking back to the table with her mom and joining Talon and Liam there while I go to the kitchen counter and pick up my plate.
“He just moved back a couple of years ago after he got divorced.”
“Really?” Olivia asks.
“Yeah, it was messy, but things have gotten better over the past year,” Amy tells her.
“That’s good.”
“Are you going to go on a date with him?” Talon asks, and the pizza sitting in my stomach sours as I wait for her to answer him.
“Not a date, but I’ll probably catch up with him.”
“You okay?” Scott, Olivia’s dad, asks, taking my attention off what Olivia’s saying.
“Yep.”
“You sure?” His eyes drop to my hands, and I realize I’ve crumpled up the paper plate I’m holding.
“Just not hungry.” I walk my destroyed plate across the kitchen and toss it—along with the piece of pizza I was holding halfway to my mouth and didn’t end up eating—into the garbage. “I’m going to start sealing up the window.”
“I’ll be in there to help in a minute,” Talon tells me, and I lift my chin his way before I leave the room.
I need a minute alone—a minute to get my shit together.
Because it’s obvious I’m losing my damn mind.
* * *
While sitting on my back deck with a beer, the football game playing on the TV above the fireplace, my mind wanders to the woman next door for the millionth time in the past few hours. You’d think with Olivia being out of sight, I’d be able to somewhat control my own thoughts, but since I came home this evening around five, I’ve spent more time thinking and worrying about her than what I’d deem healthy.
It’s taken everything in me to keep my ass at my house.
To not go check on her when the sun set.
To not go over there and invite her to dinner.
Or… to just go next door and get a glimpse of her, just to make sure she’s okay.
When Gemma, lying on the couch next to me, lifts her head off my lap and begins to bark toward the deck stairs, I sit forward and place my beer on the coffee table. Moving to my feet, I watch a dark figure walk past the screen that lines the deck, but I can’t make out any details about them through the shade.
As Gemma jumps off the couch and stops barking, I frown at my dog, then understand her change in demeanor a moment later when Olivia appears at the bottom of the stairs. She’s holding a pillow that’s the same size as she is, along with a cream-colored paperback.
“Oli?”
“Hey.” She leans down to pet Gemma. “I was going to go knock on the front door but saw the fire on out here and the TV through the shade, so I came to the back. Sorry if I startled you.”
“Did something happen?”
“No.” She shifts on her feet, looking uncomfortable. “I was gonna go to bed, but the minute I lay down, I heard something that was probably nothing and freaked myself out.”
“You wanna stay the night?”
“Would you mind?” Her nose scrunches. “Feel free to tell me to go to my parents’ house.”
“Of course, you can stay. You want a glass of wine?”
She shakes her head. “No, really… I’ll stay out of your hair. I’m sure you’re tired of seeing my face.”
I wish that were the case, but I feel like I can breathe a little easier now that I have my eyes on her. “I don’t mind the company.”
“Are you sure?” she asks, her face mimicking a wince.
“Yeah. So… would you like a glass of wine?”
“That would be awesome.” She smiles, her words coming out relieved.
“Red or white?”
“White.”
“Make yourself comfortable.” I move to the sliding door but stop. “You want me to take that inside?”
“Yeah. Thanks.” She passes me the pillow but keeps the book.
After dropping her pillow off in the guest room, I open a bottle of wine and pour her a glass, then grab myself another beer. When I get back outside, I find she’s made herself comfortable on the couch with her book and Gemma.
“Thanks.” She tips her head back and smiles up at me when I hand her the glass, and I want nothing more than to bend down and touch my mouth to hers.
“Welcome.” I move to the opposite side of the couch and take a seat, putting my feet up on the coffee table. She stretches out her bright pink-tipped toes, almost resting against my jean-covered thigh. I focus on the game or try to. Every once in a while, she’ll move and brush up against me, and my dick will twitch in response like I’m some sixteen-year-old kid—which is fucking ridiculous.
Hearing her laugh softly, I glance over at her. She looks ever the book nerd, with her hair up in a messy bun and the rest of her upper body tucked inside a big hoodie that is pulled up just enough to cover her ears.
“Good book?”
“So good.” She smiles. “It was a little sad at first since the main guy and girl in the story have both recently lost people they care about, but now they’re on a road trip together, and it’s sweet to see them each finding happiness.”
“Good.” I reach down without thinking and cover her foot with my hand before I pull it back like it’s on fire. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She clears her throat. “I’m kind of invading your space.” She pulls her legs up closer to her chest.
“You’re good.” I focus on the TV when I hear people begin to cheer. The distraction of my team getting a touchdown helps take some of my focus off her, and soon, I’m able to relax.
When I look over at her as the game comes to an end, I find that she’s fallen asleep, so I pick her up and carry her inside. I don’t know if it’s the wine she drank or just how exhausted she is from today, but she doesn’t even twitch as I carry her through the house and tuck her into the bed in my guest room.
After shutting down everything and locking up the house, I go right to the shower in my bathroom and get myself off, all while thinking about doing unspeakable things to her.
I’m in so much fucking trouble.