14. Bax
CHAPTER 14
Bax
S itting on Kourtney’s front step, relief and rage battle in the center of my chest as I watch Olivia’s headlights light up the dark street as she turns onto the block.
It’s after eight. Four hours ago, she sent me a text letting me know she was canceling our plans tonight and that my key would be in my mailbox tomorrow morning.
When I replied to that text, asking if she was okay, she messaged back, saying that we would talk after her friend left to go back to Chicago next week. When I asked for an explanation, she left me on Read, and when I called, she sent me to voicemail.
After I got home from work and didn’t see her car, I called her dad just to see if he heard from her so I’d at least know she was okay, and he let me know she was there for dinner. Of course, Scott has never been one to miss much, so he asked if something was going on between the two of us.
I couldn’t lie, not to him, so I told him the truth, that we’ve been spending time together and that we’re just getting to know each other. He wasn’t pissed, which was a surprise. He just left me with the warning that I better not fuck up. Then he sent me a message when she left their house, letting me know she’d be home soon.
When I get to my feet, and she spots me obviously waiting for her, her car comes to a stop in the middle of the road, and I know she’s trying to decide whether she’s going to turn her car around. After a long moment, she slowly rolls forward and turns into the driveway.
I stay where I am as she shuts down the engine and wait as she opens her door.
It’s difficult.
I’m pissed.
“I told you we would talk after Rebecca left,” she tells me, meeting my gaze over the roof of her car before starting around the front of it.
“Yeah, I got that message.” I watch her stop to give Gemma some attention. “I also think I deserve to know what the fuck happened between when I left you sitting on my kitchen counter this morning with a smile on your face and this afternoon when you sent me that message.”
“I’m tired, Bax.” She sighs.
“Too fucking bad,” I bite out as she walks up the sidewalk with Gemma on her heels. “Explain.”
“Fine.” She stops at the bottom of the stairs and glares up at me. “You dated Julie.”
“I told you she and I dated.”
“Yeah, well, you left out the part where you started sleeping with someone else while you were dating her.”
“Who told you that?” I growl in disbelief.
“She did,” she says it like I’m an idiot for even asking, and that anger sitting in my chest gets hotter.
“And you believed her?”
“What?” She frowns, and I let my arms fall to my sides as I step down one step, bringing me closer to her.
“You believed her when she told you that I was seeing her and started fucking someone else?”
“Isn't it the truth?”
“She said it, so it must be true, right?” I step down onto the sidewalk and move around her.
“Where are you going?” she asks, sounding surprised and a little worried.
I don’t bother looking at her when I answer, “Home.”
“Bax?” Ignoring her, I keep walking as I whistle for Gemma. “Bax.”
“Go inside, Olivia.”
“Are you seriously just leaving?” Her hand wraps around my arm, and I drop my eyes to it before meeting her gaze.
“You’ve obviously got your mind made up about the kind of man I am, babe, and I’m not interested in trying to prove you wrong.”
“So she lied?” she asks softly, and fuck me, it’s difficult to hold on to my anger when her voice is soft like that, and her eyes are filled with so much uncertainty.
“She lied, and if you’d really like to know, she’s the one who fucked around on me , but she did it one better by also trying to fuck your brother.”
“Oh my God,” she whispers.
“Yeah.” I step around her and continue down the sidewalk toward the driveway.
“How could I know she was lying?” she asks, her voice sounding tight, and I stop to look at her.
“You could have talked to me. You could have fucking sent me a text, or called, or even fucking waited until we were together to ask me about it.”
“I’m sorry. I just?—”
“It’s all good. There’s no hard feelings,” I cut her off.
“Bax.”
“Night, Olivia.”
“So that’s it? You’re just done?”
“Babe, you threw in the towel without even giving me a chance to explain, and even before that, you had an escape plan.” I drag my eyes off her and continue walking away from her, which is difficult.
“I didn’t have an escape plan.” The quiet statement has me slowing. “And you’re right, I should have asked you about Julie. I just…” I hear her drag in a breath before I turn to look at her. “The guy I was dating before I moved back here cheated with a coworker, and I put that on you, which wasn’t fair.” Her chin wobbles. “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.” Shaking her head, she drops her eyes from mine and turns back toward Kourtney’s house.
Fuck.
“Olivia!” I call out, and she turns to look at me over her shoulder.
“It’s okay. Like you said, no hard feelings. Right?”
“Olivia.”
Fuck, I watch her walk away, wondering if I should just let her go, but Sage’s words play through my head. I know eventually, we’d end up right back where we are, and I’d regret the time we missed out on because of my own stubbornness and the delusion that I have the power to stop the inevitable. With a deep breath, I close the distance between us, and as soon as she’s within reach, I grab her wrist and turn her around to face me.
When she tips her head back to look up at me, and I see the tears in her eyes, I hate myself a little for being part of the reason she’s upset.
“I’m a dick.” I cup her face in my hands and smooth away the wetness from under her eyes. “I should have told you about the situation with Julie before she could get in your head.”
“It’s not your fault.” Her fingers knot in the material of my shirt as her eyes slide closed, and another tear escapes from between her lashes. “She just seemed so sincere.”
“I’m sure she did.” I wrap my arms around her, tucking her against my chest, and rest my chin on the crown of her head. “She’s a bitch, baby.”
“Yeah,” she whispers, rubbing her face against my chest. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions. I should have talked to you.”
Tangling my fingers in her hair, I force her head back. “No more apologizing. It’s done. She doesn’t get anything more.”
“Okay.” She swallows.
“You ate dinner at your parents’?”
“I tried, but I couldn’t,” she admits, and thinking about her so upset by what Julie said that she couldn’t even eat, my anger toward Julie intensifies.
“How about we order something in and watch our show?” When I get her nod, I turn us back toward Kourtney’s house.
“Are we staying here?”
“No, you’re staying with me, but you need to pack a bag unless you left your shit at my house this morning.”
“I didn’t,” she mumbles, so I follow her in and sit on the edge of her bed, ordering us dinner while she gets her stuff together. As I’m hanging up with the restaurant, a text from her dad comes through, asking if she made it home okay.
Shit.
I text him back, then grab her hand when she's passing me to go into the bathroom. She smiles softly, but I can still see the tension from the situation in her pretty features.
“I’m almost done.”
“I know.” I pull her to stand between my legs and capture her waist in my hands. “I just need to tell you that I talked to your dad earlier.” Her eyes widen. “I called to see if he heard from you, and he let me know you were at their place for dinner.”
“Okay.”
“He asked me if something was going on between us, and I couldn’t lie, not when he asked me straight out.”
“What did you tell him?” she asks nervously.
“That we’re spending time together and getting to know each other.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me not to fuck up.”
“Oh.” She rubs her lips together. “That’s not so bad.”
I give her waist a squeeze. “I just wanted you to know in case he brings it up.”
“He didn’t, not even when he walked me out to my car when I was leaving, but I’m going to have to tell my mom. She’ll be upset if she hears it from him.”
“You can call her when we get over to my place.”
She nods, then bites the inside of her cheek as her gaze roams mine. “I… I’m going to have to figure out how to tell Liam.”
“I’ll talk to him when you’re ready for him to know.”
“You think he’d react better to you telling him?”
“No, but it’d get him trying to kick my ass out of the way,” I mutter, and she presses her lips together like she’s trying not to smile.
“You think that’s funny?”
“No.” She laughs when I tickle her sides. With the bed behind me, I turn us, and she falls to her back against the mattress, still laughing. Looming over her, I press my fist into the bed near her head while I maneuver myself between her legs.
Her breath hitches when she registers our new position and lifts, pressing her mouth against mine.
Grasping the back of her thigh, I drag it up higher on my hip, relishing the sound she makes as I take over the kiss and press my hips into hers. I lose myself in the feel of her softness under me and take advantage of the moment.
When my phone starts to ring, I groan, and she whimpers as I tug my mouth from hers.
“It’s probably the delivery driver.” I brush my lips across hers one last time before I lean back and take out my cell. When I see I was right, I answer the call and grasp her hand, helping her to stand. While she finishes packing, I head outside to grab our food, and she meets me between my house and Kourtney’s when she’s done.
When we get over to my place, I pour her a glass of wine that she takes outside while she calls her mom. The two of them don’t talk for very long, and when Olivia comes back inside after hanging up, she tells me that her mom wasn’t surprised something was going on between us, but she sounds concerned, which I could tell bothered her.
As much as I wish her response had been different for Olivia’s sake, it doesn’t surprise me. It also doesn’t change anything. So after we eat dinner and watch some TV, I lead her into the house and down the hall to my guest bedroom, where I leave her with a kiss at the door, even though I really fucking want to drag her across the house to my bed.