17. Olivia
CHAPTER 17
Olivia
F lipping on the turn signal of my rental, I watch Kourtney’s house come into view and feel my stomach twist when I spot my dad and Bax standing in the driveway. The two of them are sentinels, with their arms crossed over their chests, watching the tow truck driver pull my car up on the back of his truck. Since I was going to pick up Rebecca from the airport, and I thought Bax might still be at work, I asked my dad to meet the driver here, who is taking my car to the auto body shop my insurance suggested I use. Apparently, though, Bax was home.
“Who’s that guy with your dad?” Rebecca whispers, and I look over at my best friend before turning to look back out the windshield.
I don’t need to ask which man she’s talking about.
“That’s Bax.”
“That’s him ?”
“Yeah,” I whisper as three sets of eyes look our way, but my attention focuses on Bax, and I watch him smile at me.
“Holy cow,” she whispers as I pull my gaze off his so I can park along the curb since there is no room for me in the driveway. If I didn’t know him and just saw him on the street, I would think wow too. “I can’t believe you’ve been keeping him a secret.”
“I wasn’t keeping him a secret. A lot’s been going on,” I remind her of everything I filled her in on during our drive home from the airport, all stuff I didn’t get to tell her when we’ve talked on the phone.
“I get that, but you could have told me that you are seeing Mr. Tennessee .”
“Mr. Tennessee.” I laugh, and she smiles. Taking my eyes off her when there is movement in my rearview mirror, my heart sinks as I watch my brother pull up behind me. At this moment, unless Bax spoke to him today, which I’m pretty certain he didn’t, he doesn’t know about the two of us yet.
“Oh God.” I haven’t thought about how I’d feel being in the same space as my brother and Bax, but as panic overwhelms me, I’m almost tempted to turn my car back on and drive off at a high speed.
“What’s wrong?” Rebecca asks, and I look over at her.
“My brother is here,” I tell her, then quickly fill her in on the situation.
“It’s okay. I’ll distract him. Just play it cool.”
“Right, cool,” I agree, jumping when there is a knock on my window. Spinning my head that way, I meet Liam’s gaze before he opens my door, allowing Gemma—who had been waiting for me—to climb halfway onto my lap.
“Hey, kid.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask him as I rub the top of Gemma’s head.
“Dad called. I wanted to make sure everything was okay.” He looks around me to where Rebecca is sitting and smiles one of his most charming smiles. “You must be Rebecca.”
“I… uh… yes,” Rebecca mumbles, and when Liam laughs, I notice that her cheeks are bright pink.
Great.
I reach behind me and grab my purse from the floorboard behind her seat.
“Do you need help with bags?” Liam asks.
“Please.” I pop the trunk, and he unfolds out of my car door and walks toward the rear of my rental.
“Are you okay?” I ask Rebecca quietly.
“You never told me your brother was hot.”
“That’s because that’s disgusting.” I sigh. Her reaction to him is the exact reason I have never introduced them when Liam made the odd trips to Chicago to visit me. All I need is a friend crushing on my brother, who is a serial dater/manwhore and also unbelievably charming when he wants to be, which is why he’s able to go through so many women.
“Well, a warning would have been nice,” she grumbles, pushing open her door.
Looking past her, I find Bax standing half between the house and my car, with his eyes on me and his hands fisted at his sides like he’s holding himself in place. Rubbing my lips together, I let out a breath and get out of my car while Liam carries Rebecca’s bag up the side of the driveway toward Kourtney’s house, saying something to Bax as he passes him.
As Rebecca and I get closer to Bax, I wonder if she notices the subtle hardness in his jaw and the look in his eyes that I do as his gaze wanders over me. He hates this. It’s written on his face that he’s annoyed, that he can’t kiss me or touch me like he’s done freely for days, and I hate it, too.
After I introduce him to Rebecca, who greets him with a smile and some small talk about her flight, she wanders off to hug my dad, who she knows from when my parents both went to Chicago to visit me.
“Are you okay?” I ask him softly, bending to love on Gemma, who hasn’t stopped being totally excited that I’m here.
“No, I’m pissed that I have to pretend you’re not mine.” The word mine should make me uncomfortable, but all it does is make me hate this a little more.
“Me too.”
I turn my head to Liam when he calls out.
“Did you guys eat dinner yet?”
“I haven’t.” I look Rebecca’s way when she says she hasn’t either.
“How about we order in?” I ask, tipping my head back to look up at Bax.
“Sounds good,” he mutters, reaching out toward me, and my heart speeds up, but all he does is slide my work bag off my shoulder. I took it with me to the airport since I finished with my last client a little after five and didn’t have time to come home this evening before I left to pick Rebecca up. Luckily, I was able to meet the rental car company here at the house while I was on lunch, drop off Bax’s truck, and take the driver back to the rental office. “Did you see Julie today?”
“In passing. She mostly stayed in her office and avoided all of us. I could take that as a sign of guilt for what happened to my car, but I know it was more about what happened yesterday,” I tell him as we walk to where my dad chats with the tow truck driver.
“Hey, Dad.” I walk up to join him, I’m still a little surprised that he doesn’t seem bothered that Bax and I are seeing each other.
“They really did a number on your car,” he mutters, tossing his arm around my shoulders. “Any idea who you pissed off?”
“I have no idea.” I look over at my best friend, who is inspecting my car, that is now up on the bed of the truck. When I see the worry in her eyes, that feeling of unease from this morning slithers down my spine once more.
“How would you feel about Max coming over to stay with you until you get a security system put in?” Dad asks, concern lacing his tone.
“I’m not sure how Kourtney would feel about that. I love Max, but he’s…” I try to think of the right word for my parents’ large Lab mix that still acts like an uncontrollable puppy most of the time. “A lot.” What I don’t do is inform him that I’ve been staying with Bax, even if I have only been sleeping in his guest room—until last night, when we both slept on the couch.
“He might be a lot, but he’s also a lot of dog. Talk to her about it,” he says as the driver of the tow truck comes over to hand me some paperwork.
After the driver leaves with my car, I say goodbye to my dad, then tell Bax and Liam that Rebecca and I will meet them next door in a few minutes so we can order dinner. Then I take Rebecca into Kourtney’s and change out of my scrubs while she hangs out on my bed, peppering me with questions I have no answers to.
I don’t know who did that to my car. I don’t know how Liam will react when he finds out about Bax and me. And I don’t know if my brother is single. Or I do know the answer to the last question… I just refuse to answer her honestly because if I have anything to say about it, tonight will be the only time the two of them are ever in the same space for more than a few minutes.