22. Bax
CHAPTER 22
Bax
A fter putting two bagels in the toaster for Olivia and me, I go to the fridge to get out the cream cheese, then pour each of us a cup of coffee. Our day started later than normal. Both of us slept until nine thirty after going back to bed this morning around five. Before we ever fell asleep, she sent Eva and Holly a text, letting them know what happened and that she wouldn’t be in today. And I messaged both Liam and Talon to let the two of them know they were on their own and that I would fill them in on things this afternoon. I still haven’t made the call to Liam—not that he’d answer, he still hasn’t replied to my text. I did, however, speak to my brother, who was obviously concerned about what happened, especially after finding out that most of the damage was done to personal items of Olivia’s.
“No, she’s not here. She left to go get a new phone but should be back soon,” Olivia says to her mom as I place a cup of coffee in front of her. She looks up at me and mouths, “Thank you.” A moment later, she continues, “Yeah, she has a security company coming by this afternoon to give her a quote for cameras and an alarm system.”
She pauses, obviously listening to her mom, as I slather our bagels with cream cheese. “No, it’s okay. We’re both staying with Bax.” She looks at me and rolls her eyes. “Mom, I’m not going to stay at her house by myself. And no, I don’t want Max to stay with me.” She goes quiet. “Can we talk about that tomorrow at dinner? Yeah, okay, love you too. Tell Dad that I love him, and we’ll talk later. Or if not, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She hangs up and picks up her coffee. “My mom wants me to stay with her and my dad when Kourtney leaves to go back to LA,” she says as I take a seat next to her and pass her the plate of breakfast I made for her.
“I’d rather you stay here with me,” I tell her honestly, and her expression softens.
“I’d rather be here too, but I know this is all a lot, especially when you didn’t exactly plan for me to start staying with you every night.”
“I want you here with me every night. I know it hasn’t been very long, but even before the last few nights, I got used to having you under the same roof as me and waking up to you in the mornings.”
“Me too. It’s just…” She rubs her lips together. “You’ll tell me if you get tired of me, right?”
“I’m not going to get tired of you.” I shake my head as she picks up her bagel but doesn’t take a bite.
“Okay, but promise you’ll tell me if you do if you need some space.”
“Sure,” I agree, even though her request is ridiculous. I’ll likely get tired of breathing before I get tired of her. “When you’re done eating, do you want to head over and start going through your room?”
“Honestly, I kind of just want to shove everything into trash bags and burn it all,” she says quietly, placing her bagel back down like she’s suddenly not hungry. “I don’t know what they did with my stuff, and thinking about any of it on my body again grosses me out.”
“Come here.” I move back on my stool, then drag her off hers and settle her on my lap.
“If you don’t want to deal with it, I can just bring all your clothes over and toss them into the wash while you go find a shop to buy some new undergarments.”
“Undergarments?” She smiles, touching my jaw, and I shrug.
“That’s what they are.”
“Yeah, when you’re fifty.” She laughs, and I’m relieved to hear that sound, especially after last night. Not that it surprises me that she’s taking this in stride. In every situation we’ve been in, she’s stood strong. In fact, the only time I’ve seen her cry is when we had our fight and I was walking away from her.
“Are you calling me old?”
“You are old.”
“Take it back.” I nip her neck while I dig my fingers into her sides.
She shrieks with laughter. “Fine, you’re not old!”
I chuckle, pulling my mouth away from her skin.
“You’re evil.”
“Yeah.” I slide my hand around the side of her neck, use my hold on her to drag her forward for a kiss, and then help her back onto her stool.
“Have you spoken to Liam?” she asks, picking her bagel back up.
“No, but I’ll call him this afternoon,” I say as my phone rings on the counter between us.
“Speak of the devil,” she mumbles around a bite of bagel.
Sliding my finger across the screen, I put the call on speaker.
“Hey, Olivia is here with me, and you’re on speaker,” I say in greeting.
“Someone broke into your house?” he questions, sounding pissed, and Olivia pauses with her bagel an inch from her mouth.
“Technically, they broke into Kourtney’s house,” she answers, and he curses.
“Who was it?”
“If I knew, I would tell you, but I have no idea,” she says, then continues. “Also, thanks for getting back to me last night with Rebecca’s number.”
“I was busy,” he clips.
“Whatever.” She sighs as Gemma starts to bark right before there’s a knock on the door. “I’ll get it.” She starts to slide off her stool, but I grab her wrist.
“I’ve got it.” I pick up my phone, taking it off speaker as I get off my stool.
“It’s probably just Kourtney.” She frowns at me.
“Probably,” I agree, heading to the living room.
“Do you have any idea who could be fucking with Olivia?” Liam asks in my ear.
“If I did, they’d be in jail.” Or six feet under.
“Okay, then what woman did you piss off?”
“Don’t go there,” I growl, opening the door to Kourtney, who looks startled to see me answering my own door. “Olivia’s in the kitchen,” I tell her gently, and she ducks her head as she scoots past me into the house.
“I want Olivia to come stay with me,” Liam says.
“Get in line.”
“What’s that mean?” he snaps.
“Your mom told her the same thing, but right now, she’s staying with me. If she changes her mind, I’m sure she’ll let you know.” I walk back into the kitchen, where Olivia is sitting with Kourtney, the two of them hovering over Kourtney’s new phone, likely trying to program it.
Liam sighs. “I don’t like this.”
“You think I do?” I walk to the counter and pick up my coffee, and Olivia looks up at me with a small smile.
Jesus, just looking at her and thinking about what someone did to her things makes me see red. Worse, it makes me paranoid about leaving her alone. I have no idea who could be targeting her besides Julie. But the thing is, I can’t picture Julie breaking into someone's house. Vandalizing Olivia’s car? Yes. But breaking and entering is a whole other ball game, and someone who is capable of that could be capable of anything.
“No, I know you don’t.” He lets out a harsh breath, then asks softly, “Is she okay?”
“What do you think?” I take my phone with me down the hall to my bedroom, wanting to give the girls some space, especially since Kourtney always looks uncomfortable around me—or anyone who isn’t Olivia, really. “She’s upset that someone was in her room and that they touched her things. She's also freaked because she doesn’t know who it is.”
“Kourtney was in the house?”
“She was, and from the look of the mess they made, they had been there a while before she heard them.”
“She didn’t see anything?”
“Nope, she heard them, then went and hid in the bathroom to call the cops.”
“Sucks she doesn’t have a camera.”
He’s not wrong.
“Hopefully, that will change today.” I place my coffee on my dresser and scoot around Olivia's bag on the floor as I go into the bathroom and stop in front of the sink.
“If Olivia is staying with you, you need cameras at your place.”
“I got that on my list of shit to do today too.”
“Do you need help installing them?”
“Can you be around me and your sister without acting like a dick?” I prompt.
He huffs. “I don’t need to like that you two are together to want her safe.”
“Right,” I mutter, and he goes quiet for a long moment.
“Did Talon know?” he asks.
I don’t want to answer the question—only because there is already enough tension between him and me. I don’t need to add my brother to the mix.
“He knew,” he mumbles after a second, and I sigh. “What time do you want me there to help you install the cameras?”
“It will have to be this evening. I’m going to help Olivia sort out her shit today, and I need to run to the store to pick them up.”
“I’ll be over around four.” He hangs up without saying goodbye, and I drop my eyes to the sink, flip on the tap, and notice Olivia’s shit mixed with mine around the single basin.
And despite all the bullshit I’m going to have to deal with today, I smile because this is the future I have to look forward to when the dust eventually settles.
Olivia safe and under my roof.
Her shit mixed with mine.
And her ass in my bed every night.
And that’s a future I’m looking forward to.