41. Trust Me
TRUST ME
Oliver
She’d been quiet and unsettled since we went out dancing with Rowan and Aspen last night.
We’d gotten home and she’d taken a hot bath, only to come to bed and quietly curl up against my chest. The silence that ensued was deafening.
Part of me worried I’d pushed her too far.
That I’d done something I couldn’t take back. Something I couldn’t fix.
We were sitting on the couch now, her feet in my lap, her Kindle in hand. She’d started a new book, and I’d started a new Star Wars series. Bundled up in a hoodie and sweats, her hair in a messy bun, I wanted to take her to the courthouse right now.
Maybe she could feel my eyes on her, though, because her gaze lifted above her Kindle, and our eyes locked.
“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly.
“You tell me.”
She let out a soft groan, her head dropping back against the pillow.
“Did I push you too far last night?” If she didn’t want to talk about it, it was fine. But at the very least I needed to know if it was something I’d done.
I thought about the texts that should be on her phone but were instead on mine. The texts that would have her acting this way if she knew about them.
Her head lifted, her eyes back on mine once more, now wide. “What do you mean? What could you have done?”
“Just the dance and kissing at the bar. I know we agreed to keep it between the two of us, and I pushed that line by a great deal, Ivy. It just…felt right,” I explained. “But I’m sorry if I pushed you too far, too quickly.”
“You think I’m angry because our friends and family have full confirmation that we’re involved?
” She smiled then, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
It was the look she gave people when she wanted them to think she was okay when she wasn’t.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. It’s just…
a lot changing at once, and I guess I’m just trying to keep up without being overwhelmed or whatever. ”
Nodding, I started rubbing her feet. “Okay. If you promise that’s all.”
“Of course.” She gave me one more half smile before returning to her book.
I wondered how many people in her life that would’ve worked on. Would Aspen buy it? Probably not. But he would have. Her parents and sister may have. But I absolutely wasn’t buying it for even a moment.
A new plan slowly formed in my mind. A plan that could make or break us, but it was a chance I was willing to take. A chance that could lead to something amazing.
I tapped the side of her calf until her eyes were back on me.
“I want to show you something.”
“Um, okay?” She turned off her Kindle and set it on the side table. “Do I have to get up?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, baby doll, you have to get up.”
She groaned, but I knew it was more for show than a serious reaction. “Fine, but later I want to finish that foot rub I was getting before. You only did one foot, and that’s a criminal offense in some countries.”
I shook my head, happy a bit of her sass was starting to show through once more, and stood to my feet. Extending a hand out to help her up, she eyed me suspiciously.
“Close your eyes,” I requested.
I knew her suspicions were growing, but she closed them still. With both her hands in mine, I led her down the hall and into the one room in the house I’d been putting any amount of spare time into for the last three weeks.
“Eyes still closed tight?” I knew they were. The corners creased as she squeezed them shut. If there was one thing I enjoyed about Ivy Tinsley, it was that she took surprises very seriously.
She smiled, though. “You know they are.”
“Good. Stay right there,” I said as I placed her in the middle of the room. I turned towards the window, pulling the sheer curtains to the sides and hooking them around the holdbacks.
Turning back towards her, I let out a breath.
“Okay, open.”
Her eyes opened once more, and she blinked a few times. Her gaze bounced from me, only to start bouncing around the room.
The walls were painted a soft green now.
Sheer pink curtains and the jeweled curtain holdbacks on each side of the window.
The white desk that sat between us and faced the window.
A journal and her laptop set on top of it, along with a cup full of sparkly and pink fuzzy pens that Aspen insisted on.
Behind her sat a full wall of built-in bookshelves, all painted white with her books organized by genre and color, the special editions on display.
Her character art she’d gotten from authors was framed on one wall.
PR boxes she’d saved were displayed on top of the shelves, and we’d added fake vines with fairy lights wrapped around them around the top of the ceiling.
The last bit was a corner chair beside the window, forest green with baby pink and orange throw pillows tossed on it.
Overall, it had turned out even better than I expected, nothing short of perfect, and when I looked around, all I thought of was her.
“You can change anything you don’t like, of course. But hopefully you do like it. Aspen and Rowan helped me set it all up, as well as picking out the colors.”
She did one more spin before her eyes landed back on mine. “I don’t even know where to start, Oliver. This is…” Her voice trailed off as she shook her head. “This is beyond anything I could’ve wished for. I’m not even sure what I did to deserve this.”
“Existing seems like a solid place to begin.”
She shook her head again, her hands coming up and covering her mouth as she kept looking around. “And my books? Who set those up?”
“I did. Genre, series, color. Figured some of the special editions with the fancy covers deserved their own stand, though, so then I redid it…couple times,” I confessed.
“Why didn’t you just—” she began, but I shook my head once more.
“I wanted you to see it all put together. Not just with your things on the floor as if they don’t matter. They matter, Ivy. You matter.”
Her teeth chewed on her bottom lip once more. Like she wanted to say something but couldn’t bring herself to. I found myself on that cliff again. The one that said what I chose next would shape us or break us. No in between. But I’d already come this far; why stop now?
I took a step closer, my arms wrapping around her waist. Times like this, I thought about what it would be like to read minds. Not even everyone’s mind—just hers.
“Tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours,” I murmured.
Her hands laid flat on my chest, but her eyes dropped away from mine and toward the window. She still didn’t speak.
“Do you trust me?” I asked.
Her eyes met mine again, and she nodded.
“No. Words, Ivy. Do you trust me?”
Her brows pulled together. “Of course I do, Oliver.”
I reached into my pocket, pulling out a small pill—something I’d gotten from Wyatt after the first influx of texts came in late last night. “Here.”
“What is it?”
“Do you trust me?” I questioned once more.
I could see her weighing her options, but fear never showed in her eyes as she threw the pill in her mouth and swallowed before sticking her tongue out flat for me, showing me it was gone. I took her hand back in mine.
“Good girl. Let’s go finish my episode while you read your book.”
“You’re not going to tell me what I took?” she asked with a small smile, the nerves clear.
I smirked. “You’ll find out soon enough, baby doll. Don’t worry.”
And I’d also find out soon, because I knew what was wrong with my girl, and I’d be damned if she didn’t tell me.