Chapter 9 Olivia
NINE
olivia
I didn’t normally cook dinner when Cooper wasn’t home. On those nights, I settled for leftovers and sometimes even cheese and crackers. But I might have overheard Nate describing his favorite meal—steak tips—and been inspired.
His reaction did bring a bit of an evil smile to my face.
As hard as raising Cooper on my own was, it didn’t make the nights alone easy. There was a time when I used these nights for dates or girls’ nights. But those grew old, and dating became exhausting. Hence why it had been four years since I’d had sex.
There weren’t many men my age who wanted to be involved with someone with a ten-year-old boy.
It was even worse when I was just 21; who wanted a toddler waking up and demanding breakfast when they were nursing a headache?
Sophie always said I gave these shitheads far too much leniency and that the right guy would love Cooper as much as he loved me.
Okay, Soph—waiting patiently.
Add that to me not trusting anyone with my son; and it wasn’t in the cards for me. Some nights, the loneliness consumed me, but on others, I curled up on my couch and binge-read romance books. The book boyfriends were always better than reality.
I wasn’t immune to Nate. But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t completely aware that he was far too young for me.
When he held my vibrator in his hand—the one that had just given me an explosive orgasm while I imagined him naked—I realized that if I was going to make it through the next few months, I needed to get laid to take the edge off.
When Coop was really young, I’d had a friends-with-benefits situation with a guy from college. He’d since settled down and was now married. I’d never been comfortable with dating apps; it always felt like the person who showed up was entirely different from the one I had been messaging.
Me: How does one go about meeting men?
Sophie: Oh, sweet Jesus. She’s ready to date!
Sophie added Brandon to the chat.
Sophie: Bran! Guess who is ready to date?
Me: I’m not looking to date…
Sophie: Why did you just ask me about meeting men?
Brandon: Sorry, Livvy. My wife is clueless. Sophie—she wants to get laid.
Brandon left the chat.
Sophie: Ohhhhh.
Me: Yeah. Tell Bran I said hi.
Sophie: I say you ride the boy Austin brought home for you.
Me: Not possible. Be serious, Soph. What do I do here?
Sophie: If you’re just looking for a hookup, the apps should work.
Me: If only I weren’t so picky.
Sophie: You SHOULD be picky. Don’t compromise. Unless he’s got an eight-inch dick. I bet that boy in your guest room is at least that big. How tall is he?
Me: Does Bran know you’re obsessed with another man’s dick?
Sophie: He knows how much I love his dick. So much that I want my best friend to have one of her own to ride.
Me: Thanks for the help.
Sophie:
“Can I help with dinner?” I jumped when Nate’s voice called from across the room.
“Uh, I should be good. I prepped everything earlier. I was going to have Austin man the grill.”
“Have you heard from him?”
As if on cue, my brother breezed into the kitchen. The strain on his face was apparent, but I could also see something else. Was that relief?
“How’d it go?” I asked.
“Well, I just dropped a shitload of money at the attorney’s office, but she’ll be served by the end of the week.”
I pulled my brother into a hug and felt him relax in my arms. When we were growing up, the rest of our family would get annoyed with our bond.
“It’s a twin thing.” We heard over and over again.
That twin bond was exactly what bothered Ashley the most, and it was the one thing she never succeeded in breaking.
“Hey, how are your new neighbors?” he asked, as he attempted to change the subject.
“You mean Elijah and Lindy?” Elijah Griffen, another one of Austin’s teammates, had moved in next door with his wife and three daughters.
Lindy, his wife, had been running a successful podcast with another baseball wife that highlighted mom life and wag life.
Her social media following had also grown, and I’d be willing to bet that her endorsements were almost as lucrative as her husband’s by now.
He nodded.
“Lindy is lovely.” Nah, I wasn’t going to mention the time Elijah propositioned me, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to say anything nice about him. “The girls are adorable.”
Elijah and Lindy have three small daughters, younger than Cooper, but when the team was traveling, I would have them over to swim. Lindy had yet to notice that the invites were limited to when her husband wasn’t around, but she was heavily invested in having the perfect marriage.
“What did Elijah do?” Nate piped in, not letting it go.
“I don’t like him. Not for Lindy, not for a role model for Cooper. I think there’s a lot that even Lindy doesn’t know about him.”
“He’s a dick. You know, birds of a feather,” Austin said.
I looked to my brother for further explanation.
“He’s gotten tight with Milligan.”
“And that means they’re out together when you’re on the road?” I asked. Oh man, that was a lethal combination. Two lying, cheating, shitbags unleashed on the world with no restrictions.
“Uh-huh,” Nate said.
“Jesus, has that man ever gotten an STD? You guys can get tested for those with all those doctors on staff, right?”
“Yeah. And the fucker was joking about how he was going to get his wife to take a Z-pack without telling her.”
“What the fuck.”
“Please don’t repeat that—”
“Austin, who do you think you’re talking to?”
Nate stood quietly and observed our dynamic. “You guys talk about everything, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Why?” Austin asked.
“Well, there are some boundaries—”
“Like I don’t want to know who she’s sleeping with—”
“Unless it’s serious,” I said, clarifying. “But even if it got serious, no details.”
“And she’s not allowed to ever touch Jason again.”
“Wasn’t going to anyway.”