Chapter 50
CHAPTER 50
CHARLIE
I looked at the guy standing in front of Olivia, immediately sensing that this was neither a friend nor a client. It was in the way her muscles locked and her chin lifted, in the flare of her nostrils and the tightening at the corners of her eyes.
“Todd?” Her voice rang with incredulity, but it was also cool and unimpressed as she stared him down, completely ignoring his open arms and even taking a step back when he moved to draw her into an embrace. “What on earth are you doing here?”
Todd .
The pieces of the puzzle immediately clicked into place in my head. This had to be her piece of trash ex. The guy who had taken up with a young twenty-something and had broken her heart before she’d left New York.
As I looked him over, I was wildly underwhelmed. I had no idea how he’d even gotten a girl like her to date him in the first place. A typical pretty boy with coiffed hair, dainty features, and the unmistakable air of haughtiness clinging to him. I bet his hands are totally soft, too.
Glancing at them, I realized that not only were they probably soft, but his nails were much too shiny. As if they’d been polished. I winced. Yeah, this guy has never gotten those dirty. Guaranteed.
With his golden blonde hair styled so he had a fringe over his forehead, he seemed more peppy than I would’ve imagined. Yet she’d been with him for years.
He sighed when he realized she wasn’t going to let him hug her and dropped his arms back to his sides. “Can we talk?”
I swung my gaze back toward Olivia, seeing complete shock registering on her features at the question. Her eyes widened and her lips parted, a furrow appearing between her eyebrows as she pinched them together.
Since she seemed too shocked to speak, I decided it was time to intervene and stepped in. “Hi. I’m Charlie Anderson, and you are?”
I extended my hand toward him, but he didn’t take it, dull brown eyes lingering on it for a moment before he scoffed. “Excuse me, buddy. This is a private conversation.”
“I’m not your buddy and this conversation is over.”
He straightened to his full height—still a good couple inches shorter than I was—and arched a slow eyebrow at me, as if he couldn’t believe I was challenging him. “Who are you exactly?”
“I’m here with Olivia.”
Todd drew back when I moved to her side. Palm settling at the small of her back, I stood close enough to let him know we were together but without doing something obnoxious about it. Ten years ago, I’d have kissed her good and proper right then, but time and all that.
The moment he noticed how close we were standing, I saw the flare of realization in his eyes—and then I saw the anger and irritation roaring to life in them. It was very clear that he didn’t like knowing she had come here with someone else, his spine snapping straight and his jaw suddenly ticking.
Olivia stepped into my side. With her hand brushing the back of my own, she raised her head a little higher and regarded him coolly. “I asked you a question, Todd. What are you doing here?”
“Can we talk privately, please ?” he repeated a little more aggressively this time.
I genuinely didn’t like the look of this guy, but so far, his personality was much worse. If it had been up to me, I’d have sent him on his way, but while I would have Olivia’s back, it wasn’t my decision whether or not she’d speak to him.
I would hate it if she did, though. Thankfully, she let out a soft scoff and shook her head.
“I have nothing to say to you,” she stated clearly, her tone as cold as ice. “If this is about the stuff you left behind at my apartment, I suggest you check the East River. Start under the bridge and take a stroll from there. It’s not impossible that something might’ve washed up.”
“You dumped my stuff into the river?” His throat worked, but I got it. That had to be a bitter pill to swallow. “Look, Liv, it doesn’t even matter. I’m not mad about it, okay? I’d just really like to talk to you. Alone. Give me two minutes?”
“No,” she said, keeping it simple and succinct.
Todd squinted at her. “Two minutes of your precious time and I’m out of your hair. Please, Liv? For old times’ sake?”
“You’re already out of my hair, or at least, you were . I’m not sure what you’re doing here, but I don’t have two minutes, and even if I did, I wouldn’t waste them on you.” She spun around again as the bartender started moving toward our side of the counter.
It seemed her ex still hadn’t gotten the message, though. He took a step forward, obviously about to try again before I put my body between hers and his. I stared at him down my nose, those extra couple inches really helpful right then.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I shook my head at him and put myself right behind her back. “Hey, man, she said she doesn’t want to be alone with you. If you can’t accept that, you and I are going to have a problem.”
For the first time since I’d developed them, the protective instincts served an actual purpose. Todd was a potential threat and there was no way I was letting him anywhere near her if she didn’t want him there.
Those flat brown eyes glared up me, the guy they belonged to just about vibrating with annoyance, but I knew he wasn’t going to do anything about it. He wasn’t the type to make a stand or take a swing. Perhaps he’d get his fancy lawyer to file a lawsuit or he’d share a passive aggressive status update on social media, but he had no grounds in court and I didn’t give a shit what he vented about online.
“This doesn’t concern you,” he bit out, a harsh breath huffing out of him as he tried to peer around me at Olivia.
I shifted on my feet to block his view. “Actually, it does. If a lady makes it clear that she’s done with a guy and the guy can’t take a hint, it concerns anyone who was raised to respect other people’s wishes. Since she also happens to have come here with me this evening, however, this is extremely personal.”
Before he could respond, I twisted to face her, seeing that the bartender had come and was already going again. She turned away from the counter and I caught the flash of pain in her eyes before she composed herself.
“Everything okay with the bar?” I asked her directly, ignoring our audience for now.
She dipped her chin in a nod, her features tight and her movements slightly jerky when she came back to my side. I took her arm in a gentle grip, glancing at her to see her looking everywhere but at Todd.
“Do you want to get out of here for a bit?” I asked quietly, not wanting him to overhear us.
It was becoming abundantly clear to me how bad this guy had hurt her. There was no longing in her eyes when she looked at him, no lust, or even a trace of softness, so I knew it wasn’t a case of her wanting him back or still having any positive feelings for him at all, but she had cared about him in the past and he’d ripped her heart out.
That kind of hurt didn’t just go away. I knew that as well as anyone. I didn’t want my ex back at all either, but if I had to see her again, I knew I would be reminded of all the ways in which she’d hurt me. I’d thought I was going to marry her, and instead, she only wanted my bank account. Not fucking fun at all.
Without another glance at Todd, I nodded at Olivia and led her away from him. We wound our way through the crowd and all the tables to a garden outside. It was no more than a relatively small courtyard with some ground cover between flagstones, greenery on the walls, and potted plants lining the space, but at least we had some privacy here.
She could cool off and gather herself before we went back inside. Once we were far enough away from the doors that we were shielded from view by the balcony, I released her arm and gave her some space. Liv stood there in her stunning red dress, the light filtering out from inside catching on the fabric and making it sparkle with every move.
Her head dropped forward, her hands finding her hips and her shoulders lifting on a deep breath. She raised her hands, expertly rifling through her hair and sliding some clips out of it that sent her dark blonde locks tumbling down. It fell past her shoulders, forming a curtain around her face after she shook it out.
I watched her closely but didn’t say a word. Todd was an entitled prick who didn’t look like he knew the first thing about keeping a woman happy. I was no genius at that myself, but even I knew cornering an ex at a work function wasn’t a good idea.
“You really dumped his stuff into the river?” I asked softly, feeling the corners of my lips twitching up. “That’s awesome, Liv. You really are fierce, aren’t you?”
When she looked up again, I saw that her cheeks had pinked, but her beautiful features were contorted in a way that told me it was rage, not embarrassment. She let out a bark of dry laughter. “The fucking asshole deserved it. I kept it all for a couple months. Everything he’d left behind and everything that reminded me of him, but I wasn’t going to move it with me, so on my last day here…”
She trailed off and mimed turning a box upside down.
I laughed. “How did it feel?”
“Liberating,” she said, but I saw the storm building behind her eyes as her head shook. “What the hell was he thinking, coming here to try and talk to me? He knows how much this conference means to me. He knows Dad is retiring and that I’m taking over, which means he also knows how important it is that I bring my A-game this week, but he didn’t care, did he?”
The words left her in a rush and I didn’t interrupt, letting her get it all out as she started pacing, her high heels clicking against the flagstones with every angry step she took. “It’s just so like him, though. He thinks the whole world revolves around him. He’ll just leave things be when it suits him and then, when he decides something needs to happen right now, he thinks everyone around him should jump at his command.”
She shoved a hand into her hair. “It’s infuriating. It’s been months since the last time I heard from him, but he shows up here , and suddenly, he wants to talk?”
She scoffed loudly and shook her head, tears of anger glistening in her eyes while her fingers clenched into fists at her sides. “What could he possibly have to say that warrants ambushing me at the most important event I’ve ever attended? This is supposed to be my year and he didn’t even text to give me a heads-up that he would be coming.”
Realizing that she was choking back those tears now, I moved forward and wrapped her up in my arms, hugging her close and tight as I murmured against the top of her head. “Everything is going to be okay, Liv. He’s gone now.”
She snuggled into me, her arms around my waist as she inhaled and exhaled slowly and deeply, clearly trying to get her emotions under control. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t let him get to me this way. It’s just that I thought we were going to have a whole life together and he betrayed me. I don’t know that I can ever forgive him for that.”
“I can relate,” I murmured gently, hoping that the admission would soothe her and make her feel less alone. “Something similar happened with my ex. It sucks balls when you’re planning a life with a person who has completely different plans.”
She sighed. “Yeah, it really does.”
After giving her a final squeeze, I let go and looked into her eyes as I extended a hand toward her. “What do you say we get our friends and get out of here? You were done anyway, right?”
Olivia smiled up at me and nodded. “That sounds amazing. Let’s go. The more space I can put between myself and Todd right now, the better.”