Chapter 64
CHAPTER 64
CHARLIE
S o that went about as well as could’ve been expected.
I had known as soon as I’d realized Scarlett was here that I was going to be in big trouble by the time she left. What I hadn’t expected was to have Olivia looking at me like she had no idea who I was all of a sudden.
Her green eyes moved slowly from one of mine to the other, a wall up behind them that hurt like hell to see there. “I want to know everything, Charlie. It felt like there was a lot going on in that meeting outside of what was being said and I’m not comfortable with not knowing what it was.”
“The picnic thing?” I guessed out loud.
She shrugged. “The picnic thing. The creek. Her desperation to have people crawling all over the property and her aversion to the first field. Everything.”
A deep breath escaped through my nostrils, but I’d known this was coming. Deciding that the best and the easiest way was to start at the beginning, I looked right into her eyes and gave it to her straight.
“Scarlett and I met when she came here claiming to have investment opportunities for the ranch,” I started. “I took the meeting with her and we hit it off. When I told her we weren’t interested in expanding into guest lodging or marketing it as a retreat for nature lovers or even hunters, she batted her eyelashes at me and told me I couldn’t blame her for trying.”
She frowned. “It doesn’t sound like you to fall for a tactic like that.”
I let out a dry chuckle. “That’s the thing, though. She seemed sincere, like she’d come here for that but had known she was trying to press her luck. It didn’t feel like a tactic at all. We got to talking and she ended up staying for hours even after I’d turned her down.”
“Let me guess,” Olivia said, those guards still very much up as her spine straightened and her features remained completely straight. “She asked you for a tour of the property?”
“This ranch and the others,” I admitted. “She said she wanted to see it all and she was so enthusiastic and complimentary that I felt obliged to show the pretty girl around.”
“So she stroked your ego and wiggled her way into your life that way.” Olivia brushed a hand through her hair and sighed. “Oh, Cowboy. She just wanted to see all your properties to assess the potential of each one. If she wanted to sell hunting leases, for example, she’d need to know if there was even any wildlife to hunt.”
I groaned. “In retrospect, I see that. Trust me, you just put it together a hell of a lot faster than I did, but at the time, she really had me fooled. She’s so fucking manipulative and she’s smart, so she knows exactly which buttons to push and how to get under a person’s skin.”
“Yeah, I could see that,” she said. “She does seem pretty cunning.”
“She really is, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I know it sounds like I let myself be fooled just because she was pretty and she said all the right things, but I’m usually a better judge of character. The way she just seemed so sincere and honest? That was what got to me. If it had only been the batting of her eyelashes, I never would’ve fallen for it, but I can’t really explain it. She’s just incredibly good at manipulating people.”
“Yeah, I know. I got a little taste of that myself,” Olivia finally admitted, chewing on her lower lip for a moment as her gaze took on that faraway, absent quality. “After the conference, I thought she was a really nice girl, and when she turned out to be the marketing girl for the nonprofit, I thought the stars had aligned for us to work together.”
“Yeah, she definitely set it up that way,” I said. “Scarlett is forever working an angle. Even with her own father.”
Liv’s eyebrows drew closer together. “What do you mean?”
I moved my gaze to the bright sunshine outside as I thought about how best to explain it. There was barely a breeze and cows were braying happily in the distance. Big, fluffy clouds floated in the sky and I heard a tractor starting somewhere outside. All seemed well and yet, I still felt like there was a storm approaching.
“Dallas overheard a phone call she was having with him,” I said finally, figuring that honesty really was the best policy for this. “That was how I ended up finding out about everything.”
Olivia winced. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to relive all that. I didn’t mean to scratch open old wounds when I asked. I’m just trying to understand what her deal is.”
“No, I want you to know,” I said. “It hurts, but in the same way that you felt when you saw Todd. It’s not because I want her back. It’s just that it’s a part of my personal history that I wish had never happened.”
“I hear that,” she said, brow furrowing as she leaned forward. “Again, though, if you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. I won’t hold it against you.”
“Nah. You’re right. You do need to understand.” I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck before bringing my gaze back to hers. “Dallas slipped in mud while we were fixing a fence and he ran back to my place to grab a clean shirt. I guess Scarlett thought we were all out doing chores, so she was getting ready for the day in my room and she’d put her dad on speakerphone.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “I’m guessing what he overheard changed everything?”
“Yep. It sure as hell changed everything I saw for my future at that point.” I shook my head, even just thinking back to that day sending shockwaves through me. “I thought that she was my future, but when Dallas walked in, she was telling her dad that she’d been working on getting the ranch as a client the whole time and that she had the owner’s son thinking we were falling in love.”
I sighed before I added, “Even her own father tried to get her to drop the act, but she told him there were too many opportunities that were just too lucrative to leave it alone.”
Olivia’s eyes kept widening while I spoke, her lips parting as she stared back at me. “My god. That’s terrible.”
I nodded. “She also told him that she had me eating out of the palm of her hand and that she was too close to making them millions to quit while she was ahead. Apparently, she even claimed that by the time she was done with me, they would be billionaires just like the owners and that she might even be able to get a few of our properties transferred into her name.”
The color had drained from Liv’s cheeks by this point. “I’m so sorry, Charlie.”
I shrugged, actually feeling pretty good about getting it all out there. “It’s ancient history now, but thanks.”
“It can’t have been easy on you to hear all that.”
I snorted softly. “I almost took a swing at Dallas for lying to me, but the pieces of the puzzle finally clicked into place before I went through with breaking his teeth. I realized then that was the reason why she had always been so curious about the ranch and why she’d asked so many questions about the operations.”
I closed my eyes. “We were together for months. I shared so much of my life with her thinking we were on the same page and having the same feelings. I never even questioned her curiosity.”
When I opened my eyes again, Olivia had scooted forward on her chair and she reached for my hands. “None of that is your fault, Charlie. What she did is unconscionable. A regular, non-sociopathic person, especially an honest one like you, would never have seen that coming.”
“Yeah, well, I felt like I should’ve. I guess I just didn’t because I really felt like she was interested in learning more about my life and the ranch I love. I also told her that I loved her so many fucking times and she always said it back.”
I rolled my lips into my mouth before I finally confessed the last, worst part of it all. “She was so convincing that I even bought a ring, Liv. I was going to propose to her.”
She froze for a moment before she squeezed my hands, her fingers soft and warm as they wrapped around my own. “Thank God, you found out the truth before you asked her to marry you.”
I nodded, but I could see this had been a lot for Olivia. I really didn’t want my past to hurt her, yet I could see the pain in her eyes. Regardless of whether I’d wanted it to happen, all of this had hurt her.
Fuck, I really am damaged.
I’d never want Liv to think she was just round two, but I had a feeling that was exactly what she was thinking right about now. I looked into her eyes and silently begged her to believe me. “What we have is nothing like that. I’m sorry she ambushed you the way she did.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” she said, emphasizing the word as that ferocious fire lit up her eyes once more. “I was caught completely off guard when Scarlett’s mask came off. I literally thought she was someone I could be friends with. At least now I know what kind of person we’re dealing with.”
“I knew something was horribly wrong when I heard her voice.” I dropped my head back and inhaled a deep breath as I looked up at the beams running along the roof of the barn. If those things could talk…
“Scarlett always insisted that we were missing so many opportunities for not opening the ranch up more to the public,” I said. “That’s what her wanting more access for people was about. If it was up to her, she’d charge extra for allowing the public to walk through the milking barn or being allowed to visit the chicken coop, for example.”
“Ah. Well, I suppose that makes sense.”
I finally brought my gaze back to Olivia’s. “She used to love taking a picnic to the northern pastures to watch the sunset and she hated swimming in the creek, but she knows how special it is to us, which is probably why she brought it up.”
Liv brought a hand to my cheek, stroking it with her thumb as she leaned forward slightly. “Thank you for being honest with me and for sharing.”
I covered her hand with one of my own. “You are the only woman for me, City. If you’re uncomfortable with this at any point, just say the word and I’ll sever the partnership. You’re worth way more to me than the fair.”
She touched her forehead to mine. “I’m a big girl, Cowboy. I can handle a petty mean girl who can’t accept that her own greed cost her the best guy in the world.”
I smiled. “I don’t doubt you for a second, but the offer stands, okay?”
Despite the fact that she pressed her lips to mine and looped her arms around my neck, I couldn’t help but wonder if Scarlett had planted a seed somewhere deep inside Liv after all. Time would tell, but until the fair was over and the last traces of it were gone, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.
Today wouldn’t be the last time she tried to come between us. Scarlett was going to keep firing shots until she found the weakness in our armor as a couple, and although I felt like we were solid, I knew she wouldn’t stop trying until she found one.