Chapter Eleven
Liv
I’m going to explode out of my skin. Being in such proximity to Hayes all day has fried my nerves, and I am close to jumping out of the car before he’s even made it up my street.
He didn’t catch me going to the bathroom earlier. The moment he walked out of my office to go check the parking lot, I sprinted to the sink to splash cold water on my face.
I felt like I was suffocating.
I don’t know how I’m supposed to pretend that being near him isn’t painful when he acts like there isn’t anything strange about this.
“Your phone is ringing,” he utters, pulling up my driveway.
I have it on silent, resting on the center console, but Elliot’s name is displayed on the screen. Dread twists my stomach.
“I’ll call him back late–”
“Someone’s here,” he interrupts, and my head snaps forward.
I’m going to be sick. “That’s Elliot’s car.”
“Were you expecting him?” He asks dully.
“No, it must be a surprise.”
“How thoughtful.” His voice is nowhere close to sincere. He starts to get out of the SUV at the same time I do, but I try to stop him.
“Please, don’t.”
“Why?” He gets out anyway.
“Liv?” Elliot gets out of his car, and we’re suddenly standing in an awkward triangle in my driveway.
“Elliot, this is Jensen.”
“Hayes,” he introduces himself, offering his hand to shake. The moment their palms touch, electricity zaps me. My old life and my new life were never meant to merge.
“Friend from work?” Elliot asks me. There’s no recognition because I’ve never told him about Jensen.
There’s also no accusation in his tone about me being with another man because he would never suspect I’d be cheating on him. He’s not the jealous type.
Hayes looks at me, waiting for my response, and both their gazes on me is suddenly too much. “I’m sorry, I need to go take my shoes off, they’re killing my feet.”
“Hayes, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I glance at him as I walk past, and he holds my focus until I’m forced to look away.
“Yes, boss.”
As soon as I’m in the front door, I slip my shoes off and fall backward onto the couch, propping my legs over the arm while I rub my head.
“Something wrong with your car?” Elliot asks from the kitchen, making himself at home and pouring himself a glass of scotch. It’s not my preference, but I always keep a bottle in stock for him.
“No.” I sigh, preparing myself for more truths to be forced out of me. “Someone has been leaving me creepy gifts. Hayes offered to shuttle me to and from work until we find out who it is.”
“Anything good?” He scoffs into his glass.
“What?”
“Are the gifts any good?” He laughs to himself, and I roll my head back to look at the ceiling.
I never expected him to be alpha-asshole protective about it, but he doesn’t seem to be concerned at all. Not like Hayes was.
“I have a stalker, Elliot,” I state plainly.
“Of course, you do, Livvy.” I hate when he calls me that. “You’re a beautiful woman.”
“This isn’t funny.”
He raises his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, that was distasteful. I just assume you already have everything under control. No need to worry.”
No need to worry.
“God forbid my fiancé worry about me,” I snap, swinging my feet to the floor.
“You know that isn’t what I meant.” He stands in front of me, tipping my chin up with his finger. “I do worry about you, but I also know you can take care of yourself. You’ve made that abundantly clear to me during our relationship.”
I guess he’s right, though it seems out of context in this situation.
Regardless, I’ve already hit my limit of mental gymnastics for today, and I don’t have the energy to rein in my emotions.
“How long do you plan on staying this time?” I ask coldly.
“I thought we’d have a quick dinner.” He smiles and wags his eyebrows suggestively. “But, I need to head back tonight.”
A quick dinner. A short visit. It’s always the same.
“I already have dinner plans with Thea.”
“Ah, I see. I should have called first.” He finishes his scotch and leans down to kiss me, but I give him my cheek.
He pecks it and straightens as if nothing is amiss. “I’ll make arrangements for my next visit. See you soon, sweetie.”
He leaves without a word from me.
I don’t actually have plans with Thea. I shouldn’t have lied. But my thoughts are so jumbled in my head, I can’t pretend to be the perfect fiancée tonight.
I need my best friend.
All I do is change out of my work clothes before I walk out the door to go to the one place that I always feel like I belong.
I walk straight through Thea’s front door without knocking, and she smiles when she sees me. She’s sitting at her kitchen table next to baby Kate and twists the high chair until my best girl sees me, too.
A smile puffs her chubby cheeks, and it’s exactly what I needed to reset my state of mind and remind myself of who I am.
I’m not frail. I’m not incapable of handling hard things.
Tomorrow will be a better day. The awkwardness of being around Hayes will dissipate, and I’ll make a point to call Elliot to apologize for my behavior lately.
We’re getting married soon, and we need to be solid. I need to be stable. No more detours in my plan. I’ll finish my work in Rollins County and go back to the city. I’ll forget about having a stalker. I won’t have to see Hayes. And I’ll only see Thea and Kate one weekend a month, if that.
The cracks in my perfectly drawn-out life are starting to loosen the ground beneath my feet. The things I thought I wanted are starting to look like flaws… A high-powered career and an affluent lifestyle.
They don’t mean anything if they aren’t in the place I want to be.
By the time I get home, the front of the cottage is darkened by night, and I’m immediately wary of my surroundings.
I never used to be afraid of the dark. Now, every shadow is shaped like a man. Every noise sends my pulse racing.
All because some creep out there feels entitled to corrupt my autonomy.
“No one is here. No one is watching me,” I grumble to myself as I back into my normal parking spot.
My eyes are still scanning every dark corner when my headlights illuminate the large oak tree in front of the cottage. I slam my hand on my steering wheel in fiery annoyance, forcing it to overpower the disgust.
“What the fuck!”
Hanging from the tree is a mutilated animal, sliced and mangled. Drenched in blood, it’s hard to tell if it’s a cat or a fox, or some other small animal. But the paper nailed to its stomach, or where the stomach should be, is painfully legible.
SLUT
* * *
My tires crunch across the gravel until they come to a stop in the center of the dirt lot.
There’s the farmhouse to my right, but it’s dark. The big barn to my left has the door propped open, and I can hear voices from within.
This is a bad idea.
I don’t know what I’m doing, but this is where I ended up when nothing else felt right.
I blink to adjust to the lights inside as I step through the door, and the noise of multiple conversations dies completely by the time both of my feet come to a stop.
At least six men are staring at me, but no one moves until an older man by the pool table leans his stick against the side and steps towards me.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” His scratchy drawl comforts me, but it doesn’t erase the anxiety coursing through my veins. I haven’t stopped shaking since I peeled out of my driveway.
“I’m looking for Jensen, err, Hayes, I mean.”
“He’s probably in the garage, but let me call him first to chec–”
“Liv?”
The adrenaline keeping me afloat deflates hearing his voice, and my knees nearly buckle, but my self-preservation keeps me upright.
“Thank you,” I utter to the older man before turning towards the door.
Jensen is standing in the doorway, looking at me as if he’s checking for injuries. His serious gaze scans me from head to toe, and I tremble under his assessment.
All the fear that I’ve tamped down catches up to me now that I’m in his presence. The disgust of seeing a mutilated animal left purposefully for me washes over me.
“Get me out of here, please,” I beg under my breath as black shadows lick at the edges of my vision.
He hardly blinks at my request, offering his hand to me, but my focus only narrows, and as hard as I try, it’s out of reach.
My neck muscles go lax, and my body sways, but I only fall against a hard wall of muscle. “Olive, what the hell is going on?”
“Nothing,” I breathe, sucking in his distinctive scent. It’s exactly as I remember, but somehow better.
“Olive,” he growls, steadying me on my feet. Some alertness snaps back into my brain.
“I just need to sit down,” I whisper, remembering there are people behind me witnessing this.
“Not in here,” he grumbles. “Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you?”
“I can walk,” I admit regretfully, but he doesn’t let me go.
He wraps his arm firmly around my waist before leading me back outside, and doesn’t let it slip until I’m placed solidly in a fold-out camping chair in a big garage.
The warmth of his skin leaves me too quickly, and a chill zips down my spine.
“What do you need?” He asks, worriedly, examining my face just as closely as before.
“I’m fine,” I breathe in relief now that my head’s stopped swimming.
“You are not fine,” he grits again.
“This has been happening lately. I just need to rest.”
“What the fuck do you mean? You’ve been having dizzy spells? Passing out?”
“I’ve been passing out.”
He swipes his palms across his face harshly. “Why?”
“I don’t know.”
His jaw tenses, making the muscle in his cheek twitch.
“Are you lying to me? Because I swear to God I’ll call Thea right now and get the truth out of her.”
I know I’m doing better because I roll my eyes at him, and it doesn’t give me vertigo. “My doctor thinks it might be stress-induced, but that’s just a non-answer because they can’t figure out what’s causing it. And, before you ask, Thea knows all of this already.”
“Oh, I’m sure she does. I can see the secrets transmitting back and forth between the two of you every time you’re near each other.”
“They’re not secrets. You just don’t have the privilege of knowing everything about me anymore.”