Chapter 10 #4
There was a tick in his jaw before he said, “Only when you’re not around. Did you eat something?” Pinching the bridge of his nose, he added, “I don’t know why I even care.” He walked away from me, heading back down the stairs. “Get your boots on and help me get ready for the storm.”
“I’m here to evaluate, not to work.”
He stopped in his tracks, whirling around and glaring at me. “Get your damn boots on and meet me in the barn. I don’t give a fuck why you’re here, but you are, and I’m going to use the extra hands.”
“Language,” I snapped, rising and tugging the blanket to me before grabbing my coffee so roughly that it sloshed around.
“Still not comfortable with a man who swears?” he asked, taunting in his tone that had me looking back at him.
I didn’t have an answer for him because he was the only man I knew who regularly swore, and it did something to me every time he did. That was Hudson, rough and brittle to my soft and delicate. And without him to balance me out, I’d built defenses to protect that side of myself.
Turning from him, I went inside the house, ready for this emotional storm to stop.
Why hadn’t I simply insisted we focus on the business instead of having these moments where familiarity eased its way between us?
That’s what I should have done. Focus when I was in his presence and stay out of his way until the plane returned for me. One more day.
Thunder rumbled in the distance as if in answer. I left my coffee on the island and the blanket on the couch before I ran upstairs. Grabbing my phone, I dialed Gabe.
“Hey,” he said, and I fought my grin. He sounded so relaxed now. So happy, and I had to give the credit to Tori. She and Reid were his world, and I was glad he was finally smiling again.
“Hey. What time is the plane scheduled tomorrow?”
A pause had my nerves jumping.
“Well, I was going to call you about that.”
I pinched my forehead between my fingers. “If you say it’s the stupid storm, I will reach through this phone and strangle you.”
“In that case, the intelligent storm that’s set to hit is a problem.”
“I hate you.”
“You don’t. Anyway, my pilot doesn’t want to fly into it.”
“Great. And given what the townsfolk say about the roads flooding, I’m guessing even when he can fly, there will be no driver to get me.”
“Townsfolk? Are you turning country on me, Liv?” I could hear the teasing tone through the phone, and it only made me want to strangle him more. “Now that I say that, you do have a little country twang starting.”
“I’m cutting you out of my will,” I said.
His laugh was so loud I had to hold the phone from my ear.
“Olivia.” Hudson’s commanding voice bellowed up the stairs and into the room.
“Is that Hudson?” Gabe asked between laughs. “And that threat about the will is not a deterrent, Liv. You need to come up with something better.”
“Fine, I’m not babysitting anymore.” But I knew I would. My nephew was growing on me. “And yes, it is, unfortunately.”
“Olivia, get down here before I come up and drag you down.”
I growled into the phone, and Gabe laughed again. “Wow, that sounds like it’s going well. I’ll break the news to Tori that you won’t babysit anymore. I’m sure Reid will be upset to hear he won’t get to irritate Auntie Liv.”
“Shut up. I really dislike you right now.”
“That’s better than hate. I’ll check in tomorrow and let you know when we can get you home.”
“Fine.”
“Liv,” he said, right before I hung up and, just as Hudson’s feet stomped up the stairs, “Try to relax and see the possibility in this. I wouldn’t have sent you there if I hadn’t seen it.”
He disconnected, and Hudson stalked into the room. I looked up at him, throwing my phone onto the bed beside me. He stopped at the doorway, looking between me and the phone.
“Who was that?”
My head tilted as I tried to figure out why his voice held a tone of envy.
“My boyfriend,” I shot back. The myriad of emotions that shifted across his features had me scrambling to correct myself.
“It was my brother. I don’t have a boyfriend.
I don’t know why I said that.” Or why I was worried that he thought I had one.
But when the relief smoothed out his expression, I was glad I’d said it.
“He doesn’t know when I can go home. Not with the storm coming. ”
And right on cue, thunder vibrated the floor.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “That makes sense.”
“Why are you up here aside from grilling me about my calls?”
“To get your lazy ass outside.”
My teeth chomped down. “And what if it really had been a boyfriend?”
A flash of envy struck his eyes before he turned away. “Meet me at the barn.”
“What would you have done, Hudson?” It was a baseless question, one that I shouldn’t have pushed, but his reaction made me curious.
He stopped, his hand wrapping around the doorframe, the tendons in it thick and pronounced. “It doesn’t matter. You don’t have one.” He threw a glance over his shoulder. “Right?”
“But if I did…” Why was I pushing this?
“You’re not mine, Olivia. Not anymore.”
He took a step, and I said, “If I were?” The words came out as a breath, heavy and laced with a possibility that haunted me.
“We’d be different people…like we were back then. But you’re not, Olivia. You made sure of that.”
My breath hitched, pain coiling around my insides.
“Forget about coming outside. Stay here and do whatever it is you do to occupy yourself in your fancy penthouse suite in the city.”
“It’s not the penthouse,” I mumbled as he walked away. “Only Gabe gets the best while I fight for the scraps.” And as much as I hated it, I would never fault my brother for it. I loved him too much, and after all he had suffered, he deserved the best.
I hugged my arms to my chest as Hudson’s footsteps faded. Wind whipped against the window, reminding me of the emotions that wouldn’t stop battering at my foundation.