Chapter 5 – Olivia
OLIVIA
Most people take simple things like hot water and a place to sleep for granted until they no longer have them. Even during my mother’s worst benders, we were never truly homeless. I knew leaving with Tate meant a life of struggle. But I didn’t care and jumped out the window without thinking.
I loved my brother.
For years, I prayed to see him again. So, when he showed up one night, I took a leap of faith.
Fate brought us back together.
After the first month on the streets, I missed my warm bed and my foster mother’s home-cooked meals.
By the second month, I was thankful for a quick shower at the YMCA.
Tate would sneak us inside through the back door.
But eventually, like most of his schemes, the staff caught on.
Someone reported the homeless kids using the locker room showers.
With a belly full of food, I locked arms with Tate and followed Drake down the hallway. He stopped at a metal door and hit a button on the wall. When the doors opened, my jaw dropped.
“Oh, my God.” I gasped. “You have an elevator in your house?”
Drake nodded. “How else would I get to the Battle Cave?”
I turned to face my brother and mouthed, “Wow.”
Tate shook his head and whispered, “Rich people.”
We stepped inside and rode in silence to the second floor. When the doors opened, Drake held them and said to me, “Ladies first.”
My heart raced as our eyes met, and a blush spread across my cheeks. “Such a gentleman.”
He winked. “After you.”
I looked like a dirty animal, unshowered and covered in filth. Horrific scents radiated from my body like a sick perfume. Yet, Drake showed no sign of disgust. His nose didn’t even tip up at the smell of our unwashed skin and hair.
Drake put his hand on my shoulder and steered me down a long, wide hallway. I couldn’t recall the last time anyone apart from Tate had touched me. And I liked how it felt to be noticed by this gorgeous billionaire.
We passed a dozen closed doors before Drake stopped at the end of the corridor.
“Tate, this is your room,” he said, tipping his head to the right. “And you, my lady, are in here.”
A lady?
Me?
I wanted to laugh.
He had me confused with someone else. I looked like a freaking gutter rat.
Drake put both hands on my shoulders and led me inside the bedroom beside Tate’s. “This is yours. I had it redecorated for you. I hope you like pink.”
I stepped into the vast space, feeling like an outsider watching someone go through the motions. A room fit for a queen, it had a separate sitting room with couches, chairs, and the largest flat-screen television I’d ever seen.
In the main bedroom sat an oversized bed with a dozen pillows and silky soft bedding. I ran my hand over the duvet and then plopped onto the mattress.
“Of course, it feels like sleeping on a cloud.”
My brother lay beside me, staring up at the ceiling. “Oh god. This is better than sex.”
“Ew.” I slapped his arm. “Don’t say stuff like that.”
Drake dropped into the armchair and laughed.
“What? It’s true.” Tate closed his eyes and breathed through his nose. “I haven’t sat on an actual bed in years. You were lucky they split us up. My foster homes were disgusting. If they had beds, they were nasty or had bedbugs.”
I rested my head on his chest. “You’re safe now.”
Tate curled his arm around me and patted my shoulder. “Nothing will ever keep us apart.”
Drake leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his thighs. “My room is on the top floor. But I usually end up falling asleep on the couch in the Battle Cave.”
“I want to see this cave,” Tate said, sitting up to look at Drake.
“After dinner,” he said and rose from the chair. “Feel free to shower or take a nap. This is your home now.”
“I need to wash my clothes.” Tate tugged at his dirty shirt and sniffed. “It’s been a while since—”
“No need. I bought both of you some things to get you started.” Drake strolled across the room and opened double doors, revealing an enormous closet. “I guessed your sizes based on the photos from CPS. I wasn’t sure what you liked. We have an appointment tomorrow with the stylist.”
I slid off the bed, mouth open in surprise at the floor-to-ceiling clothing and shoes. “You did this for us?” I glanced at Drake. “Why? You don’t know us.”
He flashed one of his boyish smiles that went straight to his pretty blue eyes. “We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other better.”
“Yeah, man,” Tate said. “Why are you doing this? You don’t owe us anything.”
Drake scrubbed a hand at his jaw. “I have my reasons.”
“Way to evade the question,” Tate shot back.
“Someone asked me to take care of you,” Drake said in a clipped tone.
Tate narrowed his eyes. “Who?”
Drake took a deep breath and blew it out. “My dad.”
“Are we…” My brother scratched his head, at a loss for words. “Are you…”
“I don’t know.” Drake spun on his heels, and as he reached the door, he said, “Make yourselves at home. Dinner is at seven.”
After Drake shut the door, Tate stared at me, wordless for several minutes. Neither of us could comprehend our new lifestyle. Overnight, we went from poor street urchins to the wards of a hot billionaire.
“Pinch me,” Tate said with a strange expression. “This is a dream.”
I gripped the skin on his forearm and tugged.
“Definitely real,” he mumbled. “Mom wouldn’t tell us the name of our dad. What if…” He shook his head. “There’s no way. Right? Someone would have tracked us down before now.”
“Drake said his dad died recently,” I pointed out. “Maybe his dad listed us in his will.”
“Liv,” he whispered. “Do you know what this means? If our dad were this rich, it would explain the apartment we lived in growing up. Mom couldn’t afford it with her salary.
Do you remember the one in the city with all the windows?
It reminds me of this house. And there was a man who visited us.
He always wore a suit and a lot of cologne. ”
My brother had a good point. The second we drove onto the property, I had a moment of recognition, transported to a better time and place. We had dozens of windows in the apartment. At night, I’d sit with Tate by the fireplace and watch the city’s lights twinkle. Those were among my best memories.
But if Drake were our sibling, then that meant… All the fantasies I’d conjured in my mind needed to stop immediately.
The following morning, I woke up with the sun on my face and the curtains sliding open on their own. I sat up, glanced around the room, but no one else was there.
I slept like the dead last night. After a shower and a feast fit for a king, I crashed hard on my super soft mattress. Months of living on the street had taken a toll on my back. It was the first morning I hadn’t woken up in pain for a long time.
I headed into the bathroom to pee and brush my teeth. In the mirror, I didn’t recognize the person staring back at me. Growing up, most people called me curvy or even a little thick. My mother used to say I had big bones.
My body had lost its curvy shape from living on the streets. My once full cheeks had sunken in, making my cheekbones seem higher, more pronounced.
I washed my face and rubbed the dark circles under my eyes. A few more nights of good sleep and solid meals would do the trick. The IV fluids Drake gave us last night helped take away the weakness in my muscles and joints. My head also stopped throbbing, which was a relief.
As I exited the bathroom, a female voice said, “Olivia.”
I glanced around the room in search of a woman.
“Please join Master Battle downstairs for breakfast in the dining room.”
This time, I looked up at the ceiling and found the source. A speaker. Everything in the house was digital or motion-detected. Cameras followed me almost everywhere.
Drake said it was for our protection. Battle Industries manufactured weapons for the military and foreign governments. And he had a lot of enemies.
Dressed in pink pajama shorts, a matching tank top, and plush slippers, I headed downstairs. I still couldn’t get over the fact that I lived in a house with an elevator.
On the ground floor, I turned right and heard Drake and my brother’s deep voices.
Tate laughed.
So did Drake.
I stopped at the entryway and poked my head inside the dining room. At least a dozen plates sat on tiered trays. Baskets of bread, muffins, cookies, and pastries filled most of the space. Enough food to feed an army.
Drake sat at the head of the banquet table, coffee cup in hand, with Tate on his right. My brother stuffed his face with bacon and ate like a starved animal.
Tate had no manners.
Well, mine weren’t any better. But at least I knew how to act around fancy people like Drake.
Keep your mouth shut, don’t chew with your mouth open, and mind your place.
That much my mother had passed down to me.
Though I couldn’t recall learning much of anything from her, not unless you count all the ways to buy and sell drugs.
Tate told Drake a dick joke. His kind of humor bordered on weird and inappropriate, but Drake laughed so hard his chest shook. They had such natural ease with each other.
Like brothers or old friends.
“Come eat with us, Liv.” Tate turned around in his chair, his too-long dark hair hanging in his eyes. “And stop lurking. It’s weird.”
I forced an awkward laugh. “I’m not lurking. Just watching you guys together. I can’t remember the last time we had—”
“A family,” Tate finished for me.
I strolled into the room and nodded. “Yeah, I miss having breakfast together. Like normal people.”
For months, we poached our meals from a dumpster. We had the occasional hot meal from a soup kitchen, but Tate had gotten into too many fights with bums and got us kicked out.
My heart pounded as Drake locked eyes with me. He wore an expensive suit and a blue tie that brought out his eyes. His gaze didn’t waver for a second, lingering on my face, then my legs. Drake licked his lips, and the blood rushed to my head.
“Morning,” I said and bent down to kiss Tate on the cheek, and for whatever reason, I did the same with Drake.
“Um, morning.” Drake coughed to clear his throat. “I hope you’re hungry. The chefs made a little of everything. I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
I took the chair on his right and swiped a chocolate chip muffin from a basket. It was the best thing I’d ever eaten.
Drake raised a carafe. “Coffee?”
I bobbed my head.
He poured me a cup and slid it across the table in front of me. “We have an appointment with the hairdresser in one hour. After that, we’re meeting with the stylist at a boutique in town called Ciao Bella.”
“Oh,” I said with a mouthful of muffin. “I know that place. Tate and I slept in the alley behind the store one night when we got kicked out of the shelter.”
Drake’s expressed darkened for a moment, but he quickly slapped on a smile. “Now you can afford to shop there.”
I reached for a packet of Splenda and caught Drake staring at my boobs. They were falling out of the loose top that hung off my thin frame. The second our gazes met, his eyes drifted back to my face. He looked at me as if I were the only person in the room.
Like I mattered to him.
“You don’t have to spend any money on me,” I said, emptying the sugar into the cup. “I can make do with what I have.”
He wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin and tossed it on the table. “You need the right clothes if you want to fit in around here. Astor Prep can be rough for girls who stand out.”
I added milk to the cup and stirred it with a tiny spoon, forcing down my nerves. My last school sucked. Girls made fun of me because of my shitty clothes and thrift store shoes. Maybe his charity was exactly what I needed.
“You’ll wear a uniform to school.” Drake folded his hands on the table. “Astor Prep has a strict dress code. But outside of school, you’ll want to look the part… if you know what I mean.”
“Liv won’t fit in with these rich bitches,” Tate said, resting his arm on my chair, invading my space. “We didn’t grow up like that. She won’t fool anyone.”
“Have a little faith,” I shot back.
“Hey, I’m not saying you can’t blend with the It Girls, but girls can be mean.”
Rolling my eyes, I gulped down a sip of coffee.
Tate squeezed my shoulder. “Liv, I just want you to be happy. Do whatever Drake thinks will help. Okay? And try to make friends. Not like last time.”
I was a true bookworm. Introverted. Shy. Stuck in my head ninety-nine percent of the time. I had excellent grades and worked my ass off to get accepted into a decent college. But making friends had never been easy for me.
Moving between homes often meant changing school districts. Whenever I connected with anyone, I was already on to the next place.
“Okay,” I agree. “I will try.”
After we finished eating breakfast, Drake rose from his chair and pulled mine out from the table. He offered his hand, with a smile in place. The second our skin touched, an electrical shock shot up my arm. Drake seemed taken aback, stunned by the instant spark.
“Your life is about to change, Liv. This is only the beginning.”
I was already halfway in love with Drake Battle. And that was the worst part.