Chapter 30
Olivia
When Olivia moved out of her hometown to go to college, she’d promised Jayden they’d FaceTime every month. It kept her grounded and ensured they stayed in touch.
She usually looked forward to their calls. But in January, she dreaded it. She hadn’t progressed in her goals since they’d talked last, and while Jayden didn’t care, it always stung to have to reflect on the lack of forward motion in her life.
Olivia picked at the hem of her dress while she waited for Jayden to answer her call. She loved every dress Connor had chosen. They were all comfortable, adorable, and so her. Connor had developed impeccable taste over the years.
Her brother answered the phone and greeted her with a bright smile.
“Livy! How are you?”
“I’m good,” she said, matching his enthusiasm. “How are you?”
“Same old,” Jayden said. “I heard you took my advice.”
Olivia frantically searched the recesses of her mind for what advice she could have followed.
“I did?”
“Hell yeah, you did,” Jayden said. “Love looks good on you! It’s nice to see you in some color. And your piercings. You’re starting to look like yourself again. Since you got with Lance, little pieces of you fell away. I was worried you’d never get them back.”
“Um, thanks.” Olivia still didn’t follow. “Wait, what?”
Jayden’s bright smile faded.
“Connor told me you were dating Lover.”
“Ew,” Olivia said. “Don’t call him that.”
“That’s what everyone calls him.”
“Not me.”
“You aren’t dating him then?” Jayden’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Olivia stood from her bed, crossed the room, and kicked the door shut with a bare foot. She wouldn’t lie to Jayden, and if she wanted to tell him the truth, she couldn’t be overheard.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Eh, I don’t buy it. If you were actually his lover, you’d have no problem calling him that. You’d probably find it funny.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’ve never called a partner ‘lover’ in my life. That’s gross.”
“Oof. You should get a better partner then. None of that cutesy pet name nonsense is gross when you’re with the right person.”
“How would you know, hmm?” Olivia demanded. Jayden had never introduced her to any of his girlfriends. In her mind he remained a twelve-year-old who bullied anyone he found interesting.
“We aren’t discussing my failed relationships right now,” Jayden said.
She put a pin in that to revisit later.
“Maybe I don’t want to talk about mine either.”
“Too damn bad.”
Olivia flopped onto the bed and covered her eyes with an arm.
Then she held her phone as high as she could reach.
On FaceTime you were supposed to pay attention to the other person, but she liked to look at herself sometimes.
Was it vain? Yes. Was she cute as heck? Also yes.
Her hair needed some help. But it was what it was.
She debated giving all the details of her and Valentine and Jake’s escapades, but then a thought crossed her mind.
“What did Connor say about me and Valentine?”
“He said he hadn’t seen much of either of you. Kind of sounded dejected. Maybe you should give him his boyfriend back.”
“Technically, Valentine is my boyfriend. Kind of.”
“Kind of?”
Olivia chewed her lip. “Do you think Connor is jealous of me and Valentine?”
“I knew you weren’t over it.” Jayden pointed a triumphant finger at the camera. “I fucking knew it!”
“Valentine has this stupid idea.”
“Oh no, Livy. Tell me you aren’t playing mind games with Connor.”
Heat crept up Olivia’s chest and cheeks. “It wasn’t my idea. Valentine thinks Connor is in love with me.”
“He’s probably right, but manipulation isn’t the answer. That’s not you.”
Shame sank in Olivia’s gut. Her brother was right. Tears welled in her eyes. She forced them back because she had no right to cry over her own behavior.
“It’s not forever,” she said, pleading with Jayden to understand. “I owed it to myself to test the waters one last time.”
Jayden let her statement hang between them. Olivia ran her fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp in a way that should have relaxed her, but wasn’t the same when she did it to herself.
He sighed. “Tell me about this plan of yours.”
Olivia gave him a summary of Valentine and Jake’s meddling. To his credit, he kept quiet while she explained and sat with the idea for several moments before asking, “What if it doesn’t work? What if you go through all this trouble and end up right back where you started?”
She rubbed her temple. “I don’t have anything to lose here. I don’t have a job, or a house, or a partner, or anyone to disappoint. I’m starting over. From scratch. If it doesn’t work, I’m no worse off than before.”
Jayden studied her, and in a rare moment of vulnerability with her brother, she let him.
“You want him bad, huh?”
“More than I have ever wanted anything in my entire life. I’ve been set on him since we were kids. We’ve survived my feelings before. We can do it again if we have to.”
“How much of your month do you have left?”
“A little over a week. But Valentine and Jake are traveling for most of it.”
“Do you think it’s working?”
“You tell me,” she said.
Jayden bit his thumbnail. “Maybe. He sounded bummed out when I talked to him.”
Olivia groaned. “I hate when he’s bummed out.”
“Are you going to spend some time with him while Valentine and Jake are gone?”
“A little, at least,” she said. “I need to work on job applications, though. Connor doesn’t need me anymore. I’ve got to find something new.”
They spent another hour on the phone talking about her job prospects and Jayden’s life. They laughed at inside jokes and made light of all the shit they were both dealing with. She ended the call more optimistic about life.
Being nervous in her own home seemed dumb. She should not be hiding away in her bedroom. She could act normal around Connor. Butterflies filled her tummy when she contemplated the next few days with him.
Connor and Olivia hadn’t spent a significant amount of time alone together in weeks. She’d been dying to get him to herself, and she had a feeling he needed the same.
Valentine and Jake were on their road trip, but they had instructed Olivia to “tempt” Connor. That word felt icky, but she could get behind the sentiment.
After the first night of their trip, they demanded an update. Their entire plan was for Olivia and Connor to hang out. She loved these idiots and didn’t have the heart to tell them that didn’t constitute a plan.
Team Lazy
Valentine
Sooo, how’d it go?
Jake
Tell us EVERYTHING
You know nothing is going to happen while he thinks I’m dating his best friend, right? He would never.
Valentine
Not the point
It was normal.
Jake
What’s normal?
I don’t know. We watched a movie. Had dinner. You guys are friends with him too. You should know what normal means.
Valentine
Did you wear what we told you?
Olivia took stock of her sweatshirt and tiny shorts.
I don’t see how that matters. I wear this every night.
Jake
It matters. He loves it
You can’t know that
Valentine
We know it
Jake
We know it
*eye-roll emoji*
The second day of the Freeze’s road trip, Olivia felt like she was going to throw up while she waited for Connor to get home from his training with Robbie. The mortification of her assignment from Valentine might kill her before she ever got around to completing the task.
She spent a ridiculous amount of time doing her makeup and hair. And her hair still looked worse than what Connor could do in five minutes. But she refused to ask him to style her for a nude. Even a fake one.
She heard the front door open, and before she could chicken out, she opened her bedroom door and greeted him in the kitchen.
She wore skimpy denim shorts and a lace bodysuit that hadn’t seen the light of day in years. Was it over the top? Yes. Did she care? Also, yes. But she was in way too deep.
He stood at the kitchen island, facing away from her as he drank from a bottle of water.
“You’re home!”
He faced her, straw still in his mouth.
“I need help.” She held up two pieces of lingerie that were both essentially string. “Which of these should I pose in? I want to surprise Valentine.”
Water spewed from his nose. He pounded his chest, trying to regain the ability to breathe.
“Christ, Livy. Warn a guy, why don’t ya?”
She bit her lip to keep from cracking up. “Warn you about what?”
He waved a hand at her. “You’re practically naked!”
“So?”
He gaped at her. Then he shook his head, shut his mouth, turned away from her and said, “Neither. Send him one of those in the little red thing you showed me.”
Olivia stared at the back of his head.
“You remember those?”
“You showed me like a month ago. I do have some semblance of a long-term memory, yes.”
Lacking better words, she said, “Okay,” and marched back to her bedroom.
That was the worst, never doing that again
Valentine
WHAT DID HE SAY
Jake
He chose the black one. I knew he was boring
He chose neither
Valentine
HES SO JEALOUS ITS WORKING
He wasn’t jealous. He just knew of the secret, better third option.
But Jayden had been right. This amount of manipulation had her out of sorts.
Flirting, teasing, hinting with body language and cheeky little flashes of skin here and there was one thing.
Pulling him into some weird, fake sex life was a whole other thing.
I can’t keep doing this. It feels horrible
Jake
Then stop. You’ve got the poor guy wrapped around your pretty little fingers. This is probably overkill.
Valentine
He misses you. Just hang out. Maybe do something you did as kids? He gets sappy when he’s nostalgic.
Olivia smiled, the perfect idea forming in her head.