Chapter Twelve #2
Jack Barnes’s voice went arctic, and Keane was glad he wasn’t the one Jack was
glaring at. “Dr…”
“Hayes.” The doctor paled and sounded breathless. “It’s Dr.
Hayes. It’s hospital policy that we should only have family involved.”
“You’re new here, Dr. Hayes. I should know because my wife
hired you. She’s on the hospital board. So I assume you’ve heard the gossip
about my family. Biologically, Olivia is Sam’s child. We only found that out
because of her blood type, though I always knew.” Jack looked back, and there
was a tender expression on his face. “She’s got Sam’s smile and his heart.”
“Well, she got your stubbornness,” Sam replied with a grin.
Jack’s expression went cold when he looked back at the
doctor. “So if your only terms for family are DNA, I suppose I should wait out
here. Do you want me to wait out here, Dr. Hayes?”
The doctor’s head shook. “No, you should all come back. Uhm,
her cousin is here. Although…I mean…is she adopted? She doesn’t…uhm…doesn’t…”
Miranda’s eyes rolled. “Are you talking about the fact that
Gigi’s half black? So we can’t have family members with different skin colors?”
“Thank god.” Abigail looked like she sent thanks to the
heavens. “I forgot Gigi was here. She’ll take care of her, Jack. Please.”
Jack huffed. “I can ruin you later.” He looked back at Keane
and Garrett. “You don’t leave. Gabe, come with me. I need an update. Miranda,
will you call Julian and let him know what’s happening? We had to take his
chopper. Let him know we didn’t steal it for no reason.”
Miranda nodded, pulling out her cell as the group
disappeared behind the ER doors.
And they were left on the wrong side.
Garrett started to follow them, a stubborn look on his face.
Keane held a hand out. “Tonight is not the time. Tonight we
figure out how to update Jack Barnes on everything that’s happened.”
“How do we tell him we’ve been topping his baby girl?”
“I wasn’t going to tell him that, though I am going to
explain that we’re dating Olivia.”
“Are we?” The question sounded oddly hollow coming from
Garrett’s mouth.
Keane sank down on one of the uncomfortable chairs. “I think
so. I think we’re making progress.”
“Or she’s enjoying the sex and likes knowing we have an end
date.” Garrett sat down next to him.
Garrett could get seriously morose at times.
“She would tell us if that’s her plan. She also mentioned
she wanted to take us to Gabe’s club. That’s her home club. She wouldn’t offer
if she was only playing around,” Keane pointed out.
“She wouldn’t.” Miranda walked back toward them, sliding her
phone into her purse. “I know you started out with all these parameters, and
she needed them to feel safe, but I don’t think she’ll walk away easily. She’s
been more herself than I’ve seen in a long time. Scott took a lot of her
self-confidence. She didn’t love him. She didn’t mention love once when she
talked about him. He fit into her life, and she thought it was time to start a
marriage. But him leaving hurt her pride in a way she’s just now getting over.”
Pride. Olivia had a lot of it. She was the type of woman who
took responsibilities on that she didn’t have to.
Miranda knew a lot about Olivia and her family. She might be
able to help him understand. “She seems to be afraid she’s letting her parents
down.”
Miranda sighed and sat back. “Her parents adore her. Her mom
and sister might be a bit aggressive when it comes to matchmaking, but they
don’t measure her worth based on her relationships. That doesn’t mean she
doesn’t feel pressure. Even when it’s not from her family. It comes from all
around. From society. From the shows we watch and the books we read. We want
love. We want what we think is normalcy. Don’t think her parents are pushing
her to be anything but happy. I think her mom’s been worried about her because
of the situation with Bobby. Please don’t give up on her.”
Keane’s head shook. How did one give up on one’s soul mate?
On the one woman who could finally bridge all the gaps between him and Garrett?
“The only way we leave her is she kicks us out. I’m going to tell you something
I hope you don’t pass on, but I need you to understand how serious we are.
Garrett and I have already discussed trying to stay close to Willow Fork. We
don’t have any interest in a long-distance relationship. We want to be with
her. I’m worried her parents already don’t like us.”
Miranda waved the thought off. “Jack doesn’t like anyone
until he does. Sam and Abby are easy. If Livie likes you, you’re in. Treat her
like the queen she is and Jack will follow. You didn’t bring a personal
vehicle, did you?”
He snorted. “I am not letting that man cube my truck.”
Garrett shrugged. “We can get a new one. We should think
about it because we need something we can drive Olivia around in. You hate
driving mine.”
Olivia wasn’t the only one with a pride problem. “I don’t
think she cares about what we drive. She cares that we show up.”
Miranda’s lips curled. “Then you’re already getting to know
her. That’s what people don’t get. She grew up with wealth, but they worked for
it every day. She would tell you her family was lucky. They had some
opportunities her dad turned into wealth, but she doesn’t take any of it for
granted. She spent her childhood riding horses and running across this ranch,
not in some prep school wearing designer clothes. She doesn’t care about what
car you drive as long as it’s safe. She cares about whether you love her. If
you love her.”
“It’s too early to tell her that. She’ll get scared.” Not
that he hadn’t thought it a million times. “I’ve also got some things about my
past I need to tell her. Unless she read my background check. Then she already
knows.”
“She doesn’t,” Miranda replied. “She knows you’re hiding
something, but she wants you to tell her when you’re ready. Did you get into
trouble when you were a kid?”
Trouble wasn’t the word for what had happened. Hell. That
was a better word for what he went through. “I need to talk to her first.”
He had been putting it off. It was cowardly. He usually
didn’t talk about his past because the women weren’t around for anything but a
good time.
Olivia was more than a good time. She was the whole future.
Would she look at him with soft eyes and trust when she
found out he spent three years in prison for assault?
Miranda nodded. “Yes, you should, but I think it’s going to
be all right. You’ll see.”
The clinic’s doors came open, and he was faced with the
sight of the sheriff walking in. He was a large man who had seen fitter days,
but he still wore his khakis with authority. He had two deputies behind him,
and blue and red lights flashed from the parking lot.
A low knot formed in Keane’s gut.
“We’re here for Keane Rollins.”
Keane stood, that knot rolling into something nasty now.
“That’s me.”
The sheriff gestured to his deputies. “Cuff him. Mr. Rollins,
you are under arrest for the attempted kidnapping of Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood.”
It wasn’t going to be okay. Not even a little okay.
He felt the cuffs snap around his wrists.
He was going back to hell, and this time no one would save
him.
* * * *
Olivia groaned and slowly came awake, the light way
too bright for her eyes.
They immediately dimmed, and she felt a warm hand on hers.
She sighed. She must be having some weird-ass dream where she got sick and
Scott freaked out and then some dude tried to take her away. But she was safe
now because she was in bed, and that meant she was surrounded by her men. She
reached out for the warm body she was used to sleeping next to now. Any way she
turned there was comfort. She loved the way the minute she touched either of
them, they would turn and wrap their arms around her.
“Keane,” she whispered because he was usually on her left
side. They had quickly found their little rituals. Garrett would climb in
first. Keane would check the doors and then join them, a long-satisfied sigh
coming from his chest as he rested beside her.
She always felt special when she heard that sigh. Like he
had been restless and now he found home.
“Nope,” a familiar voice replied. “You usually call me Papa,
baby girl.”
Papa? Her papa was here? She forced her eyes open. Where the
hell was here? Why was her papa here? He was supposed to be in Dallas living it
up.
Her papa’s face came into focus. He looked tired, lines
around his kind blue eyes. His big hand came out to smooth back her hair like
he had when she was a child. Oh, how she loved this man. “What’s happening?”
“Livie, you’re okay.” Her mother was here, too, and she had
the worried expression on her face Olivia saw far too often recently.
Okay, something had gone wrong. She closed her eyes and
tried to banish the headache that was throbbing in her head. Her thoughts were
jangled and fuzzy. She’d been at The Barn. She’d foolishly sent her men off to
dance and thought she could enjoy her margarita in peace, but then Scott had
shown up.
“Olivia, you imbibed a drug called gamma hydroxybutyric
acid.” Gigi stepped up and seemed to be checking the IV that was attached to
her arm.
She was in the hospital. It was surreal. How was this
happening? Where were her men? “Someone gave me GHB?”
A rape drug. What had happened? She’d been at The Barn.
She’d been with friends. She certainly hadn’t gotten up and given Scott the
chance to be alone with her drink. He’d sat across from her, and she hadn’t
taken her eyes off the fucker.
Until she’d started to feel weird.
It came in flashes. The conversation with Miranda. Gabe
being an ass about Gigi. She sent Garrett and Keane off, and after a few
minutes Scott was there.
What had he said? He wanted to talk about something.
“Yeah, well, I think you might have underplayed the events
of the last few days. The fire wasn’t an accident, and you never mentioned
someone slashed your tires.”
Dad was here, too, and he didn’t sound thrilled that she’d
tried to protect his vacation.
She tried to sit up but her papa gently pressed her back.
“You need to rest,” Papa said. “Dad will handle everything.”