20 Olivia
June 2nd, 2022
I sanded my hands together, pacing my apartment, ready to leave, but terrified of making that first step. It was stupid. Becoming obsessed with something like this was so incredibly stupid, but I couldn’t stop myself. I had to get some answers. I had to know the truth in order to bury my past like I had buried Olivia Lemont. So, I did enough research to get an address and that was it. It had been easy. Some random site, type in his last name, his relatives came up, only one woman lived in The Springs.
However, I couldn’t do this alone. The only problem was I didn’t have anyone on my side to do it with me.
I needed help.
I needed someone to stand beside me, just to be my rock. To stop me if I acted like a coward and started to back out.
I shook out my hands and finally came to a stop in the middle of my apartment. There was one person, I suppose, that I could call.
One person that might help me if I asked nicely enough. But after last night, my nerves were on high alert. My ass still hurt from what he had done to me, but the pain was so damn good.
I couldn’t face him, but Evelyn?
She was kind. Good. She would help me through this, as pathetic as it was, calling my stalker’s partner to help me, it was all I had in this world.
I chewed on my lip and looked around the upper edges of my walls. I didn’t know where he would have installed them, but I knew they were there. “Evelyn?”
I immediately felt stupid.
I closed my eyes and shook my head. Releasing a breath, I turned back to the ceiling. “If you’re listening, send Evelyn to this address. I’ll be there soon.”
I paused for half a second and rolled my eyes. “Please,”
I added bitterly.
With that, I gathered my things, rattling off the address as I did. I looked in the mirror one last time to make sure my wounds were sufficiently covered, said goodbye to Lucy and headed out the door, my heart racing. This was a mistake, wasn’t it? I was making a mistake.
It was stupid.
She was going to turn me away, why wouldn’t she? I was just some girlfriend her brother never introduced her too. Some stranger.
The cab pulled up across the street from a beautiful little one-story house. It had a yard and a tree, and it looked like a beautiful home to raise a family in.
My heart slammed against my chest as I stared at that house. Flowers blooming around the porch, toys scattered in the yard.
This was a bad idea. I couldn’t do this. It was stupid. I was st—
My door opened, and I gasped, spinning around in my seat to find Evelyn standing on the sidewalk, looking as beautiful as she had the last time I had seen her. She was wearing her leather jacket and a purple tank top with black pants and black boots. Her makeup was done, her hair pulled back from her face in a high ponytail, save for some pieces to frame her face.
God, she was gorgeous.
She gave me a serious look. “You called for backup, I’m here to back you up. Not my usual gig, but hey, I didn’t have much else to do today.”
I didn’t think she would actually come.
With a dry mouth, I paid the cab driver and climbed out of the cab. I straightened my shirt and stood by her side as the cab drove off. She had a daughter. “Who is she?”
I asked, a roaring sounding in my ears.
I don’t know why I asked. Maybe some part of me understood that Everett and Evelyn knew more than they would ever say out loud. Maybe, just out of curiosity, they had looked into this too.
“His wife.”
The world swayed under my feet.
I was stupid. I had convinced myself that she was his sister. Her last name had been different when I looked Steven up. I figured she had gotten married to someone else, taken their last name, but she must have kept her maiden name.
His wife.
Which meant that I was the side piece. I was the girl who ruined her family. I was the homewrecker.
“He was married for eight years, knew her for ten,”
she went on, her voice distant. “Her name is Stella Voss. Their daughter is four. Her name is Baily.”
Baily.
Baily, their daughter, who had the same genetic condition as me. Was she picked on like I had been? Did her friends tease her?
I had been the girl Steven had sought out a year after he had Baily.
I tore apart a family. I did.
I slid my hand over my stomach, suddenly feeling sick. “I, um…”
I cleared my throat and shook my head. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t be here.”
I turned away, only to hit a wall.
I stumbled back a step and looked up, the sun blotted out by a man in a mask.
Everett.
His lips were set, his mask in place, his hands in his pockets, eyes more blue than silver today.
Why had he come? He shouldn’t have been here. Why was he here doing this pathetic grunt work?
“I told him to come,”
Evelyn said, joining my side.
“I was hiding a body,”
he stated coldly.
My eyes widened in slight panic. What the actual fuck?
“The body can wait,”
she responded pointedly. “And anyways, that’s what our cleanup crew is for. This is important.”
He grumbled, glancing to the house. “Payment is due when this is done.”
A threat, but one that caused my whirling stomach to warm and my thudding heart to slow.
“Go,”
he told me, finding my eyes again. “That’s an order.”
Irritation flooded under my skin. “I didn’t ask you to be here, I wanted Evelyn.”
“Because you don’t have any friends,”
he cooed mockingly.
I narrowed my eyes to slits. “I have friends.”
“Katie isn’t a friend, she’s your publisher. You don’t have any friends, little writer, because you let dear little Steven control every second of your life. You let him manipulate you,”
he went on, stepping up, invading my space, my anger growing. “You let him convince you that you were going crazy. You let him push you to the point of not wanting anything for yourself. You don’t want. You never want. You don’t allow yourself to want or to feel joy or smile or anything. You don’t allow it because of what you let him do. That’s who you are. Easily manipulated. A fucking sheep.”
I slapped him.
Before I could stop myself. Before I could swallow the anger. Before I could even think, my hand snapped across his cheek, my eyes burning with rage-filled tears. “Fuck you,”
I said, pointing a finger at him.
The slap had done nothing but leave a red mark on his face, his pupils growing wide, and I half wondered if he would slap me back. I didn’t think my ass could take anymore of it.
“What I want, is for you to leave me alone. What I want is for you to get out of my life and never ever return,”
I seethed.
He leaned in until I could see nothing and no one but him. “Liar.”
His eyes flicked to my lips and back, his own curling into a snarl. “Shall I take my payment now and remind you how much of a liar you truly are?”
My skin tightened at his threat, but I held his glare. “Careful, after last night, I might start to think you want it more than I do.”
“Sorry, writer, I take my pussy three at a time. You’ll never be enough for me. A payment is a payment, nothing else.”
And despite myself, I felt a rock form in the pit of my stomach. No, I wouldn’t be, would I. I sneered, leaning back from him. “Good, I wouldn’t want your cock anywhere near me. Fucking cesspool. What is it you men say? I want an experienced virgin,”
I hummed. “Fucking disgusting.”
I saw the flash of absolute rage in his eyes. “Caking on the makeup to cover up your scars is fucking pathetic. Either wear them with pride or I’ll make them too deep to hide.”
My heart skipped a beat, but I held my glare. “Fucking three at a time is pathetic. Those two poor girls having to get each other off because you can’t last long enough to give them what they deserve,”
I cooed. “It’s just sad.”
His hand snapped around my throat, jerking me forward. “They don’t survive long enough to get each other off,”
he purred, his mouth inches from mine, my cunt aching. “And perhaps you shouldn’t challenge me over something like that, or I might have to do something stupid like prove you wrong.”
I swallowed against his palm, the scarf doing nothing to take away the bite from that collar. “I fucking dare you,”
I spat, trying to hold his gaze like he held mine. “I doubt you’ll last more than 45 seconds.”
His smile widened, chilling and wild. “Is that all I have to beat to stand up to your dead ex-boyfriend?”
He laughed. “It’s fucking pathetic. Now, go do as your told or I’ll take you to the nearest park, bend you over the table, and fuck you like the dog you are. Maybe getting caught will teach you a valuable lesson in following orders.”
He released my neck, and I jerked away from him, glaring death at him if only to hide the fact that I was so turned on, I was sweating. Fuck him. Fuck him! He was so damn irritating, his face just asking to be punched.
I snarled and turned for the street. God, I just wanted this to be over with. I was too angry to even think straight. I should have just done it alone. “Fine, whatever. She’ll slam the door in my face anyway, since, once again, I’m the pathetic whore that got in the way, so let’s just go.”
I swallowed the anger the best that I could and headed for her porch. It was a small porch, enough for a few chairs with a wide banister to put plants on or sit on if need be.
I could imagine it. Stella standing on the top step drinking her morning coffee while watching Steven play with their young daughter.
I had never thought about actually having kids. I certainly never wanted any with Steven, but at the image of them as a cute little family, I felt a sadness fill me.
Maybe it was something I did want. In the future. Or maybe I was just in a state of constantly craving everything I absolutely shouldn’t.
I walked up to the door and lifted my fist but paused before I knocked. My heart was racing again. It was fine. This was fine, right? The worst she could do was slam the door and that wouldn’t be so terrible. I wouldn’t have to talk to her then. I wouldn’t have to do anything. I could just walk away. Leave this behind me, move on.
Move to a different city, start over again. Go by Abigail Ross and embrace my author life, forget all about this. Forget about everything that happened in The Springs altogether.
But just before I could turn around, Everett stepped up behind me, his presence blaring, his breath tickling the back of my neck. He reached up and slid his hand over my wrist, the motion far too intimate for my liking.
I could feel his body an inch away from mine. Solid and warm. The anger from earlier faded even more as I concentrated on how his hand wrapped around my wrist, the way his touch was so gentle, so different than before.
I wanted to hate it, but in this moment, I really, really liked it. More than I ever thought possible. More than what was rational.
He brought my hand down and knocked for me.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
He disappeared from behind me as quickly as he had come, and I stepped back, feeling Evelyn on my left, but Everett seemed to be gone now.
In fact, I found myself glancing back just to make sure he was still there.
He had stepped over to the edge of the porch, his hands in his pockets, his eyes cold as he watched me and only me, as if he were trying to solve a puzzle he hadn’t known existed.
I turned back to the door. No, I didn’t have friends, so what did I do? I called upon the sister of the man who was stalking me.
The door opened.
I straightened automatically but found nobody there. My brows furrowed, heart stuttering. “Um…hello?”
I called, leaning towards the door.
“Hello!”
I stepped back, looking down to find a little curly-haired brunette girl standing before me, smiling brightly.
She was beautiful. She had a smattering of light freckles across her face, her eyes shining bright, her hair in little pigtails, and she was wearing this cute little floral summer dress with white tights and little black shoes. She looked just like something straight out of a book.
Her smile was big and toothy. “My name is Baily,”
she introduced. “But sometimes mom calls me Bailybailybailybaily. Only when I’m running, and she pretends not to catch me.”
But I had stopped listening, my eyes widening as my lips parted in absolute shock. She looked…she looked exactly like me when I had been a kid. What…what the fuck?
“Hey,”
Evelyn said when I didn’t say a word, her voice far away. “My name is Evie, and this is my friend Olivia. That over there is my brother, Everett. We were wondering if your mom was around. Maybe we could talk to her?”
Her face scrunched as she looked from Evelyn to Everett and finally to me. She watched me for a long time before her face lit up. “You have the same eyes as me! Mom! Mom!”
she shouted, dancing up and down. “Moooooooommmmmmm!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,”
I heard a soft voice say. “What have I told you about answering the door?”
she laughed, wiping her hands on her apron as she turned the corner at the end of the hall, ripping my eyes from the girl to her.
She was more beautiful in person. Beautiful blonde hair, bright blue eyes, freckles across her cheeks. She was…she was so beautiful. Second to Evelyn, but very clearly one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen. “Hey, how can I help you?”
she asked, picking Baily up.
“Mom, look, she has the same eyes as me! Look! Look!”
Stella found my eyes, her smile stretching across her face. “She does, look at that,”
she sang. “See, I told you it was a superpower. Like finds like. Always.”
I couldn’t breathe. My mom hated it. She absolutely hated that I wasn’t perfect. That one of my eyes had a deformity, she had called it.
I had always loved my eyes, even while mom said all of those horrible things, I thought it made me special. It set me apart from the Lemont family, but this girl? Baily. She believed it was a superpower.
As she should.
As she always would.
“Yup! Mom says that my eyes are a superpower. They let me see things nobody else sees. What about you? What do you see?”
Me. I saw me. I saw me at 4-years-old, wincing as the flashes of the cameras blinded me. I saw me crying in my bedroom, wanting nothing more than to play with kids my own age, only for my mom to drag me out by my arm and force me to put on another ‘adult’ dress and wear more makeup so we could do another interview.
I grabbed my chest, my breathing growing short and shallow.
Stella’s eyes furrowed as she adjusted Baily on her hip. “Are you okay?”
she asked nervously, glancing to Evelyn and back.
I fell back a step, feeling a hand slide around my back, keeping me from falling down the stairs. The roaring in my ears grew and grew. I grabbed onto the wrist and turned away from the house, falling down the steps, my stomach churning as I ripped out my phone.
Someone appeared in front of me, and I grabbed onto their arm again, gripping into the leather, the world sparking in grainy colors as I found the pictures my mom had sent me years ago.
Somebody was saying something. Somebody was talking, but I couldn’t hear them. I couldn’t hear anything above the roaring in my ears, the bile raising in my throat as I pulled up a picture of my dad and I when I had been only five years old.
My eyes widened, my heart racing.
It was Baily. We were identical. Down to the way our hair curled. Down to the big toothy smile. We were the fucking same.
Everything came up at that point. I couldn’t stop it. I leaned over the arm, now holding me up, and ejected everything I had in me onto the sidewalk.
My hair was pulled from my face, wrapped in a fist as I heaved and heaved, my muscles contracting as I suffocated, unable to catch my breath. Unable to do anything but puke.
When I didn’t have anything left in me to eject, I used the sleeve of the jacket and pulled myself up into his arms.
Everett’s arms.
Because he had followed me down and held my hair as I vomited all over the hot sidewalk.
I gripped into his jacket, his shirt, breathing deeply, the tears falling down my cheeks as I breathed through my open mouth. No, no, no, no. Please no. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t happening. “Lie to me,”
I begged, my voice hoarse, my legs weak. “Lie to me right now. Lie.”
I felt his arms slide around me, albeit slowly, hesitantly, but he did it all the same. He dipped his head down until I felt his hot breath on the top of my head, disrupting my hair. “He’s your half-brother,”
he said quietly.
I pulled away and found his eyes, my heart thudding against my ribs, my mind frozen in a state of shock. “I said lie to me,”
I whispered, my chest tightening.
His eyes searched mine, his unreadable. “I did.”
“’Cuse me.”
I inhaled sharply and turned away from her, Everett’s arm remaining around my waist as if he suddenly didn’t have the balls to let me leave.
I didn’t mind. Not right now. I felt as if I were going to collapse at any second, I didn’t trust myself to keep standing.
“My mom says ice water helps every time.”
“Thank you,”
Everett said, using a type of gentle voice I had never heard before.
“Why are you wearing a mask?”
Baily asked. “It’s not Halloween. Not yet anyway. We got at least 42 days before Halloween.”
That almost made me smile. Almost.
Yeah, kid, at least 42 days, give or take a few months.
“It’s to protect my secret identity,”
he answered. “Give us a moment?”
She gasped. “Okay, I promise I won’t tell anyone. I’m good at keeping secrets.”
A moment later, I felt his hand thread up into my hair from the base of my neck, sending shivers down my spine as he carefully closed his grip into my roots. He tilted my head back and brought a cold glass to my lips, his cool silver eyes finding mine. “This means nothing,”
he hummed as he tipped the glass forward.
I didn’t know what he was talking about. What he had said, what he was doing, what he said about the mask, but what I did know was that his pupils were dilating, and his moon-eyes were an anchor keeping me from spiraling into the depths of Hell.
He pulled the glass away and gently tipped my head forward, using his knuckle to close my mouth. “Swish and spit.”
I swished it around as violently as I could before he guided my head forward and I spit it out.
He repeated the process twice more before finally telling me to swallow.
He kept hold of the hair at the base of my neck as I swallowed the water down and finally looked up to face him.
He tilted my head back, his eyes falling to my lips, a muscle in his jaw feathering. “You are here to get answers. Shut down everything else in your mind and focus. Focus on only that.”
I swallowed, the tears burning my eyes again. “She looks just like me,”
I whispered, my stomach churning again.
“It’s a coincidence, Olivia. She has no relation to you, not even a single cell.”
I swallowed, searching his eyes, my hands clenching at my sides. I wanted to be angry at him for having enough information to know that, but I was too relieved. It was a coincidence, nothing more. Just a coincidence.
His hand slowly tightened in my hair, as if he couldn’t help himself. “I want to erase everything he did to you, so I had to find all the pieces to the puzzle. If you’re going to be ruined, Olivia, I want to be the one to ruin you. Nobody else gets that privilege but me.”
My body warmed, my pussy throbbing at the way he said my name. Caressing each syllable as if they meant something. As if they were worth something.
“Now, go get your answers. I don’t like babysitting.”
I sneered. Yup, there he was. I shoved out of his grasp, fixed my clothes and wiped the back of my hand over my mouth. “Screw you,”
I said under my breath.
But as I turned back to the porch, I did what he wanted. I focused. What else could I do? I was relieved, but I still ruined a family. I still had to face them.
I could collapse later. When I was all alone, under my covers, with a big bottle of cheap wine. That’s when I would collapse. But for now? I had questions and I needed answers.