43. Olivia #2
“Hello,” he says with a slight purr. “You look familiar. Have we met?” He leans in slightly, the stench of booze evident on his breath.
He sways where he stands, narrowing his eyes on me.
“God, you look like…” He shakes his head, a hint of disappointment coming over him before he straightens his posture and wipes any sort of emotion off his face.
“No,” I say sweetly, batting my eyelashes. “I don’t think we’ve ever met before.”
You’re playing with fire, Olivia. At any second, he could get his wits about him and fucking recognize you for who you are.
Olivia. Oliver. Whoever he wants to see.
But he doesn’t. Mack forgets all about me and how familiar I look, turning his attention to Simon, who has been standing stiffly beside me.
“Interesting…” he says slowly, shaking his head. “Simon,” he greets again, making Simon’s brows rise into his hairline.
“Mack,” he says back suspiciously.
“Where’s Oliver?” Mack lifts a brow, looking past us. “I’d love a word with him.”
I try not to roll my eyes, but I can’t help myself. “Why’s that? Oliver seems like a good guy,” I interject stupidly, bringing his glazed-over eyes back to me.
“Such a good guy,” Mack sarcastically retorts with a laugh.
“I was going to see if he wanted to join Brutus in the ring again. He owes him a rematch.” He smiles sweetly.
The same sweet smile I’ve seen in the past when he was up to something stupid.
Like now. I’m sure he thinks he can catch Oliver off guard and send him to his death again.
“Owes him?” Now it’s Simon who speaks up, sputtering slightly. “My roommate won against that big bastard fair and square. No rematches needed.” Simon gives Mack a pointed look and takes a quick swig of his drink.
“Sure, sure,” Mack huffs, waving a hand. “Whatever,” he says again, before turning on his toes and marching through the people who part for him easily.
“That was weird,” Simon says, watching Mack leave and turning to me. “You think he realized?”
“That was too close,” I groan, clutching Simon’s arm. “No. He didn’t have a clue. He’s drunk, anyway.” I shrug off the interaction, feeling a tightness in my chest from being so close to him.
There’s something inside Mack. A darkness, I think.
A grief he hasn’t been able to shed. I see it now.
It’s consuming him bit by bit, and if I don’t find the evidence that they’re innocent, it might swallow him completely before I can tell them who I really am.
But I can’t yet. Not until Carter gets a hold of the USB drive and runs it through his systems. I won’t potentially hurt myself by jumping the gun.
And that means biting my tongue. No matter how heated a stare Mack gives me from across the room.
“I need another!” Simon declares, finishing off his beer and tossing it into the recycling bin. “I’ll be right back.”
As Simon walks away, another fight is about to begin, with Brutus as the headliner, and, thankfully, Oliver is nowhere in sight or mentioned.
“Okay,” I say with a nod, keeping my eyes trained on the fight.
For a few blissful seconds, I watch the bout by myself, feeling at ease. Despite the loud people around me, yelling at the poor kid named Lukas, who is up against Brutus.
Unfortunately, Brutus dominates the poor guy without batting an eye.
Raining down blow after blow and bashes him to a pulp without trying.
Maybe Oliver should have come to fight Brutus to spare the kid in there with him.
Because from where I stand, it looks like he’s almost dead, and no one is stepping in to stop him.
The heavy presence of someone standing beside me draws my attention. At first, I think it’s Mack coming back to talk to me again, but it’s someone I’ve never seen before. A man.
“Enjoying the fights, Cupcake?” he asks with a grin, exaggerating his look at me with heated eyes.
Great. I sometimes forget what it feels like to be a woman after being in Oliver’s skin for so long.
I haven’t had to worry about leering men.
“Need a drink? A ride?” he hums with glazed-over eyes.
“Because I can offer both. Right here. Right now,” he slurs out, unsteadily swaying.
Instinctively, I take a step away from him and shake my head.
“Not interested, thanks.” I try really hard to ignore him when he steps closer to me, letting his rancid breath roll over my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
Not the good kind, either. The kind that says I need to get away from this potential danger as quickly as possible.
Fuck.
I take another step away from him, but he continues to follow me wherever I go.
I look around with narrowed eyes and find Simon standing at the bar, happily chatting with Daniel, who must have snuck in.
Whatever. I can handle this man if I need to.
I don’t want to have to punch him in the face to get him off my ass.
“I-I’ve n-n-ever seen you here before,” he slurs, taking a step closer to me yet again.
My hands ball into fists at my sides, and I take a calming breath. What part of no does this guy not understand?
God, do I wish I could shove my fist into his face with the way he leers at me like I’m naked. Ugh. Something has to change if I want him to leave me alone.
“Nope. First time,” I say. “You can stop following me, too. I’m not interested in you.” I give him a pointed look. There. I said it. I was straightforward with my no. Again.
“Wa-want a good time?” he hiccups, taking a step closer again.
“For fuck’s sake,” I groan, turning to face him and raising my chin. “No. No, thank you. How many ways can I tell you no, dude?”
“Well, I…” he slurs again, stumbling back when a large, familiar hand lands on his shoulder and yanks him in the opposite direction.
My heart pitter-patters at the sight of JJ standing over the man, his chest heaving, saying words I can’t hear over the roar of the crowd.
I swallow hard when the man is dragged away by two security guards, kicking and screaming about his right to be here.
Well, until they toss him out the front door and he’s nowhere to be seen.
“Are you okay?” JJ says, leaning into me with a furious expression.
“That was unnecessary,” I huff, side-eyeing JJ, not letting him know how thankful I am.
“I could have handled that.” I could have punched the guy, at least. Maybe then he would have gotten the hint.
But again, I don’t really want to draw that much attention to myself.
I’m already getting heated looks from around the Coliseum. Well, not now.