Olivia's Ride (Sawyer Brothers Book 4) (8 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Keeton

I stood in my living room completely stunned by what just happened. I came home with the intention to take Olivia to dinner and tell her a little bit of my past.

Nate, my boss, had a long talk with me today about my father, which led to Olivia and my future. He didn’t agree with me keeping her in the dark, especially after he’d come to the conclusion I was in love with her. Since what Nate thought meant a lot to me, and I found him to be a pretty level headed guy with a knowledge of life I didn’t feel I possessed, who was I to argue with his observations?

But what I walked into was a whole hell of a lot more than I bargained for. I instantly felt the tension between Olivia and Lacy. There was that look on Olivia’s face, the one that made my stomach tense and my chest feel empty.

It was one of hurt, and I knew it led back to me. I was responsible for that look.

I wanted to chase after her when she stormed out of my apartment, but if I’d learned anything over the last couple months dating her, when she is pissed off it’s better to give her some time to cool off. She may be tiny, but she could be a little scary when driven to heights like she reached only moments ago.

I’d deal with Lacy later. Something told me she purposely pushed Liv’s buttons, and that shit didn’t sit well with me.

That damn neon pink keychain of Lacy’s gleamed and caught my attention like it was fucking mocking me. I picked it up from the counter and opened the kitchen drawer, tossing it in before slamming the drawer shut.

***

My night turned out to be Duke and me vegging out on the couch, staring at the television watching nothing in particular.

I tried to call Liv a few different times, yet she chose to send them to voicemail. Knowing she was still upset compelled me to drive over to her dorm, only to have the door slammed in my face when her lovely roommate told me she wasn’t there. She may have tossed in a few other words, but the girl was never pleasant so I didn’t take any of it personally.

So here I was again, sitting in a pile of Dorito crumbs with a beer in my hand…feeling lost.

It was after 10:30 at night and I still had no damn idea where Liv was. It was eating at me, because all I wanted to do was hold her and tell her I was sorry. I wanted to tell her everything from my past, no matter how dirty it was.

A light knock on my door had both Duke and I scrambling from the couch in a hurry. I didn’t even take a moment to look out the peephole. My heart was racing at the idea Olivia was just on the other side, and right now I just wanted to hold her.

Disappointment filled my chest when I looked up to see Lacy standing there, still in her work clothes.

“I know,” she said, holding up her hand. “Not who you were hoping for.”

“What do you want?” I held the door, hoping she got the hint I wasn’t allowing her in.

“I just wanted to apologize,” she tilted her head to the side and flashed an innocent smile. “I may have been just a tad too rough on your friend earlier.”

“My girlfriend,” I corrected.

“Yeah,” she sagged just a little, leaning against the door jam. “She sorta irritated me with her attitude, and I couldn’t help myself. Now I feel bad.”

“Listen, I don’t have time for this right now.” I stepped back. “She’s not talking to me because of the shit you pulled. What should have happened was when you realized she was here, you should have apologized and left. But instead you played some fucked up game that has my girlfriend thinking she and I aren’t good together.”

Lacy looked at me with a raised brow.

“If you’re showing up here to apologize, you can save your breath. It’s Liv you owe an apology to, not me.” I nudged Duke back as I shut the door, and left Lacy looking back at me like I had grown a second head.

I was too damn irritated with her and all the shit from the last twenty-four hours to stand there and be civil. Lacy was wrong; she never should have said the shit she did or acted the way she had. Olivia had every right to be upset. I just hoped things between her and me weren’t beyond repair.

Chapter Seventeen

Olivia

My weekend was spent with my head buried in my pillow.

I avoided all calls from everyone. So my family didn’t panic, I sent out a mass message telling them I was studying for finals, and to not freak if I didn’t answer or respond.

I just didn’t feel like talking; to be honest, I knew if any of them had called, they would have sensed my mood immediately. It was a Sawyer Family requirement, I swear; they all had some kind of built-in radar. Whenever one of us had any kind of issues or sadness, it was like a beacon beckoning them all to rush forward and fix it if they could.

I was surprised Jeanette told Keeton I wasn’t here when he showed up Friday night, again on Saturday afternoon, followed by a third time Saturday evening. But I know it was only because she got the chance to be a bitch, not truly because she wanted to be a friend. Her comment about finally not having to deal with the nauseating happy couple any longer made sense, too.

I was half asleep on Sunday morning when Courtney stopped by and Jeanette allowed her in our room just as she was leaving. I watched her with caution as she approached and sat down on the edge of my bed, eyeing me with curiosity.

“What?” I mumbled as I curled my legs up tighter and tucked the blanket against my chin. Suddenly I felt the need to hide from one of my best friends. She appeared irritated.

“He’s been camped outside all day,” she finally spoke. “He looked so hopeful when I walked up, then it faded fast when I told him you still didn’t want to talk.”

I was so damn mad at him for lying to me. I hated when people lied.

“You gonna tell me what happened between the two of you?” she asked, and I just remained curled tightly on my side with my face snuggled into my big fluffy pillow. “Because looking at the both of you, I can tell you’re equally miserable. Ignoring the issue isn’t gonna solve nothin’.”

I still remained quiet. To some this all may seem stupid, hell, I had even asked myself a time or two if I was overreacting. But he blatantly lied to me, yet that little bitch of a neighbor knew everything. He had no problem letting her in, but here I was, his girlfriend, and he just kept pushing me away.

When I still lay there choosing to remain quiet, she huffed in frustration. “Okay then,” she said sarcastically. “This was a real nice talk.”

I didn’t even make an attempt to argue, as she turned and walked toward my door, leaving me without another word. I just didn’t have it in me, not right now anyway. It had been more than forty eight hours since my fight with Keeton and I still didn’t feel any better about the way things played out.

I wasn’t ready to brush this under the rug like nothing happened. Ignoring it was not going to fix a damn thing, or stop it from happening again.

I could feel the tears threatening to spill over and damn it all to hell, I did not wanna cry.

I needed someone who would give me a kick in the ass. I wasn’t the girl to cry over spilled milk; I was the girl who turned that shit into a party and had fun with the mess.

When I reached for my phone, I was shocked to see the amount of missed calls and text messages from Keeton. There were a few mixed in from my dad and Gran, plus one from Amber. But right now in my current state, I had the need to speak with one person in particular.

We each have those people we turn to in life when we need certain things. And right now, I needed a swift kick in the ass and a sliver of attitude to remind me I didn’t allow anyone to knock me down.

I couldn’t help but smile when my Aunt Bailey answered her phone. “Hey, Liv, whose ass do I need to beat?”

“Why do you assume that’s why I’m calling?” I asked with a laugh. It was the first time I had smiled in days. But with Bailey and her spunky attitude, it was hard to avoid.

“Because darlin’, I got you figured out. You sent out a mass message to us stating you were studying for finals. You’ve neglected to respond to any messages that followed, and that spells out one thing. Trouble on the college guy front.” I could hear a baby squealing happily in the background. “So I’m gonna ask again. Do I need to catch a plane to Texas and beat the shit out of this Keeton guy I’ve been hearing so much about?”

It was that damn radar—they all consumed it. It was impossible to hide from the Sawyer clan.

“Okay,” I gave up. “I don’t need you to kick his ass, but I need you to kick mine.”

I sat up in my bed and for the next ten minutes I told Bailey everything. From the time I met Keeton up until the events of Thursday and Friday night. The quick version, at least.

She remained quiet the entire time, just listening to me ramble on and on about the way he made me laugh and how being with him felt so right. It just flowed from me in massive waves of truth.

And when I was finished there was only silence.

“Are you there?” I asked, because it wasn’t like Bailey to remain so quiet.

“Um, yeah,” she said in return. I could hear clicking sounds as if she was typing on a keyboard. “I’m just checking flights to Texas, because this Lacy bitch needs to meet your Aunt Bailey.”

I laughed because it was impossible not to.

“I just need to hear that I’m not crazy for being upset. I need to hear that I have the right to be mad.” I asked because there were so many times over the last couple days I felt like maybe I was being immature and needy.

“Damn straight you have the right to be upset. That girl obviously threw all that shit in your face to wind you up. I’ll tell you what, if Jackson would have given a key to his place to Phoebe, I would have ran his ass over with my Jeep. What was Keeton thinking, still allowing her to come take care of his dog? Does he not see how that would make a girl feel?”

Aunt Bailey was going strong as I sat back and allowed her to give me that kick I needed. “And last, what the hell is he hiding? And why can she know but not you? His ass needs to get his shit straight because he’s done gone and pissed me off now. He better just hope for his sake that your Uncle Jackson don’t catch wind of this.”

“Don’t say anything,” I said in a panic.

“I won’t,” she assured me, and I knew she wouldn’t. She and I had exchanged more than our share of talks over the years that she kept secret. She was the person I went to for details on how to handle my first time with a guy. I figured with the track record her and Uncle Jackson have, being unable to keep their hands off one another, she would give it to me straight. And boy did she; that woman knows her stuff. I left her place with a whole new outlook on the female/male anatomy and how you could use them to gain pleasure. I learned so much more than I bargained for that day. I still flushed thinking of her explicit details on what to do and how to do it.

Still to this day I have yet to use ninety percent of her advice when it came to intimate moments. I was actually quite terrified to put her theories to the test.

“I know I need to talk to him, but I’ve been hiding out this weekend trying to gain the nerve,” I confessed.

“What you need to do is let his ass know that the shit from Friday ain’t happening again. And then you need to set that bitch straight. If I know anything, it’s that girls like her won’t give up until you set them in their place and stake your claim. You remember how persistent Phoebe was, don’t you?” Oh boy did I. That woman was a freak and I mean that in the worst possible way. Aunt Bailey took all she could before she made it clear that she wasn’t going to allow Phoebe to get within five feet of Uncle Jackson; unless, of course, she wanted her eyes clawed out.

“I refused to let the woman intimidate me,” Bailey said. “You need to make this Lacy realize she won’t run you off.”

I sat silent, letting everything Bailey said sink in. “If he’s who you want, Liv.” I bit down on my lower lip. “If Keeton is who you want, then you have to show her he’s yours.”

“I do,” I whispered. I had never felt about anyone else the way I felt about Keeton. But my fear was that the man I was already falling for was a man I didn’t even know. He had obviously held things back from me, and that left a sick feeling in my stomach. “But what if I’ve just been a pastime for him?” And of course there was that fear too. There had to be a reason why he felt he couldn’t fully open up to me, why he was holding back from letting me in.

“Well then, honey, I won’t be able to hold up my end of the deal,” she replied. “I’ll be forced to tell Jackson and in turn he’ll tell Noah and your dad. And we all know exactly where that will lead. The three of them will be on the first flight out of here.” She laughed to lighten the mood. “If that boy knows what’s good for him, he’d be smart to make things right with you. Whatever that may be, he needs to figure it out now.”

I knew she was right. The last thing I wanted to happen was for those three knuckleheads to catch wind of this and make a trip to Texas. I could hold off one at a time, but the three of them together—hell would surely break loose.

“He’s been trying to make things right,” I confessed. “But I’ve avoiding him.”

“Then it’s time to face it,” she added. “Things won’t fix themselves without a lot of words. If you need to yell and fight it out so be it, but avoiding him ain’t gonna fix anything sweetheart. You can’t run from it, Liv. You need to face him.”

She was right; it was time to stop hiding.