Safe With You (28 page)

It’s a wonderful morning view.

Sliding to the edge of the mattress, I slip out of bed without disturbing Kyle. I pick my black lace nightgown off the loveseat and shoot into the bathroom to brush my teeth and comb my post-sex bed head.

I fall back onto my pillow and take a cleansing breath, running my fingers through his messy hair, lightly dragging my nails over his scalp. He smiles, but his breathing is still even. As cliché as it sounds, waking up next to your hot, naked boyfriend tangled in Egyptian cotton sheets in a luxury hotel suite leaves nothing to be desired.

Kyle stirs and pulls me close, nuzzling my neck. “Morning, gorgeous.”

“I should say the same. Your hair always looks phenomenal when you wake up.” I laugh and roll over, messing up his tornadoed mane.

“Are you ready for today?” He traces a line down the side of my face, his warm brown eyes providing more support than I’ll ever use in ten lifetimes.

“Not at all. I’m going to get through it, though.” I’ll never be ready for confrontations. I hate them. The only thing I can do is try my best. I place a short kiss on his lips. “You’ve given me the confidence I need.”

“That’s what I like to hear. But, if he’s a dick, I can’t guarantee I won’t knock him the fuck out.” His smile vanishes and I know he means it.

I smirk and nod. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”

Kyle rolls out of bed, letting the sheet pool to the floor. I giggle as he sweeps me into his arms and walks to the bathroom. I fling my nightgown on the floor and pull him into the massive shower. We both start as the cool water spurts out, but I instantly warm as he kisses me, filled with need.

But today, I’m no-nonsense. I maintain my composure as his hands rove my body and grab the shampoo off the ledge. I suds up and sigh as Kyle massages my scalp, taking over the duties. I squirt some more soap into my palms and give Kyle a mean Mohawk and laugh as his overgrown strands flop over, making him look like Elvis.

I sigh as he gets out of the steam first so I’ll have a warm towel. By the time we’re both ready to go, the anxious bubble in my stomach blossoms into a hot air balloon.

“You look stunning.” Kyle looks at me through the mirror as I put in a small pair of studs. “Very professional.”

I glance down at my white skinny jeans, lavender chiffon blouse, and gray cardigan, all compliments of June. My nails are manicured a light pink, I have more makeup on than I’ve worn in months, and I even spent time straightening my hair and pinning a small braid behind my ear. I don’t know why I’m putting so much effort into this. Maybe if Tyler sees how nice I look, he’ll know I’m taking this seriously.

At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.

“So do you.” I smile, turning around and unbuttoning his fitted plaid shirt at the top. The bursts of reds, oranges, and yellows brighten his complexion and complement his dark-rinse jeans. The shock of his white T-shirt underneath pulls everything together. I tousle his damp hair, fixing the rogue pieces into place.

“I love you, Olivia.” He takes my face in his palms, kissing me.

“I love you more.” I hold him tight for a moment, letting the calm encourage me to be as strong as I know I am.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Paybacks are a Bitch

Kyle

My dad waits for us downstairs in the lobby. He raises a cup of overpriced coffee to Olivia and she grabs it like it’s worth millions. I’m not sure why coffee calms her when she has nerves like an earthquake all the time. He ushers us to the giant leather couches in the lounge and gives me the signature
shit’s about to hit the fan
look.

“Thanks.” Olivia places her cup on the table and takes my hand. “Tim, what do you need to tell me?”

She’s learning quickly.

“Olivia, we wanted to be certain before we told you. Tyler hasn’t been enrolled in school since his first year.” He glances at me.

Batten down the hatches.

I wrap my arm around Olivia, waiting for the sobs.

“Are you serious?” She shrugs me off. Daggers and swords shoot from her eyes as she slumps into the couch. “I’m going to beat the hell out of him. He’s such an asshole.”

“That’s all you can say?” I shift in her direction. “Aren’t you slightly worried about what’s going on?” My attempt to be rational is going down in epic flames.

“Tim, I’m sorry. Thanks for the information. Did you find anything else?” she asks, shaking her head.

“He’s moved nine times in four years.” He hands her a manila folder. “This is everything we have. Nothing you don’t know. Just … be careful today.” I swallow and close my eyes. I hate this. I’ll protect her to the ends of the earth, but nothing is ever easy with us.

The drive isn’t calming her much, either. She’s paler than the sand along the shoreline and her palms are cold, clammy, and shaking. She’s applied lip balm about a hundred and eighty times in the half-hour trek from Santa Monica to her brother’s office on the border of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. At least he didn’t lie about working at this PR firm.

I pull into the garage under a giant office building and punch the button to get a ticket. After I park, Olivia hops out of the car without a word and I grab her hand as soon as I catch up, pulling her to me.

“Deep breaths, come on.” As I take her face in my palms, I rest my forehead against hers. “I’m going to be with you the whole time. Nothing is going to happen.”

She quickly wipes a tear from under her eye. “I know. I just hope he doesn’t get in trouble for me coming.”

“Fuck him, Liv. Seriously. He’s bringing this on himself.” I tip her chin up and look into her eyes. “And you know I’ll put him in his place if he starts anything with you.”

She nods and grips my hand so hard I think my fingers might break. We ride up the elevator to the thirtieth floor in silence. As the bell dings, I kiss her once more. A few people walk out, holding the door open for us, and I’m hoping since we opted for a lunchtime meeting we can actually go somewhere else and talk.

Olivia walks to the receptionist and asks for Tyler as I take a seat on the small sofa. A few minutes later she eases down beside me and I hold her hand. At this point, the tension is so thick I think I might throw up. The wooden door beyond the reception area opens and a guy with deep red hair walks out, stopping dead in his tracks. No anger comes to his face, only wide-eyed shock.

“Ollie, what the hell are you doing here?” He pulls her into a hug. I wait off to the side, an awkward bystander. He gives me a complacent look of thanks, or misery, I can’t tell.

“We need to talk.” Her voice doesn’t waver as she folds her arms across her chest. “I can’t take this anymore.”

“It’s not a good time.” He drops his head, not even giving her the satisfaction of looking her in the eye.

“We just flew two thousand miles so your
sister
could have some closure.” The words grit from my mouth.

“Ollie, I told you not to come out here.” He shoves his hands in his pockets like a pissed off nine-year-old.

“Well, too late. Um, this is my boyfriend. Kyle Avery.” Olivia waves between us. “This is my brother, Tyler. Obviously.”

“Hi.” His jaw tightens as I squeeze the fuck out of his hand. “Any relation to Tim Avery, the lawyer? He’s the one who called for a meeting.”

I’m going to lose my shit in 3
…
2
…

“Are you that dense right now? He helped Olivia after she had the everloving shit beaten out of her outside a bar in New Orleans, on her birthday.” I can’t keep the devil himself out of my voice. Tyler stops short and looks at her. “Surely you knew that. Considering everyone called you a thousand fucking times.”

“No, I didn’t. I changed my number.” His face drains of all color and he hugs Olivia again.

The three of us walk in silence to a small café a few blocks away. We opt for a table outside and sit in even more awkward silence for a couple minutes. I have no idea what to do or say that won’t end with me beating the shit out of him. He hasn’t looked her in the eye once.

We all order coffee, more out of habit than actual desire. When the waitress delivers them, no one even takes a courtesy sip.

“Tyler, what happened?” Olivia breaks the quiet, shifting in her chair. She death-grips my hand under the table and I bite back a pained reaction.

“I’ve been busy. It’s nothing personal.” His response is too quick. Too rehearsed.

The horrific feeling swimming in my gut since we walked off the plane intensifies. I would never, ever tell Olivia how fucking freaked out I am about what he’s going to tell us. I have to be strong for her. She is the battleship I’m tugging along and steering toward the dock, to safety.

I lean forward, clenching my jaw. “I’m not stupid and she certainly isn’t either. You’re deflecting. So we can talk about this civilly or I’ll make you talk.”

“Kyle, please.” Olivia pulls me back.

“No, Liv. This is bullshit. You don’t deserve to be treated this way.” I slump into the chair, gripping the metal armrest. If I only master one skill in life other than baseball, I hope it’s knowing when people are full of complete shit. He shakes his head so fast he looks borderline crazy like he has ten different voices arguing inside his head. Olivia shrugs and I’m not sure if I should dive in front of her to protect her or ride this out.

“You were never brother of the year, Ty. Something is off, just fucking tell me. You left me high and dry with barely a goodbye. Then you stopped talking to me altogether. What did I do?” Olivia’s voice is equal parts fury and misery.

The seconds tick by like millennia. I hate seeing Olivia like this. She knows as well as I do he did something so bad he never wanted to see her again.

“I fucked up so bad. I got jumped and lost everything,” Tyler blurts, his face blistering in swatches of pink and red.

“What do you mean?” Olivia shifts forward, pulling her chair closer.

“I didn’t come out here just for school.” Tyler heaves another few breaths and a prickle of sweat beads on his forehead. “I lied. About why I couldn’t come up for your birthday. About school. About everything. I was working for him. I’m so sorry, Ollie. I am.”

God-fucking-dammit.

He was dealing, too.

“Tyler, are you out of your mind?” Olivia covers her mouth, shaking her head.

“I didn’t know it was you. I didn’t think he’d go after you for my mistakes. I didn’t think Bray had that much pull.” Tyler buries his face in his hands. “I was arrested after this deal went to shit. I talked to the police, I—I cooperated, Ollie. But I swear I had no idea about what happened. I would have flown out. Shit, I would have killed him myself.”

“He beat the shit out of her because of
you
.” I push to stand, but Olivia holds me back. “Are you that fucking stupid to not think he’d go after her? Especially after what happened before she moved?”

“Kyle, please. Let him talk,” she pleads. “I can’t believe you, Tyler. I told you for months how different Braden was and how he was treating me. I was petrified.”

“I know. When you moved to New Orleans, that’s when I tried to stop.” Tyler grabs a napkin and covers his face. “He swore to me when I left for school it was going to be totally low key. But I really had no idea how powerful he was or how many connections he had. Everything got so big and I got caught up. Ollie, I’m sorry.”

I lean back in the chair and rub my eyes. I cannot lose my shit. I cannot. I will end up in fucking jail. All I can do is sit here just as shell-shocked.

“Let’s go.” Olivia slips on her sunglasses and I know we’re about to cause a scene if we stay any longer. She takes Tyler’s arm and we walk back to the garage. “You need to tell me more.”

Every few minutes Tyler will sigh or Olivia will glance at him. If we didn’t come out here, a huge part of me that thinks he might never have talked to her. I don’t know how to bring anything up without being a complete asshole. So I sit and stew in my aggravation until I can be logical about this.

When we get back to the hotel, Olivia and Tyler go to the bar in the lobby to talk. As much as I don’t want to leave her alone with him, she refused to let me come. I get that she needs to talk to him about a lot of stuff, but I’d never forgive myself if something happened to her.

Even if that is a little irrational.

I flip through the channels for a good twenty minutes before I land on SportsCenter. Thankfully football season is in full swing and I can distract myself with that instead of hearing about baseball.

Natasha’s number rolls across my screen, startling me as I doze off. I should have called her a few times over the past few days, but I knew Olivia wanted to talk to her first. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Kyle, I swear to God. I just found out about Tyler!” she sobs, gasping for breath. “I swear I would never … ”

“Tash, slow down. What’s wrong?” I grip the comforter. Olivia’s told me a thousand times Natasha has a rationality problem. She moves into things without thinking them through because she likes instant gratification in every aspect of her life.

She inhales a deep breath. “I went to see Braden in jail right after you guys left. I kind of lost it, Kyle. Every emotion that I’ve had bottled up for years.”

“She’s not going to be pissed if you ripped him a new one.” I have no idea where the hell she’s going with this, but I know it’s not good.

“That wasn’t all … ” Her voice muffles as someone soothes her in the background. I know it’s not Cam because he’s in Miami with his uncle.

“Tash, please keep going.” I sigh, trying to keep my patience.

“So, I really want to get into this art program. I’ve been working my ass off to make a portfolio and selling a ton of my older paintings the past few months to save up.” As she takes a deep breath, I raise an eyebrow wondering where she’s going with this. “But, in the heat of the moment, I was really upset. I told Braden I’d pay him all the money Olivia owed him if he took the deal and stayed the hell away from us forever.”