Olivia’s Ride(11)

I heard her squeal and I waited for her little voice to come on the line. “Hi, Livia.” It was so cute the way she said my name; she always dropped the O.

“Hi, sweetheart, how are you? Are you keeping your mommy and daddy in line?” On most days, Belle acted as if she were the grownup parenting Jackson and Bailey. It was really comical.

“Yep,” she stated proudly. “And Billy screams at them too.”

I laughed because I knew what she was referring to—my little cousin’s screeching screams. He wasn’t old enough to know yet that he would be forced to keep his parents under control.

After all he was just a baby. Jackson had named him after Grandpa which warmed my heart.

“Well I’ll be home this summer to help you whip them into shape,” I promised her and she squealed in delight once again.

“Okay, kid,” I heard Jackson grumble. “Give me the phone.” After a couple more seconds he came back on the line and Belle continued laughing and tormenting her father. I loved to hear her giggles.

“You’ve corrupted my daughter,” he complained.

“Yeah, right; she was corrupted from the moment she was conceived. She’s a mixture of you and Bailey; she had no hope for innocence.” It was true and we all knew it.

“Hardy har; now who’s the smartass?” he chuckled.

We chatted for a few more minutes before saying goodbye.

I entered my dorm room with caution as I always did, because I never knew what I was walking into.

Finding the room was empty was a pleasant surprise. I had a paper due tomorrow and I knew I had to pull an all-nighter just to complete it.



***



I had been so consumed that when Jeanette, the bitch from hell, entered our room it was well after 10:00 p.m. It surprised me I had not heard from Keeton, because I knew he got off work at 8:00.

“No boyfriend tonight?” she asked as she flopped very unladylike down onto her bed.

“What, no hairy fat guys tonight?” I asked, without looking up from my laptop.

I continued to tap away, editing and rewriting.

She opted out of responding to my comment and the silence of the room set in once again. After I was satisfied with my paper, I saved it to my flash drive and decided to take it downstairs to the student commons to print out a hard copy. Seeing it on paper was always helpful to me when it came to doing a final edit.

I also wanted a chance to call Keeton without Jeanette listening to every word I said.

After stepping off the elevator I made my way over to a quiet corner and dialed his number.

After three rings I was more than positive it would go to voicemail, so I prepared myself to leave a message when he answered.

“Hey.”

His voice sounded a little off, nothing like his normal husky smoothness whenever he answered my calls.

“Hi,” I said in return. “I hadn’t heard from you and I was getting a little worried. Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine, Liv.” He sounded almost irritated that I would ask.

“Yeah, it sounds like it.” I suddenly regretted calling.

“I’m just tired and I fell asleep,” he responded with little emotion.

I was just about to apologize for waking him when I heard a female voice in the background. “Where is Duke’s leash?”

I wanted him to say something about what he knew I heard, but he only ignored the entire situation. “Listen, I have a headache. I’m just gonna go to bed and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

He didn’t hang up, but he also didn’t say anything more.

I remember what he told me only a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to use the right he gave me to ask questions regarding Lacy, hopefully without coming off as a jealous girlfriend.

“Was that Lacy?”

I could clearly hear the deep breath he expelled before he responded. “She offered to walk Duke; that’s all it is, Liv.”

His attitude was grating on my nerves. I honestly had no idea where the hell it was coming from, but the uncontrollable Sawyer rage lit up inside me.

“Ya know what? I don’t know why you’re being an ass, but I can assure you I don’t appreciate your attitude toward me. So do me a favor—don’t call me tomorrow unless the stick you have up your ass has found a new place to rest.” I didn’t give him a chance to speak before I hung up, then decided I didn’t want him calling later when he realized he was being a prick. So I shut the phone off too.





Chapter Fourteen





Keeton



I sat on the couch, pinching the bridge of my nose as I hunched forward. The bag of frozen peas Lacy insisted I hold on my jaw now lay at my side, thawing quickly.

“That didn’t sound like it ended well.”

I looked to find Lacy just to the side of the door hooking the leash on Duke’s collar. She looked at me with her eyebrow cocked in question.

“You do know once she sees your face, she’s gonna have questions?”

Yeah, I did know. But sharing the fact that my father was waiting next to my truck, looking for money, when I got off work tonight wasn’t something I planned on sharing. Or that when I told him to fuck off it turned into a brawl my boss had to break up wasn’t something I planned to share either.

Olivia came from a tight-knit family. They all shared everything and always had one another’s back. I didn’t know how to explain to her that my father beat on me, for the sheer joy of it, throughout my childhood. I didn’t know how to tell her that at times while growing up, I went hungry just so my dad could buy his bourbon.

I would have to come up with another explanation for the way my faced looked.

“Lock the door when you bring Duke back,” I said as I stood from the couch and moved toward my bedroom. “I’m heading to bed.”

I could have walked Duke myself; hell, maybe it would have helped to clear my head. Instead I decided to go to bed and mentally punish myself for pissing off Olivia. She had every right to be angry at me.

I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, unable to shut my mind off.



“Twenty bucks,” my father said angrily. “You can give your ole’ man twenty god-damn bucks. You’re all high and mighty thinking you’re so much better than me, Keeton, but you ain’t shit. One day you’ll figure that out. Pearce men are drunks; get used to that idea.”



Dumb bastard could have been something different, more like his father, my grandfather. But Kurt Pearce chose to live the same life as his uncles and brothers. And I, unlike my brother, chose to be more.

I wouldn’t let him drag me down.

The sound of the front door shutting caught my attention, just before the sound of Duke’s feet began tapping along the wood flooring of the hallway.

I braced myself for his invasion, because he always took over the bottom of the bed. Even when Olivia was tucked in close, her back to my chest, Duke always found room to snuggle too.

Suddenly my chest ached as my mind wandered to Liv.

I tried calling her back, after she hung up on me only to find she turned off her phone. So I had no other choice but to lie awake tonight, unable to sleep.

Reaching for my laptop that lay on the nightstand, I opened it and logged into Facebook.

Seeing the little green indicator lit up next to Olivia’s name made my heart race. It meant she was online, and maybe I could attempt to fix things before they got worse.



Keeton: I removed that stick that was up my ass.



I hit send and waited for a few seconds, hoping like hell she would send something back. Anything, really. I was trying to bring some humor to a tense situation.

When nothing happened I panicked just a bit and pulled one of her rambles.



Keeton: You were right; I was an asshole and I’m sorry. I know I hurt your feelings, and that’s not okay. Please forgive me. Because I need you.



Another few seconds passed and I had just about given up when a message was returned.



Olivia: If you wanted to be alone then why was Lacy at your apartment?



Fuck.



Keeton: Turn your phone on please.



I watched and waited, my heart pounding and my stomach knotted. And then she was gone. I felt like I had been kicked in the gut.

Until my phone rang.

I scrambled from bed and hurried toward the living room, lifted the phone and said a rushed “Hello.”

“What?” Olivia was still irritated but at least she called.

“Can I come get you?” I asked.

I hated the silence; it was like acid burning in my gut.

“Answer my question.” She wasn’t gonna give. She was too stubborn to let it go until I had her face-to-face.

“I sorta got into a little fight after work tonight.” I braced myself for her reaction.

“Why?” she asked. “And with whom?”

“It was some guy who wanted me to give him money for booze. When I didn’t, he hit me.” I ran my tongue over the cut on my lip and it stung. “It was nothing, really, but when I came home Lacy was getting home from work and followed me upstairs after she saw my face. Duke was whining and she said she’d take him out, and that was when you called.”

“And that was when you decided to be an asshole to me for what reason?”

Olivia didn’t give me any pity. I was glad, because I didn’t deserve it.

“I was wrong. I’d been irritated with the way my night had turned out and I took it out on you. I’m sorry.” I had no excuse. I was wrong.