Olivia’s Ride(12)

She’d grown silent once again.

“Can I come get you now?” I sat down on the couch and waited for her to answer.

“No,” she whispered. A feeling of defeat washed over me. “I don’t want to come over. I’m still pissed at you, and that means I can’t let you come get me. Because if you do I won’t be able to stay mad at you and you don’t deserve my forgiveness yet.”

I couldn’t help but smile even if it was short-lived. Liv was sassy and stubborn, but I adored her. And she was right—I didn’t deserve her forgiveness quite yet.

“Okay.” I wanted to argue, but what was the point? I had no ground to stand on. I deserved her coldness.



***



I woke up to Duke rutting around in bed, just before he took off toward the front door. I was just about to holler at him when I heard a light tapping noise.

It sounded like someone was knocking on my apartment door.

After grabbing my shirt from the floor I slipped it on over my head and walked in Duke’s direction as he sat next to the door, his tail wagging a hundred miles a minute.

When I looked out through the peephole, I found Olivia standing on the other side, her head tilted downward as if she was looking at her feet.

I had finally fallen to sleep sometime after 2:00 this morning, with a feeling of extreme regret for the way I acted. I couldn’t stand the idea that I had hurt her.

Now she was here and I honestly couldn’t unlock the door fast enough.

She didn’t look up at me though; instead she held a stick out in front of her and shook it from side to side. “I found your stick.”

I chuckled because I couldn’t help myself. I was so glad the tension from last night could be broken by the silliest gesture.

I stepped over the threshold and hooked my arm around her waist just as she looked up at me. I watched her eyes grow wide as she got her first glimpse at my face, yet I didn’t give her time to react. I covered her lips with mine and kissed her, trying to drown out any doubt she may still be feeling.

Her hand came up and hooked around my neck as she toyed with my hair. I loved when she did that; it was so soothing.

“Your face,” she whispered when I gave her a moment to breathe before kissing her once again.

“It’s fine,” I assured her as I rested my forehead against hers. “I’m fine.”

“Did you call the cops?” she asked, as she leaned back and trailed her thumb just beneath my cracked lip.

“It was just some drunk; he’s sleeping it off in some shelter I’m sure. It looks worse than it is.” She didn’t look completely convinced.

The crinkling noise of a paper bag gave me the perfect form of distraction. “What’chya got there?”

She lifted the white paper bag. “I brought donuts.”

“Vanilla pudding?” I asked, hopeful.

She rolled her eyes and held out the bag, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Yep,” she fake gagged, and I leaned into kiss her once more.

I took her hand in mine and led her toward the kitchen, placing the bag on the counter. When I tugged her past the kitchen toward the bedroom she squealed. I spun around, hooked her waist, and lifted her from the ground as if she weighed nothing, backing her against the wall just outside my bedroom.

“What about your donut?” she asked, looking at me through hooded eyes.

“They can wait,” I whispered, my lips hovering over hers. “I’d rather have you.”

Her body trembled against mine and I couldn’t help but smirk. I truly enjoyed the effect I had on her. Even when she tried to appear unaffected by me, her body could never lie.

The gym shorts I wore hid absolutely nothing as I began to harden from her small body pressing against mine. I pinned her with my hips, but because she was so tiny, my erection pressed firmly against her stomach.

“Take me to bed,” she mumbled against my lips.

I needed no further invitation. I bent enough to hook my arms around the backs of her thighs and lifted her against my chest. Turning toward the bedroom, I nudged the door shut with my foot and lowered her to the bed.

Olivia moaned as I covered her body with mine, leaving kisses down her neck.

“So much better than any donut,” I whispered, smiling against her neck when she giggled.

Another thing I loved—her happiness.





Chapter Fifteen





Olivia



“Well, I missed class,” Keeton mumbled, with his face still buried against my neck. “And I’m gonna be late for work.”

I laughed because his lips were tickling my neck.

My body was still overly sensitive to his touch. After the long pleasure fest Keeton just inflicted on me, I would be lucky if I was able to walk.

He lifted his hand and rolled to the side, his naked body still pressed firmly against mine. I curled into him for warmth and looked up at his cut lip. I didn’t know if I fully bought his story. Something told me there was so much more, but I chose not to press him.

Keeton was not the most forthcoming person when it came to his life. We talked about the here and now, but when it came to his past, he would always skate over the topic.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

I wasn’t going to tell him I wanted him to tell me about his family and the things of his childhood, even though that was rolling around in my mind. Instead I chose to take the easy road.

“I’m enjoying the fact I don’t have class today and that if I chose to stay in bed all day, I can.” I snuggled in just a little closer to prepare for what I knew was coming.

“Rub it in, smartass.” He grabbed for my side and began tickling me as I squealed loudly and wiggled against him.

He stopped torturing me, and I looked up to find him watching me. “You know, you could stay here in bed if you want,” he told me. “It’d be nice to come home after work tonight and find you here.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Maybe we could go out to a movie or dinner after I get cleaned up,” he said, leaning in to kiss me. “Sound good?”

I nodded. Staying snuggled up in Keeton’s bed, buried in sheets that smelled of him, sounded perfect.



***



I wasn’t sure how much time passed but I woke to Duke’s barking. I rolled over to see that it was a little after 4:30.

The sound of keys rattling in the door had me scrambling for a t-shirt.

I hadn’t expected Keeton until after 5:00, but maybe he got off work a little early, and I was still in bed. I suddenly felt guilty for lying around all day while he was working.

When I heard a girl’s voice I froze, and my stomach instantly dropped.

“Hey buddy, did you miss me?” she asked Duke, and he barked. Instantly I knew who it was.

I decided hiding in the bedroom was not an option, because I had the right to be here. After all I was invited. Oh, and this was my boyfriend’s apartment. So I gathered my wits and exited the bedroom.

She was standing just on the other side of the living room, holding Duke’s leash in her hand. When she looked up and found me standing only a few feet away, she froze.

“Oh wow, I’m sorry,” she said as she looked me over. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“What are you doing here?” I crossed my arms over my chest trying not to appear nervous, but honestly my hands were shaking. Adrenaline? Hell, I had no clue. “How did you get in?”

Instead of answering she just held up a key hung on a bright pink key ring, shaped as a L. It was obviously her key.

“You have a key?” I couldn’t stop the words from coming out defensive. I didn’t really like the idea of her in Keeton’s apartment, being able to come and go as she pleased.

“I take Duke out every day before I go to work,” she said, as if it was no big deal. “I honestly had no idea you would be here.”

“So you just walk in here, whenever you want, without even thinking twice about it?” I knew she wasn’t the one I should be having this conversation with, but she drew the short straw today and the Sawyer attitude reared its ugly head. “And why wouldn’t I be here?”

“I didn’t mean anything by that; it’s just Keeton usually never leaves girls at his place when he’s not home.” Her comment struck me wrong. “Here take the key.” She thrust it out toward me.

I took it from her, unsure of what I should actually do with it. “Well, I’m not just any girl, I’m his girlfriend, but you already know that. Just like you already know he doesn’t have girls here period, unless that said girl is me. You and I have seen one another enough in passing to know that, Lacy.”

“There’s no need to get nasty.”

A silence settled over us, and I sensed some sort of territorial haze in her eyes.

“I guess since you’re here, he told you what happened with his father?”

Once again that nasty feeling churned in my stomach.

“What?”

I didn’t know if this was some catty game she was playing but I was not caring too much for the shit-eating grin she now wore.

“Oh, well, he doesn’t have the best relationship with his father, or his brother, for that matter. I just figured since you were here after his run-in with his dad last night that he may have filled you in on what happened.” Yes, she was most definitely being bitchy.

My fight slowly began to leave me. I mean, honestly what, exactly, could I say? It was obvious Lacy knew my boyfriend better than I did.