Olivia’s Ride(3)

“Anyway,” I continued. “Landon struts around campus like he is this gift from the world to every girl he passes. I’ve never been impressed and felt lucky he hadn’t made any attempts to gain my interest. But last Friday he walked up to me and asked me out.”

Uncle Jackson sat tall, squaring his shoulders. I fought against the urge to roll my eyes once again.

I swore when they looked at me they still saw a twelve year old girl in pigtails.

“I turned him down, of course, and basically told him I wasn’t impressed. He tucked tail and walked off trying to save face, but there was a guy who observed the entire thing.” I paused long enough to fight off the smile pulling at my lips. It happened every single time I thought about Keeton and that damn dimple of his.

“Wipe it clean, Liv,” my dad said, and I narrowed my eyes at him. Amber slugged him in the arm and he covered the spot, rubbing lightly. “What?”

“You know what,” she said in return. “She is twenty years old, not fourteen. It is bound to happen.”

He didn’t look pleased at all, but chose not to argue.

Did I mention how much I love my stepmom? She’s got my back and always has. Even before her and my father truly got together, she always put my feelings first. Amber was a godsend, straight from my momma’s arms in heaven. At least that is what I liked to believe. It was her way of watching out for me and my dad. I think she knew we needed someone to help us heal.

And Amber was that someone.

“His name is Keeton Pearce, and he complimented me on the way I handled Landon. But the thing was I completely froze up and just made a fool of myself. He smiled the whole damn time, too.” I looked over at Gran and she smiled wide. “He’s tall, like really tall. And he has the sweetest smile, with a dimple.”

My father stood from his chair and walked out of the room.

“And when he kissed me,” I added, loud enough to torment my dad. He immediately stopped in his tracks and spun around to face me. I couldn’t hold back my laughter from the nasty ass look on his face.

“Shit ain’t funny, Liv,” he mumbled.

“Don’t know about that,” Uncle Noah added with a chuckle. “I thought it was pretty funny.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side.” My dad looked back at him with a grumpy-as-hell expression on his face.

“Hell, brother, I’m on your side. Lord knows when that day comes for Nora, I’m going be knocking some heads, but I’m not delusional enough to think it won’t happen either.” My Uncle Noah was always the logical one; well, most of the time anyway. “She’s twenty years old, Ry. She ain’t gonna be no nun.”

They all treated me like I was some sweet little virgin, but what most of them didn’t know was that ship had sailed my senior year of high school. But there was no need to share that story at all. I’d just let ’em all believe what they wanted to. Amber knew different; after all, she was the one who took me to get put on the pill in the first place.

Like I said, a godsend.

Thank you, Momma.





Chapter Four





Keeton



I entered my apartment after an eight hour shift at the garage to be bombarded by Duke, my Siberian husky. He was only two years old and was the biggest damn baby, even though he appeared vicious.

My neighbor, Lacy, took him out for me during the day until her shift started at the diner. Going all day without me to rough him up made him a bit hyper.

I bent down and picked up his ball, torn and on the verge of death, and held it out before him. “You miss me, bud?” I asked as I shook his ball from side to side.

I laughed when his head moved from side to side mimicking the movement of the ball.

When I tossed it, he barreled ass toward the direction it had gone before hurrying to bring it back for yet another round. This was a daily routine before I took a shower and then we went on our nightly walk.

School was back in session tomorrow, and believe it or not, I was looking forward to the distraction. I hated the quiet. It always made me think that in reality, I was alone. I didn’t have family I could turn to or a mass of friends I could hang out with. I was that loner everyone categorized me as, someone who stayed out of the limelight and chose to keep to himself more than follow the leader. Well, without the partying and so on.

My free time was spent either working at the garage with Nate, or doing programming and technical repairs on computers contracted out to me by a local repair shop. I was my own boss, it was good money for easy work, and it paid the bills. Plus, it was something I enjoyed doing. I was a techy; not what most would assume, I knew. The garage job fit the outside image people saw; the computer geek did not.

After I loaded up Duke’s bowl, I jumped in the shower, then put on a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt. I figured if I was going to take Duke for a walk, I may as well make it a run. I was feeling a little down on myself since my recent visit to my father’s, and it was time to pull myself out of this funk.

Duke and I started off at a slow pace down North Ave., rounding onto Milton. My earbuds blasted my country-boy mix, filled with a little bit of everything Texas. Duke was still so damn playful and hyper that at times I felt he dragged me along. He was a damn good workout partner.

We came to a stop near the student hall, and I leaned against the side of the building, just for a few moments to catch my breath. Duke took a seat at my side and I swore he was looking up at me as if to say, “What, pussy? Can’t keep up?”

“Yeah yeah, I know I’m out of shape.” I laughed when Duke tilted his head to the side. Apparently my dog was a comedian.

“Out of shape is not what I was thinking.”

I looked up quickly and it was me that was thrown off kilter this time.

Olivia Sawyer stood only a few feet away from me, her arms crossed and placed just beneath her breasts, now pushed upward and begging for me to stare. Only I continued to look at her face, because those gorgeous blues were pretty hard to resist.

“So the feisty girl can talk,” I suddenly found my confidence.

“Yeah,” she said with a little shrug. “I’m not really mute.”

We both stood staring at one another as if we were just waiting for the other to speak.

“Does he bite?” she asked, looking down toward Duke.

“Nah, he’s just a big ole’ baby,” I assured her.

She moved closer and held out her hand in Duke’s direction. “Hey boy,” she whispered as he sniffed at her hand. His tail began to wiggle profusely and she laughed at his happy response.

“Duke,” I told her and she knelt down in front of him as he nuzzled against her. Instantly I was jealous of my dog.

They continued to share a moment as I quietly observed.

Olivia was beautiful. She had her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail that hung over her left shoulder when she leaned forward. The smile she now wore was the complete opposite of the surprised expression she had the first time we met. She appeared so much more relaxed.

“Now I know the dorms don’t allow pets, so you must live off campus,” she prompted as she stood up and placed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

I had a little one bedroom apartment just off campus. Nothing special, but it was mine.

“Yeah, we live over on North Ave. in a small apartment.” Duke still sat at her side as if he too was completely mesmerized.

“I’d give just about anything to get away from the dorms. My roommate is a nightmare. In fact she purposely looks for ways to torture me.” A small groan of irritation escaped her lips before she continued. “My dad has this thing about me living off campus alone. But he needs to realize my roommate is probably a hell of a lot more dangerous than anything I’d encounter out there.” She pointed away from the building and rolled her eyes.

I think I could watch her facial expressions all day and not get bored. She was fucking adorable. I don’t think she even knew how appealing she was. Everything about her was so natural. It was as if she didn’t give a shit about what I thought; she was just rambling on.

“My dad’s a little overprotective. And then there’s my uncles—they’re like a group of damn bulls when it comes to me. I’m surprised they even allowed me to go off to college without following me. But my stepmom Amber helped with my escape.” When she looked up from Duke and her eyes met mine, she sort of froze again.

“Ah hell,” she whispered and hung her head once more.

It was then that I chuckled.

“The first time I met you, I barely said five words and this time I can’t shut up. Apparently there is no happy medium for me. You can run away now if you want,” she lifted her head. “I’d completely understand and wouldn’t hold it against ya one bit.”

“You’re actually pretty damn cute when you ramble,” I told her and her cheeks reddened.

“That’s the second time you’ve said that.” She arched a brow as if to question me.

“I like both versions, the quiet, and the wordy. Pretty sure I’d enjoy any other version too,” I confessed. “It’s kinda refreshing, actually. I can think of a few other words to describe what I think of you, but we’ll just stick with cute for now.”

Sexy as fuck, gorgeous, beautiful, just to name a few.