I disagreed; it was her business. Maybe not necessarily our past sexual encounters and the details of each event, but in order for her to feel safe about the present, the past would need to be discussed. If the roles were reversed, I knew I would want to know.
A tense silence set over us as I stared at the top of her head while she looked down, still focusing on her ring.
“Com’ere,” I said.
At first I wasn’t sure if she would come to me, but when she rose up on her knees before standing and walking in my direction, I felt the tightness in my chest let up.
She tried to sit next to me, but I captured her hips in my hands and pulled her onto my lap, one leg on each side of me.
Once she was seated, I gripped her hips and pulled her forward, bringing her as close as possible. “You’re wrong.” I said. This caused her to look directly at me and arch her brow.
That damn look of hers always threatened to make me laugh. That Sawyer stubbornness she talked of often ran through her heavy.
“And may I ask how I’m wrong?”
“Okay, feisty,” I said, tapping the end of her nose with my finger. “Slow down. I just meant that anything you want to know about me, you should feel free to ask. It is your business. If we’re together, then I want you to feel welcome to ask about my past relationships.”
“So you did have a relationship with Lacy?” And there it was.
I looked directly at her hoping the intensity in my stare made her understand what I was about to say was the full truth.
“For a very short time, yes,” I confessed. “But it was nothing like what you and I have. And in the end, we realized we’re much better as friends.”
She nodded her head, as if to accept my explanation. It only irritated me, because there was no way she could be fully satisfied with just that. Girls just didn’t work that way. And I knew if we didn’t get through this now, we would only be fighting about it later.
“There is nothing more than friendship between us now, Olivia. There hasn’t been for close to two years,” I assured her. “You have nothing to worry about.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
I had a feeling she wasn’t being honest. I could feel the hesitation in her when I placed my hand on the back of her neck and pulled her lips to mine.
I would just have to prove to her she was the only girl I wanted.
Chapter Eleven
Olivia
My phone rang in the distance but I didn’t want to move.
I was in one of my most favorite places. A spot I had grown to love over the last month. A place that no matter how miserable my day may have been, it always made me feel better.
Keeton’s arms.
We snuggled on the couch to watch a movie, my head resting on his chest, and I must have dozed off.
“Liv, your phone,” Keeton said as he kissed my forehead and held my phone out for me to take.
Seeing it was my dad only made irritation roll through me. He had dragged his feet on the whole apartment issue and just last night told me he decided against it. He was being damn stubborn. As if being in a dorm would stop me from acting like an adult. Hell, my roommate didn’t let the dorm stop her from banging every guy within a ten mile radius. My father thought keeping me locked away in a dorm would keep me in a little metaphorical cage.
“You do understand that he will just keep calling?” Keeton whispered, causing me to roll my eyes.
“Yes,” I replied. “I fully understand that, but I like to make him sweat. It’s actually quite humorous to work him up until his face changes colors.”
“I’ve seen the way you work him up.” Keeton pulled his arms from behind my head and got up from the couch. I instantly missed him.
He looked back over his shoulder and flashed that dimple that made my stomach tense with excitement, every time. “Call him back, babe.”
But before I could think of doing so, my phone began to ring again. I groaned and hit the button to answer the call.
“I was two seconds from hopping on a damn plane, Olivia.” he growled. He didn’t even take the time to say hello.
“Well hello to you too, Dad.” I leaned back against the couch cushion and closed my eyes. “I’m doing well, thanks; how about yourself?”
“Stop being a smartass,” he added. “What took you so long to answer?”
“I was studying.” It sounded more like a question than an answer. I opened my eyes to find Keeton standing in front of me with his eyes narrowed and his brows scrunched up together.
My father’s response was more of a grunt before he started to talk again. “I was calling because I have some good news.”
For a moment I grew excited at the idea of him calling to tell me he changed his mind about the apartment, but then he began again.
“Amber’s pregnant,” he said, and I could hear the happiness in his voice. It hadn’t been the news I was hoping for, but it was happy all the same. It was hard not to smile knowing I would have another brother, or even a sister.
Had someone asked me five years ago if I wanted a brother or sister I would have thought they were crazy. I gave that notion up when my mother passed. But after my dad married Amber and they shared the news of Rory and Rogan, I couldn’t remember a time I had been happier. I adored the two of them and couldn’t imagine what it would be like without them.
“That’s so exciting,” I said as my eyes grew misty. “How far?”
“Still real early, but we wanted you to be the first to know.”
He grew quiet for a moment. “I know you’re mad at me about the apartment thing.”
“It’s all right.” I didn’t want this to be yet another argument. I wanted to just enjoy the news.
“Can we just get through this year, you come home for the summer, and we’ll talk more about it?” He sounded suddenly sad.
“Yeah, Dad,” I replied. “The year is almost over anyway, and you wouldn’t be able to get back any of the housing costs for the dorm, so we’ll just consider it for next year.”
“So I didn’t run you off from coming home for the summer?” I couldn’t help but laugh at my father’s weak attempt to assure my presence back in Livingston.
“I’ll be there,” I assured him. “I miss my boys.”
“They miss you too, Liv,” he said with a chuckle. “We all do.”
“Love you, Dad,” I told him.
We said our goodbyes and I hung up just as Keeton sat down at my side. “Everything okay?”
“My stepmom is pregnant,” I said, and once again smiled so big my cheeks ached. Keeton smiled in return because he had spent more than enough time listening to me go on and on about my little brothers. “It was hard to be upset with him about the apartment argument when he sounded so happy.”
Keeton just sat and listened to me ramble.
“I spent years watching my father mourn the loss of my mom. He was so sad all the time and there was nothing anyone could do to bring back the spark that was in him when my mom was alive. He always told me that he loved her from the moment he saw her, and losing her was like losing half of himself.” I took in a shuddering breath as Keeton rubbed my leg soothingly.
“When he met Amber, I’ll admit I was a brat about it. But I was so scared having her in our lives meant that I had to let go of my mom. But it wasn’t like that, because Amber made sure of it. She’s amazing, and she always made sure my mom remained a huge part of our lives. There are pictures of her around their house as if she’s part of the family they’ve created.”
I turned to look at Keeton as a tear escaped and ran down my cheek. He quickly wiped it away with his thumb.
“Amber brought my dad back, and the happy in his world has multiplied beyond anything I ever expected. And now they’re having another baby.” My lower lip trembled, not from sadness, but because the happiness consumed me.
And then a thought hit me.
“What are you doing this summer?”
He looked back at me suddenly with a confused look. “Working.”
I nodded and looked off toward the kitchen.
“Why?” he asked.
“I’m going home for the summer,” I whispered.
A silence set in as we both realized I would be thousands of miles away from him in little more than a month.
“Don’t you have family you’ll visit?” I asked.
“Nah,” he answered quickly as he once again got up from the couch. Yet this time he didn’t pause to look back at me to flash that dimple I loved. I could tell it was a subject he didn’t want to continue discussing.
And it was then that I realized Keeton hadn’t shared much about his family. I had gone on and on about my own, yet knew very little about his.
Chapter Twelve
Keeton
I stood behind Olivia with my arm wrapped around her waist, my hand stretched out over her lower stomach.
The way she was wiggling her hips to the music had her ass rubbing against me with the beat of the song, and it was making some things real hard to control.
She’d dragged me along to some party her friend Courtney invited her too. I wasn’t much for partying and neither was Liv, but I could tell she was doing her best to appear like she was having a good time.
She rested her head back against my shoulder and arched her neck enough to place a soft kiss against my jaw. My eyes closed on their own accord because her touch, whether it was a small graze of hers lips or a gentle skim of her fingers, always made me a little weak.