Suspicious Minds (Fate #3) (17 page)

By the time Lorenzo called, Olivia felt emotionally spent. She
hated that Margie had taken her otherwise perfect day and practically ruined
it. Revisiting the shameful memories of the person she vowed she’d left behind
was not something she wanted to do now that she was feeling like a brand new
person. That wasn’t her anymore, and she refused to let Jay ruin or even affect
her relationship with Lorenzo. Hearing Lorenzo’s voice did, however, make her
feel better.

They’d only been on the phone for a few minutes, and she’d
thought she’d been doing a pretty good job of shaking off the uneasy mood
Margie’s call had put her in. The last thing she wanted was to ruin this day
for Lorenzo too. Telling him about Margie’s call would do that for sure. She
was determined not to lie to him even by omission, and she knew he couldn’t
possibly be mad at her, but it would definitely make for a tense conversation. So
she’d decided to wait and tell him about it another time.

And then it happened. “What’s wrong?” he asked, but he didn’t
sound overly concerned, so she didn’t panic just yet.

“What do you mean?” she asked as casually as she could.

“You sound a little down,” he said, still not too concerned. “You
feeling okay?”

“Yeah,” she said again, trying to sound casual and a bit chipper
even. “I’m just a little tired.”

“Then maybe I should let you go so you can get some sleep.”

“No, I’m good,” she said too quickly then bit her tongue and
squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m lying in bed,” she explained, “so I’m resting. I
can still talk to you. I
want
to.”

That last part was practically whispered because she was already
having visions of Lorenzo’s intense stare, and now she was going to panic that
this conversation just might happen. Geez, could she be any more transparent?

He was silent on the other end for a moment then spoke again. “What
else did you do after you got home today?”

She’d already told him about finding the perfect place for each
and every one of the flower arrangements they’d brought back from the beach
house and how she’d told Emi all about yesterday, today, and the bracelet he’d
given her.

“I talked on the phone,” she said her eyes still closed.

He was quiet again as if he knew he’d hit it on the nail. “With
who?”

“Margie,” she said simply but still didn’t open her eyes.

“The one who’s seeing your ex now?”

“Yes.”

“Is this the first time you’ve talked to her since the day you
found out about it?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me about it.”

Eleven

Lorenzo

Don’t let what happened with Linda fuck things up for you
with Olivia.

Vince’s words repeated in Lorenzo’s head over and over, and he
welcomed them. He needed to keep this in mind. He’d be open-minded, damn it.
Just because one call from Margie already had Liv sounding strange, it didn’t
have to mean anything.

They’d just had the best two days ever. He’d gotten pretty good
about reading her in the past several weeks, and he’d seen it in her eyes
plenty of times now. She was just as crazy about him as he was about her. Most
importantly, Liv deserved more than the benefit of the doubt. She deserved his
full trust. So he waited as she beat around the bush, telling him how Margie
had texted her to say she needed Liv now more than anything and how she’d felt
compelled to hear her out.

“It’s not just that her family is uber religious, but they’re
very old fashioned,” she said as Lorenzo took a deep galling breath because he
got the distinct feeling she was prolonging this—avoiding getting to the real
reason why she
still
sounded strange. “Not only did they have her late
in life, so they’re much older than parents of someone her age are normally, but
she has an uncle who’s a pastor and her parents both have degrees in theology.
It’s why I was so surprised when I first found out she was involved with Jay.
She never
said
she’d be waiting until she was married to have sex, but
she said her parents had waited and her mom always said she should too. Margie
herself has always been religious. She prays about
everything,
so I kind
of had the feeling that would be the case with her. Before Jay, she’d only ever
had one relationship that even came close to being a boyfriend. I never told
her, but I always got the feeling it was why he sort of disappeared and lost
interest with her. Jay . . . well, he’s not the type of guy who would ever have
an unconsummated relationship. For a minute there I even thought maybe that’s
why they’d gotten engaged. But I was wrong. I should’ve known there’s no way
that would be the case with him.”

“Liv, babe,” Lorenzo finally had to speak up.

“Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?”

“She’s pregnant,” she said simply, making Lorenzo swallow hard.

“But they’re engaged so . . . why does that bother you?”

“It
doesn’t
bother me,” she said defensively. “It’s just
that . . .”

Lorenzo could feel the tension he’d already started feeling
become heavier with every moment that went by and she didn’t continue. “Just
that what?” he finally had to ask.

“He wants her to have an abortion.”

“What?” Lorenzo gripped the phone a little tighter. “Why? He was
gonna marry her anyway.”

“He’s not gonna marry her,” she said, exhaling loudly.

As aggravating as this conversation was becoming, hearing her
exhale the way she did made it seem as if she were finally going to get to what
was
bothering her, so he braced himself.

He heard her take a deep breath but said nothing as if she were
trying to figure out what to say first. Lorenzo’s gut feeling didn’t like where
this was going. It brought back the memory of the first and last time they’d
spoken in depth about this guy. She’d been uncomfortable then, too, pausing a
lot, and he hated it, but he waited patiently.

“I got a text from him today too,” she finally said, and Lorenzo
was on his feet, but she didn’t pause this time, so he listened without
interrupting. “Which I didn’t respond to and I deleted it, like I plan on doing
if he ever texts me again. So before you get upset or anything, just know that
I have zero intention of reconnecting with him in
any
way. Margie is different.
She’s been my closest and only true friend forever. We’ve always known each
other better than our own families knew us. Sometimes I thought she knew me
better than I knew myself, and we’ve been through so much together. She’s been
there for me in some of my darkest hours. It’s why I wanna be there for her now
too, but Jay’s totally different.”

“What did he want?”

Lorenzo could feel the anxiety rising up his spine, already
making his neck muscles stiffen. He knew from the moment he started seeing Liv
it would feel so much worse if he ever experienced anything remotely close to
what he had with Linda. This confirmed it because she hadn’t even done anything
and already he felt on the verge of losing it.

“I haven’t responded to any of his messages or calls since I
found out about him and Margie. He’s insisting he wants to talk to me now. I’m
assuming it’s because of her pregnancy.”

“Regardless of why he wants to . . .” Lorenzo stopped talking and
walking at the same time, pinching the rim of his nose, and took a deep breath
to try and remain calm. He
did not
want to start regretting having
gotten involved with Liv. While she just told him she wouldn’t, he
had
to reaffirm where he stood on this. “That’s not happening, Liv. You know that,
right?”

“Yes. I know,” she said immediately. “I don’t want us arguing
because of him, and I want
nothing
to do with him. I
hate
what he’s
doing to Margie.”

“I don’t wanna argue either, babe. Believe me. I don’t. But you
have to tell me everything I need to know. Did he say anything else?”

Liv made another one of her exasperating pauses before finally
speaking again. “Aside from being smug and saying he knows I want to talk to
him, he didn’t say anything else, but Margie did. Lorenzo”—she exhaled but
thankfully didn’t pause for long—“I’m only telling you this because I want to
be completely honest with you. I don’t want to keep anything from you. But I
refuse
to give him the power to still mess with my life. If this upsets you, then it’s
exactly what I’m doing and he wins. So please believe me when I say this doesn’t
matter to me at all, okay?”

“Okay,” he said immediately.

Feeling his heartbeat spike because he already had a feeling what
was coming, he grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and poured himself some water
from the water dispenser on the fridge.

“According to what he told Margie, he still has feelings for me.”
For the first time in this entire exasperating conversation, Liv sped up
instead of pausing as she’d been doing and started spitting it all out at once.
“He’s trying to guilt her into aborting the baby because he says if anyone
knows how much he and I belong together it’s her. He says a baby with her will
ruin any chance for us reuniting. Remember I told you she was the only one who
knew about my relationship with him? She was there from the very beginning to
the bitter end through all the tears. She knows what he meant to me
once
upon a time
. It’s the only reason I think someone who is so strongly
against abortion would even consider it.”

Lorenzo had started pacing but stopped after hearing that last
sentence. “
Why?
Does
she
believe you still have feelings for him?”

“I guess she did.” It was like a punch in the gut, but he waited
for her to go on. “I reminded her that I’d moved on before I even left Texas,
but she knew we’d kept in touch still. I guess she just assumed that deep down
I still wasn’t over him.”

“Any reason why your
best
friend who
sometimes knows
you better than you know yourself
would think that?”

Again she was silent, and without thought, he smashed his glass
in the sink.

“What was
that?
” she asked, the alarm apparent in her
voice.

“Nothing. I dropped something,” he said quickly, running his
fingers through his hair and needing to get a grip. “Answer the question, Liv.
Why would your best friend believe him?”

“She had no way of knowing about you. If she’d been around when I
first met you and I gave her the blow-by-blow on everything that’s happened,
she probably would’ve pointed out before I even admitted to myself how hard I
was falling for you. I guarantee you she’d agree that what I feel for you is
totally different from what I felt for him.”

She stopped because she said she had a call from her brother she
had to take but asked him to please hold on. Lorenzo took the moment to grab
paper towels and clean out the mess he’d made in his sink. By the time she was
back on the line, he’d pretty much cleaned it all up, so he walked off into his
living room, but he still felt too pumped up to sit, so he continued to pace.

After explaining briefly about her brother asking if she wanted
him to bring her anything from the drive-thru, she took a deep breath and
continued her explanation.

“I need you to understand something, Lorenzo. I was hoping I
wouldn’t have to share this with you because it’s embarrassing, but if I have
to, I’m glad this is happening early on so I can just get this over with. I, uh,
I’ve thought about it a lot. Why in the world was I so infatuated with Jay for
so long? I said there were
some
good times with Jay and me, but if I
really think about it, there were a hell of a lot more depressing times and
drama than there were good. The embarrassing part is now that I’m with you I
know what the main thing was about Jay that kept me around because it was the
only time I felt even a fraction as excited with him as I do with you.” She paused
for just a moment before blurting it out. “It was the sex.”

Lorenzo dropped down on the sofa, letting his head fall back.
This was the last fucking thing he needed to hear.

“After yesterday and today, I know now that it wasn’t even
because it was that great. It was just that sex was brand new to me. I was so
young,” she continued again, blurting it all out. “He was older—far more
experienced—and he knew exactly what to say and do to me to make me not want to
walk away or to lure me back into that toxic relationship. My mom was working
all the time and counted on my brothers to watch over me, and while they did,
and I’m sure they would’ve murdered Jay if they’d known he’d
deflowered
their
little sister, they trusted
me
. I was always with Margie, and they knew
how holier-than-thou her entire family was, so they never suspected what I was
up to. Jay’s older brother lived in the basement of Jay’s parent’s house. It
had a separate entrance, so we had access to it whenever he wasn’t home, and he
was gone a lot. But other than the times he was seducing me, most of the time
it was drama, heartache, and tears. Since I couldn’t cry to anyone else, it was
always Margie who was there to console me. I know now that wasn’t love,
Lorenzo. I was completely infatuated, but I was never in love. I was actually
beginning to think I was one of those stupid girls who enjoyed being treated
badly. But after that first night with you, despite how drawn to you I was
since your departure wasn’t the, uh,
nicest,
I had no desire to try and
reconnect with you. Admittedly”—she chuckled in what he could only guess was
her attempt to lighten the mood a bit though Lorenzo couldn’t even conjure up a
smile—“there was something about you I couldn’t quite stop thinking about even
weeks later. But I was still completely against going for anything more. Even
when I realized you knew my cousin, and technically, I could
try
to
reconnect with you that way, since you didn’t seem at all interested, I wasn’t
going to bother trying. In fact, after I realized you were Rose’s
brother-in-law, I was actually kind of sad that I might have to cut down on
hanging out with her because I wasn’t putting myself in that kind of situation
ever again. I told you I’m not that person anymore, and I’ll never go back to that
again. And now that I know what Jay so coldheartedly and calculatingly did to
Margie, I certainly have no desire to ever
speak
to him again.”

“You can block him, you know.”

Lorenzo wouldn’t ask her to block Jay outright, but if she really
meant what she’d just said, he didn’t see why she wouldn’t.

“I’m going to,” she said without hesitation, and Lorenzo felt such
enormous relief he decided to refrain from asking why she hadn’t already.

As much as he cared about Liv now, he
would not
be letting
his guard down about this. His affection for her was beyond anything he’d ever
felt for anyone—including Linda, someone he’d felt strongly enough to ask to
marry. He’d made an exception for Liv by giving in to the insane attraction he
felt for her, but he vowed he’d never be blindsided again.

At least, he knew Liv got it. Blocking her idiot ex should do the
trick since he did live out of state. If Lorenzo didn’t have to worry about his
trying to contact her, then they should be okay. They wouldn’t have to argue
about him and neither of them wanted to. “Is that the only way he contacts you?
Via your cell?”

“We used to Skype, and he has access to all my social media, but
first chance I get I’ll be blocking him from
everything
. I’d do it
tonight, but I’d rather talk to you and not about him anymore. Okay?” Her voice
went a little sweeter, and the strangeness he’d heard in it earlier was gone. “Will
you please promise me you believe me when I say you have nothing to worry about
when it comes to Jay?”

His Liv was suddenly back, the one he was certain now he’d fallen
so terrifyingly hard for. Lorenzo could even hear the sweet smile in her voice
again. The thought of Jay still not being over her didn’t sit well with Lorenzo,
especially since he understood completely why that would be. But he had to
trust that she was being sincere about having zero interest in even talking to Jay
anymore. She was willingly blocking him out of her life. That should be more
than enough to satisfy Lorenzo’s anxiety about the guy. Looking back now, he
could only remember asking Linda once
maybe
twice about her feelings for
her ex. He’d never been an insecure guy, so he hadn’t bothered with worrying
about it once Linda assured him she was over him. It wasn’t fair that Liv had
to deal with something brought out in him by someone else’s betrayal.