Suspicious Minds (Fate #3) (18 page)

“I promise,” he said, walking to his bedroom, glad that this hadn’t
escalated as he’d begun to think it might.

Once he was in bed and they were long over the annoying subject
of her ex, other thoughts invaded his mind. How soon would she be spending the
night in his arms again? How long should he wait before dropping hints about
her moving in with him? After waking a few times last night to the amazing
feeling of having her in his arms, Lorenzo knew it wouldn’t take too many more
times of waking with her like that before he’d be addicted. In fact, already he
wished she was there in his bed with him now.

By the time he hung up with her and he lay there thinking about
everything they’d discussed, Lorenzo had made a new vow. He was still
determined to never be blindsided again. But as long as Liv didn’t give him any
reason to question her, he’d be damned if he was letting this asshole come between
them just because he still had feelings for her.

So far she’d handled every one of his suspicions perfectly.
Despite still feeling a little agitated, he felt even more determined. His new
vow? He wouldn’t let Jay or his experience with Linda ruin things for him and
Olivia.

~~~

Over a week had gone by since they’d spoken of Jay. The
only thing Liv had said since was when she mentioned having talked to Margie
again. She said Margie was still on the fence about having the baby. According
to her calculations, she still had about three weeks to decide.

During that conversation, she’d told him about blocking Jay in
every way she could think of: her phone, her email, her social media. She even
blocked him on her sister’s phone and social media. She said she would’ve also
blocked her brothers’ phones and social media in case he figured out how to get
a hold of her through them. But then she assured Lorenzo she didn’t think Jay
stupid enough to do that. “Remember they never liked him and he knows it.”

As previously vowed, Lorenzo didn’t touch on the subject again
and wasn’t planning to unless something happened. She’d done everything right
so far. At this point, he felt fairly certain he had nothing to worry about.

“Have you seen her brother play?” Romero asked, taking a practice
swing, and then squinted back at Lorenzo. “Andreas,” he added to clarify, but
when Lorenzo still looked confused he continued. “AJ, her younger brother, he’s
a catcher for the minor leagues.”

“Oh yeah,” Lorenzo said then clarified. “She’s never referred to
him as Andreas. Just AJ.”

“I don’t see him often enough since he’s out of town so much,”
Romero explained, setting up. “Manny and Max always called him ‘the little one.’”

Romero paused then took a swing, and all of them watched the golf
ball fly up high and away and then fall.

“Nice,” Sal and Isaiah said at the same time.

Lorenzo was too busy still smirking about Romero’s comment. He’d
met all three of her brothers, and he’d hardly call any of them little. When
Romero turned back to them, Lorenzo chuckled. “Little one, huh? I haven’t seen
him play, but none of these guys”—he turned to Isaiah with a smirk—“not even AJ
are what I’d call little guys.”

He wasn’t kidding either. If Liv hadn’t told him beforehand that
she had a younger brother, he would’ve assumed when he met them that they were
all older. All three towered over her and her sister. And he didn’t even
consider Liv and Emilia short girls either.

“Ha!” Romero said. “That’s what I told them when they kept
calling him that, but I guess it’s just ’cause he’s the youngest of the three.”
He shrugged. “Oh and Max just loves to brag that AJ is his nephew.” Romero made
a face and started imitating his uncle. “Oh yeah, my nephew Andreas, he plays
for the big leagues.” Romero shook his head. “First of all, it’s the minors, not
that I’m taking anything from the kid,” he said, eyeing Isaiah playfully. “I’ve
seen him play. He’s pretty damn good. He’ll be up there soon enough, but Max
has been going on and on ever since the kid made single-A ball.”

“Sounds to me like someone’s a little jealous,” Sal said, smiling
as he set up his ball. “AJ stealing your thunder with your uncles?”

Romero waved him away, laughing. “Nah, you kidding me? I’ll be
fifty someday, and Max and Manny will still be proudly telling stories of when
I was in middle school. Those two just love to brag about everyone in the
family, so they can take credit for all their accomplishments. They throw
around how they have a nephew who’s a firefighter too. And”—he turned to Lorenzo—“I
heard him brag about Livi before and how young she started her own business.”

“Has he?” Lorenzo smiled, remembering how proudly they’d spoken
of her at the repast. He turned to Isaiah. “I gotta tell you I was pretty
impressed myself. Not much longer and it’s all hers.”

Isaiah, who’d been preoccupied with his putting gloves, turned to
Lorenzo strangely. “It’s already hers.”

“I mean once she’s done paying off the van it’s hers. It’s how
she explained it to me anyway,” he said quickly, feeling a little foolish. “Maybe
I misunderstood her. I thought she had to pay off the guy who’s technically her
silent partner. There you go,” he said, suddenly relieved that he had it right.
“That’s what she called him: her silent partner.”

Before Isaiah, who was still considering him strangely, could
respond, Sal spoke up. “Oh, yeah, that must be the guy who showed up the other
day to inspect her van when she was done with our dogs.”

Lorenzo and Isaiah turned to Sal and asked the same question as
the same time. “What guy?”

They glanced at each other before glancing back at Sal. “The guy who
stopped by just as she was wrapping it up with Grace,” Sal said. “Grace said
she thought maybe it was just someone in the neighborhood who saw the van. That’s
happened before. That thing’s a moving billboard!” Sal must’ve noticed neither
Isaiah nor Lorenzo seemed amused because his demeanor seemed to change a bit
before he continued as casually as possible. “She introduced him to Grace as
her boss.”

“Is this Hollingsworth?” Isaiah asked with that still annoyed
expression.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Sal said quickly.

“Her boss? Inspecting her van?” Isaiah’s expression went even
more severe, but then he glanced at Lorenzo. Isaiah looked away as soon as
their eyes met, and it seemed he attempted to shrug it off. “That’s not what I
call the guy,” he said, pulling out a putter from his bag with a noticeable
scowl. “I guess she just thought it would be easier to explain him that way.”

Instantly, the curiosity about this Hollingsworth guy was
sparked. No doubt Sal picked up on the same tension Lorenzo did and wisely didn’t
add more. Instead, he grabbed a beer out of the ice chest on the cart and
offered Lorenzo and Romero one.

Lorenzo took one, reasoning that while he told Liv about his job
and they’d talked about his temporary deployments with the reserves, he didn’t
give her
all
the details. Her not mentioning the guy stopping by to
inspect her van shouldn’t be a big deal. But her brother’s reaction to it was.

What was that about?

He’d felt his phone buzz earlier but had been in the middle of putting,
so he checked it now. They only had about forty more minutes until they were
done here. After that, he was picking Liv up and they were going to catch a
movie. This wasn’t a big deal. He could wait until later to casually bring it
up. He was just curious mostly.

When he saw he had a text from her, he let out a slow breath.
Alright, only because she’d texted him, maybe he could ask
one
thing. He
clicked on her text.

Cirillo is out for the rest of the season. =( You and
Vince jinxed my Cowboys!

I’m done early just so you know. So in case you’re as
anxious to see me again as I am you, come and get me whenever you want!

For a second, he thought about not mentioning her
boss
and
ruining her playful mood. Even as he texted he was still debating whether or
not he should mention it, and at the last second he decided against it. It was
probably nothing, and he wouldn’t make something out of nothing.

Cirillo shouldn’t have even been playing this season. He’s
done! Just like the Cowboys will be soon. I’ll be out of here in under an hour.

Slipping the phone in his pocket, he felt slightly proud of
himself for letting it go. But a part of him was still curious. He shrugged it
off as they all laughed at Isaiah’s suck-ass putt.

“Alright, maybe you can just caddy for us and refill us when we’re
empty,” Romero said, laughing heartedly. “No offense but my daughter would put
your ass to shame!” Romero turned to Sal and Lorenzo when they laughed. “Seriously,
Mandy’s the shits. Manny and Max are already all over it!”

The conversation swayed completely off Liv as Romero told them
about Max and Manny not just buying golf clubs for Mandy but for his oldest son
Romeo as well. They started them off by taking them to shoot balls into the
lake, and the second Mandy asked about lessons both were enrolled.

A couple holes later they were done. Isaiah was a cool enough guy
and all, but Lorenzo didn’t feel close enough to him yet to ask him about
Hollingsworth. Clearly Isaiah backed off when he realized he’d said too much
about something he perhaps considered a private matter between him and his
sister. So when they walked away from Romero and Sal because Lorenzo and Isaiah
had parked in the opposite direction from them, he refrained from asking him
anything about it.

It was too soon to now, but in time, Lorenzo would make sure it
was clear that anything regarding Liv was his business now too. Just as they
began to part ways, Isaiah turned to Lorenzo. “You coming down tomorrow?”

Lorenzo thought about it for a moment then smirked. “To watch the
Raiders kill the Cowboys? I don’t know. I thought that might be awkward
watching in the same room with you guys.”

Isaiah shook his head, rolling his eyes. “Whack, whack, whack,” he
said, opening and closing his hand by his ear and smiling big. “Put your money
with your mouth is if you’re so sure that’s gonna happen.”

After throwing stats back and forth and looking up the spread on
their phones, they settled on a bet. Lorenzo felt a little more comfortable
with the guy, and he had a feeling that after tomorrow and spending more time
with her brothers he was really going to like them. But he still didn’t feel
comfortable enough to bring up Hollingsworth, so he let it go.

Halfway to her place he decided it wasn’t worth even a tense
discussion, and unless it came up again directly from her, he didn’t even need
to know.

Twelve

Olivia

Two things were going through Olivia’s head the moment
she read Isaiah’s text asking why Elton was
inspecting
her van. One, she’d
have to come clean about Elton showing up every now and again to check up on
her. Two, did she keep this to herself again and hope that by chance this
subject wasn’t discussed in front of Lorenzo today or should she just bring it
up before
he
had a chance to?

The thought had crossed her mind when Lorenzo first mentioned he’d
be playing a round of golf with Romero and
Sal
today. Then it did again
when Isaiah told her at the last minute that Lorenzo had invited him. Isaiah
had the day off, and even though he sucked at golf, he figured it was as good a
time as any to catch up with his cousin. He’d also smirked and teased, “Might
be a good chance to get to know this boyfriend of yours a little better too.
See if he has the potential to be good enough for my sister.
Some
day.”

Olivia had smiled smugly. She knew all her siblings were as thoroughly
impressed with Lorenzo as she was. She’d seen the expressions on their faces
when she explained how, not only had he served his full term in the Air Force
as a pilot, he was now part owner of the gun range and firearms training place
they’d actually frequented a few times. Still, she knew all that stuff came in
a far second in her brothers’ list of priorities when it came to the most
important thing about anyone dating their sister.
This boyfriend of hers
better treat her right. So far she could smile just as smugly about that as
well.

She kept her response to her brother’s text simple, making Elton’s
stop by to see her sound as insignificant as possible. His response was to ask
if she was home. When she informed him that she was, his next response was “I’m
on my way. We’ll talk when I get there.”

Her only hope was that they’d get their talk over with before
Lorenzo got there. Lorenzo had also texted her to tell her he was stopping at
home first to change then he’d pick her up. Luckily, Isaiah wasted no time
getting right to it the moment he stepped into the kitchen.

Of course, Nathan would be right there making himself a sandwich
when Isaiah walked in.

“So Hollingsworth’s your silent partner?” he asked, putting his
keys down on the counter. “You said it was just a loan. That you wouldn’t have
to deal with his ass at all. Now he’s showing up to check up on you?”

“He does that with all his clients,” she explained as Nathan eyed
her with a murderous glare. “It only happens once in a great while and only if
he happens to be in the area.”

“Has he made you anymore
propositions
?” Nathan asked,
already wearing his “don’t lie to me” face.

What she’d already told them was stretching the truth enough.
Elton dropping in on her was happening far more than once in a great while. Olivia
had never been a good liar, so she decided to come clean about one thing. “No,
he did happen to come by around lunch time, and he asked if I’d eaten. I said ‘no’
and he said he’d buy me lunch.” She held her hand up because both her brothers
looked ready to spit. “We had tacos from a taco truck up the street, standing
outside by their makeshift eating area. It was hardly anything that would be
considered romantic or inappropriate. I had a client I had to see in fifteen minutes,
so our lunch was over in less than that.”

“Livi, all a guy like that needs is a little encouragement,”
Isaiah’s warning was a bit exasperated. “Anything, even going along with having
a quick lunch with him will have him thinking he stands a chance.”

“It was a business lunch,” she insisted. “An informal business
lunch. We talked about nothing else but how things were going with the van and
my clients.”

This was the truth. Though she knew it was only because they hadn’t
had much time to dabble into anything personal. But their conversations always
did. This was also the same reason why Olivia hadn’t mentioned her new
boyfriend to Elton. It wasn’t just the way her brothers were both glowering at
her that told her this wasn’t going to fly anymore. She knew without a doubt
that Lorenzo knew since Isaiah questioned about her
silent partner.
It
was clear they’d talked about it. Lorenzo was the only one she’d ever referred to
Elton as a silent partner to. She was just surprised Lorenzo hadn’t mentioned
it in their texts.

Nathan was about to say something when Isaiah held his hand up at
him. “Look,” Isaiah started. “We know you’re an adult and we can’t and
won’t
”—he
gave Nathan a stern look—“be policing who you can and can’t have lunch with or
even hang out with. It’s just that you said it yourself, Livi. Before he ever
propositioned you,
you
said he was creepy.
You’re
the one who
mentioned he made you uncomfortable. That was your gut telling you to be on
alert, and that gut feeling was spot on, wasn’t it?”

Olivia nodded, a little irritated with herself for ever having
mentioned that to them in the first place. But as creepy as she thought Elton
back then, she never would’ve imagined him proposing what he had.

“Now as adults, Sis,” Isaiah went on in a noticeably calmer tone,
“you and I both know what his proposition was code for. He basically asked you
to sleep with him in exchange for money. The money you owed him. This is the
only
reason it pisses us off that he’s still sniffing around you.”

“Yeah,” Nathan agreed adamantly. “I don’t care how old you are, Liv.
You’re still my baby sister, and if I find out that asshole’s disrespecting you
or making you uncomfortable in any way, I’m going after him.”

Isaiah and Olivia both gave him a look though it worried Olivia more
than she could tell it exasperated Isaiah. They all knew that was the last
thing Nathan should be thinking. Nathan already had assault charges they were trying
to get expunged from his record.

“Don’t worry,” she said, trying to sound as comforting as possible.
“I won’t let him disrespect me, and he didn’t do or say anything to make me
uncomfortable this time.”

“I take it you haven’t told your
boyfriend
everything
about this guy, have you?” Isaiah asked, coming around the kitchen island and
opening the fridge. “He seemed pretty relaxed about it when the subject of Hollingsworth
stopping by to do an
inspection
came up
.
Something tells me that
guy wouldn’t be so cool about that if he knew the whole story.”

Raising her chin a bit, she admitted the truth. “I didn’t see a
point in telling him the whole story. It might upset him for no reason.”

“Might?” Nathan laughed. “If it were my girl, I’d be
pissed
!”

“You know I hate to agree with this guy when it comes to
anything,” Isaiah said with a smirk as he poured himself some orange juice. “But
I’m with him, Livi. Enzo seems like a cool dude. I like him for you.”

Nathan’s face soured a bit and he shrugged. His verdict wasn’t
quite in yet. Olivia reached out and rubbed her brother’s big arm teasingly. “You
know you like him,” she whispered.

Nathan rolled his eyes as Isaiah continued. “I may not know a
whole lot about your boyfriend, but I do know one thing just by the way he
looks at you. The guy’s crazy about you. Any guy crazy about his girl is not
gonna want someone like creepy Hollingsworth sniffing around her.”

It was silly, but hearing her brother say Lorenzo was crazy about
her made her a bit giddy. Though she knew what he was saying about Lorenzo
being pissed was very likely true. Now that she knew she’d have to talk to
Lorenzo about this, it made her nervous.

Nathan finished chewing but brought his fist over his mouth
anyway when he spoke. “Hell, even if I wasn’t crazy about my girl, it’s the
principle that matters. If she’s
my
girl, then she’s fucking off limits
to other guys making social visits at her job and asking her out to lunch. C’mon,
Liv, we all know what this guy’s up to. A simple text or email could get him
the info he’s supposedly just dropping by to check on. It’s bullshit.”

Olivia agreed with her brothers that it was
odd
. Though
she knew it was more than odd. The whole time Elton had talked to her he’d
stare and smiled at her in that way she just knew he was waiting for her to ask
what was on his mind. Of course she refused to, but she hadn’t been completely
honest with her brothers about something else. Elton did make her
uncomfortable. He always had. That’s why she’d been compelled to mention it way
back when she was still in training. The way he ogled and smiled at her back
then was just off-putting. She should’ve known her brothers would never forget
her mentioning it.

By the time Lorenzo picked Olivia up, she was a nervous wreck.
She wondered just how he’d bring it up, if at all. Given what Isaiah said about
Lorenzo being relaxed about it, halfway through their night out she was tempted
to not bring it up at all.

Olivia reasoned that his not bringing it up was indicative of how
he felt about this
non
-issue. Then she had a scarier thought. Maybe he
was just waiting to see if she’d offer up an explanation before he had to ask
for one—test how forthcoming she really was. Yet he’d been in a cheery and
playful enough mood all night.

Obviously they couldn’t talk about it during the movie, and
before the movie there wasn’t enough time. Just as they sat at the frozen
yogurt shop, digging into her second scoop of yogurt, he asked her something
that made her swallow her spoonful all at once, resulting in major brain
freeze.

“Did your brother tell you?” She stared at him, pinching her
brows together in pain, and he tilted his head. “What’s wrong?”

“Brain freeze,” she explained, touching her fingers to the crease
in between her eyes.

His expression morphed from confusion to amused sympathy. “Want
me to get you coffee?” he smirked.

“
No
,” she said with a pained but equally amused smirk.

The brain freeze ceased slowly, but his question still loomed.
Mad at herself for not having brought it up first, she was relieved to hear him
say Isaiah had invited him over the next day for the Cowboys-Raiders game. She
smiled big for two reasons. First of all, she was glad her brothers, who could
be ornery when it came to any guys around her or Emi, seemed to have taken a
liking to Lorenzo, even if Nathan wouldn’t admit it just yet. Second, and most
importantly, she was smiling in relief because his question hadn’t been about
Elton. That’s when she decided to stop stalling before it was too late.

“So I didn’t mention it to Isaiah because I didn’t even think about
it until later,” Lorenzo said with that twinkle in his eyes. Just another thing
that made her sigh when gazing at him. “But do you think it would be okay if I
invited Vince and Rosie over tomorrow too? This way I’d have at least two more
Raiders fans cheering with me amongst the onslaught of Cowboy fans.”

Olivia laughed. “Two more? Vince hasn’t turned Rose to the dark
side yet.”

“I was talking about Ruby.” He laughed, wiping his mouth. “We’ll
get Rosie to turn soon enough, but Ruby was born a Raiders fan.”

Olivia nodded, assuring him that’d be more than fine, as she took
another much smaller spoonful of her yogurt. The moment she was done savoring
it, she went for it. “I meant to tell you,” she started, shaking off the fact
that this wasn’t entirely true, “Elton stopped by the other day while I was
working.”

It wasn’t what she’d call a frown or even an annoyed expression,
but he knew. Olivia saw it in his eyes. His attempt to not let his playful
smile flat line instantly was her first hint. It just slowly waned until he was
staring at her with more of a curious expression than an annoyed one. But she
could see it in his eyes. He
had
been waiting for this. Without comment,
he waited for her to go on, but the intense emotion in his eyes, despite his
attempt to appear calm—relaxed—made her want to kick herself.

In the last few weeks with him, she’d gotten to know him pretty
well. She should’ve known better than to lie even if only by omission. The
moment she said it, she could tell he knew she’d
never
once meant to
tell him about this but she was doing so now
only
because she had to.

Clearing her throat, she moved her spoon around in her yogurt cup
and glanced down at it. “He does that every now and then just to check in and
see how things are going.”

“To
inspect
your van?” he asked, taking another spoonful
of his yogurt but still staring her straight in the eyes.

“Well, not really inspect.” She smiled, trying to make light of
it. “He just comes in, gives it a once-over, and just makes sure everything is
running smoothly. Usually when I happen to be in his area.”

Lorenzo continued to stare at her even as he licked his spoon
clean without saying a word. He knew there was more.

Without giving into the incredible unease she was suddenly
feeling, she sat up straight and continued. She’d done nothing wrong, and
nobody, not her brothers nor Lorenzo, was going to make her feel as if she had.

“So if it happens to be around lunch time or something, and he
happens to catch me right around the time I’m finishing up like he did the
other day, sometimes we grab lunch.”

Just as Nathan predicted, Lorenzo was not happy about this.

“Really?” he asked, sitting back in his chair in an apparent show
that his interest was no longer on the yogurt. “So where’d you have lunch with
him?”

“Taco truck up the street,” she said indifferently. “I barely had
time to grab something before my next client.”

“But if you’d had time—?”

“No. I always say I don’t have time.”

“You said he has access to your schedule.”

“My schedule changes all the time,” she blurted out and began
talking way too fast. “People cancel last minute, and I don’t even get a chance
to update it in my calendar. Sometimes I make phone calls to people who were
hoping to get their dogs in sooner and let them know I have an opening. He can’t
know every minute of my schedule—”