Suspicious Minds (Fate #3) (26 page)

Eighteen

Olivia

When Olivia’s mother died, they hadn’t been able to
afford to bury her. Olivia remembered being so bitter about the astronomical
cost of a cemetery plot, a casket, and services. She’d since chosen to believe
that fate had also played a part in that too. Since they’d had no choice but to
have their mother cremated and kept the ashes in an urn, they’d been able to
take her ashes with them when they moved to California. Olivia had taken solace
in that and had actually decided to be happy about it instead of bitter that
they hadn’t been able to give her mom a proper burial. Visiting her mom’s grave
would’ve been the
only
reason she’d have to come back. So with her
mother’s remains coming with them once she left Dallas, Olivia had vowed she’d never
step foot there again. Even before she’d found out anything about Margie and
Jay and she missed her friend, Margie had been the one who had made the trip
out to San Diego a few times in the last two years. Margie understood why
Olivia never wanted to come back.

Now here she was, and, ironically, Margie was the reason why. The
day wasn’t even over, and already Olivia had unexpectedly had to do so many other
things she’d sworn she never would again: allowing Jay in her life for even a
minute more and lying to her brothers about it. Driving by the alleyway where
her mother’s body had been found was another one. But even that wasn’t as bad
as the one thing she didn’t want to regret but she did: risk losing Lorenzo, who
she now knew, without a doubt, was the love of her life. She knew he’d
absolutely understand why she had no choice but to fly out to try and save her
friend’s life. It was some of the other things she’d been forced to do that she
wasn’t so sure he’d understand. But she had faith that she could get him to
understand. She had to. Olivia couldn’t even imagine her life without him now,
and if he truly loved her as he said he did, he wouldn’t want that either.

Margie was sleeping soundly and would likely be out for a while. Her
parents had excused themselves to her father’s office no doubt to discuss Margie.
So it was as good a time as any to call Lorenzo and start explaining.

Staring at Margie’s phone, she took one final deep breath before
hitting send. It was only ten after four in Dallas, but it was an hour later in
North Carolina. Emi had told her about him asking who she’d been with today. Olivia
had been staring at the phone for the last ten minutes, knowing he’d be anxious
to hear from her and was off now.

She’d been right about him being anxious. It hadn’t even rung one
full time when he answered.

“Hey,” she said, already smiling.

“Hey. Hold on. I’m gonna pull over.”

Her heart was already all aflutter from just the sound of his
voice.

“You don’t have to,” she said, gripping the phone. “You can call
me back when you’re not driving anymore.”

She hadn’t even thought of that. If he just got off training, of
course he’d still be driving.

“No, that’s fine. I’d rather not wait. I’ve been waiting all day.
Just give me a sec.”

“Okay,” she said softly.

Trying not to put too much thought into his already borderline
irritated-sounding comment, she waited quietly. A few minutes later, her
heartbeat was nice and accelerated, and he was back on the line. “Alright,” he
said. “I didn’t think to try and pair my phone up to this rental, and it’s
starting to snow, so I don’t want to take any chances driving while on the
phone. But I’m off the road now.”

“Oh,” she said, gulping. “How’s the training going?”

“What?” he asked, and his tone was no longer borderline irritated
it was definitely irritated, but he seemed to catch himself. “I mean . . . fine.
It’s fine. So what happened? Margie called you this morning?”

“Yes,” she hesitated, especially after she saw Jay pull up in
front of Margie’s house on his motorcycle. “It’s such a long story, Lorenzo.”

“I’ve got nothing but time now,” he said quickly. “I’m done with
training for today, and nothing else to do out here. So let’s talk.”

She watched as Jay stepped off his bike, pulled something out
from inside of his jacket, and headed toward her. “But you said it’s starting
to snow. I’d feel better if you were already in your hotel room, safe and warm.
I can tell you the whole thing then.”

“I’m less than a block from there, Liv. Don’t worry about that.
It’s a light snow. Tell me. What happened?”

Olivia brought her finger to her lips when Jay was close enough
then squeezed her eyes shut for a second and began. “I had another missed
called from that number I told you about yesterday, the one I thought might be
Margie trying to get a hold of me.”

“So it was her?”

“No,” she said, closing her eyes again. “It was Jay calling from his
hotel room.”

Silence.

Suddenly feeling panicked, her eyes flew open and she continued
quickly. “There was more about Margie he hadn’t told me,” she continued quickly
then turned to the door when she heard the latch jiggle.

“Oh, you’re out here,” Mrs. Miller, Margie’s mom said. “I was
wondering why the door was open.”

“Hold on please,” she said into the receiver, noting how again
Lorenzo said nothing, then turned back to Mrs. Miller and motioned to the
phone. “Yes. I came out here to make a phone call.”

Mrs. Miller nodded then turned to Jay with that same disapproving
expression she’d watched him with all day. “Did you forget something, Jay?”

“Nope,” he said, putting on the fake indifferent act he’d been
putting up even way back when he pretended not to care about Olivia’s family’s
disapproval of him. “Just stopped by to see how Margie’s doing and to drop
something off for Ollie.”

“I see,” Mrs. Miller said, pursing her lips. “Well, we won’t know
anything until tomorrow when she gets in to see her physician, and right now
she’s sleeping. Aside from Ollie, I don’t want anyone else entering her room
and disturbing her.”

“Fair enough,” Jay said. “I’ll just wait out here then until
Ollie’s off the phone so I can talk to her.”

Lorenzo chose that moment to break his silence. “Jay’s back in
Dallas too,
Ollie
?”

“Yes,” she whispered, wondering if this day could get any more
nightmarish.

“Did you go there with him?”

“Yes,” she said, willing Margie’s mom to just go back inside so
she could speak freely.

Mrs. Miller had stood at the door for a few more seconds before
making a show of opening the wooden door all the way. Then she turned to Olivia,
her brow slightly arched.

“I’ll be right in here if you need me.”

Clearly Mrs. Miller didn’t like or trust Jay, and she was making
a point of leaving the door wide open so she could keep an eye on him. She’d
likely stay within hearing range too. There was no way she could tell Lorenzo
everything now.

“Have you been with him all day, Liv?” That cold tone Olivia
hated to hear was as ominous as ever. “Is he the reason why you left so
suddenly? Because
he
told you, you should?”

“No, I came because Margie needed me.” Olivia looked up and
addressed Jay. “I’m gonna be on the phone for a while.”

“Take your time,” he said, strutting back toward his bike.

Olivia didn’t have time to argue with Jay. She needed to talk
Lorenzo down. She hated how in such a short time of knowing him already they’d
had enough intense moments she could sense this getting ugly fast if she didn’t
explain quickly.

Walking away to the furthest end of the porch and away from the
front door, she lowered her voice significantly and brought her hand over her
mouth and the receiver.

“There’s a lot I can’t tell you right now.” She lowered her voice
even more. “Margie’s parents don’t know everything. She doesn’t want them to.”

“Then tell me about you and Jay. Why’s he still there? I’m
assuming he had plenty of time to
explain himself
to you today and on
the plane ride there. Did he get to tell you all the bullshit he said he wanted
to last night? Has he convinced you to let him back in his life?”

“First of all,” she started, surprised by the conviction in her
own voice. Lorenzo had spit out every single one of his words. He sounded ready
to explode, but she managed to remain calm. “I got my ticket last minute. Our
seats weren’t even together,” she explained, thankful for that part. “Second, I
told you I’m only here for Margie. She wants me to be there when she goes to
her doctor tomorrow. But after that, I leave. So I’ll be home before you even
get back. You already know I want nothing to do with him ever again.”

“Yet he convinced you to drop everything and leave with him. You
were with him all day, Olivia, and now he’s there again, waiting for you get
off the phone. What the fuck does he want?”

“I don’t know,” she said, knowing that was a half-truth. “But
listen to me, baby—”

“Don’t call me that,” he snapped suddenly, sounding even colder
than she’d ever heard him. “Margie’s asleep and it’s still early. So what are
you gonna do when you get off the phone with me? Go hang out with him?”

Just then Jay started up his motorcycle loudly. She pressed the
phone against her ear and cupped her hand over her other one. Jay revved the
engine even louder then rode away, and Olivia waited until the obnoxiously loud
sound of his engine was far enough.

“He just left,” she told Lorenzo. “But even if he hadn’t—”

“He rides a motorcycle?” Lorenzo asked incredibly, sounding even
angrier.

He did. An expensive Harley he paid for with his dirty money. But
she’d just leave that part out.

“Yes.”

“Did you ride with him today?”

Her eyes opened wide, and suddenly she knew why he sounded so
much angrier, and her stomach plummeted.

“Did you, Liv?” he asked even louder but didn’t bother giving her
a moment to respond this time when he continued. “Did you ride around with your
arms and legs wrapped around your ex-boyfriend all day?”

The louder but still cold tone he was speaking in now was so
unlike him, even in all the times she’d heard him angry or tense, and it choked
her up. It sounded too damn much like the times Jay had been a total asshole to
her in the past.

“Not all day,” she whispered.

She heard him scoff. “That asshole may’ve left, Olivia, but I can
guarantee you he’ll be back. You know what? Go do some more riding around with
Jay.
In fact, don’t worry about hurrying home on my account. You can just stay in
Texas with your fucking little boyfriend as long as you want because you don’t
have one in California anymore.”

As worked up as she’d heard him getting, it was still such an
unexpected blow. Olivia hadn’t even had a chance to recover enough to respond
before he hung up. She stood there for a moment completely stunned as she felt
the warm tears fill her eyes and the intense pain in both her throat and her heart.
Finally, she let out a gasp and fumbled with the phone, calling him back, but
it went straight to voicemail. Her shattering heart held out hope maybe that
was because he was calling her back at the same time.

“Call back,” her trembling lips whispered as she stared at the
lifeless phone.

When it didn’t ring, she tried again, but again it went to this
voicemail. Feeling the tears stream down her face, she brushed them away with
her fingers, but it was hopeless. They were endless now.

“This didn’t just happen.” She sniffed as her trembling fingers pathetically
redialed his number again.

Refusing to accept the painful reality that, yes, this really
just happened, Lorenzo had just broken up with her, her mind raced. Who else
could she call? No one. Even if she did get a hold of Rosie so she could beg
her to plead with Lorenzo to answer his phone—to hear her out—Rosie wouldn’t be
able to get to him either, not if his phone was turned off.

Even her initial knee jerk reaction of thinking she could just
apologize to Margie because she had to jump on a plane ASAP was squashed when
she realized it’d do her no good to race back home. Lorenzo wouldn’t be answering
her calls regardless of where she was calling from, and he’d still be gone for
days.

The pain of that truth was excruciating. As much as she didn’t
want to compare this to all the times Jay had made her feel like such an
insignificant part of his life, it was hard not to. With the way she felt about
Lorenzo, she knew in her heart of hearts, even if she found out he’d had dinner
with an ex or spent an entire day with one, she’d be more than willing to hear
him out. She could never just dump him as he so easily did to her.

How could he?

Even in the heat of the moment, she knew she’d never have it in
her to say those words to him: that she’d so quickly and effortlessly made the
decision that she was done with him. Suddenly she was overwhelmed, feeling
unworthy of Lorenzo. She was ashamed because she knew now that despite how easy
it was for Lorenzo to just discard her she was still willing to beg his
forgiveness if she had to.

Olivia had never once begged Jay, but she had taken him back so
many times after he’d done her wrong. That wasn’t any better than begging.
Where the hell was her dignity? She kept saying she wasn’t that girl anymore,
and yet here she was desperately hitting redial and praying the call wouldn’t
go straight to voicemail, hoping that maybe it
had been
just a heat of
the moment reaction and he’d answer and tell her he couldn’t live without her. But
he never did.

She didn’t even realize she was crying so hard or that she’d sat
down on the porch bench until Jay sat down next to her. The sound of her
anguish had been so deafening it’d drowned everything else out, including Jay’s
motorcycle. As loud as it was, she hadn’t heard him return.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

Flinching noticeably, she moved away from him. “I
am not
your baby,” she said through her teeth.