Suspicious Minds (Fate #3) (27 page)

“Okay,” he said in a calming voice. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“I can’t be talking to you about this, Jay.” She huffed then
sniffed, using her sleeves to wipe her nose and the tears that continued to
pour from her eyes as she struggled to regain some composure.

“This is about your boyfriend, isn’t it?” he asked, but she
wouldn’t even look at him. “He’s pissed you’re here? With me?”

Seeing that she was obviously not going to talk to him about it,
Jay motioned to the plastic bag in his hand. He pulled a small box out and
began to open it.

“I got you a temp phone so you won’t have to travel phoneless.”

He pulled out the small phone. There was nothing fancy about it. “It’s
not a touch screen or anything,” he said with a small smile as he handed it to
her. “But I figured it’s good enough for the next couple days until you get
home and can reactivate yours. You have a hundred bucks of talk time on it and
unlimited texting. That should get you home. But I take it you’re probably not
going to be doing too much talking on it now.”

She glanced up at him and saw the smirk he didn’t bother to hide.
“This is funny to you?” she asked as the anger bubbled inside her. “You must be
loving this, aren’t you!”

“I’m not,’ he said defensively.

“I bet you just love knowing that, once again, you’ve not only
managed to weasel your way back into my life but you got exactly what you
wanted: to break us up.”

“Hey! If he’s gonna be an idiot about it—”

“Shut up!” she said, standing up and suddenly furious. “You know
nothing about him. If you did, you’d be begging to be half the man he is.”

“Ha!” Jay scoffed, standing up too, the dark ominous glare in his
eyes so different from Lorenzo’s—scarier. “That asshole—”

“Shut up!” she said, pushing her fists against his chest. “
You’re
the asshole! You’re the one who treated me like shit all those years. You!”
She pushed him again. “You’re the sick bastard who—”

The front door being pushed open suddenly and loudly made them
both turn to see Mrs. Miller staring at them sternly. “Jay, I think you need to
leave,” she said.

Jay turned back to Olivia, staring at her for a moment as if he
expected her to come to his defense. She lifted her chin, taking a deep breath.

“Take your phone with you,” Olivia said, swiping the tears away
from her eyes, angry with herself that she’d lost it.

“No, you keep the phone,” he said, starting toward the stairs without
it, then stopped. “Ollie, please, I just need to talk to you one last time.”

Olivia shook her head adamantly. “No,” she whispered.

“This could be the last time I
ever
talk to you.” His eyes
pleaded. “Please give me just five minutes. There’s something I’ve wanted to
tell you for over a year.”

With the dull ache still strangling her heart, she glanced at
Mrs. Miller, whose brow rose in disapproval, then turned back to Jay.

“Please?”
he said again.

Nineteen

Lorenzo

Like everything else in the last two days, Lorenzo hadn’t
even noticed the older model Chevy sedan parked in front of his townhome. It
wasn’t even until he’d circled his own car that he saw the girl step out of the
Chevy. Even then, he didn’t catch it was anyone he knew until he did a double
take, saw the pup in her arms, and stopped.

She hurried toward him, scanning him from top to bottom as if
seeing him in his fatigues confused her. “I’ve tried calling you so many times.”

Lorenzo wouldn’t be rude to her, but he wasn’t giving in to
listening either. “Sorry, Em,” he said, continuing to trudge again toward his
front door. “But I have a feeling what it is you wanna talk to me about, and I
haven’t been in the mood. Probably never will be.”

“Oh my God. So she’s really not here?”

He turned to look at her just before he inserted his key into the
front door lock. “Your sister?” He hadn’t even been able to say her name yet, and
it still hurt like hell just to refer to her. “She’s in Dallas, remember?” Turning
back to the door, he proceeded to insert the key in the lock.

“No, she’s not. Well, at least she was supposed to try and get a flight
out late last night, but she never made it home. I thought for sure she must’ve
come straight here to see you.”

“I’m just now getting in from North Carolina,” he said, stepping
into his place.

Lorenzo hadn’t even decided if he was going to invite Emi in when
she followed him in with a purpose. “Have you talked to her?” she asked
anxiously.

“Nope.” He shook his head, dropping his keys on the table a bit
loudly. “Not since the day she told me what she’d been up to out there and who
she was spending her time with.”

“She hasn’t called you today?”

“Not that I know of.”

He opened his refrigerator, trying to shake off the annoyance of
being forced to discuss this. But it was true that he had no idea if she’d
called once he’d gotten on his flight home. He’d purposely hadn’t bothered to
turn his phone back on when he landed. Not just because he wanted to avoid
seeing if she’d called or texted him but because he didn’t feel like talking to
anyone
. Lorenzo wasn’t sure how much anyone knew yet about their break
up, and like when he’d broken things off with Linda, it wasn’t a subject he
wanted to get into with anyone. The hope was that like with Linda, the less he
talked or even thought about this the faster he’d get over her. So far he’d
been sorely mistaken to think this would be anything like with Linda. He was
certain he resembled a walking zombie for all the sleep he hadn’t gotten in the
past two days. Now here he was first thing when he got home talking to Emi
about the one person in the world he’d failed miserably to get off his mind.

“What do you mean not that you know of?” Emi demanded.

Motioning to the phone he set down next to his keys, he took a
swig of milk straight from the carton. After he was done, he took a moment to
answer properly. “I forgot to turn it on after I got off the plane.”

“Well, turn it on!” she said almost hysterically. “Maybe she’s
called you. I’m worried sick, Lorenzo. I know you’re mad at her, but aren’t you
the least bit worried?”

“Why would I be worried? She probably decided to stay a little
longer.”

Lorenzo had considered trying to tone it down, not sound so
bitter, but it wasn’t worth the effort. Mostly it was impossible, so he didn’t
even try.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “She would’ve called me if that
were the case. She knows I’ve been worried sick about her,” she added, her
voice going a little harder. “Besides, Margie said she’s not there anymore. She
did
leave last night.”

Slowly but very deliberately Lorenzo turned and locked eyes with
Emi. Her startled eyes said it all as she clutched Liv’s
baby
in her
arms. They were both thinking the same thing. If Liv wasn’t home yet, she’d
left Margie’s place, and Em had just confirmed what she’d clearly mistakenly
assumed all day—that Liv was with Lorenzo then . . .

“Maybe you should call her boyfriend.”

Emi’s eyes widened momentarily, but she managed to recover from
the obviously unexpected choice of word he’d used for Jay’s relationship with
Liv. Lowering the pup to the floor she straightened out, crossed her arms, and lifted
her chin a bit.

“I did call him,” she said with a glare.

Under normal circumstances, the amusingly angry little brow might’ve
made him smile. But damn it if she didn’t remind him too much of his beautiful
Liv. That mixed with thoughts of who he was certain Liv was with now had his
insides roiling. Up until now, a tiny part of him was holding out hope maybe he
had
overreacted. Maybe he would open that damn text she’d sent him a few
days ago, sooner than he’d expected. He’d refused to read it until he was sure
he could handle reading it without smashing his phone into a million pieces.
Now he wasn’t sure he’d ever read it.

“I did call
you
many times,” Emi clarified almost through
her teeth. “But you didn’t answer.”

Lorenzo scoffed. “I’m sorry. I thought you and Liv were close.
She didn’t tell you we broke up?”

“Of course she told me,” she said, raising her voice a little. “It
took me forever to understand what she was saying because she was so hysterical,
but I finally got most of it. You two didn’t break up. You dumped her without
even letting her explain.”

“What’s there to explain?” he asked, feeling the adrenaline begin
to pump and heat his insides all over again. “She’s in Dallas hanging out with
her ex-boyfriend. Well,” he added, his voice dripping with bitterness, “I’m the
ex now. So he’s her
boyfriend
now since she obviously can’t tear herself
from his side just yet.”

“He
is not
her boyfriend, damn it! She’s in love with you,
and you have no idea what this is doing to her.” She stalked toward the table
where his phone sat and picked it up. “But I don’t have time to argue with you
about that right now. I need to know if she’s called you. May I please check?”

“Have at it,” he said, unbuttoning the top layer of his fatigues.

It was suddenly too hot for layers. Wondering what Liv was doing with
her fucking boyfriend at that moment had him beyond hot.

Em scrolled through his phone quietly for a moment. “There are no
calls from her but . . . this text?” she asked, looking up at him. “The one
marked unread from the other day. Is it really unread or did you just mark it
that way?”

“I haven’t had time to read it.”

Her expression went even harder. “Do you mind if I read it then?
I know it’s from a couple of days ago, but there might be a clue in it.”

Lorenzo shrugged, pretending to not care but had to admit he
was
curious. The curiosity had begun to get the best of him, and it was also why he’d
refused to turn on his phone after he’d landed. He’d read the preview of the
text the day after his infuriating talk with Liv that ended with him calling
the whole thing off. That alone had ruined his entire day early on, and the
preview was nothing more than her explaining she was texting from a temp phone.
The thought of who’d taken her to buy it since obviously Margie was in no
condition to be driving her around nearly had him crushing his phone.

“Maybe you should read it,” Em said, handing the phone to him. “It’s
kind of personal.”

Swallowing hard, Lorenzo stared at the phone in her hand for a
moment before reaching for it. Just by glancing at the screen, he could see it
was a long text, and he braced himself.

This is Liv. I’m texting you from my temporary phone. I’ll
have this with me for the next couple of days. Lorenzo, words can’t begin to
express how incredibly hurt and disappointed I’m feeling right now. This is so
unfair that you would end things so heartlessly without so much as allowing me
the opportunity to explain my side of this. I thought I meant more to you than
that. Don’t I? DON’T I? Really? You’re just gonna hang up and turn off your
phone? I called and called and called. I’m sure you’ve seen the number of
missed calls you have from me! I wanted nothing more than to talk to you, plead
with you to understand why I had to do this. Why I had no choice. But now all I
can think is maybe I was completely wrong about you. Maybe like with Jay I was
SO STUPID to believe you actually cared for me as much as I do for you. My relationship
with Jay may’ve been sick in many ways, but something good did come from it.
And maybe you’re right. Maybe things really do happen for a reason. Maybe my
experience with him was meant to prepare me for YOU. Maybe I should thank him. Because
of him I
am not
that person anymore. I will not beg you or surrender my
dignity to you or any man ever again, no matter how much I adore him. I pray
that I’m wrong about you. That you’re just angry right now, but you’ll come to
your senses and realize how much I love you and that I would never hurt you. I
pray maybe you just need to sleep on it and I’ll know soon enough. I’m sorry
that my having to be around Jay upset you, but my conscience is clear. I’ve
done nothing wrong, so that’s the ONLY thing I’m apologizing for. I refuse to
grovel. I know you have to turn on your phone tomorrow. I know you’ll read this,
and as much as it hurts to even think it, if I don’t hear from you, then I’ll
have my answer to my question. And that’s that I DON’T MEAN SHIT TO YOU! And even
though the new me is crying her eyes out right now, it’s only because this is
still so incredibly raw. But know this. The old me is gone. The new me is going
to do whatever it takes to get over you and move on with my dignity intact.

A part of Lorenzo was glad he’d waited to read this. He would’ve
never made it through his training exercise if he’d read it the morning he’d
seen in on his phone.

The new me is going to do whatever it takes to get over you
.

Really? Like stay and hang out a few extra days with Jay? This
would’ve made Lorenzo even more furious that morning after, when he still hadn’t
calmed even the tiniest bit about her riding around with Jay on his bike. That
fucker had no qualms about admitting that not only was he still in love with
her he was still insisting
she
wasn’t over him either. He’d probably had
a hard on all day, feeling her body up against his.

Yet another part of him felt a mix of hope and fear: hope that
maybe he had overreacted but fear that he may’ve fucked up royally by not
reading and responding to her with
something,
even if it was just to say
he was still too angry to discuss it but he might be willing to once he got
home. The way he’d felt the entire next day and even today there was no way
anything he said or even texted would’ve sounded the least bit sympathetic to
her pain, but if he’d at least responded, she wouldn’t be doing anything infuriating
to try to get over him.

He glanced up at Emi, who was staring at him anxiously. “When’s
the last time you talked to her?”

“Yesterday in the daytime,” Emi said, chewing the corner of her
lip. “But she texted me last night around ten in the evening to tell me she was
heading out to the airport. She’d purchased an airline ticket online, but the
earliest direct flight she could get was a three a.m. flight. She said she’d
called the airline and they told her there would likely be open seats on
earlier direct flights but she’d have to go to the airport and request to be
put on standby, so that’s why she’d left so early. But that’s the last I heard
from her.”

“None of your brothers have talked to her either?” Emi shook her
head, but something about the way she suddenly glanced down at the pup sitting
quietly at her feet got his attention. “When’s the last time any of them talked
to her?”

As much glaring and staring anxiously at him as she’d been doing,
suddenly she was looking everywhere else
but
at him. “Isaiah’s on a
four-day shift. He won’t be home until tomorrow, so I haven’t had a chance to
tell him.”

“I thought you said you’d given her their numbers?”

“I did,” she said, finally looking at him, but there was a
definite change in her demeanor. “With her phone issues and everything she was
still dealing with Margie and her parents, I just told her I’d handle keeping
everybody updated so she wouldn’t have to be bothered making so many calls.”

Lorenzo peered at her for a moment. Something was up. “So none of
your brothers have talked to her or tried getting a hold of her?”

“AJ’s out of town on a tournament, and I’ve just been updating Nathan,
but I hadn’t even told him she was on her way home last night because she didn’t
want me to.”

“
Why?
”

Something was definitely up, and now Lorenzo was back to thinking
he’d made the right call with his reaction to all this.

“She wasn’t sure she’d get an earlier flight, so she didn’t want
me to say anything to any of them until she knew for sure when she’d be home.”

It dawned on him just then that if Emi was the first person to
know Liv had even gone to Dallas because she didn’t get a chance to tell anyone
before rushing out, it meant she’d never told her brothers about Jay showing up
the night before she left.

“Do they know who she went with?”

Emi didn’t answer immediately, and that only fanned the fire
already blazing inside him.

“She hasn’t told them yet,” she said, and before he could
question that, she rushed on with her explanation. “She said the whole thing
was so convoluted she wanted to wait until she could explain everything to them
in person. They
do
know she’s in Dallas with Margie and that Margie had
some kind of nervous breakdown. They know that’s why Livi had to leave so
suddenly.”

It still didn’t sit well with him that, like in the past, Liv was
still keeping the truth about Jay from her brothers. But he supposed it made
sense that if she was finally going to come clean she’d want to do it in
person. Emi still didn’t seem completely comfortable with the turn this
conversation had taken. But he still wanted to get something straight.