by London Casey
Except my heart hurt.
I was in love with Gavin. I looked at him beyond who he was and I knew he did the same to me.
I wiped my eyes and gritted my teeth.
“Don’t run,” I whispered. “Don’t run.”
Tears flooded my eyes again as I cut the wheel.
I was going too fast.
The back tires kicked against the dirt road and kept going.
I cut the wheel and thought I had it. A cool turn around like you’d see in a movie.
Except the back of the car kept going. It darted off the road and the entire car started to pull. I panicked and cut the wheel left, right, back and forth, thinking I could save myself.
But I couldn’t.
My entire life was crashing all around me…
Twenty-Three
A Talk of Lies
(Gavin)
I was about to leave the house with Ava when a black car pulled up and Nikki climbed out. She looked a mess, but a happy mess. Ava charged out the door to greet her mother. In a fury of a recap only a kid could do, Ava told Nikki everything that happened while she was gone. Then Nikki put Ava down and told her to go use the bathroom one last time. That was just Nikki’s way of being alone with me.
“How was your night?” I asked.
“Wild.”
“Heard you egged Jon’s motorcycle.”
Nikki laughed. “The wine did it.”
“The wine. Right. So you and Stacey…”
“We’re good. We needed that.”
“The fight? Or the wine?”
“Both,” she said. “Hey. Olivia is really something.”
“I know.”
“Seriously though. I judged her. The rich girl thing. But she’s so far beyond that. She’s such a good person. She really is. You’re lucky to have her. I hope you figure everything out.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just, whatever. I mean, she lives in the city. You live here. It’s hard to figure out.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“And… I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“For what I’ve done to you.”
“How so?”
“Come on, Gavin.”
“No. I want to hear this.”
“For everything. After Luke. I leaned on you. Too much. I assumed you would take care of things. I always turned to you for money, support, love. And I could never give back what you deserve.”
“We’re family, Nikki. I made a promise to my little brother to always take care of him. He’s gone now. But you’re not. Neither is Ava. You’re here. You’re my family. You’re all I’ve got.”
“You’re wrong there, Gavin.”
“How so?”
“You have Olivia too. She loves you.”
“Yeah, I guess she does. Crazy, huh?”
“Don’t mess it up.”
“Why would I mess it up?”
“I don’t know. I’m just warning you.”
Ava then came outside. I gave her another big hug. I kissed Nikki on the cheek. And they climbed into the black car and were driven away. I laughed and shook my head. How the hell did Olivia work her way into this town, my life, and my heart?
I went back inside and looked around. At some point I knew the call would come to make my decision on what to do with the garage and the land. Maybe I’d talk to everyone in town first. Or those close to me.
Or not.
It was my goddamn life.
I grabbed my keys and opened the door to see someone waiting for me.
Whitney.
Standing at the bottom of the porch steps.
I walked outside and shut the door behind me.
“Glad I caught you before you left,” Whitney said. “I see that Olivia has now started to play your family.”
“Go away, Whitney,” I said. “I have to get to my garage. I have a life to live here.”
“I’m not here to try anything funny, Gavin. I came to apologize for the last time.”
“Yeah?”
“That was wrong of me. To just… to put myself in that position. And you. That wasn’t good to do. I’m not that kind of woman.”
“Good to know,” I said.
I walked down the steps.
I was two steps by her.
“I have something you need to see,” she said. “I debated on what to do here.”
“I’m not in the mood,” I called out.
“She’s going to hurt you. I figured you should see the pictures from me before you find them.”
“Pictures?” I asked.
“You know she has a guy, right?”
“What are you talking about.”
“Parker. That’s her guy. She’s been with him for a while. They’re close to getting engaged. I mean, did you think what you two had was real? She won you over, Gavin. And now your family. It’s all part of the plan.”
I turned. “You know, I’m getting really tired of this.”
“Me too,” Whitney said. “Here, I’m not making it up.”
Whitney took out her phone and handed it to me. I stepped toward her and looked at the screen.
“What the fuck…”
Sure enough, it was a picture of Olivia and some guy. Kissing.
I shook my head. “Bullshit. That could have been taken…”
“You know when it was taken,” Whitney said. “Yesterday.”
The skirt she was wearing in the picture was the same one from yesterday. The skirt I ran my hands up. The skirt I lifted all the way up. When I put Olivia on my desk. When I put her on the hood of the car. When I…
“You’re angry,” Whitney whispered. “You know I’m telling the truth.”
“Where did you get this?” I asked.
“She was with him at her office. This wasn’t some secretive picture. There were rumors about them splitting up. So they appeared together to prove it wrong. There are hundreds of these pictures from different people. I didn’t do this, Gavin. I don’t really care about Olivia, to be honest. I care more about you. I’m watching this from the sidelines and I don’t like it.”
“Give me the phone,” I said.
I looked harder at the picture. And the article that went with it.
Dammit.
Whitney was telling the truth.
I stepped forward, rubbing my chin.
What a fucking mess.
I didn’t want to believe it. There was no way Olivia could be that person. Not with what she said to me. The way she looked at me. The way we looked at each other.
I paced left to right for a few seconds and then stopped again.
I gave Whitney her phone back. “I don’t give a shit.”
“You don’t?”
“I’ll talk to her myself. I’ll figure this out myself. This is not your business, Whitney.”
“You say that,” she said. She stepped at me. “You know what this really is, Gavin.”
That’s when I took a second to look at her. Her eyes were glossy. Messed up.
I put a hand to her arm. “Hey, are you… high?”
“High for you, Gavin,” Whitney said.
“Christ. You’re high. On what? Huh? What kind of rich girl shit are you stuffing in your body?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Whitney said. “I want you to be stuffed in my body right now.”
I groaned. “You gotta get out of here. I have to find a way to get you out of here. Give me your keys.”
“Come get them,” Whitney teased.
She started to giggle.
I was torn between thinking about Whitney being high and driving and the picture of Olivia and some guy kissing. I couldn’t admit defeat or hurt in front of Whitney. But, shit, it hurt. It really hurt.
I gritted my teeth.
I felt something starting to crack inside me. Trying to take care of everyone so long. The garage. The house. My damn dog. But everyone else. Stacey. Nikki. Ava. And I thought I had Olivia to balance that out. A
nd, damn, she was worth everything.
But was she using me?
“Come on, big boy Gavin,” Whitney said. “Show me what those rough hands can do to a woman. And I’ll show you what a real woman can do to you. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
I lunged forward and grabbed her by the waist. My hands moved down and up, trying to feel for keys. They had to be somewhere on her. Whitney grabbed at my shoulders. I felt her nails dig at me. I didn’t care. I was too focused on getting the damn keys from her.
I couldn’t find the keys.
Then I felt her get really close to me. Way too close for my own comfort. I tried to turn my head but before I could do it her lips were planted against mine. I started to pull back and Whitney quickly opened her mouth and started to slap her damn tongue against my mouth, wanting more.
I pushed her away and growled. “You don’t get to do that.”
“Whoops,” she said with an evil smile and pointed.
I turned my head and couldn’t believe my eyes.
There was a car.
Quickly turning around.
“Looks like someone doesn’t like to be hurt either,” Whitney said.
I ignored her.
“Olivia,” I whispered. “Fuck.”
I looked back at Whitney.
“Forget her, Gavin,” Whitney said. “You know she was coming here to lie to you some more. I’m not lying to you. I like you. I want you. I showed you the truth of Olivia. And, yes, I may have taken a couple pills. But I have a prescription. So, sure, I’m high. And I shouldn’t be driving. So take me inside, Gavin. Take me inside and fuck it out of me.”
I could tell that Whitney wasn’t used to getting turned down. And she would do anything to get what she wanted.
I couldn’t let her drive though.
But I couldn’t let Olivia just get away like that though.
I had no choice really. I had to find Olivia.
I pointed to Whitney. “Don’t fucking leave. Do you understand me? I’ll… I’ll give you what you want. Just don’t leave.”
Whitney made her hand into a claw. “Roar…”
I turned and started to run for my truck.
I looked back at Whitney and paused for a second. “I need something from you.”
“Anything you want, sexy man,” she said, her words slurring a little more obvious.
“I need to talk to Sterling… right now.”
I flew down my road. There were several directions that Olivia could have gone. All I could do was just assume she would be heading back toward the city. I took the logical route and gripped the wheel tight, shaking my head as I did so.
I went around one of the bends on the dirt road. About half a mile ahead was when real road would appear. A right there would put you on a straight path right back into the city. Chances were her car was faster than my truck. But I knew where she lived and how to get there. I would go right into the goddamn city and find her.
I needed to find her. I needed to hear everything from her.
I needed to know the truth. I needed to know the lies. I needed to know…
I saw the front of a car off the side of the road, slightly tilted.
As I slammed on the brakes, I cut the wheel to my truck and skidded to the left, almost doing a burnout. I straightened the wheel and was going the opposite direction and pulled to the side of the road.
I climbed out of the truck, leaving the door open. I ran toward the car, knowing it was the same car I saw in my driveway.
“Olivia!” I called out.
The driver’s side door opened.
I jumped for the door and slid on the embankment, almost going down on my ass.
Olivia sat there, staring at me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No,” she said. “My back tires grabbed the edge and I slid off.” She looked at me. “I need a tow truck. Know anyone who can help?”
I looked at her. She looked fine. There was no damage to the car. She was seriously lucky. She was also facing the opposite way… meaning she had been leaving and tried to turn around.
“You wanted to come back?” I asked.
“You were kissing her,” Olivia said. “That stupid, backstabbing bitch. You were kissing her. You let her in.”
“I…” I gritted my teeth. “She kissed me, Olivia.”
“Oh, how fucking convenient of an answer.”
“Goddammit,” I growled. “Listen to me. She’s fucking high right now. I was trying to find her keys.”
“In her mouth?” Olivia snapped.
That’s when I reached my breaking point. I laughed. An angry laugh. “And you should talk, huh? What the hell were you doing here? Trying to finalize that deal, I bet.”
“What are you talking about? I came to tell you I quit my father’s company. I stood up to him. I’m on my own now. I wanted to come talk to you and figure out what we need to do next…”
“We? You and that guy?”
“What guy?”
“The one you were kissing?”
Her face dropped. “No. Gavin…”
“You know, I can’t stand Whitney coming around,” I said. “But then she shows me that picture. And it was a picture plastered everywhere, huh? You kissing some guy?”
“He kissed me,” Olivia said.
I laughed. “Oh, so that excuse works for you but not me?”
She hung her head. She grabbed the steering wheel. “You don’t get it.”
“I don’t get it?” I asked. “What don’t I get, Liv?”
She looked at me. “I told you. My father handpicked him. I had no idea what was happening. There was speculation that he and I weren’t together. We were never together, Gavin.”
“Oh yeah? Try again.”
She swallowed hard. Tears filled her eyes. I needed to turn off my emotion for a second here. No matter how raw or how much of an asshole I looked like.
Olivia climbed out of the car. She put her hand out and I helped her climb up the embankment so we were both standing on the side of the dirt road.
“I would go out with him for dinner,” she said. “Just for pictures. We were both using each other. Not in a sexual way either, okay? But the second I met you, I realized what it meant to find something real. I don’t know anything else that’s real but you, Gavin. Everything in my life is scheduled and processed. Except you. You’re a mystery. You’re the wild card. I never know what’s next and it scares the hell out of me… but I love it. I was at my office yesterday, meeting with Abigail’s parents. I was trying to come up with a plan to help you with my father. Then Parker showed up. He wanted to talk to me. So I went with him to talk. What I didn’t realize was that he had a whole bunch of people waiting at the ground floor, right outside the elevators, with cameras. The doors opened and he quickly started saying we were together. Then he grabbed me and kissed me. I didn’t think to tell you because… I don’t know. It didn’t matter to me. It meant nothing. Then my father was in my office. Threatening me. I just…”
Olivia started to cry.
I made fists and held back. “So that’s where we’re at? You came to see me. You spent the night with Stacey and Nikki. Then you ended up in my bed. And you rushed away this morning, Liv.”
“To face my father,” she said. Tears running down her cheeks. “He knows everything about you, Gavin. About the town. Luke. Nikki. Ava.”
“How? What did you tell him?”
“Right. Like I would do that to you.”
“I don’t know what to think right now,” I said.
“I would never betray your trust,” she said. “And if you can’t see that…”
“Tell me what happened,” I said.
“He wants to offer to build a memorial to Luke. As a distraction to get what he wants, which is the entire town. I told him no way. I told him I quit.”
“You seriously quit?”
“Yes,” she said. Her eyes were glistening, super bright, even though it was from tears
. “Yes, Gavin. I quit. I’m done with a fake life. I don’t care about an apartment. Hotels. Cars. Private drivers. I want you…”
I stepped back and rubbed my jaw. “Goddammit. How is shit so messed up right now?”
“It’s my fault,” she said. “I was stuck between reality and what I was told reality was. I’m sorry for that, Gavin. I should have stood up to him a long time ago. But I never did. I was too afraid. Without him… the business… Whitney… I would have nothing. But now I have everything when I’m with you.”
I stepped forward and slipped a hand to Olivia’s face. I wiped away a tear. “None of it matters anymore, darling. I called your father.”
“What? When?”
“Right after I saw you leaving my driveway. Whitney gave me his number and I got into my truck to chase you down.”
“What did you do?”
“I told him he could have whatever he wants.”
“No.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m done taking care of everyone, Liv. I’m done being used, beat up, and being hurt. And that includes you.”
“Gavin…”
“No,” I said. “I’ll take my money and I’ll take care of everyone that matters to me. I’ll move Nikki and Ava somewhere else. I’ll make sure Stacey is okay. I’ll give Rich, Donny, and Hank some cash to figure out what’s next. And you, Liv, you get the fame. I’m not going to fuck up your life anymore than I have. It’s over.”
“It’s not over,” Olivia said. “Don’t say that again.”
“It is,” I said and took my hand away. I grabbed for her hand and lifted it. I kissed the back of her hand. “You’re The Princess, darling. I’m the mechanic. I’m the fantasy, not the reality here. I’ll get your car towed out of that embankment. Okay?”
“Gavin, no,” she said. Fresh tears coming from her eyes.
It was too late though. I had already talked to Sterling. He named a number that I couldn’t refuse. If it brought the fucking town down, then so be it. That would be a good thing. Luke would get a statue and I would get a chance to get the hell away from it all. Take Nikki and Ava with me. So we all could start over. I’d give Sterling the house and the land there too. I just couldn’t be near Olivia without falling in love with her. And I couldn’t be near that lifestyle either. That business backstabbing always looking over your shoulder life.
