Love & Hate Series Box Set (Love & Hate #1-2)

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  “I came back yesterday, so I have no idea.”

  “Do you actually know anything?” I can’t help but be sarcastic.

  “Yeah, I know he wouldn’t mind if you showed up in his bedroom. He had lots of girls up there, but then he started going out with that loud, pretty girl and suddenly they all stopped coming.”

  I’m glad to hear Jacob made the right decision after he started going out with Dora.

  “Which room is his?” I ask.

  “First one on the right,” he replies, and once I make my way upstairs, he adds, “Just avoid the room next to him… and oh, be quiet. Morgan seems to be in a bad mood today.”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  With a sharp intake of breath, I start heading upstairs. I already got my answer. Oliver is at home, and according to his housemate, he’s in one of his moods. I make a mental note to avoid him at all costs. My mission is simple. Knock at Jacob’s room and convince him to talk to Dora.

  This house has a least four bedrooms, and as I presume, most blokes don’t like to clean, as there is a lot of trash on the stairs. The door to the first bedroom on my right is shut.

  I knock twice and wait. After a long moment of silence, I press my ear to the door, wondering if Jacob is sleeping or maybe he heard me downstairs and he doesn’t want to talk to me.

  My intuition tells me to turn around and walk away. I can come back tomorrow to talk to him. Normally, I would listen to my intuition, but not today. I press the handle and open the door, peering inside. The curtains are shaded, but it looks like the bed is empty. The walls are bare and that tingle of warmth courses through the air, bringing a cold chill down my spine. The room is pretty tidy, despite what I’ve seen downstairs.

  Then I hear movement behind me and that familiar cologne rolls over my skin. My mind starts registering memories that are associated with that smell. I turn around, swallowing hard, and my breath seizes in my chest when I see Oliver. His hair is soaking wet; water drips over his face, rolling down his chest. I dart my eyes downwards without even realising what I’m doing. It looks like Oliver just came out from the shower. His towel is wrapped tightly around his hips. My mouth goes dry in an instant as I follow the drips of water that vanish within the bulk of dark hair just below his belly button. Heat creeps over my neck, down between my breasts, when I finally lift my eyes. He looks completely startled, his eyes wide and beautiful. Then I realise I’m standing too close. My heartbeat becomes unsteady.

  “India,” he says, but it’s barley a whisper. “What are you doing here?”

  Okay, now I haven’t got any choice but to explain myself. On the other hand, I can’t seem to gather my thoughts. Long, tense silence stretches across the room and the air around us cracks with electricity. Every tiny hair on my arms and neck lifts, pulling me towards his body. I feel spellbound by his intense stare, crushed by his cruelty, and joyful at having him in front of me.

  “I’m looking for… Jacob… Your housemate said he might be here,” I stutter like a pathetic idiot. “He explained that it was the first room on the right.”

  Oliver’s eyes sparkle with mischief and warmth only for a split second or so before he is unreadable again. I try to swallow a large gulp in my throat, feeling the pulsing sensation between my legs. Oliver elicits something within me; my legs starts to shake and I imagine his lips on my skin.

  His eyes are heavy on me, pinning me to the floor. His gaze consumes me with darkness, blocking away the light. My heart keeps pounding when the muscles on his shoulders tense.

  “Karel is an arse. He smokes too much weed so he doesn’t even know what day of the week it is,” he explains.

  I open my mouth to say something, but no sound comes out. I should have realised this wasn’t Jacob’s room. My breath seizes in my chest when Oliver’s eyes move down to my lips and then scan the rest of my body, measuring how far he can push me.

  If I take a step forward, our bodies will touch, but I can’t seem to move.

  The door is still open and I know I should get the hell out of this room before I do something I’ll regret later. I buried my feelings for him deep down, but Oliver can see through me. My shaky voice and body language indicate something is off. I’m off because he’s so close.

  “Eee, okay, I should be going, then,” I say quietly, trying to step away, but the connection between us is so strong and fierce. The image of us together in the laundry room flashes through my mind and heat creeps over my face again.

  I inhale the smell of his shampoo and walk around him.

  “Wait,” he says, touching my shoulder, and I stop abruptly at the entrance. That harsh indifferent tone of voice isn’t there anymore. “Why are you looking for Jacob?”

  His touch is like an inferno. It burns my skin, and I’m doing everything I can to gain control of myself.

  “He and Dora broke up. As usual, she behaved like an idiot. They’re both too proud to even talk about it.”

  There, I told him, so he should let me go now instead of torturing me. When our eyes meet again, he looks concerned.

  “You want to fix them. That’s what you’re trying to do?”

  “Jacob is the only guy for her. Dora won’t apologise even if she was in the wrong,” I explain. “I want to help them find their way to each other again.”

  “You can’t fix what’s broken. You can try, but—”

  “Oh, there you are, sweetie. I’ve been calling you for ages,” says a girl that just appears by the stairs, cutting Oliver off in midsentence. She looks at me with a surprise. Oliver turns around, pulling away his hand, and that concerned look on his face disappears.

  “Rhian, what are you doing here?” he asks, frowning. I stand there, still immobile, and watch as this beautiful girl comes up to him and places a gentle kiss onto Oliver’s lips. A river of jealousy sweeps over me, and I clench my fists, breathing hard. I recognise her. It’s the girl from the club from the night when Dora punched Mackenzie. Rhian moves her eyes from his perfect chest and looks at me.

  “Oh, hello. Who are you?” she asks. Obviously, she completely forgot that we met.

  “No one. I’m no one important,” I snap and start walking downstairs, avoiding Oliver’s eyes. I can feel his gaze following me until I’m out of the house. When the fresh air hits my lungs, I clench my teeth, breathing in and out. I have to stop torturing myself like this. I don’t have any future with Oliver, so why am I reacting like this?

  It’s been few days since our last conversation and nothing has changed. He might have forgiven me, but we are never going to be close.

  I start walking towards the campus, attempting to control my racing heart and cursing under my breath. Oliver doesn’t want to ruin my life anymore, but as he said, he will never forget what I did.

  “Hey, India!”

  It’s Jacob, so I push my emotions aside and place a smile on my face.

  “Hey, glad I bumped into you,” I say.

  Jacob doesn’t seem to be too keen to talk to me, and it’s is making it hard for me to explain I’m here of my own accord and Dora didn’t send me. When he eventually let’s me talk, I pour out everything I’ve been holding in about my best friend. He doesn’t want to listen at first, but when I talk about how she used to be in the past, he looks interested. We talk a bit more, but Jacob doesn’t seem to be convinced he should give Dora another chance.

  After my long and awkward speech, I leave him and head home, erasing the image of half-naked Oliver out of my mind.

  Then I decide to wait, knowing I did my bit. Now it’s up to them to decide what they want.

  Present

  It looks like Dora won’t be single after all. It took Jacob a week and a half to finally talk to her. Now they’re in her room, and I can only hope they’re trying to talk this through. I can’t get my head around Oliver. Being in his room, standing face-to-face with him nearly broke me to pieces—knowing I stopped caring about his feelings just to cope. Our perfect moment was ruined by his new “girlfr
iend.”

  I dive back into my books, trying not to think about him and the storm of emotions that invaded my body, crept into my soul. Within a moment, I’d been shut down. Jacob and Dora don’t come out of her room until the following morning. It looks like they both made up; they most definitely had an eventful night. The drama is over, but I didn’t expect them to get back together so quickly. Obviously, they can’t stay away from each other too long.

  “Do you want coffee, bear?” asks Dora.

  “No, I gotta run. Training,” replies Jacob, who nods towards me first with a smile.

  “So it’s all right with you two?” I finally ask, raising my left eyebrow.

  Dora takes a bite of my toast, trying to hide her smile. “Yeah, he realised he can’t live without me.”

  “Come on, Dora. I know that’s not true. He called you and then you finally decided to stop being an idiot.”

  She looks embarrassed, fiddling with the sugar. When I spoke to Jacob, he refused to listen to me at first. I told him more than I anticipated because I was still in a state of a shock at seeing Oliver with another girl. I told him he would lose the love of his life if he didn’t get his act together. Dora is stubborn and she would rather die than admit it’s her own fault. Jacob looked like he was seriously going to reconsider his decision about the breakup.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten involved, but I can’t let my stupid best friend ruin everything.

  “All right, he called and I asked him to come over. I apologized.” She sighs. “I shouldn’t have flirted or kissed my ex. It was bang out of order.”

  “Glad to hear it, darling. You’re lucky Jacob has forgiven you,” I say, tapping my finger at the edge of the table. My nervous twitch is back. I should be worrying about exams. Instead, I keep thinking about how I should behave around Oliver. He’s obviously moved on. Girls on campus have been talking about his new girlfriend.

  I leave Dora with her thoughts and go back to my revision. My first exam goes well, but I don’t have time to relax as a few days later I have another. I see Oliver on campus and nowadays he’s never alone. Dark-haired girl is always around him.

  When the term resumes, I’m faced with a new dilemma. Mackenzie and Russell are back. Whenever I see her, she gives me one of her triumphant smiles and asks me if I took any of the swimming classes yet. People didn’t forget about me. It’s time to fix what’s broken. I came back to at least have a human relationship with Oliver, to try and gain his trust again. I don’t care what other people think. As long as Oliver doesn’t hate me, I’m going to be fine.

  In the end of January, the new term begins. It rains constantly through whole month. I have a heart-to-heart conversation with Coach, who agrees for me to train on the condition I take a few swimming lessons. After that, I’m in a much better mood, so I head to the canteen. It’s late afternoon and I have an hour before class, but my plans of eating in peace are ruined when Russell places his own tray of food on my table.

  Chapter nineteen

  Keeping It Real

  Present

  “Miss Gretel, long time no see. How was your Christmas?”

  I should be happy he’s here. After all, he saved my life so I owe him.

  “Good, quiet. How about yours?”

  “I spent most of the time in the hospital. Mum wasn’t in her best condition,” he says. “Although, all the nurses were dying to ask me out.”

  I shake my head. Russell’s mother has cancer. That’s why he moved to Braxton; he wanted to be closer to her.

  “Do you think she’s going to be okay?”

  “Don’t know. Doctors are promising about her condition.”

  “That’s good to hear,” I say. “Listen, Russell, I want to thank you again. You saved my butt, when I was such a bitch to you.”

  “I couldn’t let you die, Indi. How, otherwise, would you agree to go out with me?” He teases, shoving a large chip into his mouth. I feel the odd shiver that starts dancing over my chest, and when I look up, I spot Oliver a few tables away. Even in the crowd, we are aware of each other, and now his whole attention is focused entirely on me. His girlfriend is sitting by his side, running her hand over his chest. When I meet his piercing gaze, my blood heats up. He just needs to give me a signal that we’re going to be friends again, that he’s really forgiven me. I glance back at Russell, who is watching me.

  “I would love to, but I’m not ready for dating, Russ. No offence, but I can’t be involved with anyone right now.”

  Russell is a decent bloke. We have fun together, but I don’t think he would understand what I had to go through in the past. I should look for support, but I feel like Christian is still around, draining me, pulling me back to the darkness.

  “How can you keep turning me down?” he asks, and when I don’t answer, he carries on talking. “All right, I know I’m full of myself sometimes, but I would never hurt you, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

  I finish my food and give him a warm smile. People bluntly stare at us, suspecting there is something going on.

  “Thanks. I’ll see you later. I have to go.”

  “Okay, bye, India. Think about our future together,” he teases.

  When I look around, Oliver and Rhian are gone. I sweep my tray off the table and rush to my final class of the day.

  I look at my timetable and check which class is next, but Oliver stands in my way. He got rid of his gorgeous girlfriend quickly enough.

  “Hey, I need to talk to you,” he says, sounding annoyed. My mind goes cloudy and I start to wonder if he’s been waiting for me. Before Christmas, he couldn’t stand to look at me, and now he’s stalking me.

  “Oh, Oliver, hey, what’s up?” I say, but my tone is too high. His eyes linger over my lips for a second too long, and I try to keep it together, like I’m not affected by his stare.

  “Come here for a sec,” he orders, pushing me back to the stairs corridor like he’s afraid other people will spot him talking to me, the loser.

  “What do you want, Oliver? I got somewhere to be,” I reply, irritated. He just keeps ordering me around, like he has a power over me.

  “Just be careful with Evans. He can’t be trusted,” he says with recognizable tension in his voice. My heart skips a beat but then smacks me gently beneath my chest.

  “Why do you suddenly care who I’m talking to? This never bothered you before.”

  His penetrating gaze unfolds the sudden wave of lust. How come he is suddenly so interested in who I’m hanging out with?

  “I’m just giving you friendly advice, India, that’s all. I want to spare you the disappointment later on.”

  “You said we aren’t friends,” I tell him, emphasising the word friend. His expression is unreadable. Then I take a step forward and, without thinking, add, “But we can be friends again, if you want to.”

  There it is. I finally said it. If there is going to be anything between us, being friends is a start. Oliver doesn’t respond. Instead, he continues staring at me with those blue eyes like he’s fighting his answer.

  In the next moment, he turns around and leaves without another glance in my direction. This is the second time he’s done that. I squeeze my hands, standing at the top of the stairs, wondering if I said something I shouldn’t. My heart is still pounding way too fast. His silence only confirms he cares about my choices, but he might not be ready to be friends with me yet. My heart will continue to betray me until he has forgotten about cruel India.

  Present

  “India… Hey, India, over here!”

  I spot Dora waving to me. Weeks have passed since her dramatic breakup with Jacob, and now she’s acting like the separation never took place. I’ve only half an hour before I have to run to the library. As usual, everyone keeps staring, and today, I’m not quite in the mood for Dora’s jokes. I spot her in the back and assess her table. No wonder all of a sudden I manage to bring attention from almost everyone in the canteen. Dora is sitting with Oliver. I wonder what h
e’s playing at?

  He knows I often sit with Dora.

  I walk towards them, keeping my expression hard. All the eyes in the canteen follow me slowly, and the tension rises. Since our last encounter, Oliver hasn’t really spoken to me and he silently rejected my offer of friendship. I stand by their table, wondering if it’s such a good idea to eat lunch with the man that feels so indifferent about me.

  “Sit down, India. You’re distracting me,” says Oliver, not lifting his eyes from his book. Dora giggles, Jacob gives him a sharp look, and I obey. Every pair of eyes turns towards our table. People expect Oliver to do something cruel, to prank me, but no one apart from the two of us knows about our ceasefire.

  “Right, sorry,” I mutter, blushing like a fourteen-year-old. Dora grins, glancing from me to Oliver, who is still more interested in his book than what is going on around him. I don’t know what to make of him these days. I hate that there’s so much tension between us.

  “We’re actually talking about you, India, aren’t we, bear?” asks Dora, looking at Jacob with a questioning expression on her face. He gives me an apologetic smile.

  “Me? What has lunch to do with me?”

  She giggles. “It’s nothing serious. I was just saying to my boys over here that your birthday is coming up.”

  Crap, I knew Dora would bring this up sooner or later. Her birthdays are a big deal. I tuck into my food, knowing all of a sudden Oliver isn’t looking at the text in the book, but at me.

  “I don’t think I want to celebrate my birthday this year,” I say quickly.

  “Oh, come on. I’m thinking about a small party in our apartment, only a few people. That should do. Oliver, come, will you?”

  I stop eating and glance at Dora with the strongest desire to strangle her right now. She is interfering, doing what she does best. Messing with my life. I glance at Oliver, whose blue eyes are fixated on me, but as usual, his expression is unreadable.

  “Sure, small party sounds good,” he says.

  My mouth hangs open and Dora looks astonished at the fact that he said yes.