“Stay there,” I tell him. “I’ll be down soon.”
I hang up, dress fast, and head back into the bedroom.
Olivia is still wrapped up in the sheets, but now, they only come up to her waist. Her breasts are bare and exposed. Her nipples are perfect pink points, begging to be sucked and pulled until she yields like putty beneath my hands.
I wrench myself away from her and storm out the door. I’ve just managed to shut it when I feel her presence behind me.
I have to give it to her—the woman’s good.
“Is there a reason you gave Demyan a full-blown report on me this morning?” I ask with irritation as I turn to face Jennifer.
She makes no apologies as she leans against the wall and crosses her arms over her chest. There are dark circles around her eyes, though she’s tried to hide them under a thick coating of foundation.
Jennifer’s always been an emotional dresser. She chooses her clothes based on how she’s feeling. When she’s happy, she goes with bright colors—yellows, pinks, oranges. When she’s feeling down, it’s blues and grays. Anger is reds and blacks.
Today, she’s wearing deep navy trousers and a soft gray sweater that comes high up her throat. She’s tied her blonde hair back, leaving only a few strands floating around her heart-shaped face.
Depression it is, then. I’m only a little surprised.
“He was worried,” she retorts. “And I wasn’t about to lie.”
“Right, because you’re so bad at that.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Don’t be an asshole.”
“We all stick to what we’re good at, don’t we?”
She goes quiet for a moment, clearly not expecting my antagonistic attitude. The truth is, my anger has nothing to do with her. I’m pissed off at myself.
“You’re falling into the same trap that I did.”
I lean against the opposite wall and stare down at her. “Which trap is that?”
“I made the mistake of thinking I could have a future with someone I had no business being involved with.”
“Your business is what I tell you it is,” I growl.
She is unfazed by my irritation. “What makes you think you’re so different from me?” she asks. “You spent the night with her, Aleks. I remember you telling me not so long ago that you never spend the night with any woman. It’s your most absolute rule.”
“Rules are meant to be broken.”
“Really? Is that how you’re writing this off?” she snaps. “I never took you for a hypocrite.”
“For fuck’s sake, I didn’t mean to spend the damn night, okay?”
She presses forward and catches my forearm in her grasp. “If you’re catching feelings for her—”
“Stop,” I say, cutting her off. “I am not catching anything for her. She was brought in because I needed something strong enough to control that irritating brother of hers. She is nothing more than a weapon I will use to cow him. This marriage was not about emotion; it was about convenience. And when her purpose is served, she will get to go back to her pathetic little life, and I can move on with mine.”
“That’s harsh,” Jennifer says. “She—”
But before she can finish, the door flies open and Olivia stands there, framed against the darkness. The sheet is wrapped around her chest. Her eyes are fixed on me.
She stares at me, waiting for me to tell her that what she’s just heard is a lie, a farce, an act of pride.
I don’t say anything.
“That’s all I am to you, is it?” she whispers.
“Olivia,” Jennifer begins, releasing me and stepping towards her.
“No!” Olivia answers, holding up her hand forcefully. “Don’t come any closer. I don’t want either one of you near me. You realize I’m a person, right? Not a tool or a weapon or… or… collateral damage.”
She looks at Jennifer with tears in her eyes, ready to fall.
“I trusted you. We all did. My mom, she still refers to you as her daughter. Because that’s how our family is. We loved you by virtue of the fact that you made Rob happy. You could have crawled in from the gutter and we would have loved you regardless. You didn’t just hurt him, Jennifer—you hurt all of us. And now, I have to deal with the knowledge that my brother will find out that, despite how deeply he loved you, you never truly loved him back.”
“Olivia—”
“No!” she screams again.
And as she does, for the first time, I see the fight come alive in her. She transforms into a lioness, someone who would go to any lengths to defend and protect her family.
It’s fucking erotic.
“You don’t get to talk. The two of you never fucking quit, always thinking you know what’s best for me. But you’re wrong and you don’t. It’s my turn. I’m speaking now, and both of you can shut the hell up and listen.”
Well, damn.
It’s much more than I expected from her, and I find my hard-on coming back to life.
“As for you,” she seethes, turning her anger on me. “You invaded my life, seduced me, and made me believe you weren’t a complete monster, only to find out that you’re exactly that. No wonder you don’t respect anyone else’s feelings—you don’t even know what the hell they are.”
I want to push back. I want to meet her fire with my own, the way I always have. But there’s something about her strength right now that I don’t want to dampen.
She’s fighting her own battle… and she looks damn good doing it.
“It’s not personal, Olivia,” I tell her.
“Not personal?” She cackles in my face. “It’s all personal, Aleks. This is my family. You’re threatening them and you’re playing with me. Did it ever occur to you that I might actually have feelings for you?”
The words seem to surprise her, too, because her eyes widen for a moment. She goes still. Then they narrow back to furious slits.
“You know what? Forget it. To hell with both of you.”
She steps back into the sanctum of her room and slams the door. Jennifer and I turn to one another.
“Wow,” she remarks. “Didn’t know she had it in her.”
I smirk. “I did.”
“You need to go in there and apologize.”
I frown. “Do I look like the kind of man who apologizes for anything?”
“Maybe it’s time to start,” Jennifer says. “She’s hurt.”
“You had a hand in that, too.”
“That’s different,” she says. “She’s not in love with me.” I raise my eyebrows, and she gives me a sharp glare. “Oh, come the fuck on. Like you didn’t know.”
Before I can answer, Demyan rounds the corner looking flustered. “There you are, Jesus.”
My frown deepens. “What’s going on?”
He sighs. “Shit you’re not gonna like.”
39
OLIVIA
I slam the door on Aleks and Jennifer and barely make it to the toilet in time.
As soon as I hit my knees, last night’s dinner comes up in a torrent. The heavy stink makes me retch again.
I heave until my insides roil with painful emptiness. I flush it all away and then lean against the cold tile, trying to stop the ache in my head and my heart from spreading elsewhere.