Unless she was ashamed of the real reason why Daniel left.
“So, how long have the two of you been together?” Daniel asked.
His voice pulled me from my trance.
“Well, we dated all through my college years. Then, we parted ways and now we’re just meeting back up,” Olivia said.
“You treating her right this time around?” he asked.
“I treated her right the first time around,” I said.
“Then why did things end?” he asked.
“Why is that any of your business?” I asked.
“Okay, you two. Settle down. It isn’t that big of a deal,” Olivia said.
“It is when it comes to you,” Daniel said.
“Seriously. Tone it down. Right now,” Olivia said.
“I just have one thing I want to say to you, and then I’m done. If you hurt her, in any way, I will find you,” Daniel said.
“And I’m sure those ‘people-finding’ skills of yours are incredible sharp,” I bit out.
“Cut it out,” Olivia said sharply.
“I’d never dream of hurting her. Olivia is precious to me. You brought more hurt and more issues into her world than I ever could. I was the one who soothed them away while you were managing your gas station. You don’t get to look at me and tell me not to hurt her. If anything, I should be looking at you and saying that. Telling you that if you come back into her world and decimate it again, I’ll buy up your gas stations from underneath you and fire you in the span of a second,” I said.
“Okay. I’m going to the bathroom. Let me out, please,” Olivia said.
I held Daniel’s gaze as he slipped from the booth and let her out. She caught my eye and shot me a look before she disappeared behind the booth. I held Daniel’s gaze as he sat back down, and then he said something that made my stomach roll. Something that made me wonder what the fuck Olivia had gotten herself into.
“You have no idea what I’ve been through to get back to her. To get back to her and her brother. And if you stand in my way, I will physically remove you from my path. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” I spat.
19
Olivia
I lay there in bed, feeling more exhausted than I had ever felt. No matter how much sleep I got, it seemed as if it wasn’t ever enough. The dinner with me, Daniel, and Brett had sucked ass. Wednesday night had been horrendous, and I had no plans to ever do it again. I understood where both men were coming from and their frustrations with each other. Brett, especially. That didn’t mean he had to show his ass the way he had. But I could understand it.
Daniel, however, I didn’t understand one single bit.
I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. I tried to see things from his point of view. I tried to give him an equal opportunity to be whatever presence in my life he wanted to be. But with the way he kept bucking up to Brett and the way Brett kept pushing, it just felt like I was in the middle of one big-ass pissing contest. I threw my arm over my eyes and groaned. I really didn’t feel like going into work today. I had been ignoring Daniel’s incessant phone calls since that dinner, and I had been dodging Brett at work.
And then, my alarm went off. But it wasn’t the alarm I had set for work.
I reached for my phone and picked it up, trying to figure out what that sound was. I’d never heard it before. It was foreign to me. It wasn’t a ringtone I had set for a contact. It wasn’t any of my messaging applications. No one was calling, or FaceTiming, or leaving a voice message for me. But when I saw the notification on my phone, I bolted upright in my bed.
No wonder I’d never heard that sound before.
It was my period-tracking application. And it was informing me that I was five days late.
“Five days?” I exclaimed.
I threw the covers off me and opened up the app on my phone. And sure enough, I was supposed to have started my period on Sunday. The day I’d spent with his family. I charged into the bathroom and flipped on the light. I took stock of the bags underneath my eyes and the mangled state of my hair. A lot had happened since my last period. My father popping up out of nowhere. The stress that came with that. Starting a new job. The stress that came with that.
Unprotected sex with Brett.
Twice.
“Fuck!” I exclaimed.
I’d never been a day late in my life. Not during the stress of college. Not during puberty. Never. I tried to rationalize it as stress, but I knew better. This wasn’t stress.
This was the consequence of my reckless decision.