I guess I could attempt to convince them I was doing my step-brotherly duty of making sure she was safe, but I’m not sure it would have flown somehow. And not because Olivia had slipped her hand beneath my shirt to rest her palm against my abs.
My heart is in my throat as I make my way up the stairs toward her.
Slipping out from beneath her this morning pained me.
I was so comfy—and so fucking hard—that the last thing I wanted to do was leave her alone, especially when I knew she’d wake alone and immediately think of that piece of shit again.
But what else was I meant to do? Risk Oak walking in? He was already falling apart at the seams because Olivia had been touched by someone who never should have been anywhere near her. Finding me wrapped around her would have done very little for his mental state, I’m sure.
I knock, feeling more nervous than I have for a long fucking time as I wait for her to invite me in.
The second her quiet and hesitant voice hits my ears, I lower the handle and head inside.
“Hey, Mum said—” My words die on my tongue when I round the corner and find her sitting up in bed with the covers pooled at her waist and all her cuts and bruises on show.
Rage erupts within me and my hand trembles, sending coffee sloshing all over her cream carpet as it quickly bubbles over.
I’m going to fucking kill him.
“Reese?” she whispers, her voice hesitant and cracked with emotion.
She might as well have reached inside my chest and gripped my heart in her clutches.
“Uh… I-I—” I stutter like a fucking idiot.
“I’m okay,” she lies, just like she did from the moment we found her yesterday.
“Bullshit,” I spit, my voice harsher than I intended.
Her gasp of shock rips through the air, and I immediately feel like an arsehole. She tries to fight it, but I don’t miss the tremble of her bottom lip or the way her eyes water.
“I brought you coffee,” I say, surging forward, needing to focus on anything but how broken she looks. Broken because of me.
“Th-thank you. Where… um… where did you go? I woke up and you—”
“Did you want to be caught?” I growl, the thought of someone walking in and finding her wrapped around me like a fucking snake floating through my mind.
Her fingers twist in the sheets.
“N-no but—”
“Then there is no but, is there?” My voice is cold, hard. Completely at odds with the way I’m feeling as my eyes track each of her cuts and bruises.
“I need to go, I—”
“No, Reese. Wait,” she cries, but it’s too late. I’m halfway toward the door with the need to get the hell away from her before I do something stupid like strip off and crawl into bed with her once again.
Without allowing myself to think, I thunder down the stairs with my sights firmly set on the front door.
“Reese, what’s the matter? Is Olivia ok—”
The door slams behind me, cutting off her words and her concern.
Throwing myself into my car, I jab my finger into the start button as movement in the hallway window catches my eye. I glance at Mum, but I don’t look to see the concern and confusion that’s going to be in her eyes.
Flooring the accelerator, I fly out of the driveway and turn toward All Hallows’.
The drive to the Chapel is shorter than I’m sure it’s ever been. The tension in my shoulders and the guilt twisting in my gut haven’t lessened one bit. The only thing about all of this that’s making me feel better is that Christian will make sure that motherfucker Starling pays for this.