Page 62 of All Good Things Exposed

"What?"

"In the mud? What were you doing?"

She sighed. "I was trying to make flowers grow. I bought a package of seeds. Dahlias," her voice croaked. "I was trying to make them grow."

"Fuck, Angel." I pulled her tighter to my chest. "How old were you."

"I don't remember." She shrugged. "I bought the seed with the cook. She took me shopping one day when the nanny was sick and my mother couldn't care for me. She had an appointment."

I didn't know what to say. She had no childhood. "What were you and your brother like as kids?"

She sounded sad. "We were friends. We played together. He always got me so dirty when he chased me around the parks and mom would always be furious with me, but it was fun. He made me laugh."

I sensed this didn't end well. "When did the good relationship end?"

"When I started dating a friend of his. At my fathers pressure."

Now I loathed the man. He'd be lucky to walk away with two legs if I ever met him. "Go on."

"You don't want to hear this."

"I do." I already knew she'd never had sex with the man. She was a virgin when she gave herself to me. The thought made the words that were about to come from her mouth a little easier to bear. "Please, don't shut me out. I want you, Angel. All of you."

"My father pushed me to date him."

"Who's him."

"Jace Rush, you have more money than God. You are not getting a name."

"You know I could have someone look into your past. They would find him."

She tensed in my arms and I instantly regretted the words. "You could do that. But I'm asking you not to."

"Why?"

"Because it's my past. And that's where I really want to keep it."

"Then just give me his name." I pleaded gently.

"Why do you want his name?" She didn't want to tell me and that made me want it all the more.

"I want to know everything about you, Olivia." I sighed. "I won't do any digging around, but you've got to tell me."

"Fine," she huffed. I could hear her annoyance, but it made me smile. She was giving into my demands. She was learning. "His name is Bryce Cane."

Why the fuck did that name sound so familiar? I'd have to look into it later. "Thank you. Was that so hard?"

"Yes. It really was."

I smiled. But she'd relented and that's all that mattered. "So he was your brothers friend?"

"Yeah,"

"Tell me about him. Why did your father want you to be with him?"

"Contacts." She replied simply and my jaw dropped. Her father traded the thing that was supposed to be the most precious to him for contacts? What the fuck? The man should be shot! "Bryce's father is a stock broker. He is very good at what he does. He taught Bryce well."

"I see." I said through clenched teeth. "Go on."

She shrugged. "There isn't much more to it. My father wanted an in with Bryce's and my brother being his best friend simply didn't cut it. He wanted me to marry Bryce."

Now I'd heard enough. "You were going to marry him? Fuck!" I couldn't help it. The curse exploded from my mouth on a loud bark and she flinched. I held her tighter.

"No. I never would have married him." She shook her head. "He wasn't very nice. He was actually very mean…behind closed doors."

"What?"

"He just didn't like me," she sighed. "That much was obvious."

"Why was he with you then?"

"Because everyone said we'd make the perfect couple. We were both in university at the time and when everyone pushes you toward something, going in any other direction just feels wrong."

I knew how that felt. "So you broke things off and then what?"

"I moved out here with Trisha?"

"Where does she come into this?"

She laughed. "She's always been my best friend. My parents couldn't stand her. She was always fearlessly lippy toward them and everyone else, but I loved her. I always will. And she was always loyal to a fault to me. Her family pretty much adopted me. I spent as much time at their house as I possibly could. In all honesty, I think of Trisha's mom as more my mom than my own mother. Isn't that sad?"

"It is." I agreed. "But at least you have her." Suddenly, I was thankful to Trisha for always being what Olivia needed when she needed it. But I could relieve her of the job now. I wanted it. I wanted to be the one Olivia never failed to turn to with anything and everything. I would be there for her to the end of time. She was mine to take care of. And that thought was unlike anything else I'd ever experienced. It was perfect.

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