Page 18 of Dream On, Liar

“Hey,” she said carefully, her brows furrowing as she took in my appearance.

I brushed past her, but she caught my sleeve before I could get away.

“What happened?”

“Nothing. I’m going for a run.”

She frowned further, as I felt Oliver’s presence closer to us. “Rihaan. What did he say?”

“Drop it, Raina.” I gritted out, frustrated, yanking my arm harder than I meant to, but it didn’t deter her, instead, the concern in her eyes only grew further.

“He had to have said something. You only get like this after one of his ‘talks’ with you.”

“And how would you know that?” I snapped before I could stop myself. “Did you go back in a time machine to witness the way Dad has one of his ‘talks’ me to understand how I act afterwards, because you sure as hell haven’t been around long enough to know it first hard.”

“That is enough.” Oliver snapped, but the words were already out there. Too late for me to take back. Raina’s expression flickered, hurt breaking through so fast it made my stomach turn.

Good. At least now she’ll feel a fraction of what I’m feeling.

The thought hit hard enough to make me hate myself and push myself out the door, choosing escape over apology because apologising meant admitting I’d done damage on purpose.

Too late now.

I shoved outside into the cold, the air sliced into my lungs, raw and biting.

Maybe if I ran hard enough, I could outrun the look on Raina’s face. Or maybe the rest of the thoughts that piled enough inside me.

But by the time I stopped outside the townhouse an hour and a half and eight miles later, the afternoon sun had already set, my stride was still steady, my breathing barely uneven, and yet it felt like my skin sat two sizes too tight over everything churning underneath it.

The house was silent as I closed the door softly behind me. No sound humming from the living room or from the theatre room upstairs. Just the faint creak of the heating pipes somewhere overhead.

Which meant either Raina and Oliver were back upstairs in their room or out somewhere, which suited me fine. I only wanted a shower and something cold to drink before I attempted to ignore the pressure building behind my eyes.

Walking past the reception room, I crossed the hall toward the open-plan kitchen, already thinking about the smoothie I usually made after my runs. But as the kitchen came into view, my steps faltered. For a second, I considered turning around entirely. I wasn’t in the mood for another strained conversation after the way I’d left things earlier.

Raina stood by the hob, stirring something in a saucepan while steam curled around her. Oliver was behind her, arms looped lazily around her waist, holding her against him like the air worked differently for the two of them.

“You’re still making him Majas after that?” Oliver murmured, his chin brushing her temple. There wasn’t any real bite to it, just quiet amusement threaded through his voice. “Don’t think he deserves it, love.”

Raina huffed out a laugh. “Then it’s a good thing, I’m nice…”

Her words trailed off abruptly as she sensed my presence and spotted me standing in the doorway.

Oliver followed her line of sight a second later, his arms loosening from around her waist as his eyes narrowed in my direction.

“Hey,” Raina said, her eyes flicking between me and Oliver.

I just nodded and crossed the wide stretch of the kitchen towards the fridge, my footsteps dull against the tiles. Warm light spilled from the pendant lamps above the island, catching against the marble counters.

Cold air brushed over my skin as I pulled the freezer open and reached for the one of the zip locks with my prepped smoothie mix stacked neatly in the drawers.

Behind me, the space had gone strangely quiet despite how large it was, the only sound the soft simmer from the hob. The silence carried too easily across the open room, stretched thin and uncomfortable between the three of us.

Grabbing the coconut water, I shut the fridge a little harder than necessary and set the bag down on the counter beside the blender.

When I turned around, both of them were still watching me.

Raina clutched the spatula loosely in her hand, while Oliver leaned back against the counter near her, arms folded now as he watched me. Neither of them looked away.