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The thought was sobering, especially in light of the fight that we'd had. I couldn't even admit to him the level of feelings that I had. And there were so many more important things for me to think about at the moment.
I swallowed hard and picked at the remainder of my lunch. Finally, he got the hint, realizing that I wasn't going to say more, and he drove me home.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Eric
The drive that Olivia and I had taken to the lake had nearly depleted my fuel tank, so Thursday night, I stopped off at the gas station on the way home. The town was small enough that even with my inpatient appointment
s, I probably only had to fill the thing a few times a month. I spared a moment, thinking how lucky I was to work a job that I loved in a town that had everything I needed.
I couldn't stop thinking about the discussion that Olivia and I had had by the lake. Neither of us had mentioned the fight in the hospital, but I wondered if that had helped get Olivia thinking about her mother's health the way that she needed to be. Our conversation at the lake had definitely seemed more constructive, and I had a feeling that Olivia was leaning toward having her mom get the treatment that she needed, whether Jeannie wanted it or not.
And that was a definite relief.
As the tank was nearly full, a familiar pickup truck pulled in next to the pump across from mine. The truck was older but well-maintained, with hardly a hint of rust around the edges. I tried to place the vehicle and groaned as I saw who was behind the wheel: Buck Johanssen. Of course.
I knew that I would run into the man eventually, somewhere in town. There was only the one gas station and only the one general store. Or I might have run into him at the diner one of the days that I popped in for lunch. I supposed I was just lucky that Emma wasn't with me at the moment, in case we had words.
My hand clenched reflexively around my gas pump, and I almost wanted to confront him. I wasn't the fighting kind of guy, but with Georgia's words resonating through my head, I couldn't help feeling pissed at the man. I wanted to have more than words with him.
To be fair, I doubted he knew that Olivia and I were doing whatever it was that we were doing. Sure, Georgia suspected, and she had told Ernie about my car being parked in Olivia's driveway that one evening. But we had been careful ever since.
Still, my jealousy refused to listen to my rationality. I wanted to pound the guy, to make sure that he knew the claim that I had on the woman. But I also knew that Olivia wouldn't appreciate such a brutish display of affection. In a small town like Tamlin, there was no way to avoid drama if you did something like that.
I shook my head and finished filling the tank, heading inside so that I could pay. Buck was in there ahead of me, paying for 10 dollars’ worth of gas and chatting with the cashier.
“What's new? Hmm,” Buck said, pretending to think about it. From the smirk on his face, though, I could tell that he knew exactly what he was going to say. “Spent a great night with Olivia Sable.”
Gary raised his eyebrows at that statement. “You did?” he asked, sounding impressed. “She's pretty hot. Nice tits.” Gary was the kind of guy who never really pulled anyone but definitely liked to talk lewdly about the women of the town. I wasn't sure who I was more disgusted with: Buck or Gary.
“She is pretty smokin',” Buck agreed. He shrugged nonchalantly. “I'd seen her around her mom's place a few times, and she always seemed interested. We went to this wedding together, and you should have seen the dress that she wore. I could hardly keep my hands off her all day. That night, we decided to get a hotel room together. One thing led to another.” He grinned. “She's good in bed, too. So sexy, with that long hair and this little butterfly tattoo on the small of her back. Sure knows how to ride a man hard, too.”
My hands tightened into fists, hearing him talk about Olivia like that. What was he trying to do? Make it so that the whole town knew every detail of their fuck? Did he really think Olivia would appreciate that? But Buck wasn't finished, it seemed.
“That ass of hers, too,” he continued. “Feels just as good as it looks. She let me pound into her from behind the second time, and God.” He gave a low, appreciative whistle. “Tightest little pussy that you could imagine. Can tell she doesn't get around much.”
I scowled: except that she seemed to be working her way through every man in the town.
“Sounds like a good night, if she let you go for round two,” Gary said, grinning lewdly. “You gonna tap that ass again?”
Buck laughed. “We went for more than two rounds,” he bragged. “By the time we were done, we were both raw. Otherwise, we wouldn't have stopped!”
I scowled, deciding that this had gone on for long enough. “Would you mind?” I cut in. “I'm trying to pay.”
“Oh!” Buck said, giving me a sharp grin. “I didn't realize there was anyone else in here.”
I could tell from his look that that wasn't the case; he knew full well that I was standing behind him the whole time. I had to wonder, then, if he had launched into that speech for my benefit, knowing that it would make me jealous. Maybe he did know about Olivia and me. Maybe he just didn't care, or maybe he thought that he'd won.
Again, the urge to punch him flared hot in my veins. And again, I checked myself, even though at least this time, I could say that he deserved a good punch, for talking about her in such crude words, where anyone in town could overhear.
But it wasn't just that I wanted to defend Olivia's honor. I was starting to realize that Olivia had lied to me. She'd told me that they'd stayed in a hotel but that they'd had separate rooms. She'd told me that they hadn't slept together. Even if Buck was lying, for some reason, and they hadn't shared a room at the hotel, it was clear, from Buck's account, that they had slept together. How else would he have known about her tattoo? She wasn't the kind of girl to walk around wearing crop tops, especially not since it wasn't quite summertime. He wouldn't have seen it in any other way than if he'd had her stripped down naked on a bed. Or maybe I was overreacting. There were other ways he could have seen it, but I was headed down a dark path mentally and couldn’t seem to pull myself back out.
I paid for my gas and then headed out to my car, moving in a daze. I wanted to go over to Olivia's place and confront her. Ask her why she had lied to me. Let her know that this thing between us was over because I wasn't going to sleep with someone who was sleeping with someone else. Having something casual was one thing, but sleeping around was a whole different story, especially when it involved lying after the fact.
But I remembered how well it had gone the last time I'd confronted Olivia about something, at the hospital. I doubted this conversation would go any better. I was finding it hard enough to stay calm and rational when she wasn't in front of me, lying to my face. My anger would only escalate if I went over there.
The truth was, I was hurt that she had lied to me and that she apparently treated our thing as so meaningless. I had told her that this was the first time I'd slept with someone since Emily; hadn't she realized that that meant something to me? That she meant something to me? Sure, we hadn't been in a relationship, and there had been no labels or definitions. But come on: actions spoke louder than words.
