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“That’s what’s keeping you up?” Mason asked.
I shot him a look and felt Olivia tense beside me.
“Why aren’t you drinking?” Mason asked.
“Just don’t feel like it. I haven’t drank much since college,” Olivia said.
“Get that out of your system during your younger years?” Mason asked.
“Mason,” I said curtly.
“Well, I think this water is catching up with me. I’m going to head to the bathroom. I’ll be right back, okay?” Olivia asked.
“Do you need me to show you where it is?” I asked.
“No, no. You stay here with Mason. I’ve got it,” she said.
She slipped from the booth and practically stumbled over herself getting away from the table. And I couldn’t blame her. I wanted to get away from it as well. My eyes slowly panned back over to Mason, and I set my cold, hard sights on him.
But all he did was shrug.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked.
“What?” Mason asked.
“Why the hell are you acting like that to Olivia?”
“An ex is an ex for a reason,” he said plainly.
“That’s rich, coming from the man who’s never had a steady fucking girlfriend in his life.”
“It’s not my fault I don’t trust her. I’m telling you man, she’s a cheat. And once a cheat, always a cheat.”
“You took pictures of her laughing with some guy at a coffee shop five years ago! He could have been a friend, for all you know. She’s allowed to have friends.”
“I saw their feet tangled together underneath that damn table. You know, that shit you always did with her? Or did you forget about that picture, too?”
I felt my back straightened as I pulled in a sharp breath of air through my nose. Actually, I had forgotten about that picture. It was the only picture that had made me question her. The only picture that made me confront Olivia about it. It sparked one of the biggest fights we’d ever had.
And a few months later, we were over. Right after her graduation.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Mason said.
“Even if she did cheat, people change. Neither of us are the same person we were back in college,” I said.
“And I don’t agree with that. I think you’re exactly the same person you were, just with adult lessons. Applying that same logic to her, and it’s a recipe for disaster. I saw you when the two of you broke up. You weren’t all distraught and shit, but you threw yourself into work. You worked yourself to the damn bone. You worked until it put you in the fucking hospital because you were dehydrated, Brett.”
“Five years ago,” I said.
“Four, actually. And she did that to you. You think this is about some pictures? You think I’m upset at the fact that she’s here right now because of some dumbass pictures I just happened to take in a coffee shop? No, Brett. I’m angry at what she did to you. How she hurt you. How your grief over some bitch who didn’t deserve you—”
I growled. “If you call her that one more time, so help me fuck, you’re going into that wall.”
“—who put you in the damn hospital. She didn’t deserve you then, and she sure as hell doesn’t deserve you now,” he finished.
“Hey, guys. What did I miss?” Olivia asked.
“You missed me settling the tab,” I said.
“Don’t worry. I got it,” Mason bit out.
I pulled some money out of my wallet and slammed it onto the table. I offered my arm to Olivia, and she took it quickly; then I escorted her out of the bar. I didn’t look back. I didn’t look down at her. I simply unlocked my car, helped her into it, then climbed in myself. I backed out of the parking lot and tore onto the road, ignoring the vibration on my hip from my cell phone.
I knew it was Mason, and I didn’t give a shit about what he had to say.
“Are you okay?” Olivia asked.
“I’m going back to my house. I’m taking you with me,” I said.
“That’s fine. But that didn’t answer my question.”
“Because I don’t have an answer for you yet.”
I breathed in deeply as I raced us across town. I sped up my driveway and came to a screeching halt in my garage. I slammed out of my car and took Olivia’s hand, helping her out of her seat. I scooped her into my arms, listening to her soft giggles as she curled up against my body.
I still had one last way to salvage the evening, and I guess I had instinctively put it at the end just in case she was right. Just in case shit with Mason had gone south.
And Olivia had been right.
“I have a surprise for you,” I said as I carried her into the kitchen.
I set her down on the kitchen island before I stepped between her legs.
