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“What the hell was that?” Olivia screeches. “Please don’t tell me you're sleeping with her too? Oh my God.” She doubles over, clutching her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
I inch toward her, unsure what I should do. “No. I’m not sleeping with her.”
She rises to her full height, glaring daggers at me. In an instant, she’s stalking toward me and shoves at my chest. She may be small but she still manages to push me off my balance.
“I know we never said what this…” she points between us, “is, but at the very least, I was expecting it to be exclusive. Then I show up and you have another girl here! What the hell!?” She shoves me again.
This time, I clasp her wrists in my hands. “It’s nothing! I’m not sleeping with her.”
“Then who the hell is she and what is she doing here?” She rips her hands from my grasp.
I blow out a breath. “She’s…It’s…complicated.”
“Well, you have five seconds to uncomplicate it for me.” She stands tall with her arms crossed over her chest.
“She’s the daughter of a good friend. She went missing for a few weeks and then showed up at the shop, needing a place to crash.”
“And where is she staying?”
“I thought about here—”
“You’re making her stay in a dirty, dingy garage?”
“No. She’s staying at my house.”
“She’s staying with you!? What the hell, Ledger!” She paces in front of me.
“You have nothing to worry about.”
“You only have this gorgeous, bad ass Barbie staying with you, but I have nothing to worry about.” She throws her arms in the air.
“Hey.” I grip her chin and bend down to her eye level, forcing her to look at me. “I only have eyes for you.”
Her face softens for a moment, but the moment doesn’t last long. She pulls out of my grip. “No. You don’t get to sweet talk your way out of this.” I can see the wheels turning behind her irises as she thinks about everything that happened the last few days. “Wait. Is she why you canceled on me a week ago?” When I don’t answer her right away, she continues. “I can’t believe it! You lied to me. You’ve been lying to me. For over a week!” She paces in front of me, then stops, her face flush. “That’s why you always want to go to my house instead of yours.”
Once again, Stevie comes into my life and fucks it up. “I was hoping she’d be here for a day, two max and then everything could go back to normal. You two wouldn’t even know about each other.”
“So you wanted to keep it a secret? What else haven’t you told me?”
Fuck. Do I just tell her and get it over with? She’s already mad. How much worse can it get?
“She’s also an ex-girlfriend.” Her jaw hits the floor. “Before you say anything, it was a long time ago. She is nothing to me besides a buddy’s daughter. That’s it.”
Her mouth opens and closes a few times. “And I’m just supposed to believe you?”
“Have I given you a reason not to?”
Her eyes widen as I’ve said the most asinine thing. “Based on everything that’s happened in the last ten minutes, I’d say yes.”
“Alright. I deserve that.” I huff out a deep breath and lean against the back door of the car. “About a month ago, a friend came into the shop. He told me he hadn’t heard from his daughter in a week. This is typical of her, so he didn’t think too much of it. Anyway, he gave me a heads up in case she showed, which has happened in the past, but it’s been years.” Olivia stares at me, but the tension in her shoulders drops a little, so I continue. “Then, out of the blue, she showed up here. My friend was out of town looking for her, so she needed a place to stay.”
“She couldn’t have gotten a hotel room? There are plenty around here.”
“As bad as it sounds, I needed to know where she was until Archie can get her.”
Her arm brushes mine as she moves to stand next to me. “And she’s an ex?”
“She is.”
