AllFreeNovel
Share Us
25
***Olive***
“Whydoesitlooklike you’re stopping Olive from shutting her door? And why the fuck are you raising your voice at her?” Andrew shifted his gaze to mine and nodded. “You okay, Olive?”
I pushed past Taylor to stand in front of Andrew. I was glad he was there but also nervous. Taylor was a dickhead and while Andrew was a really kind guy, there was an edge to his voice that made me think he’d like to punch Taylor. “I’m okay. I’m glad you’re here.”
“What the hell are you doing here, Walker?” Walking towards us, Taylor glared over my head at his high school best friend. “Did Jack send you over to run his errands?”
Andrew’s smile was a warning. “You should go.”
I turned around and pressed my back into Andrew. He wrapped his arm around me and held me in a loose grip. “Taylor, you really need to leave. Unless you’re here to see Jesse, you shouldn’t be here. Matter of fact, I don’t want you here at all. You have my number. You can message me when you want to see Jesse and we can meet on campus.”
His eyes narrowed in on Andrew’s arm and he let out a bitter laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me? No wonder you were such a little bitch senior year about her. How long have you wanted to go where I’ve already been?”
I felt Andrew’s body stiffen and pressed into him harder. “Goodbye, Taylor.”
“What’s that? Is that a fuckinggame? Wow.” Taylor moved closer and Andrew swept me behind him in one smooth motion. “You want my scraps in every way, huh?”
Andrew’s hands shook as he stood nose to nose with Taylor. “Scraps? She’s always been too good for you and she always will be. Jesse deserves better. Unfortunately, you’re his father and for that reason alone, I’m not going to touch you. You should stop pushing, though, Taylor. You’re going to catch one of us on a bad day and you’re going to embarrass yourself.”
Taylor turned his vitriol to me again. “You’ve been letting random men hang around my son? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I wedged myself between the two of them and pushed Taylor away. I angled him away from the front door and tried to wrangle Andrew inside with just my ass and sheer will. “Message me if you want to see Jesse. That’s all we have to talk about, Taylor.”
“Stay the fuck away from my kid, Andrew. You and your boy, Jack. Stay away from Olive, too. You’re sick for even trying to go there.”
Andrew grunted but let me push him inside the apartment. “Doesn’t look like that’s happening, Taylor.”
I slammed the door shut and locked it before pressing my forehead to it and groaning. I was embarrassed and angry. I couldn’t believe the audacity of Taylor. To stake some kind of claim on me like he had an ounce of right. To suggest that I was a bad mother for letting Jesse be around the guys… I hated him. I wanted nothing more than to never see him again. In my anger, I didn’t care that it was selfish. I just wanted him out of my life.
Andrew swore and scooped me into his arms. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have stopped by without calling or messaging. I just found this game and wanted to drop it off for Jesse.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pointed to the living room couch. “You didn’t do anything wrong. When I heard knocking, I was hoping it was one of you. Then I saw Taylor and wanted to punch myself for not checking to see who it was before opening the door.”
Sitting on the couch, Andrew arranged me on his lap so I was straddling him like it was something we’d always done. “If Jack hears that you just opened the door like that, he’ll have a stroke.”
“Then we won’t tell him. Right?” I smiled and toyed with his shirt. “I’m glad you showed up. I hate seeing Taylor and he didn’t seem inclined to leave until you were here.”
“Does he scare you?”
I sighed and shook my head. “No. I don’t think he’d ever do anything to me. His style was never force. It was tricking, begging, and coercing, but never force.”
Andrew remained silent as his hands tightened on my thighs. He stared towards the door like he was contemplating chasing Taylor down.
“I’m fine, Andrew. You showed up and he left. Everything’s okay.” I gently turned his face back to mine. “Can you tell me about the game?”
He cleared his throat and shook his head. “I need to admit something first.”
“What?”
“The game was only part of the reason I came by. I wanted to see you.” He picked up the game from the cushion next to us and held it up. “The game is pretty neat, though. The lady at the store said kids who play board games with their families learn faster or something like that. I figured it might be cool.”
I sat back on his thighs and just stared at him. He was this massive man with muscles on top of muscles and he looked like he could toss cars for fun but he’d talked to a lady about a game for my son. I melted. “You… That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard, Andrew. Jesse will love playing it. If it’s okay with you, I think he’d love playing it with you.”
“I was hoping for an invite.” He smiled and shrugged. “The kid’s pretty cool. You’re a really great mom, Olive.”
I glanced at the watch on his wrist. I didn’t need to leave to pick Jesse up from school for another two hours. “You said you stopped by to see me, too.”
