“No, she didn’t oversleep.” He steps closer. Wringing his hands, he explains in a hushed tone, “She had to fly home last night for a family emergency.” His nose scrunches up. “She’s going to be pissed at me for telling you, but that’s why she left you. She got a text while you were paying the bill.”
“And she didn’t want to wait for me? I could have helped her.”
Cade shakes his head with a sad expression. “Olive is very private. She doesn’t know you.”
I go to object to that, but Cade holds his hands up to stop me.
“I’m one of her best friends, and sometimes it’s hard for even me to get information from her. I don’t even know all the details about why exactly she left.”
I don’t like it, but I appreciate him sharing that insight into Olive. I tell him as much before I walk to my seat. All the while, contemplating ways to convince him to give me her phone number.
12
Olive
My forehead cools as I lean it against the plane window, closing my eyes tight. When I saw that text from Marcus while Nate was in the bathroom, I so desperately wanted to ignore it. Which still fills me with guilt. I’ve never felt a connection to a man like I did with Nate. Being with him was a balm to my wounded, broken soul. I felt normal. Happy.
And most importantly, hopeful.
It’s been so long since I felt even a shred of hope. Hope that my life would be mine and not revolve around someone else. But that was shattered in seconds with just a few words.
“Oli.Not exactly the circumstances I would’ve wanted to reconnect, but good to hear from you.”
“Apologies if I don’t share the sentiment. Why would you sayBenny is in trouble? What are you talking about?” I demand as I practically run down the Vegas sidewalk, narrowly avoiding knocking drunk people over. I tried to call Benny before calling Marcus, but he didn’t answer.
Marcus sighs loudly in my ear. “Your brother made some really fucking stupid decisions, and now he’s in a lot of trouble.”
“You already said that, Marcus. Why don’t you just tell me what the fuck you’re talking about so you can quit wasting my time if he’s in so much trouble?”
“You know…we used to be friends. More than friends, really, in case you forgot.”
Frustration and terror have me gritting my teeth. I’m desperate. I need to know if he knows where my brother is and what I need to do to get him out of the situation he’s gotten himself into. “Marcus. Just tell me what’s going on. Is he in trouble right this second? I tried to call him, but he didn’t answer.”
“He isn’t in trouble right this second.” He pauses, and sweat breaks out on my hairline as my anxiety, mixed with a tiny amount of relief, rises. “And what’s going on is, your brother got involved with people I told him not. Olive, I swear I tried to talk him out of this. I fucked up my life, but I told him he shouldn’t.”
“Marcus, please,” I beg, bordering on a full-blown panic attack.
“He owes my boss a lot of money. And my boss doesn’t take kindly to being owed a lot of money.”
This isn’t good. “How much money?” I whisper.
“Fuck,” he spits out, as if he doesn’t want to tell me. But he does, and I kind of wish he hadn’t. “100k.”
My feet freeze as blood rushes to my ears. Someone bumps into my shoulder, pushing me forward, and I glance over to mumble an apology. “$100,000? How?”
“Like I said, I told him not to do it. But that’s what happenswhen you take a bunch of drugs to sell, and you come back with no money and no drugs.”
What? My brother was going to sell drugs?
“I’ll be home early tomorrow. Can you meet me, and we can work something out?”
He sighs again. “Yeah, of course. I don’t know what we’re going to work out, but I’ll try to help you as much as I can.”
The memoryof that conversation still makes me sick to my stomach.
How could Benny be so stupid?
Marcus was someone from my past who I had never wanted to hear from again. We met in high school and dated when I was in my early twenties. Now that I’m thirty-three, I can see what a terrible life choice being with him was. Looking back, I’m glad I only wasted a little under a year on him. I didn’t even know that Benny was still in contact.
