“To continue where we left off.”
“I can’t.”
“You found someone else? I get it.” Jaime made to rise.
“No. Sit,” Olivia almost snarled, and Jaime immediately dropped back down. “You can’t just end things and then come back months later and expect everything to go back to how it was.”
“Why not? If we both enjoyed it?”
“I don’t know where you live!”
Jaime raised her hands, then dropped them. “So what? If I give you my address, you’ll agree to—”
“To what, Jaime? What even were we?”
Jaime only stared at her.
Olivia sighed. “Look, it’s not easy for me either, and all of this is…somewhat unfamiliar territory for me, too. Just so we’re clear, I’m not looking for a wife.”
Jaime’s eyebrows rose.
“But I want more than random hookups in hotel rooms. I deserve more than that.”
“I see.” Jaime nodded. “I’m not sure I can be what you need.”
“Because you know what I need?” Olivia asked.
Jaime shook her head. “I hate compromises.”
Olivia snorted. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Jaime held her gaze, as if weighing her next words. “My mother is a bat. Bats are reservoirs for rabies, so while they may spread the disease to other living beings they encounter, it doesn’t affect them.”
Olivia didn’t dare move for fear of pulling Jaime out of the trance she seemed to have fallen into.
“My mother is a reservoir for darkness, desolation, and despair. The first two verses ofThe Sound of Silenceare, or should be, her anthem. The person who brought me into this world is an energy vampire who sucks the joy and life out of anyone she meets. Not all the time, but enough to form an utterly draining pattern.” Jaime grimaced.
Still Olivia remained silent.
“I watched a video about energy vampires a while ago. There are people we interact with who give us more energy. After wespend time with them, we feel refreshed and overall happier than we did before.
“There are neutral people, too. After being in their presence, we feel the same way as before. Then there are energy vampires.” She sighed. “Five minutes with such a person often feel like an hour of seemingly never-ending torment. After we leave an energy vampire, we feel drained, hopeless, frustrated, angry, or sad.” Jaime’s gaze found Olivia’s. “Do you have any idea how it feels when yourmotheris like that? Your only living relative.”
Olivia shook her head.
“I don’t…You need to ward yourself, cut yourself off because the person you want to love most in the world makes it almost impossible. She wasn’t always so extreme, but… I don’t know what changed. In the end, I just… I don’t… It’s a nightmare to look at the person you love—the one you’re supposed to love—and feel almost nothing but resentment.” Jaime grimaced. “Love falls apart.”
“It can, yes, but it doesn’t have to.”
“I don’t know what you have in mind, but I won’t move, and I don’t wish to live with someone else. I’m not interested in meeting your friends or family. I don’t want to travel, hit the clubs, or attend parties. And… I don’t love pets.”
“That’s quite the list,” Olivia said with a raised brow. “Do I look like I’ve got a houseful of pets?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re secretly waiting for the right moment to adopt a cat or a dog. What do we really know about each other?”
Olivia opened her mouth to protest, they knew stuff. There’d been moments where they’d connected aside from sex. Yet before she could say a word, Jaime raised her hand.
“Aside from knowing how to make the other come. Hard.”
