“Magic,” he whispered.
Our bodies spent, Ollie and I laid over the bed, staring up at the ceiling. We’d left our bags and burdens in the hatchback, not needing anything aside from one another, leaving us both in a comfortable daze.
“Okay, so I swear I was not expecting that. Hopeful, yes, but bloody hell … I was only supposed to take you to lunch,” he laughed, “and don’t make me drop you off, love. Stay with me for the rest of the week.” His head tilted toward me, and ecstasy lingered in his eyes, still stuck in a high. Ollie was content—happy—which made me happy. “No Bruce or Diane. No Scott, no Dolor. Just you and me, here until the court date. What do you say?”
“We deserve this.” It was supposed to be a thought, one that should’ve stayed in my head, but it still slipped my tongue. Things with Diane had gotten better. We could finally be in the same room without ripping each other’s throats out, and though I was on the path of redemption, I don’t think Diane or Dad could ever forget the wrath I’d brought into their home. The sneaking in strange boys, wrecking her car, and my destructive behavior over the last ten years.
Ollie obliterated my thoughts. “We absolutely deserve this.”
But did I? “It’s not—”
He sat up completely. “Don’t say it, Mia. Don’t even have those thoughts.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“I know you. I know you as if I wrote you myself.It’s not going to last,” Ollie mocked. “Well, bring on the madness, the hurdles, every thrown rock, because I’m ready for it now. You are too. I know it. And what we did right there … Mia, we got this. We so got this.”
He had felt it too. Of course, he would’ve felt it. Ollie felt everything. He was capable of feeling a worry before I ever voiced it. He’d always known when I was bothered before a frown crossed my lips. Ollie knew as if he’d written my pages. “What about after?”
“No more plans. I tried that already. For two years, I made plans and you see how that turned out. I published my work and planned to adopt Zeke. I bought a house and planned to marry you. I planned to meet you at three,” he shook his head, “I’m not thinking about the future anymore. I’m thinking about here and now.”
“You bought a house?”
“Yeah, love, I bought you a house. A home. We have a home, always.”
Ollie’s phone vibrated inside his pocket. It had been doing that all day, and not once had he retrieved it to see who it was. I tossed a few assumptions. Probably Laurie, his agent, or something that had to do with his work. “Are you going to answer that? It’s probably important.”
“You’re important. Whoever it is can wait.”
“They’ve been calling all day. Just see who it is.”
Groaning, Ollie dipped his thumb and forefinger inside his front pocket. At this angle, I didn’t have a chance to look at the screen, but a quick debate battled in his eyes before he decided to answer.
“This better be important,” he snapped, but his long fingers stroked my hair calmly. Until they stopped. Ollie sat up completely, pushed his legs over the bed, and dropped his head into his hands. “I don’t have any answers right now.”
I sat up and hugged my knees to my chest. Ollie’s jaw flexed, and the vein in his neck popped. I was on one end of the conversation, and I didn’t like it. Curiosity at whoever turned Ollie’s entire demeanor around so quickly pinched my nerves. Whoever was on the other end was male and loud and shouting, but I couldn’t make it out. The call ended, and he squeezed the device in his fist.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I didn’t know if I wanted to know. Ollie pushed his fingers through his hair and ran his palm down his face. Then up. Then down again. Then his head cocked, and he searched my expression. I saw the question in his eyes—the wonder whether he should tell me or not. “Tell me,” I gritted.
Mia’s eyes fell into slits, and they burned a hole into mine. I couldn’t escape them. If I told her I’d been playing hopscotch with the Links to find her, she’d immediately recoil and ask me to take her back to her dad’s. But I couldn’t lie to her either. We had a week left before I had the option of taking her home. And after the phone call I just got, I didn’t want to take her anywhere near the UK.
But I couldn’t fucking lie to her.
So, I told her everything.
“What were you thinking?” she shouted, pacing the burgundy carpet of the room. Her arms flew around in the air, tears stained her cheeks, and this wasn’t how I wanted this day to go.
“I couldn’t sit back and do nothing.”
“A fucking gang, Ollie? Go big or go home?” she laughed humorlessly, “You were finally doing something for yourself. You got out of that fucking life, away from your brother! And you’d risk it all?”
Something incredibly justifiable should have left my mouth, but she was right to a degree. Yeah, I’d risk it all. I could’ve told her none of it mattered if she wasn’t with me, which was one hundred percent accurate. Mia had been missing, and I’d risked everything to find her. If we could go back in time, I’d do it all over again too. But the only reason my mouth slammed closed was that if the roles had reversed, I’d never want her to give up her dreams, risk her life, or take a wrecking ball to everything she’d accomplished for me. I’d want her to continue pushing forward. Mia was fucking right, but so was I.
Her palms raised in the air, and her eyes were a rare shade of gold. The tears and disappointment in them made them look even more lovely, and I didn’t know how it was possible. “You have nothing to say?”
“I don’t know what to say,” I admitted.
“I want you to take me back to my dad’s. I can’t even look at you right now.” She’d said it, but her eyes were still on me, not only staring at me but expressing love and devotion no matter how hard she tried to fight it. Sure, she was terribly angry, but her eyes anchored to mine, already regretting saying to take her back. But Mia was too stubborn for her own good. She wasn’t going to change her words although she’d already changed her mind.
