Time to rip off that Band-Aid.
CHAPTER 20
Asher
Something is definitely off with Olivia. I can sense it. I could feel it in the kitchen after dinner. An uneasy emotion runs through me as I say goodnight and thank-you to the Ashbys for having me.
“Hey, Olivia,” Hunter calls now. “If you’re looking for a fun night, hit me up. I’ll get you and some friends good seats at the Buckshaw.”
He’s talking about the rodeo outside Lexington coming up, and the idea of her sitting in the stands, cheering for him with a cowboy hat on, sends an unexpected rage through me that I’m having a hard time swallowing down.Get it together.
“Thank you,” she answers politely, giving him a friendly hug goodbye. “Summer is so busy for me and my shop, but maybe another time.”
“Sure you guys can’t stay?” Cole asks, excited to put on his fireworks display. “Mabes should be back any second, and I’ve got the whole show set up.”
Fucking guy is wearing a red, white, and blue hat that says,Fireworks director, I duck, you duck.
“I’m tired, and I have some … kitchen stuff to go over with Asher,” Olivia offers. I look down at her.
Huh?
“And I’ve got an early start tomorrow,” I say. “I’ll just walk Liv home then head out.”
I shake Cole’s hand and wave to everyone else, a feeling of dread settling deep in my stomach. As we leave the big house, I follow close behind Olivia down the steps and along the Silver Pines gravel walkway that leads past the main barns to the cabins. The night is quiet, and the sky is a deep, velvet navy, lit up with a thousand stars. My mind drifts as we walk. There’s really no place like this ranch. It’s the farthest cry from the place I grew up. Not just because of the breathtaking scenery but because of the peace it affords. I watch Olivia pull the scarf from her hair. As she prattles on nervously—about the food Jo put on, the Black brothers, the next day at her shop and how busy she’s expecting it to be—I realize a world like the one I came from is one she could never even imagine.
The whole walk, she never stops talking. And by the time we reach the cabins, I’ve had enough. I stop dead in the middle of the road and she follows suit, turning to face me.
“What’s wrong, Liv?”
“How do you know something is wrong?”
“You have a tell.” My eyes lock to her baby blues. “Youtalk.”
“Nothing’s wrong. I mean something is going on, but I just don’t know whether you’ll think it’s a bad thing or a good thing—”
“Olivia,” I say firmly in an attempt to stop her spinning in circles.
Her eyes flutter closed as she sucks in a breath. What the fuck is going—
“I’m pregnant,” she says so quickly the words are barely audible. “I haven’t, I mean, there’s been no one else since you, or long before you …”
Olivia is rambling but her words fade as the first firework ignites in the sky with a loud crackle and two or three more follow close behind. Though I don’t properly register them as my heart stutters out. Hell, it feels like it stops dead with a heavy iron thud in my chest. I try to focus on Liv and what she’s saying, but my mind is working to process the situation. It was supposed to be one night. No strings. No chance of exposing her to any part of my past life that could fuck with her future.
The screams that haunt me, the screams of my mother as she died at the hands of my father, fill my head. They normally only creep in when it’s silent, but they invade my brain as I consider what this all means. Those screams get louder when men in my family get close to a woman.
“You’re …pregnant?” I repeat her words, making sure I’m not fucking losing it.
She nods, clutching her hands in front of her as worry fills her eyes. I’malwayscareful and I’m sure she is too, but we weren’t with each other. Suddenly, everything I’ve done up until this moment in my life feels pointless. I let the word replay in my head over and over.Pregnant.
Another firework goes off, and Olivia gestures to her door as pink and blue sparkles light up the sky.
“Maybe, um … we should go inside to talk?” She turns to walk up the steps, barely getting the words out before the next set of fireworks explode.
I snap out of my momentary lapse of shock and force myself to move, following close behind her into her cabin. She sets her purse down on the bench in the doorway and heads to the kitchen to fill a glass with water, but my feet are cemented to the floor.
“There is no pressure here,” she continues. “I just thought you should know. I hope you believe me when I say I had no idea this would happen. I was on the birth control shot and Iwas faithful with it.”
“Olivia …” I finally manage to get out, though it’s like she doesn’t hear me.
