“I’ll have to ask her if she’ll talk to you,” she finally says.
“Okay.”
“I’ll be right back,” she promises. I sit down on one of the chairs that line the porch. There’s a swing, too, but the chair seems to fit the occasion.
It’s a quaint house. I know it belongs to Arwen, but she seems more at home in my apartment. I used to imagine a place like this for Olivia, but I know it’s not truly what I’d want to live in. I need a lot of glass and wide-open spaces. My penthouse is perfect. I’ll need to talk to Arwen and see if that works for her, too.
My head turns as Olivia walks out. She’s beautiful as always, but the attraction I once held for her is void. She’s not the same woman she once was. I’m not the same man. Our past together seems like a lifetime ago. “Hello, Blade,” she says, and she might look calm, but I can hear the quiver in her words.
“Olivia,” I say, clearing my throat.
“Winnie said you wanted to speak with me?”
“Yeah. Can you sit down for a bit?”
She nods, moving to the chair that’s beside me, though there is quite a bit of space between the two.
“I think I’ll just go inside and let the two of you talk,” Arwen murmurs.
“You don’t have to,” Olivia and I say together, and for a second there’s a smile on Arwen’s face.
“I do. There are things you need to say to one another—a past you need to put to rest. It doesn’t involve me. I’ll be here to talk to both of you if you need me later,” she says. Then, she shocks the hell out of me by kissing my forehead and hugging Olivia.
Once she disappears back inside, both Olivia and I stare out over the yard for a bit. I think we’re both afraid to talk. “So,” I finally mutter, not sure how to begin.
“Winnie said you read your letter from Bear.”
“Do you know what it said?” I ask.
“Mm,” she hums. “Bear told me while we were locked in my brother’s little prison.”
“What?” I ask, not sure I heard her correctly.
“I’m sorry. I assumed Cross told you everything,” she says nervously, rubbing her hands together. I reach over and put my hand over hers, not wanting her to make a sore spot on her skin.
“I’m supposed to meet with the men later. I wanted to talk to you first. That night when Eyeball somehow got the warden to?—”
“Douglas is really good at finding weasels he can control,” she mutters.
“You seemed so …”
“Angry? A bitch?” she laughs, but the sound is cold—absolutely devoid of any emotion.
“Yeah.”
“You saw what Douglas wanted you to see, Blade. I was just playing a part.”
“That’s part of what I don’t understand. What part? Why go along with anything that bastard ordered?”
“He promised he’d let me go. I didn’t have a lot of hope, but I needed him not to be lying. So, I went along with what he ordered. I didn’t do it for me. I did it to protect someone I loved.”
“Your father,” I surmise.
She lets out a quiet breath but doesn’t correct me. “Bear didn’t die at the garage? You mentioned you were locked up together.”
“He was wounded, but no, he didn’t die. He held on for me, but his wound got infected and although he tried to be strong, the beatings took their toll. I tried to take them whenever I could. Eyeball allowed it because it made Bear suffer to see me take the beatings for him. In the end, Bear lost touch with what was really going on. The infection raged in his body. Douglas only left Bear alive to suffer. When Bear couldn’t stay awake and lucid any longer, Douglas killed him. He took him from me completely and lived off my pain for over a year. I can’t really remember how long. It all blended together, to be honest.”
“He loved you.”
