Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Come here.” I move back on my stool, then drag her off hers and settle her on my lap.
“If you don’t want to deal with it, I can just bring all your clothes over and toss them into the wash while you go find a shop to buy some new undergarments.”
“Undergarments?” She smiles, touching my jaw, and I shrug.
“That’s what they are.”
“Yeah, when you’re fifty.” She laughs, and I’m relieved to hear that sound, especially after last night. Not that it surprises me that she’s taking this in stride. In every situation we’ve been in, she’s stood strong. In fact, the only time I’ve seen her cry is when we had our fight and I was walking away from her.
“Are you calling me old?”
“You are old.”
“Take it back.” I nip her neck while I dig my fingers into her sides.
She shrieks with laughter. “Fine, you’re not old!”
I chuckle, pulling my mouth away from her skin.
“You’re evil.”
“Yeah.” I slide my hand around the side of her neck, use my hold on her to drag her forward for a kiss, and then help her back onto her stool.
“Have you spoken to Liam?” she asks, picking her bagel back up.
“No, but I’ll call him this afternoon,” I say as my phone rings on the counter between us.
“Speak of the devil,” she mumbles around a bite of bagel.
Sliding my finger across the screen, I put the call on speaker.
“Hey, Olivia is here with me, and you’re on speaker,” I say in greeting.
“Someone broke into your house?” he questions, sounding pissed, and Olivia pauses with her bagel an inch from her mouth.
“Technically, they broke into Kourtney’s house,” she answers, and he curses.
“Who was it?”
“If I knew, I would tell you, but I have no idea,” she says, then continues. “Also, thanks for getting back to me last night with Rebecca’s number.”
“I was busy,” he clips.
“Whatever.” She sighs as Gemma starts to bark right before there’s a knock on the door. “I’ll get it.” She starts to slide off her stool, but I grab her wrist.
“I’ve got it.” I pick up my phone, taking it off speaker as I get off my stool.
“It’s probably just Kourtney.” She frowns at me.
“Probably,” I agree, heading to the living room.
“Do you have any idea who could be fucking with Olivia?” Liam asks in my ear.
“If I did, they’d be in jail.” Or six feet under.
“Okay, then what woman did you piss off?”
“Don’t go there,” I growl, opening the door to Kourtney, who looks startled to see me answering my own door. “Olivia’s in the kitchen,” I tell her gently, and she ducks her head as she scoots past me into the house.
“I want Olivia to come stay with me,” Liam says.
“Get in line.”
“What’s that mean?” he snaps.
“Your mom told her the same thing, but right now, she’s staying with me. If she changes her mind, I’m sure she’ll let you know.” I walk back into the kitchen, where Olivia is sitting with Kourtney, the two of them hovering over Kourtney’s new phone, likely trying to program it.
Liam sighs. “I don’t like this.”
“You think I do?” I walk to the counter and pick up my coffee, and Olivia looks up at me with a small smile.
Jesus, just looking at her and thinking about what someone did to her things makes me see red. Worse, it makes me paranoid about leaving her alone. I have no idea who could be targeting her besides Julie. But the thing is, I can’t picture Julie breaking into someone's house. Vandalizing Olivia’s car? Yes. But breaking and entering is a whole other ball game, and someone who is capable of that could be capable of anything.
“No, I know you don’t.” He lets out a harsh breath, then asks softly, “Is she okay?”
“What do you think?” I take my phone with me down the hall to my bedroom, wanting to give the girls some space, especially since Kourtney always looks uncomfortable around me—or anyone who isn’t Olivia, really. “She’s upset that someone was in her room and that they touched her things. She's also freaked because she doesn’t know who it is.”
“Kourtney was in the house?”
“She was, and from the look of the mess they made, they had been there a while before she heard them.”
“She didn’t see anything?”
“Nope, she heard them, then went and hid in the bathroom to call the cops.”
“Sucks she doesn’t have a camera.”
He’s not wrong.
“Hopefully, that will change today.” I place my coffee on my dresser and scoot around Olivia's bag on the floor as I go into the bathroom and stop in front of the sink.
“If Olivia is staying with you, you need cameras at your place.”
“I got that on my list of shit to do today too.”
“Do you need help installing them?”
“Can you be around me and your sister without acting like a dick?” I prompt.