Page 23 of The Pain We Allow

Her hackles went up as a woman in a nearby table was blatantly staring inappropriately at Colin. Olivia threw the woman a filthy look as she stabbed her salad. She looked over at Colin who was tucking into a burger. He looked sexually virile even doing something as mundane as eating.

“Thanks for meeting me here, babe. But you didn’t have to,” she said, reaching forward to touch his hand lightly before picking up the water bottle he gave her. He gave her a look while he chewed, his throat working around it on a swallow.

“Of course, I had to,” he said lightly. “Yesterday was a lot for both of us, and I’m not even just talking about the sex, our therapy appointment was pretty intense. And I wanted to make sure you’re ok. I’ll be having lunch with you every Wednesday after our appointment. It’ll be part of our aftercare,” he took a healthy drink of his own water, before swapping it out for coffee.

“But yes, I know I took you too hard last night. Too hard and too long for a school night. I fucked you for hours, and then you had to get up at seven. I’m sorry,” he cleared his throat. Not used to apologizing for his behavior. ”I truly wanted to connect in person to make sure you were ok,” his eyes slowly turned to the female who was still watching him, and Olivia watched quietly as he cocked his head at her and threw her an unusual back off look. Making the woman turn away quickly.

“Are your studies getting any easier for you?” he asked, biting into his burger again, eyes on her, softer now.

Olivia bit the side of her cheek and shook her head, her cheeks pinkening again this time in embarrassment instead of desire.

“It’s just the academia part…the endless reading and making sense of the words. I have to work extra hard to get through this class,” she mumbled, putting her fork down in irritation. She leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs, looking out the window momentarily.

“It’s just that in this field of work I will be communicating with everyone involved in a project. From the various engineers, the clients, the contractors, the foremen, the local government, the landscape architect, the interior designer…and so forth. It’s a lot, and very hard to get back into after being gone for so long. I swear I picked the hardest career to get into,” she said, pushing her plate away.

Colin nodded thoughtfully, pushing her plate back towards her.

“You are talented, and you are more than capable. I will sit with you every night until you get through this. And if you need guidance, I will find it for you. No giving up, ok?” he reached over to cover her hand with his, squeezing reassuringly.

Olivia smiled at him thankfully. She picked up her fork once more, stabbing and swallowing a bit of her salad, suddenly noticing that Stella was walking towards them with purpose. She smiled brighter at the sight of her friend, who threw down her bag rather roughly and huffed before sitting in the chair across from them.

“Do you two mind? I won’t be long,” Stella said as she took a bite out of her apple and left it in her mouth as she hurriedly got out her phone and opened it.

She took the apple out of her mouth and took Colin’s outstretched hand and accompanying “Colin”, shaking it before giving him a rather hard once over, even tilting her head to see his shoes. Colin raised his eyebrow in amusement as she went back to her phone, searching for something.

What the hell? He thought, tilting his head to look at his own shoes briefly.

“I’m Stella, nice to meet you, Colin,” Stella said, her eyes trained on her phone. “Aha!” she suddenly said, turning the right way in her seat, facing them both now, her long braids swinging as she moved. She handed her phone to Olivia who took it with interest.

Colin had finished his burger and was sitting back watching Stella in amusement. Relaxed after his meal, he slid an arm across the back of Olivia’s chair. His fingertips stroked her shoulder lazily as he listened to the woman.

“We’re trying to plan a double date, so you don’t kill her ice skating,” Stella murmured, now getting what she considered to be her first good look at him. Her eyes raked over him thoroughly from head to toe once more. Colin furrowed his brow before smiling at her, raising his eyebrow.

Stella did a slow smile and threw Olivia a ‘holy shit you did good’ look.

“Ice skating?” Colin said with interest, looking over at Olivia who was looking at Stella’s phone and picking at her salad. “Eat,” he ordered quietly, squeezing her shoulder lightly and watching her place a strawberry in her mouth.

“Yes, Stella asked why I was walking like this, and I told her about our ice-skating date last night,” she said smoothly, smiling prettily and handing Stella her phone back.

“Ahhh. Yeah, Olivia couldn’t quite get her bearings. Rather unfortunate since we’re going to have ice skating lessons multiple times a week,” he looked over at Stella again and flashed her a dazzling smile, momentarily stunning her but she recovered quickly.

“Well, I would like to invite you two mini golfing with me and my husband this weekend. It’ll be fun, we can go at night, get a little tipsy off cheap beer! It’ll be so much fun!” Stella smiled excitedly and Colin found himself instantly liking the cheerful woman. He hoped Olivia could become close to her, and that she wouldn’t be so withdrawn sometimes.

“Only if I can provide our ride. We will pick you up and drop you off, since you were so kind to extend an invite,” Colin interjected smoothly. Olivia smiled to herself as she finished her salad dutifully.

“Sure, if you insist, that would be nice. We could actually enjoy having a drink together for once instead of one of us having to be the designated driver. But we get to pay your way in since you’re providing the ride,” she said coyly, finishing her apple and wrapping it up in a napkin.

“We’d appreciate that so much, thank you. What does your husband do for work?” Colin asked again, taking another healthy drink of his coffee.

Olivia witnessed how he good naturedly humored her friend and noticed that generally he was a people person, never treating anyone different due to his status. He placed her hand on his thigh, rubbing and pressing firmly.

“He owns a security company; he contracts out bodyguards for the rich folks around here, and elsewhere too,” she answered, having not been filled in by Olivia about her husband’s status. Or her new status, thanks to him.

Colin smiled. Olivia paled.

“Yeah, those damn rich people can be something else huh? Real snobby,” he ribbed back, clearly having fun with her friend. Olivia relaxed slightly.

Slightly.

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