Page 51 of Waking Olivia

"Nothing is broken," he says roughly. "Just ice it over the weekend, okay?"

I practically run from the office. The idea of losing my scholarship was scary, but whatever just transpired between Will and me is a thousand times worse.

35

Will

Irefuseto think about what just happened.

Nothing happened,nothing at all.

We had a talk, I checked out her cheekbone, she left to spend her weekend however she sees fit and I am doing the same.

Nothing happened.

Yeah, the nothing that happened maybe leads me to work a little extra at the farm, leads me to be late getting to Jessica’s again, makes me so distracted that I can barely carry on a conversation all weekend … but that doesn’t change the fact thatnothing happened.

I’ve been with plenty of pretty girls. Jessica was hands-down the best-looking girl at my high school. But all of them felt …replaceable. Olivia, in my office, wasn’t replaceable. The need for her was sharp, urgent, painful, unlike anything I’d ever felt. At that moment, there was nothing in the entire damn world I wanted more than her. And it felt like there was nothing else I wouldeverwant. It was insane and I’m taking it for the warning it was.

I need to stay away from her.

Iignore her on Monday. It’s the best thing for everyone. I’ll ignore her, and she’ll get pissed off and things will feel totally normal again. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later because all I can think about is her mouth inches from mine and the surprise of discovering there were a thousand things I wanted to take and do, and I only wanted those things from her.

I send them out on a six-mile run and try not to think about it. I will fix this somehow. Next weekend, when she’s staying at my mom’s, I’ll … I don’t know what I’ll do. I have five days to figure it out, but Ican’tbe alone with her again.

I’m just about to head out after the team when two police officers walk on the track.

I know who they are here for.

36

Olivia

Itakeoff for my run on Monday with Will treating me like a communicable disease, as if the shit in his office was entirely my doing, and I return with him thinking I’m a criminal.

The police are waiting to see me in Peter’s office. “Do you have any idea what this is about?” he asks as we walk inside.

“No,” I say stonily.

“I don’t want to be blindsided, Olivia. If you’ve done something please tell me now.”

“Maybe it’s that counterfeiting operation I run out of my bedroom,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I’m not onparole, Will. I don’t routinely go around committing crimes.”

I go shower and head to the office with my stomach in knots. Yes, I’ve had more than my fair share of “incidents” but it’s not like I have some secret urge to go knock over a bank or something. It seems unlikely I’d have done it in my sleep, but I’d also have sworn I never cried in my sleep and look how wrong I was there.

In Peter’s office, the faces could not be more grim, and my stomach sinks a little lower. “Have a seat, Olivia,” says Peter. He introduces me to the detectives, whose names I immediately forget. One is very tall and the other short. A couple of jokes come to mind, but given that I may be on the verge of arrest, this probably isn’t the time.

What unnerves me most is not the presence of the police. It’s the look on Will’s face. There’s something raw and shocked there that doesn’t bode well. I begin to shiver, and I’m not sure if it’s caused by my wet hair or something else.

“Olivia, these men are here to talk to you about your brother,” he says gently.

Immediately my heart rate accelerates and I begin to sweat. I’m tempted to bolt, which Will seems to sense. He moves to the chair beside me, placing a warning hand on my arm.

“As you know, your brother was presumed dead—” the tall one begins, but I cut him off.

“No. Just because you guys never found him doesn’t mean he’s dead. When I can’t find my house key or my phone, it doesn’t mean they’redead.”

“There’s been a new development in the case,” the other one says.

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