Page 29 of Fight For Us
I grabbed my cleaning rag again and turned the corner. It was right about time for me to get ready to pick up Alex. The longer I waited in the tension-filled space with Wes, the more I thought about how good it felt to have my hands on him.
Chapter 12
Wes
It took me anotherfew minutes before I felt my dick go down enough to face my employees. Olivia only made it worse the more she talked. Every time that woman opened her mouth, I found myself more and more enamored by her. And that was before she put her hands on my body. Hell, I wasn’t prepared for that.
Caleb came into the kitchen from his break and looked at me with a raised brow. “You good, Boss?”
“Never better, my man.” He tilted his chin at me and went to wash up.
After a peek at the dining area, which was blissfully empty except for two tables finishing up, I followed Olivia into my office. Do I talk about my… reaction? Shit. I didn’t want to make things awkward.
As I got closer I overheard her talking to someone. Her voice trembled and then I heard an unmistakable sharp intake of breath. I pushed the door fully open and found her stock-still, holding her phone up to her ear.
“Tiger?” I kept my voice low so I didn’t interrupt. But something was wrong.
She spoke into the phone. “Okay. Yes. I’ll be right there.” As she hit end, her wide eyes met mine. “It’s Alex,” she whispered, like she was there with me but somewhere else at the same time.
“What happened?” Adrenaline pulsed through my veins, tightening every muscle in my body.
“He’s on his way to the hospital again.”
I felt like I was living in a time warp. Only this time, thank God, Alex didn’t need surgery again but he looked like hell. I helped Alex into the front seat of Olivia’s car, moving the seat back as far as it could go to accommodate his new cast. They gave Alex a wheelchair this time around, to minimize any more chances of a secondary fracture.
Olivia stood outside the car, her back against the driver’s side window. She held her hand against her face to block the rays of the setting sun from her eyes or to keep me from seeing the anxiety written all over her. I didn’t need to look her in the eyes to know how she was feeling. I’d lived with the same feelings so many times they werea part of me now.
“Hey.” I tipped her chin up. She’d been frozen since she got the call. Going through the motions robotically. I was almost glad to see her reacting. “It’s going to be okay.”
She wiped her eyes and let out a dry laugh. “I wish I could tell you that you were right. But, no, Wesley. It will not be okay.”
I searched her eyes. My life situation was fucked beyond belief but I’d be damned if I couldn’t help hers in any way. “What can I do?”
“Nothing. There’s nothing anyone can do. Come on, let’s get him home.” She went to open the driver’s seat but I blocked her way, cupping her jaw. She blinked up at me, wetness coating her dark lashes.
“There’s always something someone can do. I need you to believe in that.” I swallowed a lump in my throat. “Because if someone like you can’t believe that, then a jaded motherfucker like me is doomed.” Dazed, she nodded slowly. I hoped she realized how serious I was. “I’ll drive.”
I helped them inside Olivia’s place, where she settled an exhausted Alex in bed. He could barely keep his eyes open from the pain meds.
While she was getting him settled, I called my mom to check in on Lilly and ask her to come pick me up in a bit. I’d left my car at Sunshine earlier.
When Olivia came out into the kitchen, it ached to look at her. It was as if a physical weight laid on her back. From the slump in her shoulders, to the grimace lining her lips, every part of her screamed, “I’m hurting.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You keep getting mixed up in all my issues.” She opened the fridge and shuffled a few things out of the way before pulling out a beer. She held it out to me. “I only have one. You take it.”
“Let’s share it. You need it more than me.” I wrapped my hand around hers and pulled her and the beer closer. What would she do if I wrapped her in my arms? Would she stiffen up? Back away? She pulled out the chair beside me and slumped into it. I missed my chance where it would happen naturally.
“I need to know what happened.”
“Did he say anything?” I asked even though I’d been with them all evening and I knew he didn’t.
“No. Not a word. I didn’t press though, not while he was in so much pain.” She closed her eyes and brought the beer to her lips. “I know something isn’t right.”
“You mean, besides your kid breaking his leg twice in only a few months time?” My joke didn’t land. Olivia brought her hand to her forehead and rested it there. “Bad timing for a joke,” I muttered.
“No, it’s fine. I’m just exhausted. I can’t even process a joke right now.” She passed me the beer. “There’s no way he got those bruises from falling.”
“We can talk to Lilly? Maybe she knows what’s going on?” I offered.
