"Yeah, dropped money off at her dad"s house, caught them leaving. He"s got my eyes man."
"I"m sorry Denny. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Go take care of Olivia Jonah."
Shaking my head even though Denny was turned away from me I went to go take care of my girl.
Someone was staring at me, my eyes weren"t open yet but I could feel eyes on me.
"I know you"re awake." Jonah said his voice sweet and gentle.
"How do you know I"m awake?"
"You stop wiggling when you start to wake up."
d.a.m.n.
"Keeping your eyes shut won"t stop us from talking about last night."
d.a.m.n.
Opening my eyes Jonah"s tired face was staring down at me.
d.a.m.n again.
"You haven"t slept have you?"
"You scared the s.h.i.t out of me Olivia."
"I"m sorry." I said pulling myself up so that my head was resting on his shoulder. "I was going to tell you."
"Not yet." he said putting his finger to my lips. "I have never been more scared than when I heard your voice over the phone. I never want to hear your voice sound like that again."
"Jonaha""
"Stop talking." His finger gave way to his lips which came down on mine, kissing me with so much desperation I wanted to scream how sorry I was, that I would never do anything to scare him again.
Pushing one hand into his hair and the other around his lower back I tried to pull him closer but he wouldn"t give up control.
Sucking my lower lip between his teeth he bit down licking away the sting with that d.a.m.n tongue that drove me crazy.
Lifting off me he smirked, "You"re so s.e.xy when you"re hot and bothered."
"You going to finish what you started or just smirk at me."
"Neither."
My face fell so fast I had no chance to stop my bottom lip poking out in a pout that had Jonah busting out laughing.
"Food or bath first?" He asked tugging on my lip.
"Jonah you know what I want." I whined.
"G.o.d lord I"ve created a s.e.x monster! Now food or bath?"
"Bath." At least that would get me closer to what I really wanted.
"Good girl." He said rolling off the bed and picking me up like a small child that weighed nothing.
Setting me beside the sink he bent over the bathtub adjusting the water giving me a beautiful view of his tight a.s.s and ripped back muscles.
Sweet Jesus I was a s.e.x monster, but with a man that looked like Jonah I could not be blamed.
Letting the tub fill with water, Jonah removed the bandage he must have put on my knee this morning. My knee was all sorts of dark colors and an ugly cut ran straight across the top.
"Does it hurt?" Jonah asked feeling around it lightly.
"No." I said even though it really hurt like a b.i.t.c.h, but I was just too amazed by how gentle a guy his size could be.
"Arms up."
Lifting my arms Jonah pulled his shirt over my head. Throwing it to the ground he lifted me off the counter and softly put me into the hot water.
"I forgot the bubble bath s.h.i.t." Jonah mumbled. Raising my eyebrows he shook his head, "Not mine, Denny"s. Be back, one minute don"t move." Kissing my forehead Jonah darted out of the bathroom.
Well a girl could get use to this. And who would have guessed I would be smiling on a day that four years ago almost killed me. Was Nicky smiling today? The thought was like a knife straight through the heart but no panic attack came because I could hear Jonah laughing at a screaming Denny who was insisting it was not his bubble bath.
Still laughing Jonah came back in and poured half the bottle of pink bubble bath in. A sweet candy smell hit the air and white fluffy bubbles surrounded my body.
Kneeling beside the tub Jonah dipped his hand into the water "Why didn"t you tell me about the car?"
Son of a b.i.t.c.h, he set me up, and d.a.m.n him, it was going to work. Between the sweet bubble bath and amazingly hot water I was so relaxed I would tell him anything.
So I did. "It wasn"t till Friday afternoon when the car followed me from the shelter to the apartment that I knew something was wrong." I said closing my eyes.
"You should have called right when you noticed someone following you." Jonah said his voice raising slightly like he was trying to control it.
"I didn"t want to upset you at work. I was going to tell you when you came over buta"
"But you took off to your brother"s grave without me ever knowing your brother was dead."
Wincing I dipped lower in the tub. "I don"t talk about Alex."
"I know but someone is following you Olivia and I don"t think they just happened to show up at your brother"s grave. They knew you were going to be there."
"Who"s they?" I asked jumping up and splashing water all over Jonah.
"That"s what I"m trying to figure out." He said wiping his face off with a towel. Putting the towel down he put his hand back in the water but this time found my thigh and started to ma.s.sage. "Your brother was in the drug scene, its possible he p.i.s.sed some people off. Do you know anything about his drug use?"
The hot water or his hand moving up and down my thigh couldn"t stop the pain that coursed through my body. There was a reason I didn"t talk about Alex"s death and that was because it hurt too much. But Jonah had given me the perfect setting to finally let it out. "I know he was using drugs but I didn"t know it was bad until it was too late. He was a good guy, he wanted to be a lawyer like our dad, so he never did anything bad and he was always taking care of me, shielding me from our parents. It wasn"t until his second year of university that he started to act differently. Then the next year he dropped out and things got a little worse. He turned into this mean awful person. Then he was dead."
I didn"t even realize I was crying until Jonah jumped into the tub a" sweats still ona" his fingers wiping them away, "Baby, I could sit her all day and tell you how sorry I am but that"s not going to change a d.a.m.n thing, but I am going to say sorry because I am so sorry and if I could take it all back I would."
I felt like he was apologizing for more than just my brother but the moment was too bitter sweet to question. Instead I wrapped myself around his body letting him hold me while I cried.
"What would someone want with Alex four years after his death?" I asked as the water started to turn cold and my eyes refuse to cry anymore.
"I don"t know, but I can find out." Jonah whispered against the top of my head.
Panic welled up inside me. No he couldn"t look into Alex"s death if he did he would find out about Nicky. I could handle him knowing about Alex but knowing what Nicky did. What I did. "Please, leave it alone Jonah."
"I know you don"t want to dig into his death but if it could help us find out whoever is following you then we need to do it."
Pulling myself out of Jonah"s arms I pushed myself to the other side of the tub, "Not once have I asked about the secrets you"re keeping. This is my secret Jonah, so please just leave it alone."
Something must have told him I was about to lose it because his hands came up in a surrender motion as he slowly moved towards me. "Ok I"ll leave it alone but if I"m going to leave it alone you have to do something for me."
"Maybe?"
"I don"t want you anywhere by yourself for the next couple of days ok?"
"Ok." I said nodding and letting him take me back into his arms.
I had a feeling Jonah wasn"t going to let it go but I had to keep him from finding out. If Jonah found out he would hate me and then he would do the same thing Nicky did.
Chapter 12.
Tired, I was so freaking tired. Leaning my forehead against the steering wheel I let my eyelids close for just a minute. It was the second week of December and the ninth straight day of not letting Olivia out of my sight. Thank the Lord it was her last final and she would be off for the next month, maybe then I could get a little more sleep. Mason had temporarily moved back in so he could watch over Olivia at night while I worked at the club. I would come home, get a couple hours of sleep then have to take Olivia to cla.s.ses or the shelter, wait till she was done and take her back home where Denny would take over for a while so I could do my other work. I would come home to a home-cooked meal that thank goodness Olivia made and not Denny, then once Mason was home Denny and I would leave for the club.
Between Vinnie, Mason, Denny and I none of us had found the black car or the people who chased after her, they and the car hadn"t been seen since that night.
So why was I still sticking to her like glue and not letting her go anywhere by herself, even though it was driving her crazy how little sleep I was getting? Well, because of our deal, I was waiting for her to break and tell me why she almost lost it when I brought up looking into Alex"s death. Honestly, I"m not sure what she was worried about; it couldn"t be worse than what I was hiding. So what was my sweet Olivia keeping from me?
Sighing, I got out of the car and walked to Olivia"s cla.s.s.
Leaning against the wall outside the cla.s.sroom I wait for what was fast becoming one of my favorite times, as much as I hated leaving Olivia for anything, the smile I got when we saw each other again was a smile that could knock me on my a.s.s. A big smile would spread across her face as soon as she saw me, making her eyes spark to life like a blue flame and her cheeks to go a rosy pink. And the best part, it was all just for me.
The door opened people started rushing out and I got my favorite smile and a running jump hug.
Wrapping her legs around my waist she kissed me like no one was watching.
"What was that for?" I whispered while her lips showered my face in sweet little kisses.
"Truth?" she asked giving me a mischievous smile.
"Always." I said a little nervous.
"I want a Christmas tree and I want to decorate your house."
"Ok."
"Ok?" she asked eyeing me like I hadn"t just said ok.
Sliding her to her feet as people were starting to stare at us I took her bag and hand leading us out of the building.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked when we were half to the car and Olivia was still staring at me like I had two heads.
"Because you said ok without a fight or anything." Olivia said her eyes narrowed and her nose scrunched up in that adorable way I loved.
"I think it"s a good idea. Denny and I haven"t had a real Christmas in years and I don"t think Mason has ever had one."
Stopping, Olivia looked at me with sad eyes, "What do you mean Mason has never had one?"
"Baby, he spent his whole life in foster care and didn"t once get stuck in a nice home. When I told you he hasn"t known a lot of love, I meant he knows no love, except the brotherly love Denny and I show him and even that he has a hard time accepting."
"Well then, I want to give him the best first real Christmas ever."
G.o.d I loved this girl.
Oh s.h.i.t, I love her.
"Jonah what"s wrong?"
Smiling I cupped her cheek between my hands tilting her face up, "Nothing"s wrong, far from it. Olivia I-"
"Jonah?"
Oh f.u.c.k.
"Mark, you know Jonah?" Olivia asked surprise in her voice.
Olivia was on first name bases with one of Vinnie"s clients, nope, didn"t like that.
"Oh yes my dear we do. Nice to see you again Jonah." Professor Mark Todd smiled at me like I was his best friend.
"Professor Todd." I said tightly getting a questioning look from Olivia.
"Olivia, how did you meet Jonah?" He said looking at Olivia a little more closely than a professor should be.
Stepping out of my arms Olivia took my hand turning her face up to smile at me, "We actually met here in the beginning of November."