“She’s just a girl, Huck. A girl in a tough spot. I know you, kiddo. You aren’t the type to turn your back on someone who’s just looking for a way out of a shitty situation. And it sounds to me like the two of you might have some unfinished business to discuss. It’s only a year. Suffer through and make amends before you graduate and start law school. It’ll be good for you. That’s the best option for everyone.” He picked up his mug, looking overly satisfied with himself.
“It’s the easiest option for you.” Looking backward was quite possibly the hardest thing he could ask me to do.
I’d threatened her with a restraining order already. Mr. Peters was using that as my out, and yet, I hadn’t reported her or gone to the police. The idea actually made my skin feel too tight, and I had a headache starting to throb behind my eyes. It was a simple solution, one I would be totally justified in doing. Only I couldn’t do it. And not only because I had a healthy distrust of the police and was skeptical about a legal system that was easy to manipulate.
Ollie and I didn’t have unfinished business. No, our business was dead and buried, just like any relationship we’d once had. I’d grieved and mourned the loss of what once was. I had no intention of being haunted by the ghosts of our pasts. Seeing Ollie’s face every single day had once been a given; now, it was my worst nightmare. I wanted to seriously injure Fisher for moving out and moving on with his life, leaving the door open for this current disaster. I made a mental note to give him a piece of my mind the next time we met up for a drink.
I jolted when a heavy, gnarled hand landed on top of the fist I wasn’t aware my hand had curled into on top of the table. I looked up and met the older man’s concerned gaze.
“Huck.” He paused for a long moment and sighed heavily. I hadn’t even noticed when he got up and walked over to me, which was saying something because he had a distinct limp and didn’t move quietly in the least. Ollie was already consuming all my thoughts and pulling my attention away from where it should be. Just like she had when we were younger. Mr. Peters had no idea how dangerous the girl could be. “I don’t have sons, but you boys come as close as I’ll ever get. I would never do anything to put you in danger. If I’m wrong about this girl, tell me. Be honest with me, and I’ll see what I can do to find a suitable solution for everyone.”
The words were on the tip of my tongue.
I wanted to tell him how I used to stand between Ollie and my family. How my half brother went out of his way to make my life a living hell because he was jealous she liked me more than she liked him. I wanted to explain how that demented kid killed my first dog, sabotaged my grades in school, got me kicked off the lacrosse team, and made sure I had nothing to enjoy in life just because he was bitter and couldn’t handle anyone, but especially Ollie, putting me before him. I almost ended up in juvie because of him. I’d learned how to hate and hold a grudge early because of him.
I wanted Ollie gone so I didn’t have to think about my brother, Sawyer, ever again.
I wanted to forget she existed like I’d been doing for so long.
I wanted to tell him she was dangerous and would bring nothing but harm to our household, but I couldn’t get my mouth and my mind to cooperate. I couldn’t actually say that Ollie was a bad person or that she meant to cause the kind of problems she inevitably did.
When it came down to it, the girl was just as desperate as I was. It was exactly what drew us together all those years ago.
We were desperate to be understood.
Desperate to be free.
Desperate to be loved… And we only managed to find any of that with each other.
Years had gone by, and I was sure she was as different a person as I was, so I couldn’t be sure what her intentions were anymore. But I couldn’t get myself to tell the old man I was scared that being around her was going to revive the old, altruistic feelings I’d tried my best to kill.
“You said she’s in a tough spot. I don’t suppose you want to elaborate on that?” I could only imagine what, or who, she was finally running from.
The old man squeezed my hand again and shuffled to the seat next to mine. “Nope. If you want to know, then ask her.” He grunted and rubbed his bad knee. “Since you’re here, how about making an old man some dinner. My knee has been acting up. I think the weather is gonna change in the next few days. We’re probably looking at a storm moving our way.”
I snorted and pushed away from the table. “You have no idea.”
It wasn’t a simple storm moving our way if Ollie was involved. No, if she was at the center of the tempest, it would be the kind of onslaught that leveled towns and upended homes. The kind of carnage that followed in her wake took years to clear and rebuild.
“What do you want to eat?” I was still mad at him, but I couldn’t let him starve.
A gruff chuckle escaped his barrel chest. “I want hot dogs, but I know you won’t let me have them.”
He was right. He’d had some heart issues earlier last year, and ever since, I’d done my best to make sure he kept to a heart-healthy diet. I didn’t want to lose him, and it had nothing to do with the difficulty of finding somewhere else to live if he kicked us out.
I gave him a dirty look as I moved toward his well-stocked kitchen. “Yeah, looks like neither of us is getting our way today, Old Man.”
He chuckled as I walked away, and I wanted to stress that there was nothing funny about the fact I would be living under the same roof as Ollie Adams for the foreseeable future. However, I got a distinct feeling that my obvious annoyance over the situation would just delight him even further.
He had told me not to give Ollie a hard time and put her in a position that she wanted to move out. He didn’t know that she was used to all my typical tricks.
If I wanted her gone without repercussions, I was going to have to come up with a new plan entirely. One she’d never see coming.
Let the games begin.
Ollie
“So, you knew Huck when he was a kid? What was he like? He’s always so serious, so intense. It’s hard to picture him as a little kid. I like to think he was happier back then than he is now.”
“He wasn’t.” I looked over at Vernon, who was manhandling the last box I’d left in their garage into the attic room that was now officially mine. I didn’t believe Mr. Peters when he first called and told me he’d spoken with Huck and cleared the way for me to move in. He reminded me to give him a call if the boys gave me a hard time and promised to check up on me. When I showed up at the house, the only person home was Vernon, and he didn’t seem shocked by my sudden arrival. In fact, he jumped right in with an offer to help me move my few meager belongings up the two flights of stairs into the room with the drastically sloped ceiling and small windows. “He wasn’t happier, I mean. But he was less intense than he seems now.”
Vernon informed me that he and Harlen shared the second floor, and that Huck had the master bedroom on the main level. He also said that since the house was old, every step made the floorboards creak and that the pipes rattled nonstop, so everyone could hear everyone else moving around in the morning or late at night. He suggested I invest in a good set of noise-canceling earplugs because when the weather got cold, they turned on the old-fashioned radiators, and they sounded like war machines when they started up and turned off. He’d rattled off other tips like not to touch any of Harlen’s weird protein powders or supplements unless I wanted an hour-long lecture on nutrition and muscle mass. He stated that none of them were great at grocery shopping, but they shared food when the fridge was stocked. Apparently, Huck had turned into somewhat of a health nut since I’d last seen him, which would explain the ripped body and loss of his adorable baby fat. I assured Vernon I wouldn’t intrude and told him I usually just grabbed something to eat between classes. I barely made enough money to pay my portion of the rent each month. No way was I in a place to feed three boys, two of whom were built like professional athletes.