Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series (68 page)

“Wow!” She says trying to fan some cool air
over her face with her hand. Ethan smirks and steers her towards
the booth. Shannon gives her that knowing girlie smile, making her
blush even more. After ushering her into the seat against the wall,
he slides in beside her so she can’t escape. She looks at him with
a warning in her eyes. “I’m not staying.”

He tries to look innocent. “I know.”

“Then why do I feel like I’m being
corralled?” Before he can say anything, the waitress comes with
their food and places a plate of pasta topped with roasted chicken
in front of her. She looks at it, sighs and looks at Ethan with her
brows raised.

“What? I ordered you dinner. You have to eat
right?” He turns to eat his dinner and then glances at her sideways
waiting for her reaction. When he catches her rolling her eyes at
Shannon, a small smile on her lips, he takes a breath and
relaxes.

Not having eaten much in the past few days,
Olivia should be starving but she isn’t. She begins to wonder if
today’s harassment about joining him for dinner is because Rachel
has tattled on her again. She manages a few mouthfuls but the
thought of food right now isn’t really appealing.

“Eat.” Ethan encourages, his patience
starting to wear thin.

She looks up at him and catches something in
his expression. Yup. Fucking Rachel! She plays with the chicken a
bit, cutting it into smaller pieces and moving it around on her
plate.

Ethan is well aware of what’s going on.
“Don’t think you’re going anywhere until I’m satisfied that you’ve
had a decent meal.” He says it in that ‘don’t even try that
bullshit with me’ tone. Olivia looks up at Shannon for support.

“And don’t bother looking over at Shannon;
she’s not going to rescue you from me. You need to eat. I’ll feed
you like a fucking child if I have to.”

You have got to be kidding me! Olivia’s jaw
drops and she looks over at Shannon and John in total
embarrassment. They politely look down at their plates and pretend
they aren’t paying attention. Olivia picks up her fork and stabs it
angrily into a piece of chicken and turns to look at Ethan as she
shoves it in her mouth. Then another. Ethan can’t help himself, he
starts to smirk at the look on her face. He imagines she would much
prefer to jab that fork straight into his chest instead and it
makes him chuckle. “Brilliant! I’ll sleep better knowing you’re not
going to die of malnutrition today.” The words are no sooner out of
his mouth when he realizes his hand is about to be pierced by her
fork. Moving it just in time, the tines miss his hand, hitting
heavily down on the table.

“Christ woman! You’re ornery when you’re
hungry!” He says startled.

John smiles and then he starts to laugh
making Shannon giggle. Eventually Olivia smiles too. Managing to
eat several more mouthfuls, she actually starts to feel a lot
better. She would never admit that to Ethan.

Shannon turns to John. “I need to go
shopping for a dress for the Grand Opening.”

Ethan lifts Olivia’s hand to his lips, and
brushes a kiss across her knuckles. “Why don’t you take Olivia with
you and have a girlie day. I’m pretty sure there’s no time in my
schedule for shopping.”

Shannon frowns. “Fine, your loss. No change
room sex for you.”

John grins. “My loss then.”

Ethan looks at Olivia with a sly smile and a
raised eyebrow. “You’re not getting change room sex either.” She
pats him on the thigh to comfort him when he looks
disappointed.

“I have no idea where to go, Olivia. Will
you go shopping with me?” Shannon asks.

“Sure.”

“That’s a great idea, buy something for
yourself to wear as well.” Ethan suggests.

“Uh, I’m wearing my black dress
remember?”

“Yes, I remember that dress. It’s quite
sexy.” He winks at her. “But why don’t you buy something new?”

“Because I don’t have the money right now.”
She starts to feel a little anxious.

“Oh, right.” Ethan digs into his back pocket
and takes out his wallet. “I almost forgot.” Flipping it open, he
pulls out a card. “Here, this is for you.” He places a credit card
down in front of her and she leans forward and reads the name.
“Olivia James - EOC Holdings and Enterprises.”

She looks at him confused. “What is
this?”

“It’s a credit card, from my personal
company. I had you added to the account so you can use it whenever
you need to.”

Olivia is dumbfounded. “Why would you do
that?”

“Because I want you to have whatever you
need.” He’s confused at her resistance. Women like to shop,
right?

She feels the tension run up her spine and
into her shoulders and her tone gets defensive. “I can buy the
things I need on my own.”

“I know, but I’ll feel better knowing that
you have it if you need it.”

“Ethan…” She starts to argue, when he holds
his hand up to halt her.

“Olivia, just put the damn card in your
wallet and don’t argue with me about it.” His voice is hard and
authoritative and she quickly does as she’s told, the tension
starting to wind tighter inside her.

“When do you want to go shopping?” Shannon
asks.

“Next week maybe, I’m kind of up to my ass
in alligators right now.” Olivia tries to shake off her annoyance
with Ethan, but it isn’t easy.

The four of them laugh at how absurd that
saying is. “It sounds like something Carter would say.” Ethan
jokes.

“Speaking of Carter.” Olivia says turning to
John. “Please tell me that Stacey and her friends are not on the
guest list for the grand opening.”

Ethan asks what Stacey has to do with Carter
and then gives John a really annoyed look when she ignores him.
“Just let it go.” John advises him.

“Oh my God, that would be horrible if they
showed up.” Shannon looks at John for confirmation. “Are they on
the list?”

“No, I don’t believe so.” John tries to
recall if her name was there or not.

“That’s good.” She says looking over at
Olivia. “I wouldn’t have been as polite as you were if some girl
was all over John like that.”

Ethan tenses a little and Olivia’s heartbeat
starts to race as the thought of that night claws at her from the
inside.

“Shannon.” John warns her, trying to evade
the topic for the second time.

“I mean, you held it together amazingly for
being in such a new relationship.” She says to Olivia.

Ethan replies. “We aren’t in a
relationship.” That’s when, for Olivia, it all starts to come
crashing down around her.

Her head snaps towards him in shock. What
the fuck? Then she looks over at Shannon who’s looking at her with
her brows knit. What’s going on? She looks to Olivia for an
explanation. “Excuse me?”

“Olivia’s rules.” Ethan continues to
explain. “We’re not in a committed relationship. We are both free
to date other people.”

It hits her hard when she figures it out. He
was already asleep when she told him that she didn’t want him to
see anybody else, that she belonged only to him… and that she was
in love with him. She finally finds the nerve to admit how she
feels and he was out cold under the influence of too much alcohol.
Great… just great!

Anxiety turns to anger and she needs to get
away from him. “Excuse me, please. I need to get out.” Sliding over
on the bench seat, she nudges him, encouraging him to move.

He’s alarmed at her expression.
“Olivia?”

“Please, Ethan. Let me out.” Her breathing
is shallow and her eyes dart nervously around the room looking for
a place to retreat to for a few moments while she calms down. Ethan
looks over at John trying to figure out what’s going on.

Shannon watches the tears start to form in
her eyes and knows that she needs a moment. “Ethan I think you
should let her out.”

He acknowledges Shannon, looking more than a
little lost. “Of course.” Sliding over, he stands up, letting her
move out from behind the table and get to her feet. When he sits
back down, she turns and looks down at him, careful not to raise
her voice and make a scene. “There’s a blonde in the bar that’s
been staring at you for the last hour. Maybe you should ask her
out. Blondes with long legs seem to be your type.”

Ethan is confused. “What?” He looks past her
into the bar to see what she’s talking about and sure as hell,
there is a pretty blonde, sitting in the corner staring at him. She
smiles when he makes eye contact and holds his gaze for a few
moments before looking away.

“I know…” Olivia continues angrily. “Why
don’t you ask her to be your date for the grand opening? Since you
seem to be ok with dating other people now.”

Ethan is stunned and he scratches his
forehead. “What the? You’re mad? Why are you mad? This is your
arrangement, not mine.” His voice shows his frustration and growing
anger.

“I’m curious, do you remember anything that
happened after we went up to the hotel room?” She looks over at
Shannon and John, not caring any more what they think.

Ethan scratches his head. “Honestly, Liv?? I
remember getting in the elevator and then waking up when you had
your nightmare.”

She nods her head. She was right! “Awesome!
Well nothing important happened in between so it doesn’t really
matter anyway.”

She’s just about to turn and walk away when
the new club manager joins them. “Hey guys, everything ok?”

“Yes, we’re fine.” Ethan says in a calmer
voice.

“Great. Ethan I left some invoices on your
desk to be paid.”

“Thank you, Brad. I’ll look after it
tomorrow.”

“Thanks. Olivia, I’m glad I’ve run into
you.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” She asks curiously.

“There’s a guy that keeps coming in looking
for you. He’s been here three or four times in the past week.”

“What guy?” Ethan asks, getting to his
feet.

“He never leaves his name, just inquires if
she’s here and then leaves.”

“That’s strange.” Shannon adds.

“What did he look like?” Olivia asks
nervously.

“Tall, maybe 6’2” or taller. Stud earrings,
Short black hair. Big guy.”

Olivia gasps. Fear starts to ripple through
her blood stream like ice water, making her shiver and turn pale.
Watching the horror on her face, Ethan starts to walk Brad towards
the front desk giving him instructions on informing the staff to
immediately ask for his ID and call the police if he shows up
again. Under no uncertain terms are they to let this guy in the
door.

Olivia struggles to breathe. Her heart races
so quickly she can feel it pounding in the back of her throat. She
presses her hands to her forehead and closes her eyes. Everything
gets fuzzy for a moment.

“Olivia?” Shannon calls out. “John,
something’s wrong!” She tries to climb over him to get to her but
she’s stuck where she is. “Olivia?” She says louder as John slides
over to get out. She vaguely hears Shannon’s voice as she’s
swallowed by her anxiety attack. Forgetting to breathe, she fades
into blackness as she passes out, her body melting to the floor as
if she were suddenly boneless. John reaches for her as he gets to
his feet, but he’s is too late.

Shannon screams for Ethan. Cursing, he
crosses the room in a few long strides to get to her. “Olivia?” He
takes her pulse and then checks her pupils.

“Is she ok?” Shannon asks concerned.

“Yes, it looks like she’s just fainted.” He
lifts her into his arms. “Let’s get her to my office.”

When Olivia opens her eyes, she finds
herself laying on the couch in Ethan’s office, with Shannon sitting
on the edge beside her and holding a cool cloth on her forehead. It
takes a moment but her eyes finally focus. “Ethan, she’s awake.”
Shannon says.

The light is bright and Olivia squints until
Ethan’s tall figure stands in front of her blocking it. Shannon
gets up and takes the cloth into the bathroom to run it under the
cool water again. As she leaves the room, Ethan sits beside her.
“Hey.” He says softly.

“Hey.” She answers feeling more than a
little out of sorts.

When Shannon returns she hands him the
cloth. “I’ll go wait outside with John.”

Ethan dabs the cloth on her forehead. “Do
you want a drink of water?”

“Yes please.” Holding out is hand, he helps
her to sit up and then passes her the glass. “You feeling
better?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Ethan gets to his feet. “Good!” Dragging his
desk chair, he moves it beside the couch, the wheels screeching
across the tiled floor like fingernails on a chalkboard. Sitting
down he crosses his legs so that his ankle rests on the opposite
knee. “Now you can tell me what that was all about.”

“I guess I haven’t had enough sleep. I felt
dizzy.”

Ethan presses his lips together and takes a
deep breath. “Um. medical school… remember?” He says referring to
himself. “Shall we start again? Without the bullshit this
time?”

Feeling embarrassed she stares at him, not
knowing what to say, so she says nothing.

“Okay.” Ethan says, tired of waiting for her
to explain. “I’ll go first. How about you tell me how long you’ve
been having anxiety attacks? And before you try to tell me that’s
not what that was, please remember that I work with the emergency
medical team. I’ve seen thousands of anxiety related panic attacks.
So just save us both a lot of time and tell me what brought this
one on.”

She fidgets uncomfortably. “Everything.
Everything just sort of came crashing down on me all at once.”

“Like?”

“Noah, on Saturday night.”

“I swear to Christ, Olivia. If you lied
about him hurting you I…” He tries to keep the anger out of his
voice but it doesn’t work. She sits up straight, alarmed at his
tone and tries to re-assure him.

“Ethan, No! I was telling the truth about
that, but he said some pretty horrible stuff.”