Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series (73 page)

“Ethan, please tell me what’s going on.”

He braces himself, wishing that he never
agreed to this. Maybe he doesn’t have to tell her. “Olivia, I know
I said I wouldn’t bring it up again.” He swallows hard and tenses,
the muscles in his shoulders becoming tight and pulling
upwards.

“What? Just tell me.” She prepares herself
for the worst.

“Are you sure that you want us to see other
people? Are you absolutely sure?” Holding his breath he feels
anxious, and he prays that she’s changed her mind. He would love
nothing better than to call Hannah and call the whole thing off,
then drive over to Olivia’s house and sink himself deep inside her,
claiming her as his own. ONLY FOR HIM.

Olivia is caught off guard by his question.
Why is he asking? She hesitates, thinking hard about her answer.
She panics, stuck between what she really wants and what her head
says she needs. “I guess so.” She’s confused, and not sure why
she’s suddenly feeling unsettled.

Ethan loses it and anger vibrates in his
voice. “Not good enough, you better damn well be sure. Do you want
a relationship with me? Yes or No!” Why is this woman so fucking
stubborn?

“Ethan?” There is something in her voice.
Fear? Anger? Confusion?

He can’t hold it in anymore. “I have a date
tomorrow.” He blurts it out, almost choking on the words.

Olivia is stunned. She told him to see other
people but she wasn’t quite prepared for it. The words affect her
like a blow to the stomach, making her feel physically ill.

There is silence on her end of the phone and
Ethan’s anger sinks into remorse. What has he done? “Olivia?”

“Sorry, I’m still here. I was… doing
something.” That was a sad excuse but she needed an explanation for
her lack of response. “So you have a date? Nice. Have a great
time.” She’s been preparing herself for the inevitable since the
day she met him. Apparently today is that day, but she refuses to
show him her pain.

This is a huge mistake. “Olivia,” Before he
can get another word out she interrupts.

“Good night, Ethan.”

Hanging up, she stands perfectly still;
unable to move, unable to process what just happened. The weight of
it pressing down on her so heavily that her heart struggles to beat
against it. When she looks up at the red painted wood of Noah’s
front door, she has no idea how she got there. With unshed tears
burning her eyes, she swallows hard as she bangs on the door,
waiting for a moment and then heavily pounding again, urgent…
panicked.

When Noah whips the door open briskly to see
what the bloody hell is going on, he stops frozen at the sight of
her. “Liv?”

She says nothing, she can’t say anything,
her words are just… gone. Blinking, tears start to trickle down her
cheeks. Noah’s heart sinks as he quickly stands aside. “Don’t stand
out there, come in.” It takes her a moment to move but as she
passes him in the threshold of the door she notices that he’s
barefoot and shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans
casually unzipped, revealing that he’s not wearing any boxers
either. Obviously, he’s just pulled them on to open the door. She
stares at the light smattering of dark hair on his chest that
trails down his abs and then disappears, unable to process even the
smallest coherent thought.

“Olivia? What’s wrong?”

Her chin starts to quiver and she shakes her
head, trying desperately to find her voice.

“Fuck.” Noah says in desperation, running
his hands through his hair. “Give me a minute, Ok?”

When she doesn’t answer, he bends his knees
to look into her eyes. “Olivia? Give me a minute. Don’t go
anywhere. Ok?”

Nodding her head, she silently agrees and
watches him take the stairs to the second floor, two at a time. A
few minutes later, she hears a door close and the clicking sound of
heels across the hall floor. Looking up, she sees the leggy blonde
make her way angrily down the stairs, pulling her sweater around
her and tying it at the waist. She stops at the landing when she
see’s Olivia, and then turns to flash an icy glare at Noah as he
follows behind her. Reaching the bottom she stops and stares at
her, looking like there’s something she would like to say, but Noah
gently grasps her by the elbow and ushers her towards the door.
Olivia can tell she’s pissed, by the heavy thumping of her feet on
the floor and knows what she’s interrupted. When Noah leans in to
kiss her goodbye she pushes him away. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Raising his arm to touch her, she steps back out of his reach and
slams the door behind her.

Olivia feels horrible and gives him a very
apologetic look.

“Don’t give it another thought. She’ll get
over it.” He assures her. “She’s crazy about me.” Pausing, he leans
back against the wall. “You know, I’ve been trying to get a hold of
you all week to apologize.”

“I know.” She finally finds her voice,
although it’s small and shaky and she barely recognizes it as her
own.

“So, does you being here mean that you’ve
forgiven me?”

She nods.

“Thank God!” He holds his hand over his
heart, the corners of his lips curling up in a slight smile. Olivia
can’t smile back; she takes in a couple of shallow breaths and
tears well up in her eyes again.

Noah frowns. “Hey, what’s with all the tears
tonight? Are you going to tell me what’s going on?

She sniffs a couple of times and wipes her
hands across her face.

“Let me guess, that asshole O’Connell did
something to upset you?”

Hearing his name is all it takes to make the
tears fall again. Noah reaches for her and pulls her into his arms,
wrapping them around her and sheltering her against his chest.
“Shhhh. I’ve got you. Fucking O’Connell, I knew there was a reason
I hated that prick from the first time we met.”

Olivia’s tears turn into a hard
uncontrollable sob against his chest making Noah’s heart hurt as he
holds her tighter, completely wrapping his big body around her in a
protective cocoon. His mouth rests warmly on the top of her head.
“Jesus, Olivia. What the fuck did he do to you, baby girl?”

The morning drags on forever and for the
first time in weeks, she hasn’t heard from Ethan. She’s not even
sure if she’s happy about that or not. Keeping her office door
closed, she hopes that no one will bother her, since she’s not
feeling like any company today. Eating her lunch at her desk, she
throws herself into her work trying to keep her mind busy.

When Rachel gets back into the office after
her meeting, she peaks through the glass door trying to get her
attention. When that fails she finally just opens the door and
intrudes. “Time to go home, James!”

“Already?” Picking up her cell phone to look
at the time, she tries to ignore her disappointment when she
notices there are no missed messages. An entire day and not one
text from him. Her heart feels heavy but she has nobody to blame
but herself.

Rachel grows tired of waiting for her to
offer the information. “Is everything ok between you and
Ethan?”

“Yes, fine. Why?” Olivia tries hard not to
let it show on her face.

Rachel is annoyed that Olivia is keeping
secrets from her, AGAIN. They‘re supposed to be best friends so
she’s absolutely going to call her out on it. “I heard a rumor that
he has a date tonight.”

Hearing Rachel say it aloud knocks the wind
out of her, forcing her to take in a deep breath.

“That’s not a rumor. He told me that himself
last night.” She avoids Rachel’s glare while putting away some
files and tidying her desk.

“And… you’re ok with that?”

“What am I supposed to do about it?” She
asks annoyed.

“Ummm, how about tell him that you love him
and that you don’t want him to date anyone else?” Rachel crosses
her arms in front of her and widens her stance, growing angry.

“Why would I do that?” Olivia feels her eyes
start to tear up again and she fights it with everything she has.
“We both know it was only a matter of time before he leaves anyway.
Besides, Noah and I worked things out last night.”

Rachel’s mouth drops open in shock. “You did
not!”

“Yes we did.” Picking up her purse, she
pushes past her in the doorway. Rachel lets her go, horrified but
what she just heard. This is all her fault. She convinced Ethan
that this is a good idea and now it would appear that she has sent
Olivia running right back into the arms of Noah Thompson.

All the way home from the city Ethan is
looking at his phone and hoping that Olivia messages him. She’s all
he can think about and he didn’t get a damn thing done today. All
she has to do is send one message and ask him not to go, but that
message never comes. When it’s almost 8pm, he dabs on a little
cologne and jumps into the Challenger.

Rachel and Scott are already at the
restaurant and Rachel immediately waves him over.

“Did you see Olivia today?” He asks Rachel
anxiously.

“Yes.” She hesitates, not certain that she
wants to be the one to tell him.

Scott interrupts. “Ethan, please don’t do
this.”

“I can’t handle it anymore, Scotty. Always
guessing, never knowing for sure how she feels. Does she love me as
much as I love her? Does she see us together in the future? I can’t
stand the thought of her being with another man and I’m sure as
hell not sharing her.” His stomach bottoms out and a slight twist
of nausea washes over him, as he realizes what it is that he’s NOT
saying. He can’t stay with her unless she belongs only to him. This
could be the end.

“Then just talk to her, but don’t do this.
This is wrong.” Scott’s getting angry now. “This is cruel, after
everything she’s been through. I understand you’re frustrated… but
this?”

Ethan thinks for a moment, knowing there is
truth in what Scott’s saying. Running his hands through his hair,
he pauses with his hands on the top of his head. Why does she mess
up his head and cloud up his judgment? Women!

“What do John and Carter think about your
plan?” Scott asks curiously.

“They don’t know. I didn’t tell them.”

Scott raises a brow. “Exactly! You didn’t
tell them because you know that this is wrong and they wouldn’t
approve.”

He glances over at Rachel and she gives him
an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry Ethan but now that I’ve had time to
think about it, Scott’s right.”

Scott glances at her from the side. “You
think? Here’s something to think about my darling wife, I will
definitely be dealing with you when we get home.” He tries to hide
a grin when she wrinkles up her face and winces.

Ethan frowns and his brow creases. “Jesus.
What am I doing? You’re right, I can’t do this to her. I’m going to
call the whole thing off.”

“Don’t look now but it’s too late! Your date
is here.” Rachel nods her head toward the door and he turns to see
Hannah in the tightest dress he has ever seen.

“Lord have mercy.” He murmurs. It’s a
miracle that such a small amount of fabric can hold such enormous
breasts.

“Holy crap!” Rachel says aloud. “I hope
nobody gets hurt if those things escape !”

Scott pinches her. “Ouch!” She turns to give
him a really dirty look and he raises an eyebrow at her in
warning.

“What do I do?” He asks Scott.

“Jesus, for a brilliant business man, you
know fuck all about relationships. You should at least buy her a
drink before you break her heart and send her packing.”

“Very funny.”

“I’m not kidding, don’t even sit at a table,
just bring her into the bar, buy her a drink and explain it to her.
The truth. Then go to Olivia, tell her that you lied about having a
date to make her jealous and then get down on your fucking knees
and beg for forgiveness.”

Ethan raises a brow at him.

“Trust me, five years of marriage. I know
what I’m talking about.”

Ethan looks to Rachel who throws her hands
up in the air. “Don’t look at me, I’m deferring to my husband from
now on.”

Ethan nods. “Ok.” He heads towards the door
to greet Hannah with a forced smile.

Rachel picks up her phones and dials. “Who
are you calling? Scott asks.

“Olivia, who else?” She gives him an annoyed
look. “I think she’s ignoring me.” She says, looking at the screen
as if it personally offended her.

“Poor thing is probably devastated.” He
surmises.

Looking up at Scott, Rachel is overcome with
a horrible guilt. “This was a horrible idea! Why didn’t you stop
us?”

Scott glares at her shaking his head and
biting his tongue.

Back at the house, Olivia is putting on
mascara in the hall mirror. When the phone rings again, she answers
it knowing that Rachel will just continue to re-dial until she
does.

“Hi.” Rachel says expecting to find Olivia
in a fragile state of mind.

“Hey!”

“So, how are you?”

“I’m ok.”

“Why didn’t you answer earlier?”

“I’m getting ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“To come there, I’ll be there in a few
minutes.”

“Oh Shit!” Rachel says loudly.

Olivia holds the phone away from her ear a
few inches.

“Excuse me? What’s wrong with you?”

“Honey, please don’t come in here tonight.
It’s not a good idea.”

“Rachel. It’s ok. I know Ethan will be there
with his date.”

“Olivia there is something you need to know
about that.”

A car pulls up out front of the orange brick
townhouse and beeps its horn. “I have to go. I’ll see you in a few
minutes.” She gives Rachel a taste of her own medicine and hangs
up.

When Rachel gets dial tone, she panics. As
Ethan ushers Hannah back into the bar his cell phone rings and he
excuses himself. “Order a drink.” He offers. “I have to take this
call and I’ll be right back.”