She haphazardly dried off, not caring that her skin was still damp when she threw on a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt.
Olivia turned her phone off, shutting out the world, and fell into bed. Then, she cried herself to sleep.
****
Three days. It had been three very long, very fucked up days since Olivia had walked out Jake’s door, taking the best part of him with her.
Desperate to numb the pain, he’d gotten completely shitfaced that first night. Later, when he laid down in his bed, the void there hit him instantly.
The bed was suddenly much too big. And too fucking empty. The worst part? Jake could smell her on his sheets.
Three days later, he still couldn’t bring himself to wash the damn things.
Since then, he’d steered clear of the booze, but Jake hadn’t found anything to ease the pain in his chest where his heart used to be.
In the end, by protecting Olivia, Jake may have lost her, forever.
Respecting her wishes, he hadn’t called her. God, he wanted to. Actually, he wanted to jump in his truck, drive to her house, and knock her damn door down. Then, he wanted to kiss her until she finally agreed to forgive him.
Jake hadn’t done any of those things. Liv had asked for time, so he was giving it to her. But goddamn, being apart from her was killing him.
He missed the hell out of her. And he was worried. She’d been through so much in such a short period of time.
Experience told him that she was probably still too pissed to talk to him right now, but she might be willing to talk with someone else.
Pulling out his phone, Jake tapped the second name on his favorites list.
“Hey, Jake,” Trevor answered. “What’s up?”
“I need a favor.”
The last time he’d said those words to his teammates, they’d all travelled to Venezuela to take out Cetro and his men. Jake was well aware that what he was asking of his friend this time could be just as dangerous. Maybe even more so.
****
Work. It was exactly what Olivia needed. For two days, her existence had consisted of moping, crying, and sleeping. Wash, rinse, repeat.
She refused to do it for a third, so Olivia called the hospital and practically begged to return from leave early. Thankfully, they were busy and had an open mid-shift, so her boss agreed to let her come in.
After dressing in her light purple scrubs, Olivia threw her hair up in an unimpressive ponytail and glanced at her bedside clock. It was eleven o’clock, which meant she had two hours before her shift began.
Two hours would give her too much time to think, so she’d go in early. There was always something to do in an ER.
Even making beds or stocking supply carts would be better than sulking around her empty house.
Before Jake had come back, she’d gotten pretty good at spending time alone. Sort of. But now, everywhere she looked there seemed to be a new memory of the two of them together.
Mikey’s little speech about how she should try to understand and forgive Jake’s betrayal played on a continuous loop in her head, making it impossible to think about anything else. Hopefully, work would be the welcome distraction she desperately needed.
The sound of her doorbell startled her. On reflex, she started to get her gun, but stopped. The danger was over. Her stalker was dead, and Cetro and the others were all in jail.
Determined to live a normal life again, Olivia left her gun in her bedroom and went to the door. She looked through the peephole, surprised at who she saw on the other side.
Unable to keep her anxiety at bay, she entered her alarm code and unlocked the door in record time.
“Trevor? W-what are you doing here? Has something happened?” She hated how her voice shook.
Trevor’s eyes went wide as he raised his hands, palms up, as if to surrender. “Whoa. Nothing’s wrong. Jake’s fine, I promise.”
Olivia could feel the stress leaving her body and her shoulders relax. “Oh.” She swallowed and nodded with a small smile. “That’s good.”
She absolutely would not think about how worried she gotten for the man who’d ripped her heart out.
He wrinkled his brow a bit. “Sorry. I guess I should have called first, but...”
“No,” she said quickly, embarrassed by her reaction. “It’s fine. Um, would you like to come in?”
Trevor nodded. “Thanks. I won’t take up much of your time.”
Olivia stepped aside to give Trevor enough space to step past her. At war with her thoughts, she ignored the disappointment she felt that it hadn’t been Jake at her door.
It wasn’t fair, given that she had told him to stay away. Still, part of her felt that if Jake truly loved her like he said he did, then he should be here, fighting for her. Fighting for them.
It was totally hypocritical and made absolutely no sense. Then again, love rarely did.
Shaking her head at her unreasonable thoughts, Olivia asked Trevor, “Would you like something to drink?”
Trevor smiled. “No, thank you. Actually, I was hoping”—he turned toward the couch—“could we sit and talk for a minute?”
Okay. Now he was starting to make her nervous. “Of course.”
Olivia led them over to the couch where they both sat down. Glancing over at Trevor, she realized he almost looked uncomfortable, as if he were nervous, too.
Crap. This can’t be good.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here.”
She smiled teasingly. “You missed my adorable face?”
Trevor chuckled. “Well, there is that.”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, hands loosely clasped together between them. “Okay, look. I know this is none of my business, and you have every right to say that, and then kick me out. But...I’m hoping you’ll at least listen to what I have to say before you do.”
He was her friend. The guy had risked his life—along with his team—to try to save her and Jake, and he’d taken a bullet to the chest while
