“I’m sure I would have passed the eval with flying colors,” I mumble with pride. Green-eyes chuckles, forcing me to look at him again.
“Sorry,” he says, “bullshit in my throat.” Who is this guy? I’m not sure if he has a death wish or if he likes playing with matches, but as charming as he looks, he’s rubbing me the wrong way.
Something about him irritates me as much as it attracts me. I’m like a cat pet backwards. I like the attention but not that it goes counter-hair.
“Oliver is a lie detector,” Jackson explains. “No bullshit goes through him. He’s here to help us with a sensitive mission we have, and he’s also who you need to drive around.”
Oliver.
Foolishly, my heart misses a beat, and I smile at him.
He seems confused for a nano-second before kicking his self-control in.
I observe him a little longer and take note of a lot of little things. The scar at the corner of his eyes. The glasses he wears at his collar. The way he rubs his thumbs and his index finger together. Maybe I’m an expert at bullshitting myself because it seems Oliver is nervous. I think there is a lot he isn’t telling Jackson.
“Nice to meet you, Tessa,” he says without shaking my hand.
“Likewise,” I smile without feeling it in my heart, as usual. He nods again, as if to tell me he can understand my pain, and he sees through the mask. I ward off all the unexpressed emotions I’ve battled with since King died and focus on Jackson.
“You’re not going to make me go in there, are you?” I ask, pretty sure I already know the answer.
“You know it’s better to remove the bandage fast and let it breathe than cover the problem and make it ooze. Let’s go, Murdock. If you’re not afraid of racing cars, you can’t be afraid of Quinn.”
Annoyed, I sigh, knowing Jackson is right, Quinn will repeat the same speech he always does, Mark will find it amusing, and I’ll be mortified being treated like a child in front of Green-eyes.
Chapter Five
OLIVER
She’s pretty.
The strand of blue hair in the sea of blonde matches her inquiring eyes.
She’s dangerous. Her eyes told me all I needed to know. She can see through me, understands where I come from, and that’s the last thing I want.
She passes by me, and my body reacts to the scent of flowers she leaves behind. I’m not sure which—I was never good in botany—but it’s girly and fits her well. Classier than a field flower but less coarse than a lily. I try to remember the last time I took a second to appreciate a woman’s fragrance.
I bed some, but I generally don’t spend time smelling anything other than their arousal. Not that it’s happened since Aito’s birth. Driest spell I’ve ever had since I was a virgin.
But Tessa smells like spring, like a revival, and I need to stay far away from her if I don’t want to find myself tangled in some heartbreak when I leave.
“Le Pew!” Mark exclaims when he sees me, “finally back home!” I see the confusion in her eyes, but I ignore it. My call name isn’t something to discuss. Mark pulls me in for a man hug and the pressure I always feel in my chest releases for a second.
Home. It’s not anymore, though.
All of a sudden, I miss my son and my New York friends.
“Hey, Twilight. Good to see you, man.” It’s not a lie per se. It is good to see him. I’ve missed him, but I know the one he’s missed is not the guy I have become.
“Good to see you too,” he says, releasing me. “I see you’ve met Tessa already. This is Quinn. Quinn, meet Oliver Spencer. He and I go way back.”
The guy steps closer to me and shakes my hand, “Heard a lot about you. Nice to meet you.”
I have no idea who the guy is but seeing how he’s looking at Tessa, I’ll say they are family or exes. There is a protectiveness coming from him and a resistance coming from her telling me it’s complicated.
“Likewise,” I answer, knowing already that he’s not focused on me but on the blue-haired girl.
“Tessa,” he acknowledges her, and the good mood which was surrounding my reunion with Mark shifts instantly.
“Quinn,” she nods and smiles, but you can feel her apprehension. Mark ignores them and drags me into his office. We leave Tessa and Quinn in the corridor, whispering to each other and gesturing their disagreement while Jackson referees.
Mark closes the door behind him, shutting off the glimpse I could have of their relationship that is none of my business, but I’m curious about.
“I can’t believe you’re finally back in Virginia!” He invites me to sit in the chair on the other side of his desk and take his seat behind it.
“Yep,” is all I can say without having a panic attack, thinking of where I am and why I’m here. Mark considers me and smiles softly.
“It’s going to be okay, you know that, right?”
How can he believe it’s going to be okay when it makes five years that it hasn’t been? I’ve been through a desert of solitude and sorrow and haven’t been better. I’ve been married, divorced, had a child, and it has not gotten better.
My chest still constricts when I think of what happened to Elaine. My heart still bleeds her loss. And I still pretend I’m fine and that what happened was an accident.
“I know,” I lie. Because I won’t be okay meeting her parents and standing next to them like a dutiful son-in-law.
“If you want, I’ll come with you.” Mark is indeed a good guy. He loves to break everyone’s balls and make fun of his friends, but at the end
