Page 114 of Gone for You

He spreads his arms out then places his hands behind his head, leaning back in his chair. “Everything.”

I pause, burger raised to take another bite. He nods his head, that stupid smug grin back in place.

“I’ve known the entire time, you moron.”

“What?” The burger drops from my hand, lands in the pile of beans and chips.

“Wait. You had Rex send me up here to kill me once and for all, didn’t you?”

“Kill you?” he sputters out a laugh.

“Because you warned me not to break her heart and I did.”

“You’ll make it right.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I still remember when we were younger and anything you set your mind to, you’d move mountains to make it happen. And I know you’re still in love with her.”

“It’s too late for us. I said stuff I didn’t mean and she left. I called her last night, man. I heard her say that there wasn’t anything between us.” The words sit like lead in my stomach.

“Are you sure you heard correctly?”

“Positive.”

“Hmm. Well, I may have some intel you’d be interested in hearing.”

My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. “Intel? What are we, the FBI?”

His eyes are sad and he leans forward. “Olivia… she’s not doing well. Not at all.”

I sit up, my heart racing, back going straight. Emotions flood my body, one after another. Fear and anger intermingle, fighting for dominance and I don’t know which one is winning.

“What do you mean, she’s not doing well?”

“I don’t mean that she’s in danger or sick — well, not really. She’s sad. Depressed.”

That’s not any better.

I ball my hands into fists then stretching out my fingers and shaking them out. Standing up from my chair, pacing around the room. Resting my hands on the back of the couch and gripping tightly.

“Why is she sad?”

He doesn’t answer so I repeat my question, “Owen. Why the hell is she sad? Depressed, even?”

Still no response. The sound of a chair scraping along the floor makes me turn around. He stands next to me, rests a hip against the couch so he’s facing me, crosses his arms over his chest. “Why do you think?”

“I’m obviously not as good at reading Liv as I thought I was so why don’t you do us both a favor and just tell me,” I growl. It is completely possible anger is the emotion winning out if it were in a race against calm.

“Calm down. I’m trying to have a conversation here, help you both because I don’t like seeing either of you this way.” My jaw ticks and grip tightens. “Are you going to listen to me? Is she worth it?”

That gets my attention. My head snaps in his direction and my eyes narrow. “You know she is.”

“Then stop being stubborn and let go of that anger you seem to carry with you everywhere you go.”

“You live how many hundreds of miles away from the girl who broke your heart. Who do you think you are to be able to give me advice?”

“Learn from my mistakes. I was angry and, I’ll admit, sad and moved up here. Now, I wouldn’t trade The Escape or my life here for anything — even her — because now I know it’s what was meant to be but our situation was, and is, completely different. Liv’s sad because of you and that doesn’t sit well with me. But you already knew that.”

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