Page 10 of Shadow

“Have you called to check on Liv’s Place?”

Olivia’s stomach lurched. In all the chaos, it hadn’t even crossed her mind to check in at her other location.

She patted her pocket for her truck keys, intent on hauling ass across town to check on the place. It was nearing two in the morning, so it would close soon.

“I’m sure if you didn’t get a call, it’s fine,” Carrie said, putting a hand on her shoulder

She blew out a breath. Carrie was right. It was probably fine.

“I’m sure you’re right. Let me call them. I’ll need to find some work for my staff here until I can reopen, anyway.

She dialedLiv’s Place and waited for an answer.

“Liv’s Place. This is Rachel.”

“Hey Rachel, is Fiona there? This is Olivia.”

“No, I’m sorry, Ms. Harrigan. Fiona left early tonight, wasn’t feeling well. Jack is in charge. Want to talk to him?”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah. Just for a second.”

Rachel put her on hold, and she closed her eyes while she waited.

A few seconds later, a man came on the line.

“This is Jack.”

“Hey, Jack. It’s Olivia Harrigan. Is everything good over there?”

“Sure is. Busy night. Is there something I can do for you?”

She sighed. “No. You’re already doing it. I’ll check in again later. I’ll let you get back to work.”

After speaking to Jack, she let herself relax. And with the relaxing came a wave of exhaustion. She closed her eyes and stifled a yawn. “I really want to go home.”

Carrie cleared her throat. “Listen, I heard Peter talking on the phone to Ripley when we were on the way. I suspect you’re going to have a fight on your hands about going back to your place until they determine it’s safe, and the arsonist wasn’t targeting you personally. Why don’t you come crash in our guest room?”

Olivia closed her eyes. “I just want to go home to my cat and get some sleep.”

“We’ll take you in the morning. Come get some sleep at our place, and we’ll figure out what to do tomorrow. Peter and Ripley can go to your house tonight and check things out, maybe put up a surveillance camera, and then you can go home.”

She sighed. Carrie was right. They had no leads on who set the fire or why. It was better to be safe than sorry.

“Just have them feed the cat when they go. And don’t let Cannon go into my bedroom. That feels like an invasion I can’t handle right now.”

“I’ll pass the message along, sweetie.”

A half hour later, she sat in the passenger seat of her truck holding on to her purse and soaked laptop, much to her dismay. Ripley had kept the keys and insisted on driving her to Peter and Carrie’s house while Peter and Carrie each drove their own car.

“I’m a grown ass woman. I could have driven myself.”

“I’m not questioning your ability to drive. We needed a chance to talk. This night is not going anywhere close to how I imagined it.”

“You thought I would just be waiting with my mouth open for your dick?”

He jerked his head toward her as he slammed on the brakes at a stop sign. “That’s not how I am, and you know it.”

“No? Think about the last few times you’ve bothered coming into town. What have we done? We’ve fucked and played and occasionally shared a meal. And this time you vanished for two entire years. But I was just supposed to be back here waiting for you? I told you I was done with that.”

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