Page 12 of Shattered Mind

Asshole.

“Come on, then,” I say, pulling my keys out of my pocket and standing. I think about offering her a hand up but decide against it seeing as she just insulted me, again.

She follows me with a grumble, climbing into the passenger seat and fastening her seatbelt. I tear across the familiar grounds, deliberately taking the bumpy route and earning a few curse words from the beautiful whirlwind on my right.

We spend the first ten minutes of the journey in silence before Olivia speaks again. “What happened to you?”

Her question takes me by surprise, and I swing my eyes to hers briefly, finding her watching me, before turning back to the road.

“Nothing happened to me.” I lie.

I see her shaking her head in my periphery. “You’re lying.”

I raise a brow at her. “Am I?”

“Mm-hmm. The look in your eyes is one I know well, Grayson Calloway.” She doesn’t offer more, just crosses her arms over her chest and glances out the window. I don’t ask her to elaborate. Doing so would open a can of worms neither of us are ready for, so I stay quiet as the streetlights whizz by us in a blur of whites and yellows.

We pull up in front of her house shortly after and I park, climbing out and rounding the truck to open her door. As much as I get a kick out of pissing her off, my Mama raised a gentleman.

I walk her to her front door in silence, and as we reach the top of the porch steps, Olivia spins unexpectedly, launching herself at me. I stumble back slightly at the force of the contact, and it takes me a moment to realise that her lips are on mine.

I stand there frozen for a beat, my lips tingling where they connect with hers. My fingers twitch at my side, wanting to reach up and grab her, pull her into me and deepen the kiss. But I don’t.

I can’t.

Instead, I reach up and grip her wrists gently before prying them from around my neck and taking a step back. Olivia’s chest rises and falls with her heavy breaths, her face flushed an impossible shade of red with embarrassment and her eyes cast down.

Without another word, I turn and hightail it back to my truck like a fucking coward.

I climb into the drivers’ seat and pull away from the curb, my tyres kicking up rocks as I go.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

There’s something broken inside of you.My subconscious answersas I tuck tail and run.

CHAPTER 6

OLIVIA

ONE MONTH AGO

That vow I made to God?

The one where I swore I’d never drink again?

I should’ve stuck to it.

Because drinking only leads to stupid decisions. Like trying to kiss a man that hates my guts.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He just stood there.

Frozen.

I don’t even know what possessed me to do it. It’s not like he’s given me any indication that he’s even remotely interested in me.

Hell, I don’t know ifI’minterested inhim.

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