Page 85 of Shattered Mind

Once she’s settled in her stall, I make the two-minute trek to my house with every intention of heading straight to the shower, but when I walk through the front door, my eyes immediately land on my phone where it sits on the coffee table.

I take tentative steps towards the device and pick it up, staring at the dark screen in contemplation. Deciding to bite the bullet, I press the power button and wait for the phone to fire up.

I hold my breath as the screen lights up, expecting an onslaught of messages and missed calls from Liv about my lack of contact, but nothing comes. The sick feeling from earlier returns with a vengeance at her eery silence and I start to wonder if Savannah told her about our conversation the morning she found me at Reuben’s grave.

I expected her to fight me. To call me a coward. Shout at me. Anything. What I wasn’t expecting was silence. And then there’s also the possibility that Savannah has said nothing, and Liv is just waiting for me to reach out first. Or her phone was wrecked in the crash.

My mind runs wild with possible reasons for her silence, but the sinking feeling in my gut tells me she’s figured it out on her own.

In a way, I should take this as a good thing. It’s a clean break. She’s not acting like some clingy girlfriend, crying and begging me not to walk away from her. We agreed to let this thing between us run its course, and it has, and now we can both move on.

So, why the fuck does ithurt?

CHAPTER 48

OLIVIA

It’s been a week since I got out of the hospital. The wounds on my body are slowly starting to heal and my muscles ache less and less with each day.

After getting the all-clear to fly, I booked my flight back to London for early next week, which leaves me five days to get my shit sorted – not an easy feat with only one working arm.

I’m also still without a car so I’ve been relying on Savannah to drive me to and from any doctor’s appointments and feeling guilty while doing it. She insists it’s not a problem, but with her third trimester quickly approaching, I can see the exhaustion written on her face.

“Thank you for taking me, Sav,” I tell her for the hundredth time since she’s picked me up and she rolls her eyes.

“I told you; it’s no problem. I needed to get out of the house anyway. Hunter is driving me crazy,” she sayswith an exasperated sigh.

“Oh? Trouble in paradise?” I ask in surprise.

Savannah’s shoulders drop as guilt takes over her face. “No, nothing like that. He’s just hovering around me like a mother hen. I swear, ever since I started to show he’s done nothing but worry. He follows meeverywhere,Liv.”

A laugh bursts out of me as I take in her serious expression. “He loves you, Sav. He just wants to make sure you’re okay.”

Her head drops back against the driver’s seat. “Ugh, I know. And I love him for it. I just need him to stop treating me like I’m incapable of doing anything on my own.”

“You know, he sounds like someone else I know,” I raise a brow at her.

She bats my comment away with her hand. “Yeah, yeah. Message received.”

“How’s Reign dealing with the idea of having a sibling?” I ask, steering the conversation in a different direction.

“She’s so excited. They’re decorating the nursery right now, and she loves having an input. She misses you.”

Guilt eats at me at her comment. I’ve dropped the ball with my niece recently. We went from spending almost every day together to barely seeing each other. “I miss her, too.”

“Why don’t you come for dinner at Amelia and Roman’s tomorrow?” Savannah asks, her voice hopeful.

I grimace. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea me coming to the ranch, Sav.”

“Gray’s been keeping his distance from everyone, so the chances of running into him are slim.”

I still haven’t heard from him since the accident. The first few days of silence hurt. On more than one occasion I found myself opening our chat on my phone and typingout a message before deleting it altogether. But now, I’m just pissed off. If he doesn’t have the decency to even ask how I am, then he can politely go fuck himself. I refuse to chase after a man who can walk away without even an explanation as to why.

“Okay, I’ll come,” I sigh, and she beams at me.

“I’ll pick you up at three and you can come with me to collect Reign from school. She’s gonna be so happy.”

“Sounds good,” I say, her excitement rubbing off on me. Some time with Reign is exactly what I need right now after the shitty few days I’ve just had.

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