Page 73 of Detention with Daddies

I reach out to drag my touch down the back of her arm to take her hand.

Matteo doesn’t loosen his arm around her waist.

I’m presented with the idea of sharing her, and I’m not so sure how I feel about that. The idea of losing her completely is so much worse.

As if on cue, Nick appears with a half-hearted grin. “Looks like everyone wants a piece of Olivia tonight.”

His hands are stuffed in his pockets, and he looks Olivia over like he knows her intimately too.

“What is this? What do you all want from me?” She’s too still for the small warble in her words. Like she really doesn’t know what we want.

What I’m sure most men want from her when they get to know her.

Everything.

Matteo’s meaty hand convulses at her waist, clear above the billowing ruffles of her emerald skirt. Olivia sucks in a small breath and faces him again.

The coordinator’s usually grumpy exterior softens a little when Olivia looks down. Like she can’t quite meet any of our gazes.

He leans in a little. “Look, I know it seems like I’m overstepping. But it’s hard, okay? Seeing you with them…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that.”

She bites her bottom lip, worrying it before lifting her head again. “It would help if you told me what you actually want from me instead of assuming that I know or waiting for me to figure it out. Because you haven’t made anything clear to me.”

Olivia holds his gaze, then looks at Nick, then me; pink blazes in her cheeks, a renewed upset in her eyes—anger, fear, longing, I can’t really be sure.

But it pierces me with so many things I want to say. Want to show her.

“None of you have. And you’ve all had plenty of opportunities to say something. But since you haven’t…I feel like I’m being caught in the middle. How do I make a choice when no one has offered me one?”

A choice. That would mean two of us wouldn’t get to have her anymore. Fuck, I don’t like those odds. Even if I hope she will pick me. I’ve fucked up too much to let this be it.

“Olivia, we don’t want you to feel like you’re trapped. You should never have to feel that way.” I tell her, squeezing her hand.

Although the energy we’re giving off might be saying a different thing to her.

She sucks in a slow, calming breath and places her half-empty flute on a nearby surface. “I get that each of you—you might not know what you want either. And that’s fine. But you guys can’t look at me like this. Like I’m supposed to read your minds and throw myself into something I have no idea will be safe for me.”

A shake of her head has those carefully laid curls falling around her face.

Fuck, I want nothing more than to wrap her up and comfort her. Because she’s right, as much as I’ve opened myself up to her, I haven’t voiced what I want.

I didn’t exactly know what I wanted until I saw her with Matteo. Now, the threat of losing her in this confusion clarifies more than I’m willing to admit. And that’s the problem, isn’t it?

I’m not willing to admit it.

“I care about you all,” she says, voice stronger now, “but that doesn’t mean I can figure this out right now. I need to think.”

Matteo finally takes a step back. “Why don’t we let you have a moment to breathe.”

“Just don’t make any sudden decisions, okay?” Nick catches her gaze again.

Their connection is different from ours, built upon an easy friendship that I saw on day one. Can I compete with that? Do I have any chance whatsoever?

She nods, hands balling into fists. Olivia takes a deep breath. “I won’t, but you three also need to decide what you want because I’m out here in no man’s land too. And I just…can’t right now.”

Shaking her head, she marches out without looking back.

The fissure opening in my chest is damning. I don’t want to watch her walk away from me like this ever again.

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