Page 8 of Furious
My shoulders sag when he leaves. He climbs into a beaten up El Camino truck and drives off toward the old interstate that goes to Shell Cove.
I’m grateful to Dan for not mentioning the ugly confrontation between me and Fox.
I have no such luck with Olivia, though.
“Care to explain what that was about?” she says the second we leave the gas station headed back into town via the college campus.
My fingers clutch the steering wheel of our police car with white-knuckle force.
“That asshole and I have history.” I grind out, hoping that my scowl is enough to deter anymore questions.
“Clearly.” Olivia rolls her eyes. “But losing your cool like that isn’t like you, Ares. You know you can talk to me.”
“Can I?” I snort. “We’ve been partners for six months and this is the first time you call me by my first name.”
She sighs. “I’m sorry, ok? The last year has been rough for me. I moved here following my ex-husband’s job. He was promised a promotion if he came here to open a new branch for the accounting firm he worked for. It turns out once he got his promotion, Star Cove wasn’t the only thing he left behind. Our marriage apparently was ‘as boring as this sleepy little town.’ I’m quoting him, by the way.”
“Fuck, that’s rough. I’m sorry.” I say, turning to look at her long enough to meet her gaze.
Olivia pulls on the collar of her shirt, clearly uncomfortable. “Yeah, me too. On a deputy's pay, I could no longer afford to rent our house. So I had to move while I was dealing with lawyers andcourt fees. We had very few assets, but would you believe that my ex was trying to go after my car and two antique mugs my grandmother left me? Anyway, I didn’t use to be a bitch, just so you know.”
She takes my silence the wrong way.
“What?” Olivia huffs. “I’ve had a lot on my mind and I’ve been struggling making ends meet on a deputy pay. I applied for a promotion at the beginning of the year, but Pullin told me promotions and new hires were frozen by the city council. The new mayor had other priorities for the town’s budget, since we have an exceptionally low crime rate.”
Now Olivia’s cold demeanor toward me makes total sense.
“So you couldn’t get your promotion because of my dad?” I turn to look at her as I stop at a red light.
“It sucked. I’m not gonna lie. But then a couple of months after I got shot down, he hires you. The mayor’s son.”
I can see how that must look. Is it possible that Dad got the council to cut the sheriff's department budget when I dropped out of college to attend the police academy? When Pullin told me the department wasn’t hiring, I started applying to other sheriff and police departments all over the state. A month later, the sheriff miraculously found some budget for one trainee deputy.
“I didn’t ask my father to help me get this job, if that’s what you think.”
“It doesn’t matter if you did.” Olivia shrugs. “We’ve been partners for six months and you’re a good cop. You’re knowledgeable, conscientious, even a little too much if you ask me. I apologize for taking my frustrations and my problems out on you.”
If I weren’t too pissed off by my run-in with Fox, I would smile at her. “Does that mean that you’re not going to be completely quiet the next time we have a twelve hour night patrol?”
The corners of her lips curl up as she smiles. “It depends.”
It’s my turn to roll my eyes. “On what?”
“Are you going to tell me the whole story between you and that guy just now at the gas station?”
My first instinct would be to brush her off with an excuse. I don’t talk about that day. And I don’t talk about why that’s the reason I became a cop.
“My twin brother and I used to be motorcycle racers. Fox was the captain of a rival team based in Shell Cove. A real pain in our butts. He wasn’t just an asshole on the racetrack. Two years ago, we came to blows when I caught him trying to force himself on his girlfriend…”
I tell her everything.
From the way I kicked his ass to protect Zara, to the way he didn’t stop racing when my brother was slung off his bike and the race was suspended.
“The investigation was a bust. The person on the bike that hit Atlas was never identified. But it was one of Fox’s bikes. I tried to speak to the police, even after my father said he had tried everything. There were no leads. My brother might have as well been killed by a ghost.”
Olivia isn’t stupid. “That’s why you joined the department? You’re looking into your brother’s case?”
I’ve kept the reason I wanted to be a cop close to my chest; even when Dad was furious about my decision to drop out of college to pursue a career in law enforcement.
