Page 24 of Left of the Slash
I let out a long sigh. “Olivia, I get it, and I'm not changing my mind. I understand what you're saying, and if the time comes that you need to teach me something, I’ll beverywilling to learn.”
Olivia smiles like the Cheshire cat. “Alright. I believe you. Just know that … it’s a lot.”
I grin. “Good. Teach me everything.”
OPEN AND HONEST
FIFTEEN - Olivia
Eden watches me closely as I pour both of us a glass of Chardonnay, then set the bottle down in the center of my coffee table. My living room is dimly lit, with most of the light coming from the fireplace, while the lights from the kitchen give us a nice shade of white that keeps the room from being too dark. I needed the mood right after what happened in my office today, and I needed to tell my best friend about it all.
After Quinn and I managed to pull ourselves off one another, I shook off the shock of what had just taken place, smiled at the immediate soreness I felt from his thickness stretching me out, then straightened my dress and walked to my car after he’d already left the building. Even though we’d just had rough, passionate sex on my desk, I was still too embarrassed to walk out with him. So, I let him go and then clicked Eden’s contact in my phone before I even made it to my driver’s seat. I didn't tellher what happened, just thatsomethinghad developed and we desperately needed to have a night of wine drinking at my house. Like the awesome friend Eden is, she never even questioned it. She simply asked what time she needed to show up and if she needed to bring her own wine. My response was that I needed time for a thorough shower and then I'd be ready, and I thought she’d pick up on that, but she didn't. It’s fine. Now that we’re here, I get to see her reaction to the news in real time, and I'm not sure I've had enough wine to prepare for it.
“You're acting funny,” Eden says as she picks up her glass and leans back on my couch, holding it with both hands. Her shiny white pajamas look far more comfortable than my black sweats and oversized Eagles T-shirt.
“Am I?” I ask jokingly. Eden is on her first glass of wine, but this is my second so I'm already feeling wonderful. Combine that with the memory playing in my head of Quinn and I in my office and I'm practically swimming in nirvana.
Eden giggles nervously. “What has gotten into you? You're clearly keeping something from me, so just go ahead and spill it so you can get the reaction you deserve. What happened, Olivia?”
“What has gotten into me?” I say. “Don't you mean …who?”
Eden’s eyes bulge like water balloons, then she leans forward and returns the wine to the coffee table. “Girl, I have to put this down before I fucking spill it! What did you just say? What do you meanwhohas gotten into you? You hooked up with someone?” After I answer her question with an unblinking, wide-eyed stare, she explodes. “No fucking way! You slept with Quinn? Oh my fucking god!”
All I can do is laugh nervously as my friend loses her mind just like I knew she would. Her red ponytail bounces around as she sways dramatically, then she grabs her wine glass again and takes a swig before leaning back onto the gray pillow behind her.
“Alright, so now that the cat is out of the bag, I have two questions,” she says. “Number one, what does this mean? Number two … girl, how was it?” She practically jumps off of the couch with her second question and I shake my head trying to hold back another outburst of laughter.
“Okay, okay,” I say, attempting to reel in the moment. “So, it was incredible—and when I say incredible, I meanincredible.”
“Oh my god, I bet it was. Sometimes a guy can justlooklike he knowsexactlywhat he's doing in the bedroom, and Quinn King is definitely that kind of guy. I mean, you and I have talked about it already. He's so masculine with that aura of dominance about him that is just …ugh. And he's got that bad boy vibe, too. Like, he broke the law in order to catch Jon’s scheming ass. Who does that? Plus, he's a nerd, too. A nerdy bad boy? My god. Okay, clearly I'm still reeling from all of the shit that Larry put me through and the divorce, but maybe I'm also a little jealous of you right now.”
“You should be,” I quip with a hearty laugh.
“Okay, then tell meeverything.How did this happen? When? Where? How long? Did you come? Everything. Now. Go.”
Edens leans all the way back with her wine cupped in her hands as she listens closely like a kid hearing a bedtime story. Her eyes light up like she’s smiling through them, and it makes me excited to break it down for her.
“Okay, so clearly it was a really emotional day,” I begin. “After all of the drama with Jon, I was just feeling stressed out and sitting in my office as everyone was leaving. Then, Quinn walks in and we start talking. I ask him why he put in so much effort to find out what Jon was doing, and he proceeds to tell me that he never liked Jon’s vibe and how he had his friends gang up on me. He said he wasn't raised that way. I don't know why, but that just reminded me of what he said about his dad being the one who raised him, but how he also taught him how to break the law. SoI asked if he knew that I could've pressed charges for what he did, and he proceeded to tell me that he knew he was breaking the law, and that he did it to protect me.”
Eden giggles like a schoolgirl before taking another sip of wine.
“It caught me by surprise,” I go on. “Because, how could he be so confident that I wouldn't have him arrested for hacking my account? So I asked him, and he told me that I wouldn't have asked him to help me find out what was happening to Obsidian if I was worried abouthowhe’d figure it all out. It pissed me off because he was so arrogant about it. You should've seen him. He was unshakable in his confidence and told me I should basically stop complaining and just thank him instead.”
“Oh shit,” Eden says, her eyes looking over the top of her wine glass.
“Girl, I was so annoyed, but it was more than just annoyance. Nobody talks to me like that. Even Jon and his minions would back down if I got upset. That’s what I'm used to. I'm the goddamn CEO of the company, you know? So I reminded him that I'm his boss, and he told me thathewas the one who was actually in charge, because I was the one who needed him. I was ready to punch him in the face, but it also didsomethingto me internally because he was standing up to me, and everything he was saying was true. I did need him, and I did want him to protect Obsidian from whatever was happening, and I had faith that he would be the one to do it.”
“My god. I wonder if he knew how steamy all of this was beneath the surface of the conversation,” Eden says.
I scoff. “Oh, he fucking knew. Because after a long-winded rant about me needing him to protect me, he went on to say that hewantsto protect me, and that he wants to take care of me. I was stunned, but then he pushed me over the edge when he said, ‘And you want to be taken care of. Don't you?’”
“Oh shit!” Eden chirps with a wide-eyed stare.
“Oh shit is right!” I exclaim with a laugh.
“Wait. So then what did you do?”
“Well, believe it or not, I told him to get out of my office.”
