Page 29 of Light My Fire Three Times
“You don’t know this town at all, do you?”
The words are out before I even think about them, and once again, I realize I might be pushing too hard.
She rolls her eyes, her posture going rigid. “Oh, because I’mOutsider Olivia Quinn. Real nice.”
That stings. But I’m not backing down now.
“Maybe if you actually took the time to know it, you wouldn’t be so quick to judge people,” I fire back, digging myself deeper into this mess. “Olivia Quinn, I’m Leo Griffin, as if that means a damn thing.”
Her gaze is hard now, laser-focused on me. “Judge people? I'm just trying to get through my day without running into assholes like you. I have stuff going on, you know?”
I don’t know what to say to that, mainly because her eyes seem to be flooding with tears, so I stand there, unsure of how this conversation became a full-blown argument in a matter of seconds.
But I don’t really think this is about me…
But we’re both locked into this weird standoff, neither of us willing to back down, and I can feel my pulse pounding in my ears.
She lets out an exasperated sigh and shakes her head.
“You know what? Forget it.” She turns to walk away, throwing one last look at me over her shoulder. “You’re not worth the energy.”
And just like that, she’s gone, leaving me standing there, feeling as exhausted as if I’ve just been dragged through a ringer.
I don’t know what the hell just happened, but something about her, aboutthis, has me feeling off balance in a way I don’t enjoy.
I get to the fire station, still replaying the encounter in my head. There’s something about that woman that’s got me messed up. And I don’t even know her.
But I can’t shake the feeling that we’re not done. We’ve only scratched the surface of whatever strange tension is between us.
I walk into the break room, ready to grab a cup of coffee and forget about the morning.
The familiar smells of burnt toast and the buzz of idle chatter fill the space. Karl’s already at the counter, humming some stupid tune under his breath while Jesse leans against the wall, half listening to whatever Karl’s saying but clearly distracted.
“Morning,” I grunt, pulling open the fridge to grab some milk.
“Morning, grumpy,” Karl shoots me a grin, clearly not bothered by anything. He’s always the first to make light of whatever's going on. “What happened to you?”
“Urgh, I just had a run-in with averyunpleasant woman.” I roll my eyes. “Olivia Quinn, or something. I ran into her by mistake, and she went crazy at me. Insane.”
Karl freezes. His eyes widen, which is a weird reaction.
I glance at Jesse to see if he’s seen this, but strangely, all the color has drained from his cheeks as well.
What is goingon?
It’s as if they’ve both heard that name a hundred times, and none of them are eager to talk about it.
The silence is uncomfortable. I feel I’ve walked into the middle of something I’m not supposed to know about.
Karl clears his throat first.
“Olivia Quinn, huh?” he says guardedly. “She’s… interesting. I er… met her at the Halloween party.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” I mutter. “She’s got a temper on her, that’s for sure. Did you see that?”
Jesse finally speaks, but it's not what I expect. “Yeah. She’s got a lot of… stuff going on.”
“Stuff?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
