“You don’t know anything, Olivia. You never did. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m the same kid you walked all over, who let you have your way no matter the circumstances. I’m not him anymore. I’m not someone you should underestimate.”
I dropped my drink on the ground in surprise. It splattered across his black and white sneakers and my battered combat boots. He never called me by my full name. Not ever. I lifted a hand to his wrist, to pull him away or hold him closer, I wasn’t sure. I felt his pulse kick under my fingertips.
I could feel his breath as he practically spat out the words. I could feel the tension in his big body as he nearly shook with restraint. If either one of us moved in the slightest, our lips would touch, and I was totally stunned by how much I wanted to lean forward. Our relationship had never been one of a romantic nature, but now that he was all grown up and pretty much the only person in the entire world I felt like I could rely on, something had shifted. My mind understood that he meant the move as a threat, but the rest of me didn’t seem interested in reading the signs he was sending loud and clear.
Huck dropped his hold and shook loose from my hold once again. He turned and walked away without another word or backward glance.
It took me a second to get my breathing back under control as I looked forlornly down at the mess by my feet. I didn’t have a ton of extra cash on hand most days, so the sweet drink had been a splurge to celebrate safely making it long enough to see my second semester and the start of a new school, one that I picked and wasn’t forced upon me. For a good long while, I’d been convinced I wasn’t ever going to get to decide any of life’s basic choices. Where I lived, what I wore, what I ate, who I interacted with, where I went to school, what I was studying, all of those things were decided for me after the accident. If I dared dissent, Sawyer would threaten to stop paying for my mom’s medical treatment, so I toed the line until it became clear she couldn’t hold on. It wasn’t until she passed that I learned she’d been squirreling money away for me, that she put every single dime into a secret savings account I couldn’t access until she was gone. It wasn’t a ton of money, but it was just enough to get away from that mansion and the people in it. It was enough I could get the education she wanted for me as long as I didn’t have hopes for a top-tier college. She was doing her best to make sure I was cared for even after she was gone. It was like she knew I needed a way out, and the only way to get it was if she stopped being my biggest weakness.
I shook my foot in irritation and started toward my next class. I was almost to the building when my phone suddenly rang. Only a couple of people had the number, and since I’d been blowing Mercer up for days. I knew it was probably her.
“Hello.” I nodded a slight apology as I nearly ran into a girl rushing through the doors. “I have class in a couple of minutes, so I can’t talk long.”
Mercer giggled in my ear as she apologized for not calling me back for days on end. “I’m in loooooooooove, Ollie.”
The sing-song tone was nothing unusual. Neither was her over-the-top declaration. She’d been in looooooooove at least five times since I’d known her.
“I’m happy to hear that, but I need to know if you are still planning on letting me work weekends for you now that I’m back at school.” I needed the minimal hours at Mercer’s shop for spending money so I could splurge on things like my spilled coffee.
Mercer laughed again, and I could almost see her tossing her rainbow hair over her shoulder. “You can work whenever you want. The other girl I had covering nights decided to quit suddenly, so there are extra hours available. I’d happily cover them as usual, but now that I have a man,” she sighed in such a dreamy manner, it was hard not to laugh at her. “I can’t wait for you to meet him. He’s not my normal type, but he’s so handsome and charming.”
I paused outside the doorway to my classroom. “Just text me when you need me to be there. I gotta go, but don’t ignore my calls for so long. I worry.”
She was too nice for her own good. She would never see any of those guys whom she fell in love at first sight with as a threat. That’s all I ever saw.
“Okay, okay. I’m really sorry that my head has been in the clouds lately. Love does that to me. How are things at the house? Did you and that boy call a truce yet?”
Typical Mercer. She wouldn’t call me back when I had nothing but time on my hands and needed to hear a friendly voice, but as soon as I had somewhere else to be, she was super chatty and curious about what was going on in my life.
“Not even close. I think he’s actually declared war, but I have too much to lose if I let him run me off. I’ll talk to you later. Don’t forget to send me those shifts I can cover.”
I clicked off the call before she could launch into more details about her love life and slid into the full classroom. Luckily, the professor had yet to arrive. I slid into a remaining seat that was somewhere in the middle and pulled out my laptop. I scowled at the brown spots that had dried on the toes of my boots and absently hoped I hadn’t ruined Huck’s shoes.
It was a change from when we were younger. When we weren’t in our school uniforms, we used to live in secondhand stuff and whatever my mom could get us from one of the big box stores. It was weird that his father hadn’t protested Huck dressing the same as the help’s kid since he was so concerned about image, but I was sure it all came down to keeping up appearances. There was no way Sawyer’s mom would let the unwanted son look as put together as her own child, especially when they were in the same grade at the same school. I still lived in hand-me-downs and thrift store finds, while he was rocking stuff I knew cost more than the average, broke college kid could afford. He must be a really, really good bartender. He must’ve figured out how to leverage making money off that pretty face and ripped body of his. Which would explain how he kept the motivation to get up so early each day and tackle a workout with Harlen.
Lost in thought, I jolted when the girl sitting next to me suddenly nudged me with her elbow. My whole laptop shook in front of me, and I had to reach for it so it didn’t slide to the ground.
“Are you friends with Huck Snyder? I saw the two of you talking outside before class.” The girl looked at me with eager eyes, and I could see that her cheeks were flushed in excitement.
I was familiar with her expression and her question. When I was younger, it felt like my entire identity was tied to knowing Huck and Sawyer. It was almost as if no one had any use for me beyond using me as a stepping stone to get to the brothers. For a while, I tried to pretend I didn’t know either one of them, but neither boy let it slide. We were all tied together for better or worse, which meant I was often the go-between for enamored suitors.
Giving her a bland smile, I played dumb. “Who?”
Some of her enthusiasm visibly dimmed at my response, but undeterred, she forged onward. “The tall, dark-haired guy you were talking to outside. His name is Huck. He’s a bartender at one of the most popular bars near campus. Everyone knows who he is, and everyone knows his group of friends. They’re all really popular, but they tend to keep to themselves. I thought it was different that he was talking to you since you’re new around here, and I’ve never seen him act so familiar with a girl on campus like that before.”