“Jason!” She beamed up at me and threw herself in my arms, trusting me to catch her.
Grunting at the unexpected weight, I had to take a step back to steady us. Laughing, I nudged her chin up from where it was buried in my chest.
“You smell soooo good,” she slurred slightly. “Did you come to see big Olive? I’m not so little any more, am I, Jason? You saw that, right?”
She looked so vulnerable and hopeful that I had a hard time finding the right words to speak.
My hand acting on its own, I cradled her face and watched her close her eyes for two seconds then softly open them up to gaze right back into mine.
“No. I guess you’re not that little any more, my little Olive.”
She scrunched up her nose. “You’re still calling me little.” Shaking her head, she said, “You need sooo much help with finding the right nicknames. You always did.”
Laughing, I leaned down to her ear and asked, “Do I, now? Would you like to volunteer to help me on that front?”
She nodded eagerly, her smile blooming again.
It was damn impossible not to smile down at her.
For a moment, we stood there glancing at each other and my smile slowly melted away.
I was doing something wrong.
I was feeling something wrong.
Then thankfully, her friend was there, clearing her throat as she put a hand on Olive’s back.
“Lucy,” Olive yelled over the music excitedly as she steadied herself against my chest and saw her friend.
She was definitely a little drunk.
I wanted to tug her closer.
Lucy smiled at her. “Maybe you should let Jason take you home before somebody recognizes him here. People seems to be looking your way,” she added, looking at me apologetically.
I glanced around and sure enough, there were a few people close by, whispering as they kept their eyes on us.
“I should?” Olive asked.
“You definitely should,” Lucy repeated, patting her arm.
“Okay,” agreed Olive and turned to face me. “You should take you home before somebody recognizes me, Jason.”
I smiled. “Okay, let’s get you home then, you little drunk.” My eyes fixed on her lips, I reached up and wiped the moisture away, dragging her mouth open slightly.
She bit down on her lip where I had just touched her.
Holding back a groan, I looked at her friend. “Thank you, Lucy. I’m sorry if I intruded upon your night. I was just worried about her.”
“It’s okay. We can do this any time, and she’s already on her way over to a major hangover, better we cut her off now. She is a lightweight.”
I could see that, and for some reason, I preferred a lightweight Olive to a heavy drinker. Nodding, I gripped Olive’s hand to steer her away from her friends, but her other friend, Charlotte stopped us.
“Here,” she said, handing me a key over Lucy’s shoulder. “Olive doesn’t have one on her.”
“Char, I love you,” Olive exclaimed, and pushing Lucy out of the way, gave her friend a big hug.
“Hey,” Lucy yelled.
“I love you, too, Olive.” Charlotte laughed a little stiffly. “I’ll see you back at the house.”
She nodded and came back to my side, holding her hand out just like she had done when she was only ten years old.
The memory hit me in the back of the head out of nowhere. When Dylan and I had found her sitting on the school steps, she was silently crying because some kid had made fun of the burn scars on her mom’s arms. While Dylan had flown up the steps to find the little shit who had upset his sister, Olive had simply held out her hand, silently asking me to stay with her.
My eyes on her upturned hand, my mind stuck in a memory I hadn’t even been aware I remembered, I reached for it, just like I’d done years before, and held on tight.
I felt more eyes on me, so I looked to Lucy’s left and saw the guy, Marcus, sizing me up with a not-so-happy look on his face.
Ignoring him and saying goodbye to her friends again, I pulled Olive out of the bar and onto the street.
Clean air.
When we reached the black SUV, Olive suddenly stopped. I looked back at her.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”
“No.” She squinted her eyes. “I don’t think so. Where is your car?” She looked to her right and left, trying to spot my Spyder.
“I didn’t take the Spyder out tonight, that would be too telling. Come on, this is mine, too.”
“Oh, man,” she groaned, her face crestfallen as she started petting the car. “This monster is yours, too? How many cars do you have?”
“Five,” I answered, amused at her tone.
She groaned louder and her shoulders slumped, but she didn’t object when I unlocked the door and helped her in.
“You’re getting farther and farther away from me, Jason Thorn,” she mumbled as I was trying to buckle her in.
Misunderstanding her meaning, I laughed and said, “That’s because you are drunk. I’m right here. Let’s get you to your bed so you can sleep it off.”
“Let’s,” she murmured, right before I gently closed the door.
***
Our drive to her apartment was quiet as she dozed off in the passenger seat. I parked the car in front of the building and jumped out to help her down before she fell on her face. When I slowly opened the passenger side door, she was still sleeping. I was considering whether I should carry her upstairs or if that would be pushing it when some jackass drove by us and someone leaned out the window and shouted something at us.
Fucking idiot.
Olive’s eyes opened with a small frown.
“Jason?” she asked, her voice all drowsy and sexy.
Shit!
“Yeah, it’s me, sweetheart. Can you walk if I help you?”
Her face still confused, she almost toppled down the seat when she tried to take a step out into thin air.
“Whoa, easy there,” I said, gripping her waist. Her dress had ridden up and it seemed insistent on flashing me her white lacy underwear. “O-kay. I think it’s way past your bed time, Olive. How about you give me a little help so I can get you up while you are still intact.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her eyes half closed.
I locked the car, sneaked my arm around her waist, and half carried her up to their apartment as she hung on to me.
When we were finally inside, I had trouble locating the light switch and eventually gave up on it altogether. Fuck eyesight, especially when my friend’s sister was almost half-naked in my arms.
“Olive? Are you awake enough to tell me which room is yours?”
“Huh?”
“Sweetheart,” I mumbled, taking her weight as she rested her head against my chest. I gripped her chin and tilted her head up. Her eyes opened.
“Jason.” She looked at me as if she was seeing me for the first time. There was that smile again.
“Hi there,” I said, brushing away her bangs from her face.
She put both of her hands on my chest and hiccupped. “Hi.”
I chuckled and held her up as her knees buckled. Regaining her balance, she looked around for a moment then turned her huge eyes at me. “What are you doing in here?”
“Came to drop you off. Can you show me your room?”