She stared her daughter straight in the eye and made no comment about Olivia's bandaged wrist or the paleness in her cheeks. There was no way the woman could've missed them. Cameron was all too aware of everything mommy dearest skipped over, like asking whether Olivia's new husband had been treating her right or telling her daughter she loved her.
"You must come back with me, Olivia. I can't be by myself."
Olivia blinked her long-lashed eyes and looked blankly startled. "II'm sorry, Mother," she said, looking seriously regretful. "But I've started a life here. I've made friends, gotten a job, and—"
"You really did get a job?" Cameron blurted out.
She spared him a brief, hard glance for interrupting and, as he
snapped his mouth shut, turned back to her mother.
"You might need me, Vivian. But I don't need you. And I'm sorry for your loss, but I know how quickly you bounce back after your spouse dies. You'll find some poor man to control in no time. Besides, my life is here. In Kansas City."
"Olivia," Vivian nearly whispered. "Please."
She opened her mouth, looking absolutely clueless as how to deal with this stranger her own mother had become. "I-I...No," she said. "I'm staying."
Vivian's face frosted over. Her back straightened, and she once again became the woman they both knew and despised. "This is it then," she said with a sneer. "You just made your bed with him. Don't ever come crawling back to me. And don't bother trying to retrieve your things either. They were gone the day after I got home from Chicago."
Cameron watched his wife swallow a lump in her throat. But she bravely tilted her chin up and answered, "That's all right. I didn't need anything from your house, anyway."
Pausing a moment to send her one last evil glare, Vivian turned on her heel and stormed from the house. She brushed by Cameron, knocking him back a step, and slammed the door on her way out.
No one spoke for a good minute after her departure. For once, Cameron couldn't think of a single thing to say. Olivia was obviously still steamed at him over the whole cut-wrist misunderstanding.
"Did you call her?" she finally said.
His mouth dropped. "What? Hell, no."
She gave a single, thoughtful nod before asking, "What'd you do to her?"
Cam was suspiciously quiet for a moment. Then cautiously, he countered, "Why do you think I did anything?"
"Oh, maybe because you said, 'I'll stop screwing you over like you tried to do to me'."
Cameron grinned suddenly. "Oh. That."
"Yeah. That. You must've hit her hard. I've never seen her look so beaten before."
"Well, we, uh, we kind of screwed her out of a business deal, or rather into a business deal."
Olivia shook her head, not comprehending.
"Boston and I had been looking into buying out this company, you see. And, well, your mother found out about it. I guess she was still ticked at me for taking you away, so she tried to buy it out from under us and screw me over. But what she didn't know was that we were going to merge it with this other company we own. So, when your mother starting putting in these outrageous bids to make us raise our offer, I decided to let her win the auction."
Cameron shrugged helplessly. "Now, she owns a failing company she paid an arm and a leg for." He sighed, looking pleased. "She took a direct hit in the pocketbook for messing with us. I doubt she'll try it again."
"That was pretty ingenious." She cocked her head to the side as she studied him. "Have you always been this smart?"
He nodded seriously. "Oh, always."
Olivia grinned. But she didn't smile for long. As she stared at him, she seemed to remember the discord between them, and her lips quivered a moment before falling. Cameron watched helplessly as she drew back inside herself. He wanted to reach out and shake her, make her come back, make her keep smiling.
He swallowed and looked away. "So, you found a job, huh?"
Olivia nodded. "Your dad hired me."
"He did?" The traitor. "When?"
"Just today. I'm officially the new social coordinator of Banks Corporation."
"Really? That's…" Cameron choked on the word his first attempt. He swallowed and tried again, sending her a forced smile. "That's great, Livy."
"I think so," she answered, still acting cool toward him and only showing him her back. Then she flung a heated look over her shoulder. "That's why I came to visit you at work today. To tell you all about it."
"Oh," he mumbled.
"I wasn't lying when I told Vivian I'd started a new life here. I've got a job and as soon as I move out into my own place, I truly will be completely independent for the first time in my life."
She sounded so pleased and proud, Cameron wanted to howl at the moon. He couldn't return the smile. "So, um, yeah," he said. "Yeah, it really sounds like you're getting everything planned out. I, uh, I guess you've found somewhere to live then?"
Please not. Don't go.
"Not yet," Olivia answered after a strained pause. He bit the inside of his lip to keep from doing a victory dance. "But I'm supposed to go apartment hunting with your mom next week."
Hell. Both his parents had turned against him? Thanks a lot, Mom and Dad. Make him lose the best thing that had happened to him since—
"Well, good," he said. "I-I'm really glad everything is falling together for you." Just don't leave me, damn it.
Olivia nodded, and he mimicked the move. When neither spoke, she made an uncomfortable act of crossing her arms over her chest. Then obviously realizing she didn't need to stand there any longer, she turned and hurried from the room.
Cameron blew out a breath and slumped into a chair, wishing he hadn't thrown out his liquor. Until he remembered another hiding place he used to have.
Seventeen
The next morning, Boston arrived at his usual time to pick Cameron up for work. Anxious to see how the newlyweds had fared during the night, he cut the engine and hurried toward the entrance. He found them sitting across from each other at the kitchen table, eating breakfast as if no fight had ever happened.
But Boston could feel the thick tension in the air, heavy, as if someone had just cooked sausages or bacon, which, hmm, it smelled like someone had. The weighty, oily atmosphere seemed to stick to his clothing and made him feel like he needed to shower. Neither party at the table paid the other any notice. In fact, they ignored each other completely.
He stopped in the doorway and eyed the two cautiously.
Cameron glanced up. "Morning," he offered, looking relieved to see his cousin. "Hungry?"
Boston was starving, but he shook his head no, not trusting the quasidomestic scene in the least.
"I'm pretty much ready," Cam added, pushing back his chair and getting to his feet. "Just let me find some shoes, and we can head out."
Boston nodded and moved out of the way as his cousin fled, looking overly anxious to escape. But he didn't follow. He stayed where he was, his gaze sliding to Olivia. Once they were alone, she finally glanced at him. She didn't bother to hide her feelings behind a fake smile. "Morning," she mumbled.
"Hey," he said softly, slipping into the seat Cam had just vacated. "How's the arm?"
"Throbbing."
Boston eyed Cameron's deserted breakfast plate and snagged a piece of abandoned bacon. "Didn't the doctor give you any meds for the pain?" he asked around a mouthful.
Olivia's eyes grew round as if his suggestion was scandalous. "And risk letting Cameron think I'm trying to overdose?" she whispered in dismay. "I think not."
Boston smiled and shook his head, wiping grease from his fingers on a napkin. "He went a little overboard with his assumptions last night, didn't he?" he agreed as he reached for Cameron's glass of orange juice to wash down the salty flavor on his tongue.
But he barely tipped the drink back before he was sputtering and spitting the liquid back into the cup.
Olivia came to her feet in worry. "Are you okay?"
He held up a hand to reassure h
er, all the while choking and coughing. With a couple bobs of the head, he grabbed his napkin and dabbed at the mess he'd made. "Sorry," he offered. "I thought it was orange juice."
Olivia frowned. "It's not?"
She went to reach for the cup, but as soon as Boston saw her, he tried to intercept.
She was faster.
Bringing it to her nose, she sniffed the orange brew. When her eyes rose toward Boston, he glanced away guilty.
"Screwdriver," she hissed.
He didn't answer, could only sigh. When he lifted his eyes toward hers, he quickly looked away as if he were still embarrassed about seeing her buck-naked the first time they'd met.
Letting out a low growl, Olivia rested her chin on her hands. "Sienna really played a number on his head, didn't she?"
Stunned she would dare say that name aloud in Cameron's house, he blinked a moment. And then he realized. He'd just found a kindred spirit. This woman would worry about Cameron just as much as he would. She'd cover for him and lie for him just like Boston always had, because, well, it was Cameron. Who wouldn't give his life for Banks?
"I don't know if he'll ever fully convince himself it wasn't his fault," he murmured. "He'll always think he should've done more to help her."
Olivia closed her eyes. A depressed silence filled the air between them. "Have you ever been in love?" she asked out of the blue.
Boston jerked back. He shifted in his seat, vaguely uncomfortable, and lifted one shoulder. "I-I don't know." But even as he spoke, he quickly added, "I mean, I've never dated a woman long enough to really fall, because one time, in college, there was this girl..."
He paused, not sure how to go on, not sure if he wanted to. Then he shrugged and started again. "I went out with her for a little over a semester. It was the longest relationship I'd ever had. And it ended badly." He shook his head. "Since then, I make it a point not to get too involved or attached."
Ice cold Boston Kincaid. That's who he was. That's who he wanted to stay. It was better than putting himself through misery as Cameron was doing.
He lifted his face and caught Olivia studying him. She was going to pry. He knew it even before she asked. His stomach knotted in preparation.
"Do you think you loved her?"
Boston stared thoughtfully at the far wall. His vision filled with the sweet, pale face of a young woman too scared to be left alone, but begging him to do just that. He hadn't known true agony until the moment he'd walked away and realized he'd probably just made the biggest mistake of his life.
"I don't know," he murmured quietly before he finally glanced back at Olivia. "But if I did, I don't ever want to fall again."
As if chilled by the thought, Olivia wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't want to fall in love either," she announced is if making the decision that very moment. "Just look at what it did to Cameron."
Boston studied the miserable Olivia and wanted to tell her it was already too late for her. She loved his cousin, and she could deny it as much as she wanted, but the feelings would still be there.
Cameron strolled into the room then, and Boston felt a sudden urge to grab his best friend by the throat and pin him to the wall. The man was on self-destruct. He'd had his ups and downs before. Boston had seen Cameron at this lowest, and he'd seen him pick himself up and start over. But this time, he was going to take Olivia under with him.
Boston didn't want her to become collateral damage, especially when he suspected she might be the one thing to save Cameron from completely destroying himself.
"Ready?" Cameron asked. "Or do you want to sit and flirt with my wife for a while longer?"
Needing to knock the wind out his buddy's sail, Boston forced a grin across the table at Olivia. "Actually, could you leave us alone for another hour so I can put a proper good-morning glow on her face?"
Olivia's eyes grew round for a moment. Then she threw back her head and laughed.
Cameron scowled. Turning on his heels, he stormed from the kitchen, growling over his shoulder. "Whatever. I'll be waiting in the car."
Boston watched him go before he risked a glance toward Olivia. "Sorry," he offered humbly.
She shrugged as if to tell him she wasn't upset. She was more curious when she asked, "Why did you do that?"
This time his grin was genuine. "To piss him off."
"I think it worked."
Boston was still disappointed by his cousin's lack of reaction. Cameron wasn't typically the jealous type, but Boston suspected Olivia was an entirely different case for him. Except his response had let Boston down. Cam wasn't supposed to stomp off like a scorned child. He was supposed to grab Olivia, throw her over his shoulder, and drag her off to his lair.
"He'll get over it," Boston said and reached across the table to take her hand. He looked into her eyes and wanted to tell her to be strong and stick through this. But instead he offered a small smile and kissed her knuckles before letting her go and following his cousin out the door.
~ * ~
Cameron tapped his foot and drummed his fingers on the armrest.
Boston's little bait had really caught him. Olivia was his, damn it. Kincaid better keep his damn paws off.
He and his cousin had teased about passing women off to each other. But they'd never actually done so. They'd always had different tastes. Thinking Boston might want Olivia, though, distressed him. Now was not the time for them to start sharing.
Boston didn't have baggage. He was good looking, and he would take care of Livy better than anyone. He'd be a hell of a lot better for her than Cameron was. The two of them would be good together. But the thought of his wife turning to his best friend after their annulment made him feel ill.
In fact, he didn't much like the idea of losing her at all. But he could only hurt Olivia if she stayed. Sienna had broken something inside him. He wasn't suitable to be any woman's husband any longer. It didn't matter that he wanted Olivia to stay, didn't matter that he'd secretly held off the annulment on purpose just to get a little more time with her. He was damaged goods. He'd always be haunted by the first woman he'd killed, the one he'd somehow driven to suicide.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Boston asked, opening the car door and sliding into the driver's seat.
Cameron ignored him and continued to tap his fingers against the dash. Boston scowled at the action for a moment, and Cam expected him to make some dorky kind of comment like telling him to stop smudging fingerprints all over his car. But he didn't. Instead, he cocked an inquisitive look Cameron's way.
"Nervous about something?" he asked mildly. "Or did you just put too much vodka in your orange juice this morning?"
"How—" Cameron was about to ask how he knew about the screwdriver when he realized his cousin was probably just testing him. Not calling the man's bluff, he frowned and drummed his fingers again until he realized he was only making himself look worse. Stilling his hand, he glanced out the window. "Go ahead and start the annulment papers today."
It was time. He'd already taken too much from Livy. But even as the words left his mouth, a dry, painful knot lodged in his chest.
Boston didn't answer. He put the car into gear and pulled from the driveway.
Cameron glanced over. "I said—"
"I heard what you said," Boston snapped. He was quiet a moment before adding, "I'm not doing it."
Cameron blinked. "What?"
"I didn't stutter. I'm not writing one damn document to help you get rid of her."
"But...but you're my lawyer," Cam sputtered. Boston had never denied him anything where his job was concerned. "You have to do what I say."
Boston lifted his eyebrows. "The hell if I do. I represent EarnNet, the business. An annulment has nothing to do with business. I'm not doing it."
"Why the hell not? You've always helped me out with personal legal work before."
"Maybe I don't think you really want an annulment," Boston answered. He glanced Cameron's way with a knowing look. "You've been married
to her for nearly two months, and you've done everything short of murder to put off filing. I know you, Cam. You like having her in your house. In your bed."
Cameron turned away, muttering under his breath. He grumbled to himself about annoying friends, neither denying nor confirming Boston's bold statement. Finally, he spun toward the driver's seat. "She's gotten under your skin, hasn't she?" he accused. "Seeing her naked has really turned you into her personal—"