Damn, Olive is the queen of mixed signals. For a second there, I thought she still loved me.

She must.

But even if she doesn’t …

I’m a father. I just know I am, even though she refuses to come right out and say it.

“You knew about him cheating.” My voice comes out colder than I’d expected it to.

Selena was the one who told me about everything, who led me to the dress rehearsal in the first place, so I could find Olive.

Selena and I are standing in Olive’s apartment, except this time I’m a lot less drunk, and I’m making different mistakes. I shouldn’t have kissed Olive, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. And hard as I try, I can’t make myself regret it.

Fuck it.

“I did.” Selena raises an eyebrow at me. She and Oliva are roommates. That gives me hope. I like that Olive still wanted to be independent, even while being engaged to Jason. She’s such a strong woman.

“And,” Selena waves around the room, “I knew you’d be here.”

With a content sigh, she plops herself down on the couch I’d woken up on just a few nights ago. How fucking different everything was now. I hadn’t been to the gym in days, and as much as I longed for the ring, I am so tired. My phone beeps, and Selena glances in its direction.

I just shrug. Running off and chasing after true love hadn’t been in the plan, and my coach—and some groupies probably—are blowing up my phone wondering where the fuck I am.

The phone keeps chirping, so I turn the damn thing off and throw it on the floor.

Hopefully, it doesn’t break. It’s my third one this year.

“Nice.” She drags the word out, and I join her on the couch. “So, Mister Mystery, what brings you here?”

“I’m not letting go this time,” I say determinedly. “She tried to push me away. I’m not letting her.”

Selena laughs.

It’s not fucking funny. Selena is pissing me off.

“How do you feel?” she asks.

“Shitty.” It’s the truth.

“There are drinks in the fridge if it’ll make you feel better,” she adds.

“It won’t.” I’m being short with her, and she’s getting pissed, too. Great. “Olive mentioned you guys are leaving the country.”

“And you’re going to beg me to let you come too.” Not a question. She isn’t far off my thought process, though. We never talked much and here this girl knows me too well. Except …

“I don’t beg,” I raise an eyebrow at her.

She laughs.

“Well, lucky for you,” she gets up off the couch, goes to a closet in the corner and comes back with a large tote on wheels, “I thought ahead.”

She wheels the suitcase to the center of the room. “Olive is already there. She picked up Lark from day care and went right to the airport after work.”

“The flight takes off in two hours. And we’re,” she checks her phone absent-mindedly, “leaving now.”

“I don’t have a ticket.”

Like that would stop me.

“Actually.” She flips through her phone again, revealing it to me to show me an airline site. “There were some last-minute passengers canceling their flights. And a certain boxer who needs a ride …”

I laugh and give her a big hug, lifting her off her feet. “Thanks, Selena. I never expected you to …”

“Neither did I. In fact, you owe me eighteen hundred dollars,” she says, hefting her bag. “And you’re going to carry this. Let’s go.”

I’m too stunned to object. I take her bag as she leads me outside and we get in a cab.

“Airport,” she tells the driver.

After a quick stop to my place to get my passport and for me to throw some stuff in a bag we’re on our way to my precious Olive and sweet baby girl Lark.

Being in airports all the time doesn’t mean you get used to how fucking annoying the lines can be, especially when you’re looking for someone.

Show us your ID. Check.

Any metal or weapons on you? Nope.

Show us your ID again. Blah, blah, blah.

None of the heads in these rows around me belong to Olive. I would recognize the slope of her neck anywhere, and none of these people are her.

Fuck. The rest of these saps need to move.

“Calm down,” Selena is next to me, poking me with her finger. I guess I’m visibly angry, but I don’t give a fuck. “She got here a little before us. She’ll just be on the other side.”

The airport is large and divided in two sections: pre-check in and safety shit, and where you wait to get on your flight. Selena drags me with her, and I don’t object. She’s the best friend with the plan.

She knows where to find Olive and Lark, I remind myself.

When we finally find Olive, she’s sitting on a pile of too much luggage.

She is so fucking stunning. And she is so mad.

Her eyes shoot daggers at me, and I swear I can feel her heat on my skin—and not in a sexual way. I’ve thought of her skin on mine hundreds of times. But this time, it’s like she wants to slap me again.

I’m kinda surprised she didn’t when I tried to kiss her at the church.

The fact that she didn’t only made me want to do it again, harder. Longer. Deeper. Made me want to do more.

She stands, and I’m convinced she can read my mind and is coming to tell me I should be ashamed of myself. To be honest, she’s probably right.

But I refuse to apologize for how I feel about Olive. She’s the type of girl you think about naked. And here she is, walking toward me.

Her eyes rise above and past my shoulder. She is looking at something behind me. I don’t care what it is. I only want to stare at her.

“What the f—” She catches herself mid-curse. Lark is behind her, resting on the luggage. I give her a small wave, and Lark waves back with a shy smile.

Next thing I know, Olive slaps my hand away, and she glares at me.

She is a loving mother.

Becky would be a horrible one.

I fucking wish I could tell Olive that. Wait … Becky. Why do I hear her high-pitched, annoying voice?

I whip around to find she’s behind me.

“Hello, Olive,” she says, bitchy as usual. She’s missing her usual clones I notice.

Then she runs a hand down the muscles on one of my arms and her voice takes on a sultry tone. “And Axel.”

“Fuck off, Rebecca,” I practically spit. Olive looks to see if Lark heard my language, but the little girl is nodding off on top of the luggage. She’ll never know.

“You were always one to make bad decisions. I don’t know what anyone ever saw in you, actually.” Becky backs away from me, and it’s not until then that we see …

“Jason.” Olive’s voice is cold. She’s trying to pass herself off as indifferent. She’s better at it than she was at that party in high school, but I can see she’s trembling. “What are you doing here?”

“Going to Greece.” Jason smirks. “You left me with a plane ticket, remember? And there were some last minute cancellations, so my new girl is coming with me.”

Jason puffs his chest triumphantly. Becky is staring at us with glee. And Olive is turning pale.

I know she doesn’t need me to defend her. I just want to.

Even though it was just about a week ago it feels like it’s been a long time since my last fight, and I haven’t had Olive in so long, all the anger and tension in my body has built up into a filthy rage. I raise my fist like I’m against an opponent in the ring, but this douche isn’t expecting it and he has no way of defending himself.

I clock him, and my fist crashes right against Jason’s chin. He falls to the floor and passes out cold.

The bastard has probably never gotten into a fight in his life.

Sliding an arm around Olive’s shoulder protectively, I stare at Becky, making sure she understands that Olive is my girl. And that I would choose her any day and every day.

But Becky isn’t looking at us. She’s kneeling over Jason’s worthless body. He’s not dead, of course, which might be the only thing I’m regretting right now.

“Well.” Selena drags me away from Jason, like she’s scared I’m going to hit him again. “I guess we should get going. The flight’s in a few minutes anyway.”

“Then we’re going to hop on a cruise to get the rest of the way to Greece?”

She nods. I grin, turning my eyes to Olive, daring her to argue with me. “I’m coming too.”

To my surprise, she doesn’t argue.

“After the way you hit Jason, you probably shouldn’t stay here,” she concedes. She goes to pick up Lark and her luggage, but I grab her bags first, the way I always wished she’d let me carry her books back in high school. And she lets me do it, so the only remaining challenge is getting to gate forty-two before security arrives.

“Who is this man, Mommy?” Lark asks Olive.

Olive is at a total loss for words, so I jump in, smiling my trademark grin at the little girl who might just be my daughter. “I’m a friend of the family. Name’s Axel. What’s your name, little girl?”

“Lark,” she says, sticking four fingers up at me. “I’m not little. I’m almost this many.”

I grin at her. “Almost four? Well, you’re practically an adult.”

“Yes,” she replies, looking pleased with me as she turns to her mother. “Okay, he can come.”

Olive looks at me, exasperated, but I smile the same shit-eating grin at her, pick up the luggage, and follow the three ladies heading for our gate.