Chapter Ten

Olive

When I arrived back at Pierce’s house, I found the door open, so I let myself in.

I expected my brother to be waiting in the living room for me, fuming and with a million questions about where I’d been. Instead, after I’d looked around for him for a couple of minutes, I found a note stuck to the fridge.

Sorry, Olive. I want to make it up to you. I’ll be at work till seven. Can we have dinner tonight and catch up? Sorry again, sis. See you tonight.

I yanked the note off the fridge door and read the note again, then rolled it in a ball and chucked it into the trash. I couldn’t believe that Pierce just wanted me to forget about everything he’d said and move on. How did he expect me to just pretend like nothing had happened?

I made myself a cup of coffee using Pierce’s fancy coffee machine, and I took it to the living room, where my bag and guitar case were still deposited. I sat down with a thump on the couch and took a sip of the coffee and closed my eyes.

Kissing Cormac had gone very differently from the way I’d imagined it. For starters, I hadn’t expected it to turn into a situation where I had an orgasm! But it had. He had known exactly what to do to my body to turn me on in a matter of minutes. That kiss felt personal and deep, and now as I licked my lips, I thought I could still taste him.

He’d tasted masculine and he’d felt strong as he kissed me. After that, when he’d slipped his hands underneath my skirt, he looked like a man who was confident about what he was doing. He had made me come in a matter of minutes, with no trouble. My cheeks flushed at the thought of it and what he might think of me now.

He had to know just how desperately I wanted him. He had kissed me and slipped his finger into my pussy, and my body had simply exploded. He hadn’t had to do anything else—that was how easy it was for him to make me come.

My eyes flew open at the thought of that orgasm and how good it had felt. Being with Cormac had been eye-opening, like suddenly I was charged full of life. I didn’t even know my body was capable of that. I had no idea it was possible for me to have an orgasm so quickly. It was like he had magic fingers or something, and I bit down on my lip at the thought. My pussy was still faintly throbbing from the memory of his finger inside me. The way he’d teased my clit, making it impossible for me to hold back my orgasm.

But after that, he’d pushed me away.

It had taken him exactly two minutes after I’d had my orgasm to change his mind.

That song I was planning on writingwas going to be very different now.

I’d met a stranger who I was painfully attracted to. He’d lured me in with a kiss and his charming dimpled smile. He’d made me feel like he wanted me as much as I wanted him. And then, in the next minute, he’d changed his mind and he was gone.

Did Pierce really mean that much to him?

I didn’t know whether to feel embarrassed or angry. I knew I was both. I was angry with Pierce for dictating my life, for forcing Cormac to stay away from me. And I was angry with Cormac for actually following Pierce’s commands. Didn’t he experience the things I had? Didn’t he feel it in his bones—this aching need to be with me? I knew I did.

I wanted more. He’d left me panting for more. And then he’d pretended like it was one big mistake. Like I had hypnotized him into doing something that he didn’t want to do.

I placed the coffee mug on the table and stood up and picked up my guitar. I knew I needed to channel my anger and embarrassment into something else. I sat down on the carpet and strummed my guitar. The only tune I could play in that moment was the tune of the song I was writing that morning about Cormac. So much had happened, and so much had changed in a matter of a few hours.

I pressed my eyes close and tried to sing.

He left me feeling like a fool

The words slipped out of me. I hadn’t planned on singing those words, but they felt natural to me. It was the only way I knew how to channel my anger toward him and Pierce.

When he touched me, I was the only woman in the world

I continued and I was gritting my teeth as I sang. I knew it was foolish to write a song about him. About this guy who I barely knew and who I might never see again. The one thing I knew for certain was that I wasn’t going to chase after him. Cormac had made it very clear that his relationship with Pierce was way more important than any feelings of attraction he might have had toward me.

Maybe it was a terrible idea to come to Brunswick. Maybe I should have just stayed in Venice and tried to get more gigs by myself, without Danny. That was the world I belonged in. That was the world I should have remained in.

At least in LA, I didn’t have my brother’s overbearing presence controlling every aspect of my life. I decided as I sang that I was going to have dinner with Pierce and after that I’d leave. One day in Brunswick was enough to prove to me that I was on a different life path from my brother’s.