Chapter Twenty-Three
Zack
Thursday
I smirked at my reflection in the mirror as I pumped myself up for what was about to come. I hadn’t seen Olivia since our spontaneous hookup yesterday – instigated by me for a change – and I couldn’t wait to lay eyes on her again. She still didn’t manage to give me an answer, that hadn’t slipped my mind. Maybe at a physical therapy appointment wasn’t the best way to do it, but damn it, I wasn’t leaving today without getting my answer.
Olivia would say yes, I knew that she would. I just had to persuade her to do so.
Okay, I nodded determinedly to myself. You look fine; this will be good. Today is the day you finally get a girlfriend.
I couldn’t wait. No one had made me want them quite like Olivia, and I was excited to call her mine finally.
I stared at the door when someone knocked on the other side, confused. I wasn’t expecting any visitors, which could only mean it was Dolly. She loved to turn up by surprise to rant at me, but I didn’t have time today. I needed to get away quickly. I really couldn’t be late. I didn’t want to start things with Olivia on the wrong foot.
I grabbed my coat, making it obvious that I wanted to leave, and I swung open the door.
“Oh, hi Lark. I didn’t know you were back already?” I usually kept pretty good track of his schedule, but I guess I’d been distracted recently. It was shocking to see him instead of Dolly; the sight stopped me in my tracks for a few moments. “How’s it going?”
“I just knocked on Olivia’s door to see if Meghan wanted to play games for a bit, you know to take her off Olivia’s hands for a while, but I guess no one’s in.”
Huh, he really was taken with Meghan. I could understand that since I was smitten with her as well. If only Olivia could see inside of me, she’d know that I only had good intentions and that I’d never want to hurt her daughter. Still, she couldn’t see inside of me, so I was going to have to make her see.
“Well, Olivia’s at work. I’m just going to my physical therapy session with her myself.” Lark looked a little lost as he nodded. I wondered if he’d suffered a bad loss at his last competition. If so, he desperately craved company afterward which I would have to be for him. “Did you want to come along with me?”
“Yeah, alright then.” He shrugged in a blasé manner, but I could tell that he was pleased. “Sounds good. See you in action.”
In the beginning, Lark came with me to my appointments a lot because I couldn’t move well without him. But now things were different. I didn’t mind him coming, though. I wouldn’t let it throw me off my game.
“Just to warn you,” I added as I clicked the lock shut on the door behind me. “Today’s the day I’m going to make Olivia agree to a date with me.”
“You are?” His eyes widened in shock. “Wow, that’s...something. You’re going to have to fill me in on everything I’ve clearly missed out on!”
“We have the train ride over. I’ll tell you everything then.”
I wouldn’t tell him everything, of course. I wasn’t about to go into gory detail about how amazing I felt buried in Olivia, how wonderful her tongue was as it trailed up and down my cock, how we were so sexually compatible I felt turned on by here mere touch...they were all details just for me. But everything else I wanted to share with my friend. Things were finally looking up, and since he’d been with me all the time, he deserved to know.
“The elevator’s working!” I declared happily. “That’s usually a good sign that it’ll be an awesome day.”
“Honestly, dude,” Lark shook his head at me. “You need to move.”
***
“That’s it, now stretch it a bit further.” Olivia tugged my leg a little hard, it shot pain right up to my hip, but I didn’t react to it. I was too busy staring at her beautiful face. Damn, she was stunning.
“Come on, Zack, I know you can do better than that.” She glanced across to where Lark was sitting on the bench staring at his phone. At first, he was interested, but that seemed to have dwindled over time. “Do you need me to get rid of Lark? Is he distracting you?”
“The only person is distracting me is you,” I teased. “I’m still waiting for my answer. I can’t believe you’re giving me such a runaround, it’s as if you want to torture me.”
“Is this really the time or place?” She rolled her eyes at me. “Come on; we’re supposed to be working here.”
“How can I focus on anything else with your hands all over me?”
“Trying to stretch you out!” She became indignant as if the idea that she might touch me inappropriately at work offended her. It was hilarious.
“Yeah, but I can’t focus on getting better when I’m so confused.” I sighed dramatically. “If only I knew one way or the other, I’d be able to concentrate so much better.”
“Are you serious? Bribery?”
“If it comes to that... By this point, I’m willing to use any dirty tricks.”
“Fine.” She tugged my leg hard. “If you focus, then I’ll agree.”
I pumped my fist excitedly in the air. “Yes!” Lark glanced over and gave me a grin at my obvious display of happiness. He knew what it meant. Then he indicated that he needed to go outside to take a phone call. “Yes, Olivia, I’m so excited.”
“You have to focus first...”
Before she managed to finish her sentence, an older lady appeared behind her. She had a kind, happy face and was obviously a very sweet person. “Hello there…Zack Taylor, is it?”
“Ah, I recognize that voice from the phone! Ms. Simms.” I reached out and awkwardly shook her hand, which was hard to do since Olivia still had my leg. “It’s good to put a face to the voice finally.”
“Likewise, and it’s good to thank you for the massive donation you gave our company, and for funding the annual party, too. That was really good of you.”
My ears heated up; that was supposed to be a secret. I didn’t want Olivia to find out about my money that way, but her intense stare burning into my cheek suggested that she’d heard. My brain raced, trying to find a way to play it off while Ms. Simms continued to talk.
“I trust you’ll be at the party tomorrow? Many people wish to meet you.”
“Oh yes, of course.” I hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest, but if Olivia would be there, then why the hell not? I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, and it sounded pretty fun.
“And who’s your friend out there on the phone?” As Ms. Simms turned and she gave a longing look towards the door, I recognized something there. She wanted Lark; she was interested in him. I didn’t know if she would be his type or not, but he’d gone for older women before, so it was possible.
“That’s my friend, Lark. He came a lot with me in the beginning, so he’s come to see how much I’ve improved... That is until his phone started ringing.”
“Well, you should definitely bring him to the party, he looks like a lot of fun.”
With that, Ms. Simms shot me a very inappropriate wink and walked from the room, leaving me alone with Olivia and that burning stare. Any minute now, the questions would start, and I hated the idea of having to lie to her. If only I hadn’t spent so long closing myself off from everyone, then maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult to tell her the truth now.
I just didn’t want her to look at me differently. That was all. I didn’t want her to think worse of me.
“Okay, so what the hell was that about?” Her tone was cold and angry. “The donation? The party?”
“Oh right, erm...” Think, think, think! “Well, there was a time when I first started coming here that the office needed money to hire more people. I knew that it was a good place, and they’d already done awesome work with me, so I offered the money. Now I give an annual donation for stuff like the party.” So far all the truth, that was a win as far as I was concerned.
Her mouth formed an “o” shape as she tried her best to process this. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I just told you. There’s nothing more to it.” I shrugged and glanced downwards, wishing this conversation could be done with already. “So what else do you need me to do?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She dropped my leg and looked at me like I was a stranger. It was already happening. I couldn’t tell her everything – it would destroy us. “I mean, I work here; why didn’t you tell me?”
“It never came up,” I shrugged as I gave her the shittiest excuse ever. “There was no reason to say anything.”
“But...” She tugged her fingers through her hair as she tried to process. “But that makes no sense. I mean, where does the money even come from? You’re retired, on disability benefits, right? I mean, with your leg. How can you afford to...”
“I don’t like talking about it,” I snapped as I stood up. “And, I certainly don’t want to start talking about it now. Maybe you should think about it before you start asking personal questions. Now, I think we’re done here, don’t you?”
Olivia didn’t say anything, for which I couldn’t blame her. Somehow, I’d managed to turn into the biggest jackass ever, and there was no way to come back from it. All I could do was walk away, to stop this before it escalated into something more. I sucked in and held a breath, which I didn’t let out until I’d left the room completely. Once we had some separation, I could clear my head again. There was something about Olivia that totally clouded my judgment.
“You done already?” Lark looked surprised. “That was quick.”
“All done, let’s go.” I had nothing to stick around for; I needed to get the hell out of here. “Oh, by the way, you have to come with me to that party this place holds every year. Ms. Simms has commanded it. She was very insistent that you need to be there.”
“The lady that just walked in to speak with you?” I nodded and chuckled to myself. He actually looked impressed. “Hmmm, okay, any reason? Did she say what she wanted with me?”
He didn’t look completely turned off by the idea. “She has the hots for you, Lark. Seriously. If you aren’t careful, she’ll have you naked by midnight.”
“Well, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world!” he declared loudly. “It’s been a while since someone’s had me naked. Yeah, I’ll come for sure. Sounds fun.”
My heart sunk, I didn’t really want to go myself now, but I would if Lark wanted to. He clearly needed a night to blow off some steam, and I’d happily give that to him. I didn’t have to understand what he saw in the cougar but to each their own.
I would just have to find a way to avoid getting into yet another argument with Olivia. Maybe I’d just have to keep out of her way completely. The only way we didn’t fight was if we didn’t speak to one another at all.