The Truth Pact (The Truth About Love Book 1)

by C. M. Albert

  “Grab the rope!” she shouted.

  Crap! I just barely caught it on its next swing back. I wasn’t sure who would get it after me, but that wasn’t my problem. I took a deep breath, my knuckles white as I gripped the thick cord. Then I ran, throwing all my faith to the wind as I jumped off the side of the quarry’s cliff, suspended in the air for what felt like forever.

  “Let go!” Olivia shouted from below.

  I released my hands, my stomach dropping as I free-fell, hitting the water hard as my feet entered. It felt like I was submerged forever, but eventually I broke the surface, hollering out with adrenaline as Ryan had done. I looked around the small swimming hole, finally seeing Olivia. She was treading nearby, alone.

  “Where’s Ryan?” I asked, looking around.

  “He hiked back up so he could grab the rope,” she said, swimming closer.

  “Ready to get out?” I asked, my eyes fixated on hers. They were full of mischief.

  “Yep,” she said. “After I do this!”

  She laughed, plunging my head beneath the water and catching me off guard. I grabbed her wet body, grappling as we broke the surface, laughing.

  “Oh, no you didn’t,” I growled.

  She giggled, and the sound went straight to my shorts. I couldn’t help it. She must’ve seen the look in my eye and mistook it for something playful, revengeful. But it wasn’t anything like that. It was a burning deep inside that lit something primal within me. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to bury myself deep inside Olivia Wells.

  I grabbed her hand as she was swimming away, eliciting a shriek from her as she splashed me. I dunked her as she had me and gasped when she grabbed my legs, pulling me even deeper with her. I opened my eyes, trying to find her, and saw her right in front of me, looking back through the water.

  Then she grabbed on to my biceps, her legs intertwined with mine. I swear she was about to kiss me under the water. Instead, she used my body to shove off against me, propelling herself to the surface and leaving me in the murky depths below.

  When I surfaced, she was swimming back to shore, using a stroke only serious swimmers could execute. Her body sliced through the water as I watched her go, my dick too hard in my board shorts to get out anytime soon. I was treading water, not sure what had just happened, when I looked up and saw Ryan staring down at me.

  THE DRIVE BACK was more subdued, and it was nearly dark by the time we pulled into the Wells’s driveway. Olivia grabbed her tote bag and bolted into the house before I could say goodnight.

  “Sorry about that,” Ryan said.

  I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, so I didn’t say anything back. How much had he seen of us frolicking in the water today?

  “She gets like this sometimes,” he said quietly. “You’ve only seen her on her good days, but they’re few and far between. I never know when something’s going to set her off. When I’m going to set her off.”

  “No worries,” I said, making light of it. “Thanks for the fun time today. I needed a break from that dusty old house.”

  “About that,” Ryan said. “Why don’t you stay here? We have four spare bedrooms, and you won’t have to break your back on that damn air mattress. It just seems silly with all the space we have, and we’re right next door anyway.”

  Was he for real?

  “I couldn’t impose on you like that. The last thing you and Liv need is me hanging around, especially if things are already rocky. The stress of having a stranger staying with you might not be the best thing for her.”

  “Or it could be exactly what she needs,” Ryan said. His eyes darkened, as if he were battling some hidden demons. “Let me run it by Liv tomorrow. See what she says.”

  Oh man. I’d screwed up royally, realizing my mistake.

  “Ryan—” I started, but what could I say without giving away that I knew how much the pet name meant between them. “I appreciate the offer. I’ll think about it.”

  He nodded, climbing from the Wrangler and slamming the door. He’d just invited me to move in with them, then slammed the door in my face.

  Yeah, I’m thinking this would be a huge mistake.

  Chapter 13

  Olivia

  “YOU ASKED HIM to do what?” I asked in disbelief early the next morning. We were having coffee in the sunroom, watching as Stitch explored the fenced-in yard.

  “It was a spur of the moment offer,” Ryan said, lifting his English muffin to his mouth. I watched the way his lips closed over the soft bread and swallowed, my body responding. Only I didn’t know if it was responding to my husband’s mouth or the idea of having Brighton under our roof for the summer. It seemed like a very dangerous idea.

  “Why would you do that?”

  “I don’t know. He’s a nice guy. He’s busting his ass to turn his family’s home around. And why wouldn’t we? He’s right next door all summer anyway, and we have four extra guestrooms. It’s not like we don’t have the space.”

  “Three,” I reminded him. “I’m still using one.”

  “Right. But it shouldn’t be for much longer. I’ve done some research, and Stitch should be getting closer to being able to stay all night in his crate without soiling himself.”

  “About that,” I said.

  “Liv . . .”

  “I couldn’t help it! He whimpers every time we get back from going outside. It’s easier to put him at the end of the bed so I can at least get some sleep.”

  “You promised you would keep him in the damn crate!” he snapped.

  “Well, sorry!” I said, standing. I knew he was frustrated because the longer Stitch was out of the crate, the longer it would be before I went back to our bed. I couldn’t explain why, exactly—but I just wasn’t ready to do that.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, reaching out for my hand.

  I yanked it from his grasp. “I need some time alone today. The week’s taken a toll on me.”

  “What about Kerrington?”

  “What about him?”

  “Do you want him to stay here with us?” he pressed.

  “He can stay wherever you want him to,” I said, exasperated.

  “I didn’t mean to snap, Olivia.”

  “You never do,” I said, walking from the sunroom. I couldn’t even curl up in the guest bed because that would mean Ryan would walk by me on his way out. And I really needed some alone time. The last thing I wanted was for him to see me curled up on the bed, crying again.

  On our drive home yesterday, the joyful mood I’d felt all day suddenly started to fade, and I shut down. It wasn’t anything either of them said or did. It was just hard to have fun for long these days. One minute I was smiling and laughing along with the guys. The next, my pulse was racing as I thought of Laelynn and how she’d never get to do these kinds of things with us.

  I ran upstairs and pulled on some workout clothes, deciding to go for a run. Somedays, I needed to cry the anger out. Today I needed to sweat it out. I needed room to breathe, and the house felt like it was closing in on me. I needed to do something with all these feelings crashing down on me. I had to exorcise them from my body because all I could think about as I grabbed the armband for my phone and a set of wireless earbuds was how to stop the pain.

  I slammed out the front door, avoiding Ryan. I ran from our house with no destination in mind, the burn in my lungs a welcome sensation as I pushed myself hard. After the first three miles, my legs finally warmed up, and my pace settled into something more comfortable. I was lost in my music, not paying attention to where I was going, when I heard screeching brakes. The car slammed into my hip, sending me flying over the hood before landing on the grass along the roadside.

  The last thing I remembered seeing before I blacked out was Brighton Kerrington panicking above me, yelling for an ambulance. He gripped my hand, and I slid peacefully into darkness.

  A FAINT BEEP was really annoying me. I kept swatting at it, trying to make it go away. I tried opening my eyes, a blindin
g light causing me to wince. My mouth was parched, and I couldn’t remember where I was.

  Ryan’s face swam into view.

  “Ry?”

  “I’m here, baby,” he said, his warm hand covering mine. “You’re okay.”

  “What happened?”

  “Don’t you remember going for a run?”

  I closed my eyes, vaguely remembering my jog along the lakeside road, my legs and lungs burning. “I was on my way to our park,” I said, licking my lips. “I think a car hit me.”

  “It did,” I heard from off to the side, another deep voice.

  I turned my head, seeing Brighton standing there like a golden angel, his body framed by the bright sun pouring through the hospital room window.

  “You were there,” I said, as he moved toward my bedside. His eyes were full of relief as they swept over me. “What happened?”

  “I was on a run, too, heading down the opposite side of the street. I saw you and waved, but you didn’t see me. That’s when I realized your eyes were glazed over, like you’d been crying. I called out your name, screamed it actually, but you didn’t hear me, so I knew your music was too loud.”

  I nodded, the memory coming back slowly. “Then the car hit me, didn’t it?”

  He nodded, and I glanced over at Ryan, grimacing.

  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly to my husband. I didn’t know what I was apologizing for, but I could see the toll of years of pain reflected at me. “I—”

  “Shh,” he said. “It wasn’t your fault. The guy wasn’t paying attention, veered too far over into the shoulder and hit you. If Kerrington hadn’t happened to be there, we wouldn’t have known who hit you, or gotten you an ambulance so fast. The asshole panicked and drove off. He was just going to leave you there.”

  Ryan leaned over, kissing the side of my head as my eyes locked on Brighton’s. “Thank you,” I mouthed to him.

  He nodded, then started toward the door. He clapped Ryan on the back before heading out of the hospital room and giving us some privacy.

  My heart was overwhelmed with emotions when I glanced back up at Ryan. “I’m sorry I got so frustrated and left angry. I must not have been paying attention. That was so careless of me.”

  “None of this is your fault. I’m just glad Kerrington was there for you. I’m sorry I wasn’t.”

  He brushed his lips against mine, letting me drift back to sleep, with two very different men on my mind and in my heart.

  Chapter 14

  Brighton

  A FEW DAYS later, I watched as Ryan walked Olivia from his Jeep to the house. She was leaning on him, nestled under his arm where she belonged. So why did it hurt to see her there? The truth shamed me. It was because I was jealous of her own husband. Because I wished it were me she was leaning against. Me who could bring her home and slide her into bed and hold her all day, loving her back to good health.

  The honesty of that slammed into my chest, nearly taking my breath away. I didn’t know how I’d let her in so quickly, but I knew I had to let her go—it was foolish to invest any feelings into the couple next door. I was finishing a job, and nothing else. Then I’d walk away from here forever. And Olivia would still be here, in her perfect house on the corner, with the white picket fence and her stable, nice-guy husband.

  My friend, no less.

  I went back into the house, not understanding the emotions flooding over me like a tidal wave threatening to pull me under some very dark waters, with a bitch of a current. I picked up a sledgehammer, eyeing the wall between the dining room and the formal front sitting room. Taking it down was one of the few concessions for modern living that I was making, to give buyers the open floorplan they seemed to love these days.

  No time like the present.

  I lifted the safety goggles in place and slammed the wall over and over again until my arms ached and I could hardly lift the sledgehammer anymore. Drywall was everywhere, but I could now see through the unfortunately placed wall. The rest of it had to come down. I called my foreman, putting him on speaker phone. I currently had him out on other projects but realized quickly I needed his help with this beast.

  “Hey, boss,” he said. “How’s the house coming along?”

  “Good, good. It’s a passion project, for sure,” I said, thinking of Olivia next door.

  “Still on schedule?”

  “Yep,” I answered. “Have some cyclical crew coming in and out when I need help, and the neighbors next door are pitching in too.”

  “Oh no. Weekend warriors?”

  “Nah, man. The husband’s a god with a sander and has a steady hand with wood carving. And his wife’s an interior designer. I’m hiring her to help with the design end of the flip. To install some permanent fixtures and drapes. Help pick out the hardware. Staging. That kind of stuff.”

  “That was a lucky break,” Rob said.

  “You’re not kidding. They’ve been a godsend.”

  “Which design firm does she work for?”

  “She owns it, actually. Live Well Interiors.”

  “You hired Olivia Wells?”

  “You know who she is?”

  “Smoking hot blonde? Great ass?”

  Why did I suddenly want to punch my foreman? “She’s a client, Rob, not a girl I met out at the clubs.”

  “Sorry, man, that was unprofessional. She’s worked on houses I’ve built before, and I’ve crossed paths with her a few times. It’s hard not to remember a woman as pretty as Olivia Wells.”

  Wasn’t that the truth? “That’s her, then, I guess.”

  “Good for you. It’ll sell in no time,” Rob assured me. “So, what can I do ya for?”

  “Can you come down tomorrow to relocate some plumbing and HVAC lines?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Appreciate it, man. See you in the morning.”

  I hung up the phone, wondering what to do now. I turned toward the kitchen, so I could look through the exterior paint samples again, when I noticed Ryan standing by the front door, waiting for me. I lifted a hand in greeting.

  “How’s Olivia doing?”

  Ryan nodded his head, his arms crossed over his chest. I couldn’t get a read on him, so I waited. He finally ran a hand over his face, looking tired. “She’s as good as can be expected. Still pretty bruised up. She was exhausted from the last few days, said she wanted to nap.”

  “Oh, good. That should help her. Want to come back for a beer?” I asked. “I’m going through some paint colors. I want to narrow them down before showing Olivia.”

  Ryan followed me back to the kitchen, taking one of the chairs and flipping it around, sitting down. He accepted the long neck gratefully, taking a pull from the cold pilsner. “I don’t even know how to thank you.”

  I turned and got a better look at him. He seemed on the verge of a breakdown. “Aw, shit,” I said, sitting down across from him, crossing my ankle over my knee. “What happened?”

  “Nothing, I just—I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d lost her. If you hadn’t been there for us.”

  “No worries. I was in the right place at the right time.”

  “Livy wants you to come stay with us,” Ryan said, his eyes rimmed red.

  “Huh?” Well, that was eloquent.

  “I told you I’d ask her about you staying at our place since we have the room. You’re doing more demo now. The air’s not good to sleep in over here. She said yes. She’s fine with you coming to stay at our place.”

  I nodded, taking a long pull from my beer. Ryan was gauging my reaction.

  “All right, cool. It’ll be nice not to breathe this crap in all night.”

  “One thing, though, Kerrington?” he said, standing to leave. “Don’t mess around with her under my roof.”

  I nearly spit my mouthful of beer onto the floor but tried to remain calm. “Dude. Why would you even say that? I’m not that kind of guy.”

  He set his empty beer onto the countertop, then trained his brown eyes on mine
. “Right, but you didn’t say you didn’t want to, did you?”

  “Look, Ryan, I consider us friends. I would never do that to you.”

  “Again, you never said you didn’t want to,” he pointed out, heading to the door. “She’s my everything, Brighton. You won’t know what that’s like until you’re married someday. There’s not a single thing in this world that I wouldn’t do to make her happy, even if it meant sharing her. I’m not stupid. I see the war in her eyes when she looks at you.”

  “Yeah, but she’s your wife, Ryan. I’m not stupid either.”

  “No, you’re not, boss. Maybe a little more than a carpenter, eh?”

  I shrugged. “So? It’s still at the heart of what I do.”

  “And what exactly do you do, Mr. Kerrington?”

  “Well, for starters, I built Brighton Estates, a gated waterside community in Watertown,” I said, assessing his reaction. He could do a Google search on me easily enough, so there was no point hiding the rest. “I’m the CEO of Brighton Design and Build. And I have a line of furniture with Erickson’s called Bright and Classic.”

  Ryan ran his hand through his hair but didn’t say a word. “Why not just lead with that?” he finally said, laughing. “Christ. You’re what? Thirty? And you’re a fucking CEO? I’d be flexing with that from the first handshake.”

  “Twenty-nine,” I said, relaxing for the first time since he’d shown up. “Sometimes it’s better to just be the guy next door renovating his uncle’s estate, Ryan.”

  He nodded. “Just do me a favor, okay?”

  “Anything.”

  “Seriously, don’t mess with Liv behind my back. It’s the one thing I ask, man to man.”

  He was dead serious.

  “You have my word.”