by S C Jones
“That would be nice, but before we get to that tell me, how are you doing?” he asked, his eyes gently searching her face.
She shrugged. “I’m okay, I guess. Catching up on my sleep, foods not too bad and I got a lot of time to think since I’m mostly by myself—I know you have a lot of questions and what I can say right now is— I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of all that.”
“What was that anyway? You acted like you didn’t know me, like—you didn’t know yourself.”
“That’s because it wasn’t me. It was my body, but me myself wasn’t there and that’s why I’m here. Everything that happened, working for your dad, the digging, the whole break down was her, Lane…my other personality.” He was staring at her, carelessly as if her words meant nothing. “Are you listening?” she asked.
“I am. Do you want me to run out of here in disbelief because I'm talking to you from inside a mental hospital?” he asked looking around, eyes twinkling with amusement for the first time since she sat down. She smiled briefly dipping her head before he spoke with a more serious expression. “O, it is just you in there, right?”
“Yes… It’s just me in here and it will be as long as I continue taking my therapy and meds, but why are you not surprised by any of this?” She was confused by his reaction.
He leaned forward and took her hands in his, the feeling sending a jolt of electricity through her dead fingers. “I read your case file a few days ago.”
“And how’d you get that?” she asked with an annoyed frown. The thought of him reading all the fucked up details of her life was unsettling. She wasn't sure how to feel about that, even though she knew some unsavory things about him.
“Remember you once said I was a man with means of getting information. Well I used them to get a copy of your file. I needed to know why you were here.” Although she loved his touch, she pulled her hands away. “Why didn't you tell me?”
Her eyes narrowed. “How could I possibly explain this without sounding crazy. What difference would it have made anyway?”
He leaned back with a hard look in his eyes. “For starters I wouldn't have been fucking blindsided by my father. You practically had a whole other life—”
“Which wasn't mine. You have no idea what it was like sharing a body with someone else. She took my life and sugar coated it as her own while I was stuck in the background watching. Everything that happened was because of her.”
His eye brows dipped. “Even us? Who did I meet that night in the rain?”
She blinked. “Me— Every time I was with you, it was me, never her. Somehow being with you made me stay.”
“Sounds awfully romantic.”
She snorted a laugh. “Romantic all right, yet we're still in a mental hospital. Once you knew where I was, why didn’t you come sooner?”
“I could have, but my father was still in Felicity and he would have had me followed to find you. I needed him and Sylas gone before I could get here.”
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered with a frown before averting her gaze. She felt the tears in the back of her eyes, and had no idea why she suddenly felt the need. Where was this emotion coming from, she thought.
He cocked his head. “Why would you think that?”
“Because the last time I saw you, you were holding a gun to your father's head, with Sylas threatening to kill you first.”
“I thought you weren't there?”
She returned to his gaze. “I wasn't—it's complicated. How did you get out?”
“Simple, I walked out.” He grinned.
“What are you, like James Bond or something?”
He chuckled shaking his head. “No, but if you recall I was the one holding the gun.”
“You were, weren't you.” Leaning forward again she said, “what makes you think your father doesn’t already know where I am?”
His face turned serious. “I don’t. That’s why I’m here, to get you out. It’s my fault you’re in this mess and I can’t leave you to fight him off on your own. He’s already promised me he won’t stop until he has you.”
“And I guess I should be grateful, right?”
“Some gratitude would be nice. Saving your ass won't be easy.”
“But.”
He licked his bottom lip with a heated gaze. “I was never going to leave you behind, O. Didn't matter if you were two people or ten. You are mine.”
She grinned, knowing that without a doubt, this man could carry her to the pits of hell and she would follow. Was it love? Olivia didn't think she could love anyone, but this whole owning her feelings thing could be a game changer. She was in definite lust though. “I should get my things then.”
He stood offering her his hand. “No need. You won't be needing them anyway.”
The End, For Now.