Everything for You by Chloe Liese

Author:Chloe Liese
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chloe Liese

17

OLIVER

Playlist: “Slide to the Side,” Beaty Heart

Pretty much the only thing potent enough to relieve me of the erection of my lifetime is the sight of my little sister in tears. “Ziggy,” I whisper, swaying her tight. “I’m sorry. I left my phone…” I glance out in the yard where my water bottle and phone lay abandoned near the pile of weeds I was pulling before Mitchell ambushed me. “I left it outside. I didn’t mean to ignore you.”

“It’s okay,” she whispers, dabbing her nose with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess. I’m just so angry, and I needed to talk to you because you always make it make sense. I figured maybe you’d fallen asleep on the couch or you’d left your phone in the car, so I drove over and tried to use my key, but it didn’t work, and I got even more upset, then—”

“Hey. It’s okay.” I hold her tight, how she likes, and keep swaying her. Ziggy’s on the autism spectrum, and since she was diagnosed back when we were teens, I’ve learned how to give her comfort when she’s upset like this. Hard pressure, rhythmic swaying, making a safe space for her to tell me whatever she needs to or, conversely, to let silence be enough when she can’t seem to form words.

“You’re always welcome here,” I tell her. “I always want you to be comfortable showing up when you need to. I feel like a jerk for not having my phone and for not giving you a new key. Come on inside.” I pull my keys from my pocket and open up the house for her, before jogging out across the lawn to grab my phone and water bottle.

As I run back, I glance toward Gavin’s kitchen window, regret and guilt knotting inside me. His house is completely dark now. I can only imagine how it looked to him, seeing me practically jump out of his arms when I noticed a woman outside my house and ran straight toward her. I have a feeling he’s locked that door and shut me out. In more ways than one.

Worst part is, I know it’s for the best. I know Gavin only wanted me for one night, and I know I shouldn’t want him for a thousand more. But I do. I want him. And with every sliver of him that I see, of the person I’m starting to realize is the real Gavin, I only want more.

Acting on that wanting, encouraging it, even this little bit, is asking for trouble. If I indulged it and fell for him, then what? Pine for him for as long as he stays with the team? Watch him walk off into the sunset and retire somewhere warm and lovely to live in a big grayscale house with no one to fill it with color, or worse, with someone who agrees that black, charcoal, and heather gray are the be-all, end-all of interior design?

I’d be crushed.

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