Page 97 of The No Try Zone
His expression goes from thunderous to murderous to disbelief and anger, again and again, interjecting my story with “Hewhat,” and “the fuck?” and “he deserved it,” and “lucky quarter?” but ending with, “So that’s where your necklace went.”
I reach for the empty space at my neck, sighing. “Yeah. I can’t believe it’s lost.”
“Fucker probably has it,” he mutters.
“Olls,” I chide softly. “You probably shouldn’t talk like that about your coach.”
He scoffs. “Yeah? Well, my coach shouldn’t have married and ditched my sister, but here we are.” He stands and paces, then stops. “And don’t think I’m not perfectly aware that you two have definitely done more than a simple kiss on the Las Vegas Strip. I should expose the asshole.”
I glance up, horrified. “Ollie!”
“He deserves it,” Ollie says. “What he did – the way he’s acted – he deserves whatever is coming to him.”
Tears spring to my eyes and I swipe them away, but not so fast that Ollie misses it.
“See? Right there. He’s making you cry!”
I let out a watery laugh. “Never took you for the type, Olls,” I admit.
He comes to me and kneels down. “Sam. You may be my big sis, but you’re still my sister. He needs to pay for this.”
I sniff. It’s not Ollie’s gesture that’s got me so worked up, but there’s no need to tell him that. “I’ll be fine,” I say, ruffling his hair in the exact way he hates.
He scowls and stands, pulling me up and into another bone-crushing hug. “Want me to quit?”
I gasp against his chest, rearing back in horror as he releases me. “Ollie! No way. Absolutely not. I’m going to handle things. It’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.”
I’m such a liar.
He stares at me as though I said that last part out loud. But after a moment, he nods. “Okay. But he so much as looks at you wrong and I’m going to throttle him.”
I swallow hard. “I’m really sorry,” I whisper.
“Why do you keep apologizing?”
“Because I kept this from you. I was going to tell you, but hell, Ollie, you’d already fallen half in love with him yourself.”
His eyes sharpen on me. “Are you in love with him?”
My stomach sinks, and his face softens.
“Oh, hell, Sam. You are, aren’t you?”
I wring my hands. “Maybe?”
He doesn’t say anything. Just stares at me.
I wave it away. “Whether I am or not doesn’t matter. Because the whole reason I kept it quiet was for you, Ollie. I was afraid of –”
“Afraid?” he interrupts. “You’re never afraid.”
I laugh. “Ollie, we’re living in a foreign country with shit for insurance and no real plan past this season. Of course I’m afraid! But mainly I was worried about you. For you. What would you think if you knew I’d gone and gotten married to a complete stranger in Las Vegas, of all places? Who does that?”
“Apparently you do.” He quirks a smile at me.
I narrow my eyes. “You’re taking this awfully well.” Because it’s not just me who’s been betrayed by Colin. Ollie has, too.
He shrugs. “I’m still processing. Talk to me tomorrow and we’ll see how I feel.”
