Updated 05/16/2019
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Chapter 4
She was staring. Totally staring.
Who was this guy? His dark eyes studied her, shifting ever so slightly over her face. He blinked slowly, swallowing hard. She noticed. Olive thought he was beautiful, an absolute Adonis. He cleared his throat and a moment passed, bringing Ollie's attention back to his outstretched hand. She raised her hand to follow his lead, her fingers grazing his.
Ollie was surprised by the sudden warmth spreading from her fingertips and it quickly made its way to her cheeks. Was she blushing? No way. Her head was fuzzy, but she couldn't figure out why he would have such an effect on her. Olive blinked. Shifting her gaze from her hand back to the man, she tried to find the confidence to not look away. He was just a guy, after all. An absolutely striking guy. Tugging on her arm, she stood swiftly with his help, his other hand grazing against her back as he steadied her.
In the corner, the boys looked to Dwayne, his demeanor different than they had ever seen. He wasn't the dark, brooding brother they had grown with, and the three of them shared a look of disbelief. He looked full of life, which was extremely out of character, smiling softly as he helped Olive stand. Dwayne didn't smile. Paul raised a brow.
Gross.
Around the corner they watched as Max entered the room, a curious and knowing grin on his face.
"I see you've met my boys." Max remarked innocently, wiping his glasses on his shirt. His boys? Marko and Paul shared a look.
"Yeah, you could say that she had a little run in with Dwayne." Paul snickered, causing the other boys to chuckle.
Ollie snapped out of her daze. Dwayne. This stranger's name was Dwayne. He caught her stare, his dark eyes bouncing with light. A blush crept up to her cheeks as she noticed he was still holding her from when he helped her up, and how she realized he wasn't making an attempt to move.
"Yeah, you could say that." she piped up, straightening her back and tearing her gaze from Dwayne and back to Max and her dad. What were they staring at? Trying to diffuse the stares of the men around her, she asked the only question she could think of. "Did you mention something about dinner?"
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They shuffled from the living room to the dining room, and the china on the table was in pristine condition. She raised a brow; it was pretty fancy silverware for burgers. It had the feel of a model home, everything meticulously placed, and Ollie found herself frowning at how out of the ordinary everyone looked. The four men were sitting uncomfortably; they didn't belong here. They didn't look like they belonged here. They were far from pristine, no offence, compared to the rest of the house. Her Dad had a chip on his shoulder that she couldn't figure out, and his hand was on the back of Olive's chair. Max was extremely chipper on the other hand, happy as a clam to set the table.
It must have been well past midnight, and yet everyone was surprisingly awake. She should have been exhausted! Ollie sat in the middle of the table thinking about how long she must have been up, and her dad sat to the right side her. Marko plopped down on her left, and she raised her head with a small smile. Max sat on Marko's right, at the head of the table.
He was the patriarch. Shuddering at the thought she shook it off and looked up.
Where did that come from?
Dwayne sat across from her, and every so often she could feel his gaze lingering a moment too long. Their eyes met, and she offered a small smile, averting her gaze to Paul who had been telling a story about the worst storm he had ever been through. He made it sound like the storm that night was baby stuff. She listened on as the other guys rolled their eyes, snickering at Paul's story. He must have been exaggerating. There was no way that he would have fought the Kraken in a hand to hand battle. And won. Even Ollie rolled her eyes, looking back to Dwayne.
She couldn't figure out why, but she found herself gravitating back to him. He was silent, any expression hidden in his gaze. He wasn't fazed by Paul's outrageous story, but the corners of his mouth twitched in delight as the others called him out on his bullshit. For a second time that evening Ollie had found herself staring, a long forgotten feeling of excitement coursing through her. She had to cool it; this wasn't her first rodeo, and she wasn't about to embarrass herself in a room bustling with testosterone.
"Hey there, guest of honor. Why so quiet over there?" David questioned Olive, picking at his plate with disinterest. She glanced over to David, the smile on her face falling slightly. Guest of honor? What a weird choice of words. David made her uneasy, his icy glare shifting from her to Max, a subtle smirk across his features. Paul quieted, ending his story. Silence fell over the table, and they were waiting. Waiting for her to answer.
Well, she didn't think she'd have the be the one entertaining the group.
Olive didn't say it out loud, but clicked her tongue to hold back. She didn't want to come across as condescending.
"Well, I don't have any fun pirate stories like your friend here." She joked after a moment. "Besides barnacles and a handful of jellies, I wouldn't call our trip treacherous." Ollie mused. Content with her own answer, she took the opportunity to invest a lot of energy into eating her cheeseburger.
"It's no story, it really happened. Honest." Paul chimed, putting a hand over his heart, blinking innocently. Marko rolled his eyes, wadding up his napkin and hitting Paul in the face. Paul's disbelieving look was enough to have Ollie covering her mouth to stifle her own laugh.
"How was the ride over?" Max cleared his throat, quickly gaining the attention of the table. "You must have had plenty of exciting stories for such a long trip." He directed at Mark, a hint of prodding in his voice.
"Oh, nothing that Olive hasn't heard before." He started in defense with the wave of his hand, but Ollie shook her head next to him.
"Dad did mention that you were a movie collector." She answered lightly, and Max realigned his glasses with a twinge of a smile.
"That I am. Proud to admit it." He boasted, puffing out his chest slightly. The boys looked on, not knowing where Max was going with his questions.
"Tell me, Ollie, " He started again in between bites of cheeseburger. "What has your dad told you about me?"
"Oh, no need to quiz her-" Mark started, but was cut off by the glare the platinum blonde sent his way.
"Nonsense! It's no test." Max reassured, smiling back at Olive. It seemed innocent enough, and Max seemed like a pretty alright guy. Why was her dad so nervous? She wiped her hands on her pants, shrugging her shoulders. Glancing up to Dwayne, her gaze lingered a moment before blinking, directing her attention back to Max.
"Oh, he's mentioned you a number of times." She answered honestly. "That you guys go way back to days of managing videotape stores." She smiled lightly. Oh god, she couldn't remember the last time she had to rewind a VHS tape. Drinking the last of her water, she looked to her dad, who gave her a reassuring smile.
Max looked to the boys thoughtfully as they listened before noticing Olive's empty glass. Tutting, he sat up.
"Boys, why don't you go get drinks?" Max asked politely, and David snickered. "We're not proving great hosts." David turning around, the liquor cabinet stationed behind him.
"How about it? Care for a drink, Ollie?" He taunted lightly. Was he always like that? It felt like a test. Twiddling her thumbs absently, she looked around the table. Were they all going to drink?
"Now, there's no need for that. It's getting pretty late and-"
"It's a party, Mark. Reason to celebrate." Max cheered. "Dwayne?" Max asked, looking across the table. Dwayne's gaze locked on to Olive, and without missing a beat he grinned.
"Scotch."
There was a round of approved hollers from the rest of the guys at the table, and Ollie raised a curious brow. A party? David pulled out a number of spirits from the liquor cabinet, inspecting the bottles. Pulling the top with a pop, he passed the whole bottle along. She saw brandy, whiskey, vodka, and David stopped on a bottle of red wine, reading over the label.
"Cabernet?" He asked, pointing the bottle in Olive's direction.
She couldn't ignore his daring smirk, and the table grew quiet.
What she didn't notice were the looks shared between the rest of the table. They were all watching, waiting. But what were they waiting for?
"Scotch." She mimicked Dwayne's response, and David's eyes narrowed, the smirk never leaving his face.
Did she even like scotch? Why did she say that? Looking back to the brunette, Olive couldn't tell what he was thinking. Dwayne reached over quietly, pouring the amber confidence booster into her cup before filling up his own. She nodded in appreciation, taking her glass back.
Drinks were passed around and the tension died down as quickly as it came. Mark and Max has become engrossed in a conversation about settling in Santa Carla, and she glanced over to the other guys, who were quietly joking and drinking. Dissociating, Ollie swirled her glass before taking a generous sip.
Gross. Why did she choose scotch? Biting her tongue in distaste, her eyes flew around the table. She hoped no one noticed how silly she must have looked.
Paul looked on from the corner of his eye with amusement. At least she was trying. Poor thing. Clearing his throat, he piped up.
"I think I'm feeling a bit fancy tonight. A bit sophisticated. I'll have the wine."
Paul bellowed with joy and grabbed for the bottle, but in his efforts of fiddling with the cork the bottle had tipped. Clumsy. The wine had spilled across the table, ultimately finding its way to Olive's plate. The rest of her dinner was covered in cabernet a-jous.
"So much for sophisticated." Marko joked, whispering to Olive. She chuckled quietly, looking over to Paul.
"Shit! I'm sorry doll face." He apologized quickly, grabbing for a napkin. She wasn't worried about it, waving her hand to dismiss him with a grin.
"Don't sweat it."
Looking down at her plate, she could smell the bitter, metallic wine...Maybe she had lost her appetite. Pushing the plate away, she went back to swirling her glass. She looked up to see Dwayne glaring daggers at Paul, and Paul was acting if nothing was out of the ordinary. What was their problem?
A sudden beep from Olive's pocket had her startled, and she found an excuse to look away without asking why the guys were acting so strange. With the bright screen glaring back at her, she unlocked her phone.
1 NEW MESSAGE
MATT
Did you make it to Santa Carla? I'm ready for you to come home!
Oh, Matty. What was he doing up so late? Ollie grinned, setting her phone to the side. She could respond in the morning.
"Sorry about your burger." Paul brought up again, and her attention was brought back to the table and away from her phone. He was hiding a guilty smile.
"Hey, no worries. I think I was finished." She shook her head. It was no big deal. She took another sip from her glass, reminding herself that scotch was in fact, gross.
"Are you sure? It looks fine to me." David asked, his icy eyes boring into her. She felt foggy all of a sudden, not sure of what to say. Was she hungry? She couldn't remember. Taking another glance down at her plate, her burger didn't look that bad after all. Maybe she was hungry enough for one more bite -
"It's getting late." Her dad interrupted, snapping Olive back to her senses. David's glare was sharp on Mark. "How about we head off to bed. We can head back out to the boat."
"Nonsense! We have plenty of room, Mark." Max countered. "Besides, we will have all the time in the world to catch up. We don't want to scare you off." He joked with a toothy grin.
"It is getting late." David agreed. "Are you tired, Olive?" He looked her in the eye. What was it with the twenty questions?
"Feel free to make use of the spare room. It's just up the stairs, next to the bathroom you used earlier." Max added.
Olive blinked slowly, looking across the table. Was she sleepy? The others were wide awake. She didn't have a lot of time to process her thoughts, and soon her eyes began to droop. The weight of the day was suddenly heavy on her shoulders. How was she able to stay up for so long?
Dwayne watched intently, noticing her quiet yawn.
"In that case, I'll go crash?" she half asked. She was extremely drowsy. When no one responded, she took a moment to stand. Grabbing to the back of the chair for support, Ollie stumbled slightly.
"Goodnight you guys." She whispered, patting her dad on the back. The others waved or nodded, and Dwayne almost made a move over to her. She was barely standing on her own. Slipping away to the bedroom, she tried to shake the heavy feeling of sleep off to no avail. Her body was drained. It was as if her energy had been stolen from her.
"Careful, Ollie." She scolded herself quietly, bumping against the wall.
The room was cold and dark, moonlight shining through the windows, and she changed unceremoniously into warmer clothes. It was freezing. She slipped under the covers, the bed was calling her name softly. Oh goodness, she could use some rest. Ollie could have sworn she heard a commotion from downstairs, but was quickly lulled into a deep, silent sleep.
Someone was beside her. She knew the subtle dip in the bed, the rustle of the comforter, the warm breath on her neck. The smell of the woods, the rain, a subtle musk encapsulated her space. She hummed lightly with content. A hand brushed away a hair from her cheek, causing her to stir slightly. A low grumble could be heard if she strained hard enough.
"Be still. You're finally here."
She thought about opening her eyes, but decided against it. It must have been a dream. It was only a dream.
A moment of peaceful silence passed, lulling her back into the darkness.
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If you are reading this, thank you for taking a look at chapter 4! I've gone back and forth (more times than I'd like to admit) thinking of changing the plot, side characters, and the ending. It's been a long time since I've felt the drive to continue, but I've made some great progress over the last month or so. Every chapter has been rewritten thus far, so if you are a long time reader I invite you to take a look and the plot changes. Thank you! - Crimsonsky132