Free Olivia's Ride (Sawyer Brothers Book 4) by C.A. Harms

Lacy?”
    I could clearly hear the deep breath he expelled before he responded. “She offered to walk Duke; that’s all it is, Liv.”
    His attitude was grating on my nerves. I honestly had no idea where the hell it was coming from, but the uncontrollable Sawyer rage lit up inside me.
    “Ya know what? I don’t know why you’re being an ass, but I can assure you I don’t appreciate your attitude toward me. So do me a favor—don’t call me tomorrow unless the stick you have up your ass has found a new place to rest.” I didn’t give him a chance to speak before I hung up, then decided I didn’t want him calling later when he realized he was being a prick. So I shut the phone off too.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Fourteen
     
     
    Keeton
     
    I sat on the couch, pinching the bridge of my nose as I hunched forward. The bag of frozen peas Lacy insisted I hold on my jaw now lay at my side, thawing quickly.
    “That didn’t sound like it ended well.”
    I looked to find Lacy just to the side of the door hooking the leash on Duke’s collar. She looked at me with her eyebrow cocked in question.
    “You do know once she sees your face, she’s gonna have questions?”
    Yeah, I did know. But sharing the fact that my father was waiting next to my truck, looking for money, when I got off work tonight wasn’t something I planned on sharing. Or that when I told him to fuck off it turned into a brawl my boss had to break up wasn’t something I planned to share either.
    Olivia came from a tight-knit family. They all shared everything and always had one another’s back. I didn’t know how to explain to her that my father beat on me, for the sheer joy of it, throughout my childhood. I didn’t know how to tell her that at times while growing up, I went hungry just so my dad could buy his bourbon.
    I would have to come up with another explanation for the way my faced looked.
    “Lock the door when you bring Duke back,” I said as I stood from the couch and moved toward my bedroom. “I’m heading to bed.”
    I could have walked Duke myself; hell, maybe it would have helped to clear my head. Instead I decided to go to bed and mentally punish myself for pissing off Olivia. She had every right to be angry at me.
    I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, unable to shut my mind off.
     
    “Twenty bucks,” my father said angrily. “You can give your ole’ man twenty god-damn bucks. You’re all high and mighty thinking you’re so much better than me, Keeton, but you ain’t shit. One day you’ll figure that out. Pearce men are drunks; get used to that idea.”
     
    Dumb bastard could have been something different, more like his father, my grandfather. But Kurt Pearce chose to live the same life as his uncles and brothers. And I, unlike my brother, chose to be more.
    I wouldn’t let him drag me down.
    The sound of the front door shutting caught my attention, just before the sound of Duke’s feet began tapping along the wood flooring of the hallway.
    I braced myself for his invasion, because he always took over the bottom of the bed. Even when Olivia was tucked in close, her back to my chest, Duke always found room to snuggle too.
    Suddenly my chest ached as my mind wandered to Liv.
    I tried calling her back, after she hung up on me only to find she turned off her phone. So I had no other choice but to lie awake tonight, unable to sleep.
    Reaching for my laptop that lay on the nightstand, I opened it and logged into Facebook.
    Seeing the little green indicator lit up next to Olivia’s name made my heart race. It meant she was online, and maybe I could attempt to fix things before they got worse.
     
    Keeton: I removed that stick that was up my ass.
     
    I hit send and waited for a few seconds, hoping like hell she would send something back. Anything, really. I was trying to bring some humor to a tense situation.
    When nothing happened I panicked just a bit and pulled one of her rambles.
     
    Keeton: You were right;