Page 48 of Enigma (Pros and Cons Mysteries #6)

T evin had met Olive and Jason in the parking lot. They’d left the restaurant amidst the stares of other patrons, who no doubt had heard the struggle in the bathroom and wondered what was going on.

Attention was the last thing Olive wanted, so they tried to keep a low profile as they left. Jason had his arm around Olive as he helped support her weight.

“Olive . . .” Concern filled Tevin’s voice as he observed her.

“I promise to explain later,” Olive murmured. “Right now, we need to get out of here.”

Tevin followed them back to the motel.

Their room felt like a sanctuary after the chaos of the diner.

She wanted to hear what Tevin had to say, but Jason insisted he bandage her first. Maybe it would be better if she could concentrate fully on what Tevin had learned.

But impatience brewed inside her.

Olive sat on the edge of one of the beds while Jason gathered supplies from the small first aid kit they’d picked up at a gas station on the way back.

Her injuries weren’t as bad as they could have been.

She had a deep cut on her neck, bruises had formed along her ribs, and a knot rose on the back of her head where she’d hit the bathroom wall.

“This is going to sting,” Jason warned, dabbing antiseptic on the cut along her collarbone.

Olive winced but didn’t pull away.

She watched Jason’s face as he worked, noting the careful concentration in his expression, the gentle way his fingers avoided the tender areas around her injuries.

From her position on the bed, she saw Tevin sitting in the chair by the window, pretending to look at his phone and give them space. She knew he was actually watching Jason tend to her wounds.

Something in Tevin’s expression made her chest tighten.

It wasn’t easy for him to be here. It wasn’t easy for him to see her with Jason.

Guilt over the situation—and gratitude that he’d come to help—washed through her.

She’d never wanted to be in this position.

“You’re lucky this cut isn’t deeper.” Jason applied a bandage between her neck and shoulder. “A few more inches, and she could have hit an artery.”

“Elena’s good at what she does. She was trying to send a message.”

Jason’s jaw tightened as he moved to examine the bump on her head, his fingers probing gently through her hair. “Well, message received. We might need to call in backup.”

“Who?” Olive asked, though she suspected she knew the answer.

“The rest of the team. Trick, Mitzi, Nova.” Jason stepped back, seemingly satisfied that her head injury wasn’t serious. “We’re outnumbered, and these people are escalating.”

Olive hesitated.

Bringing in her team meant putting more people at risk. But it also meant having the resources and manpower they needed to find Lloyd and get answers about her mother.

“Okay,” she said finally. “Make the call.”

Jason stepped into the hallway to make the phone call.

When he was gone, the room fell quiet except for the hum of the air conditioning and the distant sound of highway traffic.

“Thank you.” Olive looked at Tevin. “For coming all this way. For being here.”

Tevin set down his phone and met her eyes. “You don’t have to thank me for caring about you.”

“Still, I know this is . . . complicated.”

“Olive.” Tevin’s voice was gentle. “I can see how much Jason cares about you. The way he looks at you, the way he takes care of you.” He paused. “And I can see you care about him too.”

Olive opened her mouth to explain, to somehow articulate the tangle of emotions and history between her and Jason, but Tevin held up a hand.

“You don’t have to say anything,” he said. “I should never have put you in this position back at Grayfall. What I said about being in love with you—I think it was more of a crush that I let myself believe was something deeper.”

“Tev—”

“I value our friendship too much to let my feelings complicate it,” he continued, not breaking his gaze. “You mean too much to me as a teammate and a friend to risk losing that.”

Tears pricked Olive’s eyes—relief and gratitude and a deep affection for this man who understood her so well. “Our friendship has meant everything to me. You know that, right?”

Tevin smiled, almost sadly. “I know. And I hope it always will.”

“I wish we could just order some Chinese food and sit in front of the TV like we used to,” Olive said. “Watch terrible movies and argue about whether the plot makes any sense.”

“We will again,” Tevin assured her. “When this is all over, we’ll go back to being the dynamic duo of terrible movie commentary. Some things don’t have to change.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” A soft smile feathered across his lips. “We’ll always be friends, Olive. That’s not going anywhere.”

The sincerity of his words brought an immense relief through her.

The door opened, and Jason stepped back inside, his expression grim. “The gang will take the next flight out. They’ll be here tonight.”

“Great.”

He looked between Olive and Tevin, sensing the shift in the room’s atmosphere. “Everything okay?”

Olive hadn’t told him about Tevin’s declaration of love. She’d thought about it, but the admission would only complicate things. She didn’t want Jason to have any hard feelings toward Tevin.

Now, she was glad she’d kept it quiet. This just needed to be between her and Tevin.

“Everything’s fine.” Tevin stood. “Now, I believe I came here to share some information that couldn’t wait.”

Olive adjusted her position on the bed, wincing as her bruised ribs protested. “What did you find, Tev?”

Tevin pulled out his laptop, his expression growing serious again. “Something that changes everything we thought we knew about this case.”