Page 32 of Squatch Out!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

SEAN

I t’s been three weeks and four days since my last text from Olivia.

It simply said: I don’t think this long-distance thing is going to work for me. The last voice message she left me was a week before that. She sounded so sad, but she didn’t beg me to call her back.

Shouldn’t I be happy about that? I’ve been ignoring her since I let her go at the airport. So, I have no reason to be angry when I finally pushed her away. Except that I’m as far from happy as a person can get. I feel sick, actually.

I’ve tried to justify the way I ghosted her by calling it a clean break between us. So why does this still hurt like hell?

I tell myself there is no way it would have worked out. We are too far apart, and it’s selfish of me to ask her to uproot her whole life. Which is a helluva assumption to put on someone I won’t let argue her case.

I ache to go to her, but I’m afraid to. I’ve never lived anywhere else. The West Coast, these forests and mountains are all I know. I hate having to go into the city, and the area where Olivia lives is no different.

But you’d do it for her.

I’ve stalked the airlines and packed my shit to go to her so many times, but something always stops me.

Usually that nagging little voice in the back of my head that warns me that it won’t work out between us anyway.

So, then I go back to telling myself we’re both better off just letting whatever might have been be just that.

My phone has been silent all day. My brother hasn’t even bothered to reach out to me, since he’s been busy with Jenny.

Yeah, well, no wonder. You’ve been an asshole since she left.

I’m in my truck, heading from the ridge along the narrow road that leads back to my empty, lonely house, and I can’t seem to stop rubbing my hand up and down my sternum.

The ache started shortly after Olivia left, so I’m pretty sure it’s not the warning sign for a heart attack, but still…

I should probably get it checked out by a doctor, just in case.

Except, all I want to do when I’m not working is climb into my bed and wrap myself in the sheets that still slightly smell like her.

Because I haven’t washed them.

Because I’m a sick sonofabitch.

When I turn the last corner to my house, the sight of an unfamiliar van parked in front of my place pulls my thoughts away from Olivia. The logo on the side is for a popular satellite internet company, and there is a man on my roof installing a dish.

All my pent-up frustration boils up into a rage, and I throw my truck door open before I forget to put the damn thing in park.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I shout up at the installer.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” He shouts back without bothering to look up.

“I didn’t authorize this!” I shout back.

“Yeah, I know. That’s why she’s paying us extra.”

I stagger back like someone hit me in the chest. “ Who is paying you extra?”

Before he has a chance to answer, or maybe he wasn’t going to bother responding at all, the sound of tires on the rough road leading up to my house tickles my ears.

Now who is coming?

Beyond irritated that my plan to wrap myself in what’s left of Olivia’s scent so I can jack off to her memory is being thwarted, I wait impatiently for whoever is coming up my driveway to appear.

The longer it takes, the more irritated I get, until I’m practically seething when a small, sky-blue SUV finally comes into view.

It’s not a car I’m familiar with and, unlike the van, there are no company logos on it. I’m certainly not expecting anyone. It’s been weeks since Owen stopped trying to talk sense into me. And the other rangers are keeping their distance from my sour attitude too.

I watch with narrowed eyes and arms tightly folded across my chest as the car pulls up beside the van. The windows are tinted just enough that I can’t see who is inside, but my heart is pounding in my chest at the possibility… that just maybe…

Stop it. Why would she come back after the way you cut her off? The car turns off.

I don’t think this long-distance thing is going to work for me. Her last message replays in my mind.

An eternity passes.

The door slowly opens.

I’m certain I’m hallucinating when a familiar blond head rises up.

She turns slowly. Her warm brown eyes meet mine, and my knees almost buckle under their weight.

She looks exactly how I remember her, down to wearing one of her silly t-shirts, this one announcing she likes coffee and maybe three people.

Without a word, she turns away from me, toward the house, and her whole face changes with her smile as she waves at the technician finishing up on my roof. “Is he giving you any trouble?” she shouts up at him.

“Naw. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Hot jealousy ignites in my belly that he gets her smile, and I struggle to refrain from launching myself across the driveway and pulling him down from the roof so I can throw him into his van and roll him back down the mountain.

Knowing Olivia wouldn’t approve is the only thing that saves him. When she turns back to me, her expression is tight with nervousness.

“Hi,” she finally says.

After weeks of not hearing her voice, that soft breathy sound is enough to send me rocking back on my heels. I have to catch myself on the side of the truck before I fall to my knees.

Maybe that’s where I belong—kneeling before her in worship.

Somehow, I stay upright. “What are you doing here?” My voice comes out rough, like I’ve been gargling gravel for the last two months.

“I, uh, told you.” Her lips tip up at the corners, and she tucks a chunk of her golden hair behind her ear. It’s longer than when I last saw her. “I can’t do this long-distance thing.”

I’m expecting her to dress me down for the way I’ve acted. I deserve it and more, but instead she… Wait . Does she mean it? Has she really come back to me? I can’t even dare to hope.

“Miss? I’m all finished,” the technician interrupts as he climbs down the ladder. “I just need to get inside to install the modem, and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Olivia gives me a saucy smile over her shoulder as she shuts her car door. “Do you still leave your door unlocked, or do I need to borrow your keys?”

“It’s unlocked.” I mutter, falling in line behind her as she leads the technician onto my porch. “What are you doing here, Olivia?”

“I told you,” she tosses over her shoulder as she reaches for the doorknob to let the technician into my house.

Before she’s able to, I reach past her and brush her hand away, opening the door for her.

Like a fucking gentleman. I push it wide enough for her to go through then step behind her, forcing the technician behind me and farther away from my woman.

When we’re all gathered in the middle of my living room, Olivia steps around me and holds her hand out to the man. “Thanks so much for doing this for me. What’s your name?”

“Troy.” He reaches for her hand, but just before he touches her, I let out a deep growl. His head snaps to me, and he drops his hand and steps back. Smart guy. Olivia rolls her eyes.

“Where do you need to install that?” she asks him.

I hang back, grinding my teeth to nubs as he walks her through all the features of her new satellite internet.

That she had installed without my permission.

When he finishes, he gives her his card and instructions on how to contact him if she has any questions.

Olivia follows him out onto the porch and waves after him as he heads back down the mountain.

When he’s out of sight, she slowly turns to face me.

“So…” she begins, leaning her hip up against the porch railing. “How have you been? You look… tired.”

I’m certain there is a vein throbbing in my temple. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me? You tell me goodbye, and then three weeks later just show up like it’s nothing?”

“ I didn’t tell you good-bye,” she snaps back. “I told you I couldn’t do the long-distance thing. Then I was busy packing up my life and driving across the country.” She takes a deep breath and points one of her fingers at me. “And how does that feel, huh? It sucks to be ghosted, doesn’t it?!”

Yeah. It really fucking does.

“You can’t just install internet at someone’s house without permission,” I slap back.

“And how was I supposed to get that permission when you wouldn’t fucking talk to me?! ”

Jesus fucking Christ, her cheeks are rosy and her brown eyes bright as she argues with me. She’s hot when she’s riled up like this, and it takes all I have not to adjust my cock that’s twitching in my pants. Or reach out and grab her, so I can pull her against my chest and bury my nose in her hair.

This is the part where you should apologize.

Except, I haven’t been listening to that little voice of reason so far, so why start now? Instead, I storm back into the house in a huff, with Olivia right on my heels.

“You don’t get to walk away from me this time,” she shouts at my back. “I want to know what happened at the airport. One minute, you were kissing me like you didn’t want to let me go, and then I don’t hear a word from you for months. And tell me the truth—you owe me that, at the very least.”

I stop and spin around without warning her, so she almost walks right into me. My hands come up, but I clench them into fists so I don’t grab her. Because, if I touch her, I’m never going to let her go.

Olivia crosses her arms in front of her. “Why, Sean? What did I do to make you act like this?”

“Nothing!” I ground out. “It’s me, okay? Not you.”

She rolls her eyes and huffs like a fucking pre-teen. “Don’t. You don’t get to use that excuse.”

I open my mouth when suddenly my sat phone, which I left beside my chair, starts to ring. We both lunge for it, but Olivia is faster.

“Hey, Owen!” she answers in a voice that sounds much more cheerful than she looks.

There is a long silence on the other end before I hear, “Olivia?”

“Yup, surprise!”

“I’m so glad you’re here.” Even across the room and through the phone I can hear the relief in my brother’s voice. Then he asks cautiously, “Does he know?”

She looks up and meets my eyes. “He does.”

“And?”

She lets out a long sigh.

I hear the jingle as he grabs his keys. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right there. We need to talk.”