“I know, man. I’m sorry. I thought I had her eating out of the palm of my hand. I really did. I don’t know how this happened.”

“FUCK!” Donovan shouted at Simon, punching the wall of his office. He took several deep breaths.

“I have an idea that might fix this,” Simon said quietly, hoping to calm down the intimidating man pacing in front of him.

“I think I’ve listened to enough of your shitty ideas,” Donovan growled.

“Just hear me out. I’ve been thinking about this one lately, and I really think it might work. The problem is she’s never run into my arms when she’s been scared.”

Donovan was hesitant to trust Simon’s idea, but what did he have to lose? The more he thought about it, the better the idea sounded. Of course, running into Simon’s arms would be just one part of the plan. A sly smile crossed his face as he formulated the end-game in his head. Finally, Donovan thought.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

COME BACK TO ME

“FEEL BETTER NOW?” CAM asked Olivia the following morning, handing her a cup of coffee and some water. He hated to admit it, but he had never been as happy as he was the night before, holding Olivia in his arms all night long. She woke up several times, screaming. It concerned him that she was still having those dreams. He wasn’t sure that she had truly made any substantial progress over the past several months. He had a feeling she wasn’t being entirely truthful with her therapist. He vowed to get to the bottom of everything so he could help her get back to where she needed to be, even if that place was in another man’s arms.

“Much better. Thank you.” Olivia took a sip of her coffee, savoring the warm liquid as it traveled through her body.

“So…what’s going on, Libby?”

She eyed Cam suspiciously. “I wanted you to come here as a friend. Not as a therapist, okay?”

“I understand, and I’m here as a friend who just happens to be a therapist, so I may have a little more insight than, say, Kiera.”

Olivia sighed. “I’m not ready to talk about it quite yet, Cam. It hurts too much right now.” She looked away, trying to hide the tears that had re-formed in her eyes at the thought of the months of lies that she had endured because of Alexander.

He reached across the kitchen table and grabbed her hand. “You need to talk about it eventually. You know that, right?” he asked quietly.

She turned her head back toward him, meeting his eyes…his kind silver eyes that never lied to her. “I know.”

Throughout the rest of the day, Cam tried to get Olivia to talk about what was going on. And all day, she refused, the pain of Alexander’s lies and secrets all too fresh in her memory.

The more she thought about how much he kept from her, the more it hurt. Every time she thought about what Adele had said to her and the look on Alexander’s face, she broke down. Who else was keeping secrets from her? She had no idea who she was. Alexander was the green-eyed boy in her dreams. He had known for so long, but he never said anything.

“I’m glad you’re here, Cam,” she said later that afternoon.

He smiled at her, putting his arm around her as they lounged on the couch, watching some vampire show that she seemed to like. “I’m glad I’m here, too. But, at some point, we need to talk.”

She stared ahead, her expression blank. “I think there’s something I need to do tomorrow night,” she said flatly.

“What’s that?” He turned his head to look at her. She seemed like an entirely different person than she was that day at the bar just a few weeks ago.

“I need to go to Open Mic. I think Alexander will be there and maybe I’ll be able to move on and begin to talk about this if I go. It always seems to help…singing, that is.” She turned her head, meeting Cam’s eyes, tears trickling down her cheeks.

“If that’s what you think you need so that you can begin to heal, then let's do that.”

~~~~~~~~~~

WHEN OLIVIA EMERGED FROM her house Thursday evening, she was surprised to see her Audi sitting out front. She had left it over at Alexander’s when she ran out on him and never asked for him to return it, but she was glad he did.

She walked down her front steps toward her car and scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, wondering how she would get in without her keys.

“What’s wrong?” Cam asked, noticing her hesitation.

“Nothing. It’s just…I ran out on Alexander and all my stuff is still over there, including the keys to my car.” Olivia glanced down at the driver’s side door and noticed that there was a numbered keypad by the lock that hadn’t been there before. Alexander had a keyless entry installed on it. “Smug bastard,” she said under her breath before punching the code that he must have used…the date of her supposed death. The door unlocked. She found the key fob in the center console and the car started immediately.

“Come on! Get in!” Olivia yelled to Cam as he stood on the sidewalk, staring at the car suspiciously.

“Are you sure he didn't plant a bomb or anything?” he joked.

“Take a risk, okay?” she responded dryly. Cam got in the car and Olivia pulled into Boston traffic, ignoring the dark SUV that was following them from her house all the way to Davis Square.

~~~~~~~~~~

“LIBBY!” KIERA SHOUTED AFTER Olivia wrote her name down on the sign-up sheet for Open Mic. “What the fuck is going on? Alexander has been blowing up my phone these past few days. Mo’s, too!” She spotted Cam at Olivia’s side, her expression turning severe. “What the fuck is he doing here?” she sneered. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Cam said, a grin on his face before facing the olive-toned man standing at Kiera’s side. “I’m Cam.” He held out his hand in greeting.

“Mo, or Jack. Take your pick. Nice to finally put a face to the name.”

“Likewise.”

Mo returned his attention to Olivia, a look of concern crossing his face. “What’s going on?”

Olivia took a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about it just yet. I don’t think I can. So please, be the friends I know that you are and give me time to process everything I’ve learned the past few days.”

Mo eyed her suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re okay? I know he’s bigger than I am but, so help me, if Alexander hurt you, I’ll do my best to kick his ass.”

She smiled for probably the first time in days. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I would never ask you to do that.”