His Dangerous Love On Ice (Olivia and Zane) novel Chapter 192

Olive’s POV

I had been avoiding my mother’s calls for three days straight, blocked Walter’s number entirely after that disaster at the funeral, and honestly, I was still enraged by the fact that all these years I’d known nothing about my brother-nothing about who Klaus really was, nothing about the secrets my entire family had been keeping from me.

The fact that there was so much to know about Klaus, so much I’d been deliberately kept in the dark about, still felt like a physical wound that wouldn’t stop bleeding.

My phone buzzed, and I saw Zane’s name flash across the screen-a text, not a call.

Zane: Hey, Muffin. Hope you are good. I’ve been thinking about you.

For a second, my heart did that stupid flutter thing it always did when I saw his name, and I almost typed out the truth-No, I just found out my brother was gay and everyone kept it from me-but I couldn’t dump that on him right now.

So I deleted what I’d started and typed something safer.

Me: I’m currently on my way to plan a surprise birthday party for Brenda. You know—can forget about Walter, or rather, deal with his problems later.

I sent it before I could second-guess myself, then watched those three dots appear.

Zane: I understand. I love you.”

My breath caught, my hands froze as I stared at the text, and for a second, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.

Zane Mercer had sent me an ‘I love you Text.’

I read it again, maybe I was seeing things, but I wasn’t; he had indeed sent the text.

A wild smile tugged at my lips; my heart was beating fast at this tiny gesture.

“I love you too,”

I typed with shaky hands and watched as the message got read immediately by him and instantly, I logged off, way too excited to see his next reply.

JT had texted me earlier with detailed instructions-pick up Brenda at exactly 7 pm, don’t let her suspect anything, get her to the restaurant where he’d have everything set up perfectly for his proposal.

I was honestly the worst person for this job because I was terrible at keeping secrets, but JT’ had insisted that Brenda would get suspicious if he picked her up himself.

I grabbed my keys and headed downstairs to where my car was parked, checking my phone one more time to make sure I had the right address for Brenda’s place.

The drive took about fifteen minutes through evening Seattle traffic, and when I pulled up outside her building, I texted her that I’d arrived.

Less than two minutes later, I heard a sharp knock on my passenger side window that made me jump.

Brenda.

I unlocked the door and watched as she opened it and slid into the passenger seat, and immediately, I had to stop myself from staring because she looked absolutely stunning.

Her hair was swept back in these loose, elegant waves, her blonde hair catching the streetlights perfectly, and she’d done her makeup with red tones that accentuated her eyes and lips in a way that made her look both sophisticated and slightly dangerous.

The second she settled into the seat, her perfume hit me-something expensive and floral that smelled like special occasions and romance.

“You look like you’re about to kill someone,” I said, then quickly added because it came out wrong, “I mean- fuck, Brenda, you look so fucking hot. Like really incredible.”

A little glance appeared on her face, something between pleased and nervous.

“Well, I hope whatever surprise you have for me is worth all this fuss I did,” she said, gesturing at her outfit and hair like she’d gone to significant effort.

I kept my expression casual even though my heart was racing because I was terrible at lying and Brenda could usually read me like a book.

“It’s not a surprise,” I lied smoothly-or what I hoped was smoothly. “I just want to take you out for your birthday. Take you somewhere nice. Is that so weird?”

Brenda’s eyes narrowed slightly, studying my face like she was trying to figure out if I was hiding something.

“You look guilty,” she said flatly.

“I always look guilty,” I deflected. “It’s my face. Can’t help it.”

There it was-classic Brenda, more worried about me spending money than excited about going somewhere nice.

“You see, Brenda supports many things,” I said, throwing her own frequent rant back at her. “Brenda supports wanting men, supports career ambitions, supports girl power. But Brenda doesn’t support us spending our hard-earned money on things which doesn’t matter-on stuffs like fancy restaurants, right?”

Brenda’s face softened and she almost rolled her eyes but she was smiling.

“You see? You get it. Exactly. We’re supposed to be saving, building futures, not blowing paychecks on one meal.”

“Well maybe some things are worth it,” I said quietly, putting the car in park.

Brenda reached over and squeezed my hand.

“You’re the best friend anyone could ask for,” she said, her voice getting thick with emotion. “Seriously. Thank you for this. Whatever this is.”

Guilt crashed over me because I wasn’t the one she should be thanking…this was all JT’s planning, JT’s money, JT’s romantic gesture.

I was just the accomplice helping him pull it off.

“Come on,” I said, cutting off that train of thought. “Let’s go inside before I change my mind about spending imaginary money I definitely didn’t spend.”

We got out of the car and I locked it, noticing how Brenda kept smoothing down her dress nervously, how her hands were shaking slightly.

She knew something was up.

She just didn’t know what yet.

And I really, really hoped she’d be happy when she found out.

Because watching JT’s heart break if she said no?

That was something I absolutely couldn’t handle witnessing.