His Dangerous Love On Ice (Olivia and Zane) novel Chapter 82

: OLIVE’S POV

“So.”

Brenda spun her chair toward me, and I could feel her stare burning into the side of my face even though I refused to look up from my laptop.

“So what?” I asked, typing furiously, pretending the spreadsheet front of me was the most fascinating thing I’d ever seen.

“You know you’ve been hoarding shit from me.”

“I’m not hoarding anything, Brenda.”

“Oh really?” Her voice went up an octave. “You want me to remind you? Fine. The date. You refused to tell me how it went. And since you walked in here this morning with shaky legs-yes I noticed, don’t even try to deny it-you’ve been avoiding eye contact and changing the subject every time I bring it up.”

I kept typing, my cheeks burning.

“Which, like, I’m proud of,” she continued. “Good for you getting thoroughly fucked. But you don’t just get to hide information from me. Have you replaced me? Am I not your best friend anymore?”

The dramatic hurt in her voice made me laugh despite myself.

“You know I have to send this presentation to Grayson,” I said, still not looking at her. “It’s for the next meeting with the Mercer Company. The partnership strategy we’ve been working on for weeks.”

“Oh, I finished my part yesterday,” Brenda said casually. “So don” try to change the subject. What happened on the date?”

I stopped typing. Turned my chair to face her. “Are you being serious right now?”

She nodded frantically, her eyes wide and gleaming with that gossipy excitement she always got when she sensed drama. “Yup. Very, very serious. Spill. Now.”

I sighed, knowing she wouldn’t let this go. “Okay. Fine. We went a club.”

“A club?” Brenda’s eyes went even wider, if that was possible. “Lik an actual club? With music and dancing and-”

“Yup. A club.” I wasn’t about to tell her it was an underground racing club. Or that it belonged to Zane. Or that my father apparently worked there. Some secrets needed to stay secret. “It was mindblowing. Very exclusive. Like, you need an invitation just to get through the door kind of exclusive.”

“Oh my god, that’s insane!” Brenda practically bounced in her chair. “I need to see this club. Finally, you’re leaving the boring lifestyle behind. Not that I blame you for being boring before-ole never let you do anything fun. That controlling son of a bitch.”

Her face shifted from excitement to annoyance so fast I almost got whiplash watching it.

“Yeah, well.” I turned back to my laptop, trying to focus on the charts I’d been building. “That’s over now.”

“Have you spoken to him?” Brenda asked, her voice softer now. Since the scandal?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Haven’t seen him, haven’t heard from

I was actually expecting some texts, you know? The inking I did it. But nothing. Radio silence”

usual pathetic manipulations or him trying to gaslight me into

I shrugged, trying to seem casual about it even though the silence had been bothering me more than I wanted to admit it.

“Maybe he’s actually growing up. Learning to respect boundaries

Brenda just stared at me

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. But her expression said it definitely wasn’t nothing. “Iust don’t think people like Cole change overnight. We all know what he is-social climber, ass-kisser, manipulator, borderline abuser-”

“Brenda-”

“Okay, fine,” she held up her hands. “I’ll stop. But you really think someone like him just goes quiet? Doesn’t even try to contact you after getting publicly exposed? No.” She shook her head. “Something must have happened. Something that made him back off.”

I turned back to my desk, uncomfortable with where this conversation was heading. “I don’t know, Brenda. Don’t you think it’s possible he just realized he fucked up and decided to leave me alone?”

“No.” Her answer was immediate and firm. “It’s either he’s planning something, or something happened to make him stop, or both. That man doesn’t just give up.”

“Alright, Brenda,” I said, wanting to end this. “Let’s just hope he’s ine and has moved on with his life.”

“God, Olive, you’re so fucking nice and I hate it sometimes.” But he was smiling. “I’m just glad karma came around and you ended up sitting on Zane Mercer’s face.”

I choked on air, my fingers freezing on the keyboard. “Brenda!”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify