To Love Jason Thorn (Page 28)

As for Isaac’s unfiltered sex scenes in the book…I didn’t think I was ready to go there with Olive. After reading the book, I understood why Olive didn’t want Dylan or her dad to read it. Both of them would either have a heart attack, or simply have trouble looking into her eyes again, which would be a great tragedy. Her eyes…they were one of a kind, alluring and intriguing in a way that made you want to get closer to her just so you could study and memorize the depth of the colors, find those hazel specks hiding in the bright green and watch how they sparkled when she smiled at you.

The night she came to my house to meet with Tom, I found out that I had no trouble at all looking at any part of her body, including her eyes, which probably made me a complete bastard.

Reading her last text again, I realized what I was feeling was disappointment. I’d been eager to talk to her, to pick her brain, to see her again. Wasn’t that why I had invited her to sit in on the screen testing? Hadn’t I felt happy when I’d seen her standing in front of the building, smiling at me as I jogged to her side? And in that brief moment, hadn’t I completely forgotten about Dylan being my friend, and Olive being his little sister?

Not liking where my thoughts were heading, I tossed the script aside and shook my head. Maybe not having sex was getting to me. My phone pinged with a new text from Olive.

Olive: What are you up to?

I smiled and walked outside as I texted her back.

Me: Enjoying my freedom while I can.

Olive: What does that mean?

Me: Nothing important. I have part of the script so I was actually thinking of calling you to see if you were free to discuss Isaac. Pick your brain a little.

Olive: I’ve been with Isaac for almost three years. He’s been my day and night. He is so broken, but still perfect just the way he is. Let’s talk about him. Let’s talk about him for hours.

Me: Are we still talking about the same Isaac?

Olive: There can only be one Isaac in my heart. Though he gave his heart to Evie, he’ll forever be in mine.

Me: I’m thinking you’re a little on the drunk side, little one.

Olive: It’s Long Island Iced Tea night!!! And I don’t want to be the little one any more, Jason ? I want to be big Olive. I’ve grown up, I’m not clingy or sticky anymore.

Not having a clue what she was talking about, I hesitated for a short moment before calling Alvin.

“Hi Alvin.”

“Hey, boss. What’s up?” There was a rustling sound in the background.

“Sorry man. Bad timing?”

“It’s fine. Did you need something?”

“Yeah. I need you to find me a…a college bar, probably. They are having a karaoke night.”

I could hear his laptop come to life. “O-kay. Is there any way we can narrow that down? Otherwise the list will be longer than you’d want.”

“It should be somewhere near USC. I’ll text you her address so you can check the bars around the apartment, too.”

“And this ‘her’ we’re talking about is Olive Taylor?”

“Yes,” I replied distractedly as I walked back into the house. If I was going out, I would need to change.

“You’re not considering going out to find her in a bar, are you?”

“And if I am?”

“I’d say you must not have enough of Megan chewing your ass and you’re jonesing for more.”

I laughed. “Don’t worry, she won’t hear about this.” I stopped next to my bed. “And if you don’t want to get fired, you’re not reporting that to her either. Get back to me as soon as you can. I’m texting you her address.”

Ending the call, I texted him the address of her apartment and went to my closet to change into something more college-y to blend in with the rest of the frat boys.

Fifteen minutes later, I was on my way to attempt to find Olive in one of the five bars Alvin had texted.

***

It was at the fourth bar that I finally found…something. And by something, I mean Olive and the friend she had introduced me to that day—Lucy? Charlotte?—up on the small makeshift stage just about to start a song.

She looked…damn it but she looked good. Her hair had clearly been haphazardly put into a messy bun, but there were still a few locks that had escaped and were resting over her shoulders, framing and drawing attention to her beautiful smiling face. She was wearing a short dress, which seemed to sit a little tight on her breasts.

Why the hell am I looking at her breasts, again?

Shit!

When the music blasted, they started swaying to the beat. Then reaching up, she let her hair loose, shook her head, and looked at her friend with a big smile on her face as she mouthed something I couldn’t understand. Just as she had said on the phone, they started to sing ‘Let’s Marvin Gaye’ from the top. Then started the slow hip and shoulder movements. The saps who were lined up in front of the stage ate it all up, catcalling and whistling.

Looking down at the floor, I pulled down my baseball hat, trying not to draw attention to myself. I walked in farther and found a dark corner close to the stage. I wanted to grab a beer from the bar, but it wasn’t worth getting recognized for. As soon as I knew Olive was safe with her friends, I would leave. My hands in my pockets, I leaned back against the wood wall and watched the whole thing with bewilderment, amusement, and fascination.

When Olive smiled and bit her bottom lip as her friend took over the song, I was completely mesmerized by her.

Sucker punched.

Then the chorus came and they were singing together again. At one point, Olive gave her back to her friend, glanced over her shoulder, and with a playful look on her face, winked at her. I would have bet millions of my dollars that every hot-blooded male’s attention was on her, not her friend, but it didn’t even look like Olive cared for any of the attention she was getting. Even though her friend was a fiery brunette, she couldn’t hold a candle to Olive’s beauty. If they had the chance, more than half of those idiots would go after her without a second thought.

Without even realizing what I was doing, I walked closer to the stage. Blending in had been easier than I’d thought it would be, so I didn’t see a problem with being more in the open.

A college bar wasn’t exactly the place people would expect me to hang around, after all. Even if a few of them thought I looked like someone they knew, with the amount of alcohol in their system they wouldn’t remember a thing by the morning, and if someone started to take pictures, I would just head out.

My eyes glued to the stage, specifically on Olive, I didn’t see the guy next to me and took an elbow in my side. Grunting in pain, I lowered my baseball cap just to make sure no one could see my entire face. I couldn’t stay there the entire night, but I knew I wasn’t going anywhere until I talked to Olive and made sure she wasn’t pawed by any drunken idiots.

I didn’t trust any of those bastards not to pull anything on her as soon as she was off the stage.

As much as the crowd was getting heated, Olive and her friend seemed to enjoy singing to each other, laughing and smiling the entire time. When they were at the opposite ends of the stage, Olive crooked her finger at her friend and I found myself a few steps closer to the stage.

Damn it, Jason!

When she screamed for mercy, I was right there with her. My phone started buzzing in my pocket. Seeing Megan’s name on the screen, I ignored her call. Suddenly, flustered and angry for some reason, I was about to turn around and leave when I heard someone yell, ‘I’ll give you all the healing you need, all damn night babe!’