42. REPERCUSSIONS.

Olivia spring to her feet, holding the duvet around her bare chest while sauntering towards the windows. Leaning forward, she put out the candle flames with the breeze from her lips and she turned around to Luke who stood with a pillow against his crotch.

“Shit” She cussed, breathing heavily as she searched beneath the bed for her underwear or clothes, any at all. The knock became more incessant with Damien growing impatient. “Come on Olivia, i can hear you behind the door” She halted to realize the sound of her footsteps against the wooden floors already gave her away.

She didn’t see her black lacy lingerie, but she did see her brassiere entangled with his brief. Spreading it apart, she tossed it to Luke alongside his shirt and pants. “Come on” She tugged his arms allowing him to let go of his pillow. She darted her eyes away from his flaccid phallus as if it weren’t just inside of her.

And she gasped. “Just stay inside the closet” She pushed him and he arched his brows. “I’m not some secret affair” He rolled his eyes but she fastened him, glaring threateningly. “You want to do this right now? You want to say that as if you aren’t the brother of the man i’m in a supposed wedding arrangement with. You want to talk as if i didn’t just fuck you like i did—“

“You fucked my brother as well?” Luke looked disgusted, pinching against the bridge of his nose. “No i didn’t” Olivia pushed him. “It doesn’t matter. It’s really none of your business” She closed him inside her dark closet before scrambling to straighten the bed sheets. Buried in the fabric was a clip that belonged to Luke and she grasped it, using it to hold up her sex hair in a messy bun.

And she heaved a deep breath, limping towards the door with her duvet as cloth. Immediately he heard the lock slide into place, Damien retracted his arms, hiding the flowers behind his back. This wasn’t a good idea, he thought—not in this moment.

His eyes went down on her, from her bare feet to her ridiculous outfit up until the clip that glittered in her red hair and she gritted through her teeth. “What do you want!” She asked, and he was sure he couldn’t give her his gifts in such a mood.

“I—“ Damien stuttered. “Am i interrupting something?” He tried to look over her head but she wedged the door, leaving herself in between. She stuttered this time as well. “I was—“

“Is that your underwear?” Damien squinted his eyes at the ground and Liv gasped, turning pink from embarrassment. Her panties laid of the ground between them where Luke had tossed them after removal and she shyly grasped it with her toes, throwing it behind the doors. The moment she sensed a laughter from Damien, she narrowed her eyes at him.

“What are you doing here?” He seemed to have forgotten the fallout they had the last time they met and she was hellbent on reminding him that he wasn’t forgiven, or that she hadn’t forgotten or somehow, both. And Damien heaved a deep sigh.

“I just” He ran his hands through his head, for a moment gathering his words. “I just wanted to tell you that i took Raznak up in his offer” He lied, rebounding to the sentence he never thought he’d say and Olivia arched her brows.

“And somehow it wasn’t textable?” She asked. “You couldn’t have even dropped a voicemail at the most?” She raised her voice and he could sense how uneasy she had gotten. “Relax cleopatra” His eyes went down on her dress and Liv rolled her eyes. “There’s also a party—tomorrow night at the Archer HQ”

“It was announced today but how could you know, since you now control your off days” He added and she sighed. “I’m still settling in from Vienna. It was, it was a lot” There were pauses between each word and Damien pushed a lump down her throat.

“You could agree that much with me?”

Silence fell between them as their eyes locked and then Olivia heard the door of the closet fall open, and that sound drifted her back to reality. She wedged the door closer to her. “A party huh?” She echoed and Damien nodded. “Just something to uhm, mark the new era. They were his words, Raznak. Because it’s his idea, it’s his party and you’re going to be there, right?”

“As what?” Olivia whispered and Damien felt the petals of his bouquet squeeze in his hands behind him. “As a friend?” He said and her eyes fell. “We’re going to have to tell Raznak soon enough, hopefully when he pens down his signature. But for tomorrow—“ Damien inched closer to her and she paused, his cologne robbing her nose. “Please show up tomorrow” He interrupted her and her eyes shyly looked into his.

As intimidated as she was, she still kept the safest distance between them. “Let me think about it” She obliged unwillingly and Damien pulled away. His left palm immediately stretched out towards her face and Liv froze, swallowing a lump down the tiny opening in her throat. “Were you fighting demons?” He didn’t dare think that little naïve Olivia had just had sex.

And he struck the clip in her head, examining how familiar it looked like before brushing it again. Olivia tilted her face to the left. “I was busy” She whispered and he scoffed. “Busy?”

Her eyes looked to the underwear again, as she formulated her brain for the perfect excuse that didn’t make her look like a total idiot. “I was masturbating, Mr Archer” He pulled away from her face, taken aback by her words.

“What?”

“Now if you excuse me, i’d love to go back to doing just that. Since you haven’t come clean as to why you’re standing at my front door at this time of the night.” Damien was flustered now as his arms wedged against the door. “I’ll watch” He smirked.

“Let me watch you” Olivia couldn’t tell if his words were a joke or not and to what extent even if it were. But she didn’t care, her hands grasped the handle as she turned around to him.

“Hard pass” She muttered.

“See you tomorrow” She couldn’t close the door with his hands against it so she entertained a few more of his words. But that was the last. She nodded, “I’ll think about it Damien” But before she finally closed it, she called unto him, halting him in his steps.

“If ever you plan on showing up to me house uninvited next time, at least drop a call” Her eyes fell to the flowers in his hands which he shook. “It was unplanned” He lied. “Had a dare nearby and felt you needed some cautioning”

“Cautioning?” There was a distance between them. “You as well” He yelled. “If ever you decide to not show up for work, at least drop a call” He imitated her words, alongside her gestures. “Youre still my secretary” Those words forced her eyes to roll to the back as Olivia closed the door on him.

She scoffed at whatever he was having a date with, and how in she was for the sour treat that was Damien Archer. Leaning her back against the door, her eyes went to the closet—from which Luke came out from.

He was already in his shorts, but semi naked from his waist. He had a tattoo around his shoulders that stretched to his back and Olivia inched closer to him. “You should go” Her arms wrapped around his neck, taking in his scent through her nose while his eyes gazed out of the windows.

“But it’s late” He replied, hefting her in his hands. Her feet brushed against his knees as she appeared to be taller. “Are you chasing me out because of my brother?” He asked and there was a slight horror in her eyes. “Of course not” Olivia whispered.

“I just some time to uhm” Her eyes fell on the stack of papers next to the table. “Work, and my drawings. Besides” She pointed to her bed. “It isn’t exactly a kingsized bed i have here”

Luke filled his lungs with air. “We can make it work. We can make anything work” He replied as her arms pulled him closer to her. “Just go home, Luke” She whispered, slithering from his grasp. “And i promise that i would call you soon” She whispered.

“It wasn’t a one night stand, wasn’t it?” She sealed his lips with a kiss. “Just shut up Luke” Olivia chuckled. “That was too amazing for a one night stand. I’m going to call you” She pulled away from him, still holding the duvet round her chest and he slipped his arms through his shirt, swiftly buttoning up. Her eyes wavered upon his every action till he clutched his phone and was headed towards the door.

She looked to the elevator, ensuring that Damien was gone—and she missed him leaning for another kiss. His hands bumped into her hair and he used that opportunity to take out his clip. “Here”
They both chuckled awkwardly as he slipped it into his pockets.

Her hair fell across her shoulders and she ran her fingers through it, poking the roots of her sex-stenched fibers. She gestured a phone with her hands and she mouthed.

“I’ll call you” And with that, she closed the door gently in his face. Her back met the edge of the door as Olivia heaved in the deepest breath. “Fuck” She muttered, grudgingly walking to her bedside with the drapes dragging against the floor and she sat into her bed—watching her phone come to light with a chime.

She reached for it, expecting a message from Luke already but rather it was missed call from Agatha. She bore the phone in her hands as her eyes fell upon the used condom at the opposite end of the room—slippery moist rubber, squeezed into one corner and she growled. “Fuck my life.” Like every first time, Liv’s was filled with a lot of emotions and feelings, guilt being a primitive one.

Why was she too feel terrible the moment she saw Damien?

Why did she feel she had to lie to herself that she didn’t enjoy every single part of Luke the last night? Her nails blended between her teeth as she thought of him—thought about both.

It was in those fake scenarios that were now a reality that she finally closed her eyes to sleep. A few hours beneath her belt was enough for Olivia. And the morning after was one of those days filled with the motivation to either do some cleaning and pen some designs. And by the time the sun was up, Liv was as well.

She stood with the broom in her hands, looking down at the tidied bed before her, not a single scrape of dirt on the ground. And a smile crept to her lips, impressed. However before the thought of work swept through her head, she convinced herself there was one person she needed to see—since she arrived from Vienna.

And holding the Andaleev perfume she’d gotten her aunt as a gift, alongside several heart chocolates, she knocked against Agatha’s door. It didn’t take her some time before the door clicked open and a gasp escaped her lips.

“Olivia” She stretched out her arms for a hug and her niece leaned in for a lasting one. “You’re—“ She sniffed in the lavender scent of her scarf. “You’re different.”

“Slow down ma” She chuckled. “Except i’m being serious” She reached for her hair. “You’re glowing” Her aunt whispered, pulling a strand behind her ears. “It’s Vienna, isn’t it?”

“It looks good on you.”

“Or is it Damien?” Olivia was mute, fathoming in her mind how she was to break it to her aunt that rather it was Luke, and his post sex glow moistening her skin. She couldn’t, she’d rather not.

So she just briskly nodded, yet another lie to yet another loved one and she tossed her head over her shoulders. “I should get to work” She pointed to the Lyft waiting for her. “Already?” Agatha asked and she arched her brows. “Actually” Came a pause.

“Would you like to be my date to a party tonight?” Liv hefted up her hands and Agatha was taken aback. “Is Damien sick—is he dead?” She asked and Olivia chuckled. “Of course not” She said.

“Well you never ask me to your fancy dinner dates”

“Well” Liv echoed, tugging her softly. “There’s a first time for everything.” She smiled. “And i get to finally meet the Viscount” It was a weird way of referring to Damien. “You know you just check the internet right?” Olivia pulled away and Agatha pinched the bridge of her nose. “You know i don’t know how to work—“

“I showed you, ma” Olivia chuckled. “I really should go” She turned around, running down the stairs. “I’ll pick you up in the evening!” Agatha watched as her starlight niece pulled away from her and a smile crept to her lips proudly, recognizing how much she had changed from the last year.

It was also then that she felt a sharp pain in her chest, forcing her to step back. Agatha clutched her upper abdomen. “Ah” She exclaimed. But it was probably nothing again.

To be continued…