Suspicious Minds (Fate #3) (16 page)

If Margie hadn’t gone so above and beyond to be there for her
during one of the most horrific times in Olivia’s life, she might consider
ignoring her text. But she couldn’t. Until Margie fell for Jay, she’d been the
best friend anyone could ever have. She’d been incredibly sad to hear about Olivia
moving away. She even offered to talk to her parents so they’d let her stay
with them, but Olivia had known Isaiah wouldn’t hear of it. Her dad had offered
to at least take Emi off his hands when their mother passed and Isaiah was left
with the responsibility of his siblings. Her dad said he could bring her out to
live with him, but Isaiah wouldn’t have it. The one thing he vowed when they
were without their mom so suddenly was that they’d stick together—always. At
least until they were all old enough or ready to start their own families.

Without waiting for it to get any later, Olivia decided to
contact Margie. Even though Olivia had spent all day yesterday and today with
Lorenzo, she knew he’d be calling her in a couple hours. When he’d dropped her
off and kissed her as if he hadn’t kissed her in ages, he said the one thing
she’d been thinking the whole weekend.

“Jesus, I can’t get enough of you. I’ll call you as soon as I get
home.”

He had to check in with Vince at work, and then, because he’d
been neglecting the gym opting to spend time with her instead, he was going to
put in at least an hour there before heading home.

Olivia texted her old friend to let her know she had time to talk
now if she wanted to call her. She didn’t want Margie interrupting her later
when she’d be on the phone with Lorenzo. Fortunately, within minutes, her phone
rang and Olivia braced herself when she saw it was Margie.

“Hey,” she said, plopping down on her bed.

“Hey,” Margie said, and Olivia heard it immediately in her voice.
Margie was crying. “Thanks for not ignoring me.”

Olivia sat up, scooting up to lean her back on the headrest of
her bed, her heart already hurting for her friend. “Yeah, of course, Margie.
What’s wrong?”

“First of all, let me just apologize for being the worst best
friend in the history of the world,” Margie said with a sniffle. “I knew you
and Jay were long over and that you didn’t want anything to do with him anymore,
and I told myself that so I could justify giving into the temptation of being
with him, but it was wrong and I knew it all along.”

Olivia gripped her phone a little tighter when she heard Margie
break down. “It’s okay,” she assured her, unbelievably feeling guilty now for
having been so hard on her friend. “Trust me, Margie, I know how manipulative
he can be. I’m sure he didn’t make it easy for you to not want to give in.”

“He didn’t,” Margie agreed immediately, still crying and
sniffling. “I swear to you I held off for months. But I was so lonely here
without you, and you know it’d always just been the two of us. Well, the three
of us if you count all the times Jay hung out with us, but I never told you
this because how could I? I’d always had a secret crush on him. So hanging out
with him by myself when you left was nice, but even then I told myself no
matter what I’d never let anything happen between us, but he started flirting
and then saying really sweet things to me. Things I knew weren’t true. Like
that he’d always had a crush on me too. This was
before
I admitted to
having one on him. Ollie, I always knew how crazy he was about you. I saw it in
the way he looked at you and in the way he touched you even when he didn’t
think I was watching. Which was most of the time because if you were around I
was invisible to him.
Utterly
invisible.”

“So what happened?” Olivia asked, not wanting to hear any more
about Jay being crazy about her.

If the guy had been as crazy about her as he’d always claimed—as
Margie had always and apparently was still making him out to be—he wouldn’t
have toyed with her as he had for so long. He wouldn’t have hurt her time after
time. He wouldn’t have taken advantage of the fact that he knew how crazy she’d
been about him back then and talked her into doing some of the things he had.
Judging by his cocky text that morning, Olivia knew he still thought she’d fall
for his bullshit.

Her friend inhaled deeply then went on. “For months the flirting
went back and forth. I knew I should’ve just stayed away from him altogether,
but he was all I had in the form of friends. We’d just be hanging out, and then
we started making out until we were eventually sleeping together.”

Margie went quiet and Olivia knew why. It hadn’t even dawned on
her until now. During the time that Margie had kept talking to Olivia even
while she was already sleeping with Jay, she’d told her about losing her
virginity, but she’d claimed she met someone. Now that Margie admitted that she
hadn’t made any new friends, Olivia knew.

Just as Olivia had, Margie had lost her virginity to Jay.

“What about David, the guy—?”

“There was no David,” Margie retorted immediately. “I made him
up. I wasn’t even gonna tell you about losing my virginity, but Jay insisted I
should.”

“What?
Why?
”

“Because he said he thought you might be getting suspicious about
us. He said you’d made a comment.”

Instantly, Olivia remembered that. It was one of the first things
that had come to mind when she’d seen the status change on his social media.
She remembered months earlier talking to him on the phone, and when he’d
mentioned once again that he’d hung out with Margie, Olivia had a moment of
weakness and gave into the twinge of jealousy. Ironically, she’d been jealous
of their friendship: that Margie and Jay still had each other while her workaholic
ass barely had time to sleep and check her social media. She’d said something
to the effect of “Well, aren’t you two the happy little couple these days?”

Now that Margie mentioned it, Olivia
did
remember thinking
he’d been a little too defensive about it. It actually stayed on her mind for a
few days until Margie called to tell her about the guy she’d met and was
thinking of giving up her virginity to. Before that call, Margie hadn’t even
mentioned the guy she’d supposedly met and been talking to for some time.
Margie had told Olivia she hadn’t mentioned anything to her because she didn’t
want to jinx it until she thought things were going somewhere. Olivia had
believed her so easily because why would her best friend lie to her about
something like that?

“Wow,” Olivia said, feeling a little annoyed at Margie again. “And
here I bought it hook, line, and sinker.”

“I’m sorry,” Margie whispered. “But even then I knew it in my gut,
Ollie. I knew he still cared about you far more than he’s ever cared about me. And
even though you’d asked me to keep certain things from him because you didn’t
want him knowing your business, you know what he’s like. You know how
persuasive he can be. A few of those times he got it out of me, and as much as
he tried to hide it deep down, I could see it bothered him. So I knew he didn’t
want you to know because he was afraid you’d cut him off. That’s why I was so
shocked when he tagged me on his status change. We both knew you’d see it. I was
at work at the time. So I texted him to ask him what the hell, and all he said
was if you asked anything to just tell you everything.”

Olivia nearly gasped when it hit her. She brought her hand to her
forehead. It never occurred to her because she’d told Margie about the client
who’d been asking her out and she was actually considering it. That was just a
few weeks before Jay changed his status update. She had noticed his questions
about her social life had gotten a little more personal, but she would’ve never
imagined it was because Margie had told him anything. She thought he was just
being nosey again. The day before he changed his status she’d made the comment
that she’d decided it was time to be more social, and he’d asked what that
meant, but she wouldn’t elaborate.

Is that why he’d done it?

“So what did he do? You said you were so wrong about him in your
text.”

“I’ve been such a pathetic and delusional idiot,” Margie said,
and Olivia heard her voice break again. “I knew it all along, Ollie. But I
convinced myself that because you were so far away and because you sincerely
never wanted anything to do with him again that he might actually give up on
you and take the next best thing. I mean, seriously, how pathetic is that? I
was willing to settle for being his consolation prize.”

It was a bittersweet eye-opener. Jay had always known about Margie’s
social awkwardness. Olivia had never told him, but she was certain he’d figured
it out on his own that Margie was even more virginal than Olivia had been when
he’d gotten a hold of her. Olivia had at least gone to her prom and, ironically
because of Jay, was comfortable with flirting. Margie was a bookworm with zero
social skills when it came to boys, but she’d always told Olivia she was fine
with that. Yet even hearing all this didn’t prepare her for what Margie dropped
on her next.

“I’m pregnant,” she said then cried softly as Olivia’s stomach
took a complete nose dive, not because she was upset that Margie was pregnant
with Jay’s baby. She’d meant it even before she’d met Lorenzo, but she couldn’t
say it with enough conviction now. She felt nothing but disgust for Jay.

But her heart did hurt for Margie because she knew exactly why
she was crying so much. Instantly it was clear why her best friend needed her
right now. And her heart was breaking for her.

“Oh, honey,” she whispered, sitting up and off the side of her
bed, feeling choked up herself. “I know your parents will be upset at first,
but—”

“Jay’s insisting I have an abortion.”

Olivia gasped, not that she had anything against abortion. She
was pro-choice all the way. But Margie’s family would be upset enough that she’d
had sex before wedlock. An abortion would be catastrophic. This was something
she knew even Margie, who was far more open-minded than her parents, felt very
strongly about. It went against every fiber of her being and was the one thing
Olivia and Margie had long ago agreed to disagree on.

“Margie, he can’t force you to.”

“He’s in love with you, Ollie,” Margie said as she continued to
sniffle, making Olivia squeeze her eyes shut. Margie’s voice went even higher
pitched when she spoke again. “Always has been and he admitted it yesterday
when I told him I was pregnant. He said his heart will always belong to you,
and while he didn’t admit it, I know now he was just using me to get to you.
When I told him how you’d called me immediately to ask about his status change
and then later how you stopped returning my calls and texts, I could see it in
his face, hear it in his voice. He was happy. Even though you stopped returning
his calls too, I could tell it gave him hope you still had feelings for him.
Yesterday, he told me what I’d known all along. He has every intention of
getting you back. He claims all he needs is for you to hear him out, and he
said . . .”

Olivia held her breath as Margie whimpered softly. “It doesn’t
matter what he says or thinks, Margie. I’m over him.”

“He knows how much I’ve missed you,” Margie said with a newfound
vehemence. “How much it’s hurt me to have lost your friendship. How much
you
mean to me, and he always assured me that eventually you’d come around, but now
he says if I have this baby there will be no chance for any of us to reconcile.
That it would be an end-all.”

“He’s lying,” Olivia tried to assure her. “Just like he still
thinks he and I have a chance. It’s not true.”

“He also said that if I care about either of you I’d abort
because if anyone should know how much you two belong together it’s me. My
having this baby would ruin any chance of you two working things out forever.”

Something about her defeated tone told Olivia that Margie
actually believed his bullshit. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be telling Olivia
all this. She wouldn’t be crying about this or have even considered aborting.
Not for a minute. Panicked by this, Olivia told her about Lorenzo. She told her
how amazing he was and how she’d never—not even with Jay—felt what Lorenzo made
her feel.

“But you’ve only known him for a few months,” Margie said,
sounding skeptical. “You and Jay—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Olivia insisted, shaking her head. “I’m not
even sure how to explain it, Margie, but you know what they say about fate,
right? When you’re destined to be with someone, you know the minute you meet him
he’s the one. I wasn’t even sure what it was when I first met him, but I felt
it. I knew he was different, and he feels the same way. I’m crazy about him.”

“But—”

“Listen to me, Margie,” Olivia started with even more conviction.

She could tell already by the sound in Margie’s voice Jay had
gotten to her, just as he’d convinced Olivia so many times in the past of
whatever he wanted her to believe. He was toxic that way. He had this way of
controlling her with his words, his eyes. Olivia shook her head again, ashamed
that she’d once been so easily manipulated by him. But it made perfect sense.
He probably knew all along that Margie was secretly pining for him and used that
to his advantage. The
bastard
.

“Even if I weren’t crazy about Lorenzo, I would
never
go
back to Jay,” she insisted with more certainty than ever. “He lost any chance
he had with me a long time ago. You remember. I’d made up my mind months before
we left Texas. Don’t let him do this. Don’t let him turn this on you. He and I
not ever being together again has nothing to do with you or that baby. Whatever
you decide, I’ll be here for you.”

They spoke for a while longer, and even though Margie said she
believed her, Olivia was left with a bad feeling. Margie wasn’t completely
convinced. Olivia was sure she knew why too. Her best friend likely found it
impossible to believe that Olivia could truly be over Jay, especially since she’d
been a firsthand witness to Olivia’s utter fixation with the guy.