Chapter 42 Morning Interruptions
I woke to the sensation of something scratchy against my neck. Still half-asleep, I squirmed and batted at whatever was tickling me, only to hear a low chuckle in response. Ethan was propped up on one elbow beside me, deliberately rubbing his morning stubble against the sensitive skin of my neck.
"Stop it," I protested, fully awake now. "Don't rub your beard on my neck. It tickles too much!" I laughed despite myself, trying to wriggle away.
His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. He leaned in, clearly intending to continue his torment, when his phone rang on the nightstand.
The screen lit up with "Richard Bennett."
Ethan's smile vanished instantly. In its place came the hard, calculating expression I'd come to recognize as his business face. He grabbed the phone and stood, moving toward the balcony doors in nothing but his boxer briefs, shoulders suddenly rigid.
I pulled the sheets higher, watching as he stepped onto the terrace. Though the glass doors muffled his voice, fragments of the conversation drifted back to me.
"...CNN already has the story... Who would set him up?... The hearing is in three days..."
I could hear the tension in his voice, even from a distance. When he finally turned back toward the bedroom, his face was a cold mask of control.
"Only this once, Dad," he said firmly before ending the call and coming back inside.
"Is everything okay?" I asked cautiously as he dropped the phone onto the bed.
"I need to go to Beverly Hills." His voice had that clipped quality it always got when family business intruded. "Nathan's made another mess."
"Nathan got into trouble again?" I ventured carefully. I knew very little about Ethan's older brother, only that he seemed to be the family's perpetual problem child.
Ethan's mouth twisted into something between a sneer and a grimace. "He's been accused of sexually assaulting an intern. My father can't get back from Washington, so he wants me to handle it."
I sat up straighter, clutching the sheet to my chest. "That's... serious."
"It's bullshit," Ethan said flatly. "But it needs to be dealt with quickly." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Go back to sleep. I'll be back as soon as I can."
I nodded, watching as he dressed with practiced efficiency—dark slacks, crisp white shirt, navy jacket. Within minutes, he was transformed from the man who had tickled me awake into the formidable Ethan Bennett that the business world knew.
"Be careful," I said softly as he headed for the door.
He paused, looking back with an expression I couldn't quite read. "Always am."
The door closed behind him, and I sank back into the pillows, trying to recapture the peaceful feeling from earlier.
I was just drifting back to sleep when my own phone rang. The screen displayed "Lily"—my high school classmate with a reputation for dating disasters. We weren't close friends, exactly, but I'd never gossiped about her serial relationships the way others had, and she'd always treated me with a kind of grateful loyalty as a result.
I hesitated before answering. Lily calling at 7:00 AM couldn't be good news.
"Hello?"
"Olivia?" Her voice was thick with tears. "I'm sorry to call so early, but I didn't know who else to—" She broke off, sobbing.
"Lily? What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I'm in L.A.," she managed between hiccups. "I came to surprise my boyfriend, but—but when I got to his apartment, he was with someone else." Fresh sobs erupted. "And I'm—oh God, Olivia—I'm pregnant."
My stomach dropped. "Oh, Lily..."
"I don't know what to do," she continued, her voice rising with panic. "I can't tell my parents... I made an appointment at a clinic for tomorrow, but I don't want to go alone..."
I heard the desperation in her voice, recognized the sound of someone truly at the end of their rope. I thought about all the times in the past few months when I'd felt overwhelmed and alone, even with Ethan's resources surrounding me.
"Where are you now?" I asked, already sliding out of bed.
"Outside Whiskey A Go Go in West Hollywood. I've been walking around all night."
I pulled clothes from the dresser—jeans, a simple t-shirt. "Stay there. I'm coming."
After hanging up, I dressed quickly and ordered an Uber. Before leaving, I sent Ethan a text: A high school friend is in trouble. Going to check on her. I'll be back later.
---
Lily was sitting on a bench outside the famous music venue, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy. When she saw me, she lurched to her feet and threw her arms around me, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.
"Thank you for coming," she whispered, clinging to me.
"Let's go somewhere quieter to talk," I suggested, looking around at the bustling street. "There's a coffee shop around the corner."
Lily shook her head. "I need a drink first," she said, gesturing toward the bar behind us. "They just opened."
"Lily, you're pregnant," I reminded her gently. "Should you be drinking?"
She gave a bitter laugh. "He's denying it's his. I'm getting rid of it tomorrow anyway. It doesn't matter."
I felt a twinge of... something. Not judgment exactly, but a deep sadness for the whole situation. Still, I followed her into the dimly lit bar.
"Ask me anything," Lily said after we'd taken seats at a corner table. She'd ordered several shots of tequila for herself and a club soda for me. "I know you're wondering."
I considered my words carefully. "Did you not know he was bad news, or did you know and just... accept it?"
"I'm not stupid," she replied, downing her first shot. "I knew what he was. Every time we had sex, he either wouldn't wear a condom or would pull out at the last second—usually he didn't even bother pulling out. I'd take Plan B afterward."
"Then why stay with him?" I asked, genuinely curious.
Lily shrugged. "Maybe I'm just fucked up that way."
"Don't say that about yourself," I said firmly. "No matter what anyone else says, you have to love yourself first."
She didn't respond, just lined up her next shots. "I ordered more than I should," she admitted. "But I can handle it. Just sit with me, okay?"
We'd barely started when a large man from the next table approached us. His muscled arms were covered in skull tattoos, and his eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my skin crawl.
"Hey, gorgeous," he said, leaning too close. "Can I buy you a drink?"