Crushed (Partners in Crime Book 3)

Chapter 6

Olivia slammed the front door shut and collapsed on the couch. Liv. He called her Liv. Only her family called her that. Only her family. Not even close friends. Only family. And then Jack calls her Liv. The nerve of that man. She could tell her emotions were all over the place. Not even ten minutes ago, she was making sure she was presentable and pushing the unexpected attraction down into a pit. Now she was angry and mad. And craving ice cream. Her phone buzzed multiple times. She saw the screen light up with Jack's name on it. Declining the call, she stuffed her face in the pillow and endured about twenty more minutes of buzzing.

She turned on the TV and flipped through channels. Happiness sparked when she found a Marvel movie on. She loved those. And Thor: The Dark World, at that. Her favorite one. Olivia found the cookies Grace had made and snatched three. She also made some popcorn. Settling down with a blanket, she ate her dessert and watched the movie, letting all her worries wipe away.

~~~~~

Jack slammed his fist on the dashboard. She wouldn't answer his calls. Not even to tell him to stop calling. He let his forehead fall onto the steering wheel. No, he would not be emotional. Or angry. He would be calm and relaxed. Sophia popped into his mind. Checking the clock, he realized he still had two hours to go before visiting hours were over. Plenty of time to check on his sister. God, make sure Sophia stays alive. Please. He pulled back into the road, turned on the radio, and listened to the music, letting all his worries wipe away.

~~~~~

A week later Olivia woke from a deep sleep. She had dragged herself to her room the night before and conked out. It wasn't her fault there was a Marvel movie marathon on TV she just had to watch. Now she was awake and alert. Perks of being a morning person. She busied herself getting dressed in a pair of jeans, semi-nice t-shirt, and a pair of high-top, red Converse. She always thought that shoes sort of defined the type of person you were. The red Converse reminded her that she was mature, yet also liked to have fun. And besides, they were comfy. After getting dressed, she ran a brush through her deep brown hair and applied minimal makeup. Deciding to do something with her hair other than the usual ponytail, she pulled it into a half up. Not completely sure what made her do it, she still was happy with the end result. "You're gorgeous. Stop fussing over what you look like." She told herself.

In the kitchen, she made herself some toast. Her phone rang. It was an unknown number. "Hello? This is Olivia Wagner."

"Hi Olivia this is Landon Patterson. Jack gave me your number."

She sighed. Jack. Of course. "Okay. What can I do for you?"

Muffled voices came through the line and she thought she could make out Dominic's and Jack's voices. Soon, Landon came back on. "There's been another trashed home."

"Of course there has. Can you give me the address?" As Landon rattled it off, she grabbed her toast, which was now to-go, and headed for her car. "Thanks Landon, I'll be there soon."

"No, thank you."

Click.

Securing her gun in its holster, Olivia made a mental checklist of the things she needed. Crime scene kit. Check. Gun. Check. Phone. Check. Computer. Check. Toast. Check. She was good to go.

When she pulled into the driveway of the trashed home, it was buzzing with activity. She saw Dominic, Annie Baker, Conner Avery, Tyler Winthrop, Payton, and Jack. Seeing him did funny things to her insides and then she remembered she was still angry at him from the previous week. Right, God, angry. More like nervous to talk to him because of who knows what so I use anger as my excuse. Olivia grabbed her crime scene kit then made her way to the commotion.

Payton smiled at her when Olivia came up to the group. "Hey Olivia. Dominic's wife made muffins for everyone. They're delicious. Get 'em before they're gone."

Olivia's stomach rumbled at the thought of Chloe's infamous muffins. Even though she had toast, At least one of Chloe's muffins was going into her stomach.

Dominic came up to her holding a muffin in his hand. He gave her the muffin. "Chloe told me to make sure that you got one."

"Thanks." She bit into the muffin and almost cried. It was so good. "Mmm. Tell Chloe that if I ever get married that she's cooking."

Dominic laughed, "Jack would be okay with that."

She choked on her muffin and gave him a hard punch in the bicep. "Why, you little demon."

He grinned and walked off. But it gave her satisfaction to see that he was rubbing his arm where she had hit him. It was his own fault he taught her to punch.

Jack walked up to her, "Hey."

She raised her brows at him. She had a mouthful of muffin and wasn't about to talk.

"Listen. I'm sorry about last week. It just slipped." He shifted uncomfortably.

Olivia finished her muffin, then crossed her arms. "You know that only my family calls me that."

"I know. And I'm sorry."

"Olivia!" Payton waved her over, "Ready to get to work?"

Olivia shot one last glance at Jack, "I forgive you." Then she ran off to help Payton.

As she worked, part of her brain drifted to Jack. Usually when she got mad at him, she held a grudge for at least a month. And gave him the cold shoulder. It wasn't like her to forgive so easily. Payton must have noticed too because she kept shooting her odd glances and raised her eyebrows every so often.

They had been working for three hours and still hadn't found the note, but it was there somewhere. This house in particular was gross. Food everywhere, furniture undone, and drawers tipped out. The note was mixed in the mess somewhere.

"I'm sick of this. We weren't hired to be cleaners. I'm getting a snack." Payton continued to grumble as she left the house.

Olivia chuckled to herself. It was a wonder Payton even was a CSI. She had no patience. She continued to work in the spare bedroom for a little longer, then decided to check the master suite.

Standing up, she spun around to find her face inches from Jack's. Her breath hitched. She waited as his eyes surveyed her. They landed at her feet, "Nice kicks."

Tapping her heels together, she shrugged, "Thanks. You didn't notice them before?"

"No. I wasn't looking at your shoes."

She snapped her head up to stare into his intense blue eyes. He really was a handsome man. His dirty blonde, almost brown hair and tanned complexion was quite attractive. And those eyes were a sight. It was a miracle he didn't have women chasing after him day and night.

"Hey Liv, Payton may have located the note. She wants you to come and see it-" Dominic stopped when he saw them staring at each other.

Blushing, Olivia shook her head and walked around Jack. "Yeah, I'll come look at it."

Jack spun around and grabbed her forearm, "Olivia."

Dominic raises his eyebrows at Jack's movement. Olivia felt Jack's hand drop and watched him take a step back. Instead of walking away, she faced Jack. "Yes?"

He shot a glance at Dominic before furrowing his brow, "Nothing." Then he cleared his throat, "Let's go look at the note."

Olivia nodded, "Right. Yes." She followed Dominic into the room where Payton was with Jack trailing behind her.

"Oh, good you're here. I found the note. You need to look at it. Do you know where it is?" Payton shoved the note in her face.

Olivia reached out her gloved hand and took the note. "8245 Creek Road. 3:45. I don't know of a place here in Colorado Springs. Maybe Denver? Florence?"