Start Again | Forbidden Book 2

15. Water Under The Bridge

Two days later, Olivia's and Max's bags were packed and ready to go, they would be leaving that night for Mexico. Checo, Carola, and unfortunately Liv's parents were in Vallarta waiting for their arrival. However, before leaving there was something Liv had to do, and she headed a couple of floors down to Charles' apartment to clear the air. 

As soon as Charles opened the door and took one look at Liv he tilted his head to the side and had an apologetic look on his face "Liv" he said in a small voice as he walked a couple of steps to hug her. "I'm sorry Liv I didn't mean to make you cry the other day".

"Can I come in Charles?" she asked as she hugged him back. 

"Of course, come in" he said letting go of her and stepping to the side to let her in. 

Liv walked over to the living room and sat down on the couch, Charles sat next to her. 

"Damn it's hot in here" she said in a quiet voice while zipping down the neck of her puffy jacket. 

"Liv, I'm sorry about the way I talked to you, I'm just trying to look out for you" said Charles with a pained look on his face "What Max did was awful. I mean I was also there at the hospital when you were assaulted Liv. I saw how you ended up, how much time it took for you to get back on your feet. How could he have done this?"

Liv did feel a stabbing pain, the feelings of betrayal still lingered somewhere inside of her "Charles I know, believe me I know how awful it was, I had never felt so betrayed in my life" she said honestly and calmly.

"Then how could you just forgive him? Just like that!" said Charles starting to get lightly heated.

"It wasn't just like that" Liv shook her head "I ran away! I shut everybody out, he couldn't find me. And then... honestly he tricked me out of hiding.. but it also didn't work in his favor anyway because I lashed out at him. We got into this huge fight and I left again" she said as she took a deep breath "But then he found me again, and we really talked things through".

Charles had his brow furrowed "So you just went from lashing out at him and running away to moving in with him? How does that work exactly?" he said, clearly not agreeing with her thought process. 

"Things changed" she shrugged.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure everything changed in a couple of months, for sure" he said sarcastically "Liv that's impossible, nothing has changed, he's still the same".

"No he's not, things are not the same Charles I promise" said Olivia calmly, feeling the warmth of Charles' apartment becoming slightly suffocating. She was starting to sweat. "We are gonna be okay".

Charles shook his head in disbelief "I refuse to believe it Liv. How can you trust him? How can you know he won't pull something like this again?".

"Charles I may be taking a leap of faith on Max here, but it is my leap, I am the one taking it" she said as she tried to push her hair back due to the heat. 

"But WHY" he said raising his voice.

"BECAUSE" Liv raised her voice loosing her patience. She was slightly out of breath "Oh my god why is it so hot in here" she said as she stood up and fanned her face with her hands, pacing from one side to the other. 

"Well I don't think you should've forgiven him" shrugged Charles with an expression sure of himself. 

Liv sighed in desperation "Oh my god Charles" she said exhausted. Then she unzipped the rest of her puffy jacket and took it off. Finally feeling some relief from the heat in the apartment. She let out a deep breath, feeling relieved. She threw the jacket on the couch "This is why I forgave him Charles, this is what changed" she said.