Forever Mine

Chapter six

Ollie

I looked at him and tried to hide the fear in my eyes. I had to tread carefully. I don't know how he would act in front of his family, but I needed to be careful.

Because at the end of the day, I was Ava's doctor and she needed me.

“What happened?” he asked as he stood up, hands flat on the table and leaning over like he was about to pounce.

“There’s an emergency with Ava. She’s having a lot of pressure and pain and they’re worried and since I’ve been her OB from the beginning, I need to go and take a look at her.”

“No. Have the on-call OB take a look. You’re off today and you’re supposed to be here to be with me and my family.” He said as he ground his teeth together. His pupils dilated briefly as he looked at me. I knew that look and it was that look that scared me.

But I kept a brave face.

“I have to…” I whispered as he reached down and grabbed my wrist, making me wince my face a bit. I quickly recovered, so his parents and siblings didn’t notice.

“Ryan…” Nora whispered, “If she has to go, then she has to go. It’s an emergency and we’re talking about a baby’s life. What would you do if it was Ollie and your child that needed help?” I looked over at her and saw something behind her eyes. She looked at me for a moment before looking back at her brother, “You said you two wanted to start a family. If this happened to her, would you deny her getting the treatment she needed? What if it is something serious that she could prevent? Best case, it’s nothing, but she won’t know that until she sees her patient and takes a look.”

He glared at his sister before turning to me, “Fine. Come on, let’s go, but you owe me. It’s not every day I get to see my family since they live in Virginia. Who knows when the next time I’ll see them will be.”

“Art is on his way to get me.” I said, making him turn back around and look at me with furrowed brows, “They were on their way home from San Antonio when he called. He will be here any minute.”

“Absolutely not!” he raised his voice, making his mother stand up, “There is no way I’m going to let another man drive you back to Crossdale!”

“He’s married to one of my best friends!” I raised my voice back, “Nothing is going to happen! His wife is in the damn car with him and she’s freaking out!”

I just signed my death certificate.

“Ryan Michael Monroe!” she said as she slammed her hands on the table. We both snapped our heads at her and he looked like he had just been slapped by his mother, “Let her go. If she needs to go to help them, then let her. We can always have lunch again before we leave to go back home or you two can come visit when you both get time off.”

I nodded my head, “I can schedule a vacation out for a couple of months. I’ll take all two weeks and we can go.”

“I don’t like this Ol.” He mumbled.

“Everything will be fine, promise.” I smiled at him, “You need to trust me…”

Just before he could answer, my phone started to vibrate again and I knew it was Art. I pulled my hand away from Ryan and went on my toes and kissed him on the cheek. His face softened just a bit before he pulled me back and hugged me.

“We are going to have a conversation when I get home, Olivia.” He whispered in my ear as shivers went down my spine and not the good kind. I nodded my head, said my goodbyes and ran out the door, not looking back.

As I saw Art pacing in the parking lot, Nora came out, “Ollie!” she yelled, making me turn as my hand touched the back door handle, “Wait.”

“Yeah?”

“Take my number. Call me if you need anything…and I mean anything. Ryan…he’s…” and she paused, coming up to me and hugged me, “You’re too good for him. Please, call me later…we need to talk.” With a nod of my head I went into the car and saw Ava in the back seat lying down holding her belly.

“Let’s go.” I said as I started to feel around her belly.

An hour…an hour to get back to the hospital because Ava refused to go anywhere else except there as long as she was stable. She’s stubborn. That ass.

Art ran in and got a wheelchair and we rolled her into one of the open rooms so I could strap the baby to a monitor to monitor the heartrate and another one to monitor contractions. I strapped my gloves on and lifted the sheet to do an exam.

“Does it bother you?” Art asked.

“What?” I mumbled as I started.

“That you see more v*****s than most men?” Ava and I just stopped, looked at him with a c****d eyebrow, giving him that ‘really?’ look, “What? It’s a legitimate question.” He shrugged.

“I’m not even going to entertain that with an answer.” I shook my head, “And you probably see more d***s than most men and women so...” His phone rang and he instantly picked it up, shaking his head at me as I rolled my eyes, “Men.”

“Hey. I’m going to have to cancel.” He mumbled on the phone, “Ava’s in the hospital. Ollie is checking her out now.” Another pause, “I can see if she will call you after. She’s on call but…” pause… “Okay! I’ll make sure. Yeah yeah, I got it. Bye.”

“What did he want?” I asked, finishing up my exam knowing exactly who it was. What I don’t get is, if he needed to talk to me, why not just call me? Is he afraid I wouldn’t answer?

Hell, it’s been three weeks since I last spoke to him. I went to look for him the night of Aiden’s goodbye party only to be told him and Aiden left and they needed some bromance time together. I’ve called. I’ve texted but nothing.

I just wanted to make sure he was okay because his best friend had just left for war, but now he was avoiding me. I know things haven't been smooth sailing with us, but I still care.

“How do you know who it is?”

“The only person that would be calling you to have me call them is Felix, because you two and Finn, for some odd reason, are joint to the hip, add in Gage and it's a full on muscle wall of men in that strange foursome you have going on. Finn is on vacation with Sawyer and the girls, so we know it’s not him. Aiden is overseas and has no reason to talk to me. I don't know Gage all too well, so that leaves the thorn in my side,” I said as I continued to do the internal exam on Ava.

“You know…the way you two talk to one another is like true love.” He laughed, “But he said he’s been trying to call you but it keeps going to voicemail like he’s blocked. His parents and yours want you back at the ranch for something.” He shrugged, “How is she?”

I sighed and rolled away, taking my gloves off, “Look at the scans and charts and you tell me.” I mumbled. They both looked at everything and furrowed their brows. I wanted to laugh so hard, I really did, but I held it in for their sake.

I get hurt enough as it is, I don’t need them hurting me either.

“This doesn’t make sense…” Ava mumbled, “This has to be wrong. You did something wrong.”

“I promise you I didn’t. You have no bleeding, which is good because of your condition. They are false contractions and the tightness you feel is from the baby moving and the muscles getting ready. If you don’t feel him moving for twenty-four hours, call me.”

“If this is what Braxton hicks feels like, I’m going to die.” Ava threw her hands in the air and laid back down on the bed. I just shook my head and laughed, “It’s like…now that I know for sure what they are…the pain isn’t as bad.”

“And that, my dear, is why drugs were invented. Get dressed. We will have to get together soon for a movie night.”

“Your place this time? We haven’t been there in forever and you have the giant basket chair thing I love so much.” I paused and looked back over to her.

“It’s a papasan and we can’t. They’re…remodeling.” I mumbled, “I’m going to call Felix and figure out what’s going on.”

I left the room before she could say anything and pulled up Felix’s number on my list. I hit his name to call him but it went straight to voicemail. Weird. I tried again and the same thing happened. I turned back in the room and went to Art, “Give me your phone.”

“Um…why?”

“Just do it.” I rolled my eyes as he handed it to me. I pulled his number up while Ava laid on the bed, being over dramatic about the Braxton Hicks, and called his phone, it instantly ringing. I called Felix again and it went to voicemail. I furrowed my brow and called Felix from Art’s phone.

“Dude, did you tell her to call me? I’ve been waiting!” you can hear the horses in the background, “My parents are being a pain in the ass and her parents are not helping the situation and her damn brother is just laughing his ass off at their impatientness.”

“Felix…do you have me blocked?” I asked and he went silent.

“No. I’ve been trying to call you for the past three weeks but it always went to voicemail and my messages go unread. I thought you blocked me. We need to talk Ollie…”

“About what?”

“Lots of things.” He sighed, “But our parents want you over now for something important. Dad came into the barn and freaked out when I was trying to take care of Buck. When can you get here?”

“A couple of hours maybe? I need to get a ride home, shower, get ready and then down there.”

“Where are you? The hospital?”

“Yeah.” I mumbled.

“Stay there. I’ll come get you. This will give us a chance to…talk.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll be there soon.”

“No. I’m coming to get you. Stay there.” And he hung up on me.

Fat chance. I’m not doing it. There is no way I’m going to subject myself to be alone with him in the car, forcing me to talk about things that no longer matter. Plus, if Ryan found out, I'm scared of what he would do.

“You blocked him?” Ava asked as she held her hand out for my phone. I gave it to her and she went through some settings as I sat there, “Yeah, you b***h. You blocked him. Why?”

I gave her a confused look, “But…I didn’t. I don’t block anyone unless it’s spam.” And as soon as she unblocked his number, all his messages started to come through and her eyes went wide.

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

Dozens of messages, “Oh my gosh…what did you do?” she asked.

“Oh let me see!” Art said, grabbing the phone and reading them. He had the biggest grin on his face, “Ollie, you little minx. Why didn’t you tell me you and Monroe are over and it’s you and Scanlon?”

“There is no me and Felix.” I groaned as I ripped the phone from his hands, going through the messages, “You two are delusional.”

I don’t know why you’re avoiding me. We need to talk about New Years.

Please, let’s talk it out. Stop doing this.

There are things you need to know so we can move on. I’m a dumbass, we all know this, but there’s something. Come on, after the whole thing with Art and Ava and what happened then and new years…you can’t deny it.

Give me one more chance…one more night.

Ollie…this is starting to feel like déjà vu.

You know, I don’t get why I keep chasing you when you don’t even want to be chased or even care. It’s always the same bullshit. It’s always the same back and forth.

You know…I’m done chasing after you. If Monroe is what you want, then fine.

“You slept with him, didn’t you.” Ava pointed and I just let my shoulders slump. Reading that last message hurt a bit. I didn't want to be with Ryan but I'm scared to leave him. I'm scared of his threats and what he would do.

“Can we talk about this later? I already feel guilty about it as it is and it was three weeks ago.”

“Tonight. My house. Be there or I’m stalking you.” she grinned, “And details girl…we need details! Oh! Sawyer is coming home today! I’ll call her and Luna, Ray and Summer…oh this is going to be so fun.”

“Wonderful. If that’s the case, can we move it to this weekend? I’m off and not on call so I can get plastered.”

“Done!” she grinned, hoping off the table.

At that moment, I gave her one last hug while I ran downstairs to try and get out the door, pulling up Uber to get home, but that was short-lived. I ran right into him, almost falling back. He reached out and grabbed my wrist, so I didn’t fall.

The pain shot right through me and up my arm. At this point, I would rather fall. It would have hurt less. I need to remember to get my wrist x-rayed…

“You think you can run from me?” Felix grinned, “Come on. Let’s get you home to change and head back to the rents.”

“No need. Let’s just go to mom and dad’s and get this over with.” I mumbled.

“What sweet words you have.” He laughed.

I rolled my eyes, pulled my wrist away from him and stomped towards his jeep. A jeep that I know all to freaken well.

The ride to our parents was a blur as we sat in silence. He tried to talk to me but I didn’t respond. I was too deep in my thoughts. I had other things to worry about, like how I was going to work the rest of the week with my wrist, which is probably fractured at this point, or how I’m going to fix my walls.

Or what is going to happen to me once Ryan finds out I was in the car alone with Felix and didn’t tell him. So I sat there, in silence, wanting to cry everything out, but I held it in.

Because that’s what I do best.

I'll cry when I know for sure I'll be alone and uninterrupted then I'll pull myself back together and go on with the day like I always do.