A Single Night

By the time Ben pulled into the gravel path outside her place, she was ready for work. He did a double take when she got in the car, asking if everything was okay. She answered in the affirmative, then continued to stare out the passenger window. Ben tried several times to engage her in conversation only to get one-word answers to all his questions. He eventually gave up and they spent the rest of the drive in silence. Ben followed Olivia into the office a frown marring his face. There was something definitely wrong with her, and she didn't seem to want to discuss it with him. They worked quietly for most of the morning. He couldn't fault her work at all, but his concern grew so much that he did the one thing he thought could help. He stepped out of the office on the pretense of getting donuts and called Devon. "What's up, man?" Devon answered his phone. "Did you and Olivia have a fight or something?" "No, why?" "Something's going on with her." "What do you mean?" Devon asked, concern bleeding through his words. "I picked her up this morning and she looks like she hasn't slept in days. There are dark circles around her eyes and she just looks sad. I asked her what was wrong, if I could help, and she keeps saying that things are fine. I'm worried about her." "I'm on my way over. I'll take her out to lunch and see if I can get anything out of her. She was fine when I dropped her off Sunday. We had a great weekend together. The only thing I can imagine that might have happened is something concerning her brother." "See you in a bit," Ben said, ringing off. When Devon walked into Ben's office a short while later and saw Olivia behind her desk, he was grateful that Ben had called him. She looked pale and fragile sitting in her chair and he saw exactly what had concerned his friend so much. Olivia looked up in surprise. "Devon, what are you doing here?" "I was in the area and thought that I'd stop by and take you out to lunch," he explained. Olivia stared at him a few seconds before looking over to Ben. "You ratted me out," she said incredulously. "Yep," he answered unabashedly. "Unbelievable," Olivia muttered. "Grab your coat, Liv. Just a quick lunch and I'll bring you right back." Olivia begrudgingly got up from her desk and put her coat on. Frowning in Ben's direction, she let Devon lead her out of the office and down the street a few blocks to a restaurant he knew she liked. When they were seated in a booth in the corner and had ordered their meal, Devon leaned in and took hold of the hand Olivia had resting on the table. "What's going on, honey? You were fine when I dropped you off yesterday. What's happened since then?" "I can't find Kevin," she answered wearily. "He didn't come home again last night?" "No...I mean I can't find him. I looked everywhere for him last night and he's nowhere to be found." "Wait a minute," Devon said, trying to wrap his head around what he thought she was saying to him. "Are you telling me that after I dropped you off, you went out and searched for him? On your own? In the dark?" "There was no sign that he'd been to the trailer all weekend," Olivia explained, entirely unaware of the small twitch at the corner of Devon's eye. "I went out and tried to find him but there was no sign of him anywhere. I looked in all his old haunts, places he used to hang out in, but it's like he's completely disappeared." "When did you get back to your place?" he asked in a deathly calm voice, a sudden chill hanging on the edge of his words. "Around five this morning," she answered, completely unaware of the tension radiating from the man sitting across from her. Shock yielded quickly to fury. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Devon fumed. "What's your problem?" Olivia insisted as she gave him a hostile glare. "Kevin is my brother. I'm worried about him." Devon looked at her with a sardonic expression that sent her temper soaring. "Maybe you don't care about that, Devon, but I do. I love him," she defended heatedly. "Christ, I'm not saying not to love him, Olivia, but putting yourself in danger just to walk around the streets at night trying to find the bastard was just plain stupid. You could have been hurt or worse. If you were that worried, why didn't you call me? I may not agree with your penchant for wanting to rescue him, but I would have helped you." "It's my responsibility, Devon, not yours to..." "Screw that," he interrupted vehemently. "I thought we meant a little more to each other than that. You knew I would have helped you but you shut me out and risked your own life in the process." The waitress approached the table with their lunch order. "Can you wrap those to go?" he asked quietly. When the waitress walked away to do as he asked, Devon stood up and threw enough money on the table to more than cover their order plus a generous tip. His face was a glowering mask of rage when he looked back at her. "Take the food back with you. Ben might want something to eat." Olivia glared at him with burning, reproachful eyes. "I'm sorry you can't understand how important he is to me." "You just don't get it, Olivia," his curt voice lashed at her. "Maybe you never will," he finished before walking out of the restaurant.