Chapter 28

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Olivia

"Let me help you zip your dress." I insisted, shuffling behind Cassie and pulling up the zipper on the dainty maxi dress that she wore. It was a beautiful, solid white dress that showed off her rounding belly and ruffled softly to her feet. She took advantage of the beautiful spring weather we were now having and sported the cutest silver sandals with silver studs on them.

"Thanks, Liv. It's already getting harder for me to reach certain places." She laughed, rubbing her baby bump gently. "This little one's doing a number on me."

"Well, you look stunning, Cass...you really do."

Cassie smiled cheekily before pulling me into a tight hug and kissing my cheek. "Thank you for helping me out today. I'm so grateful for you, Liv...truly."

"I have your back always. You know that...I'm just super excited to find out I'm getting a godson or goddaughter! " I cheered, grabbing her hands and giving them a tight squeeze.

Today was Cassie's gender reveal, and everyone was over the moon to finally find out what she was having. Her parents drove down from Oswego, and a few friends from school were coming to join us. Of course, the guys would be there. The entire crew would be.

Russ and Jason organized a fire department-style gender reveal with the chief, who was the only one who knew the gender of the baby, so that the plan could come together. They decided to dye the water that would come out of a hose line that Russ and Cassie would spray at the park.

Pink for a girl and blue for a boy, of course.

"I am too." Cassie smiled, looking at herself in the mirror and fluffing her hair which I had straightened for her. "I'm still betting he's a boy...my belly's growing more pointed."

I couldn't help but giggle at her assumption as she glanced up at me slyly. "You believe in that?"

"I do." She shrugged. "I'll prove myself right in a bit, you'll see."

"Whatever you say, Cass."

Slipping into my sandals, I sighed and looked at my outfit in the full-length mirror. I wore a white denim skirt and a light blue top that tightened in the front with ruffled sleeves. I shouldn't have to explain that Cassie had coerced me into wearing blue.

"Are you ready to go? Russ just texted me and said everyone's there except for us." She laughed, shaking her head.

"We're never on time to anything."

"Like ever," Cassie confirmed, tossing her bag onto her shoulders.


We made it to the park a few minutes later and could see everyone chatting around, waiting for Cassie's arrival. The setup was adorable, with pink and blue balloons everywhere, tables set up for people to sit and eat as well as the fire trucks parked with a boy or girl banner on them. The hose line that would be used to do the reveal was hooked up to one of the trucks and ready to go.

"Let's go see what baby's going to be." She cheered, clapping her hands together as we made our way over to the crowd of people waiting.

Cassie made her way over to Russ, who was waiting for her with open arms. Jason, however, was nowhere to be found.

I was surprised he wasn't standing with Russ and the chief. As I peered through the crowd of people, my eyes finally settled on him, way on the outskirts of the gender reveal party and standing next to some girl, laughing as she poked at his side. I assumed they were coworkers because they both wore FDNY uniforms.

My brows pulled together in confusion as I watched the playful banter going on between them as he pushed her away gently, but only for her to bump sides with him and cause him to stumble a bit. I mean...what was that all about?

I began walking over toward them with crossed arms. My lips pulled down into a tight frown as I had no idea what I was walking into. Hopefully, I was overthinking it, and they were just messing around in a friendly manner like most of Jason and his crew did all the time.

Jason noticed me coming up to them, and immediately a cheeky smile grew on his face. "Oh, hey Liv! I didn't even notice you were here." He smiled, pulling me into his arms.

"Yeah...I wonder why." I muttered, pulling out of the hug.

"Are you okay, baby?" He asked, his brows pulling together in confusion.

I fought the urge to blow up on him and instead bit down on my bottom lip for a moment in an attempt to calm myself. "I'm fine...aren't you going to introduce me?" I couldn't help the pettiness lisped in my tone.

"Oh yeah! I'm sorry." Jason chuckled, motioning toward the girl standing beside him. "This is Mariana. She's the new paramedic at the station I was telling you about...Mariana, this is my girlfriend, Olivia."

"Wow, Boyd never mentioned he had a girlfriend." She smiled, offering her hand for me to shake. "Nice to meet you."

"Oh..he didn't?" I asked, accepting her hand into mine. "Well, that's me."

I forced a smile as Mariana shook my hand, looking me up and down.

"You got lucky, Boyd. She's gorgeous." She winked, nudging him in the arm with her elbow before walking off toward the rest of the crew.

I watched as she walked off, just feeling the anger inside of me build up. He's been staying late after work for the past week to "help her out," but hasn't once mentioned that he had a girlfriend?

Was I not important enough to mention...even once?

As badly as I wanted to start yelling at Jason, I refused to make a scene here and ruin Cassie's gender reveal. I could feel Jason's eyes peering into the side of my face as I refused to look him in the eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay, sweetheart?" He asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I'm fine," I stated dryly. "It looks like they're about to start. We should go over there."

Jason attempted to grab my hand as we made our way to where Cassie, Russ, and the rest of everyone stood around, waiting for the gender to be revealed. I yanked my hand away from him, folding my arms across my chest.

"Seriously?" He asked, holding his hands up in confusion. "What did I do?"

"Stop talking to me, okay? I'm trying to enjoy my best friend's gender reveal, and you're pissing me off." I snapped, rushing away from him and over to Cassie as she and Russ grabbed onto the hose excitedly.

"Liv!" Cassie cheered as she noticed me standing off to the side. "Watch, I'm telling you it's going to be a boy." She grinned as the chief turned the water supply on.

I couldn't help but smile despite feeling like absolute shit after what Jason had pulled right before my eyes. Cassie's happiness at that moment was undeniably contagious.

"Alright, guys...3...2...1...spray!" The chief yelled.

Russ pulled back the lever on the nozzle, and water immediately began to spray at a high force across the grass of the park. It came out clear at first, and everyone was basically on the top of their toes, waiting for the color to come through.

Just a few seconds later, the color blue began to burst from the hose and into the air, along with the rupture of cheers and shrieks of joy coming from everyone in the park.

Russ dropped the hose and lifted Cassie into his arms as she cried tears of joy. Cassie turned back to look at me once Russ placed her back on her feet, and immediately I ran into her arms, hugging her as tightly as I could.

"Congratulations!" I cheered, holding her head in my hands.

"Oh, I'm so excited!" She yelped, wiping her tears of joy away. "I told you he's a boy! I just knew it!"

"You sure did. I can't wait to go buy him toys and little shoes!"

"I know!" Cassie cried, holding my arms. "We're going to go shopping soon."

"His God momma is going to spoil him to death."

We both laughed as Cassie nodded her head. "I already know it. He's going to be one spoiled little man."

I gave her a soft smile, watching as hers dropped slightly as she gazed into my eyes.

"Are you okay, babes?" She asked, stroking a few loose hairs from my face.

"Of course I'm okay. I'm great, Cass. I'm so happy for you."

Cassie nodded her head as I pushed her off toward Russ, who was waiting for her to come back over to him so they could cut the cake for everyone.

The rest of the party went really well, even though I spent the entire evening avoiding Jason. I fiddled around with the straw in my drink as Cassie plopped down on a chair beside me.

"What are you doing over here, babes? Everyone's playing games and stuff. You don't want to join?" She asked, resting her hand on my shoulder.

"I'm not feeling too well, Cass, but please don't worry about me. Go and enjoy your party! This is such a special day for you and Russ."

"Olivia, spit it out," Cassie demanded, crossing her arms. "Don't give me that foolishness...you think I haven't noticed you running from Jason all night? What did he do?"

"I didn't' mean to make it obvious. I'm sorry." I sulked, shaking my head.

"How could it not be obvious when you two are usually connected at the hip?" She asked, cocking her brows up. "Now tell me what's wrong before I take my pregnant ass over there and knock him out."

"It's just...He was really touchy with that new medic. He's been staying late to train almost every day last week...I don't know. I just got weird vibes from the two of them together."

"Well, maybe they were just playing around, babes, you know how they are at the station."

"I know." I nodded. "I just...it's also the fact that when he introduced me to her, she said he never mentioned he had a girlfriend...she looked shocked like maybe something was going on between the two of them, I don't know."

Cassie cocked her head to the side as she took in the information. "Well, that's kind of odd...I wonder why he wouldn't have mentioned you at all..."

"Exactly...and I didn't like how they were just teasing each other and being so touchy...I know the guys play around a lot, but she's not a guy...and he's not a single man, so he shouldn't be allowing her to be like that with him. I'm not comfortable with it."

"Yeah, definitely not." Cassie agreed, shaking her head. "That's really weird of him...and disrespectful if I'm honest. You're going to have to talk with him, especially since it's making you uncomfortable...which it should. I would feel some type of way if it were Russ."

I sighed deeply, nodding my head at Cassie's advice. I knew I needed to talk to him, but I didn't even want to look at him right now. "I felt so embarrassed in front of her when she looked so surprised that we were dating...and it doesn't help that she's stunning."

"I'm honestly shocked, Liv. I just know you need to figure out what's up with him."

"So am I." I sighed, taking a sip of my lemonade. "He's been so good to me all this time...I just don't know how to feel."

"Come here." She hummed, pulling me into her arms as she noticed the tears welling up. "Don't you dare cry over this, do you hear me?" She urged, pulling back to look me straight in the eyes. "This is not worth crying over. You're smart, you're beautiful, you have so much love in your heart, and if he messes that up, that's on him...not you."

"But Cass..." I trailed off, holding my head back as if it would prevent the tears from falling. "I love him. I really love him, and I feel physically sick thinking about him being with another girl."

"I know, babes." She whispered, stroking my arm lightly. "Do you want to go home?"

"No." I shook my head, trying my best to collect myself. "No, I want to be here for you. I need to pull it together." I nodded, brushing the stray tears off of my cheeks.

"Olivia I-"

"Seriously, Cass, I'll be okay. I'll come and play games with everyone and distract myself."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded my head once more, standing up from my seat and adjusting the skirt that clung to my body. "I'm sure."


The party ended after about another hour, and I slipped away quickly without saying a word to Jason, but I knew he wasn't far behind me. He hadn't been far behind throughout the entire night as I pretended like he didn't exist. Of course, once I got back to the apartment building, he pulled into the garage right behind me. Cassie had gone with Russ to his place for the night, so I was all alone with him tailing me.

I gathered all of my things from my car and rushed inside, hoping to get inside before Jason had even a second to say a word to me, but of course, he'd caught up to me.

"Olivia, seriously, can we talk?" He called out as I sped walked down the hall, not giving him an ounce of attention.

His footsteps were loud as he stomped quickly behind me.

"Olivia, for god sake, stop! Just fucking stop!" He roared.

I spun around on my heels, a startled look on my face as I was met by the pure anger and agitation written across his. However, as soon as his eyes scanned me, taking in my fearful stance, his entire demeanor softened.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, holding his hands up. "I'm sorry I yelled, sweetheart...I just don't understand why you're ignoring me."

"Oh, you don't?" I questioned, shaking my head, continuing over to the door of my apartment.

Jason grabbed hold of my wrist just as I slipped the key into the lock, and instantly I yanked it out of his hand, whipping around and glaring into his puzzled orbs.

"Do not touch me," I warned, pointing a finger at him.

"Liv...how am I supposed to know what I did if you won't talk to me? I'm not a mind reader!"

"If you think you have to be a mind reader to figure out what you did and how you made a complete fool out of me in front of another woman...maybe we shouldn't be together."

"What?!" He asked with a rising tone of voice. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you playing dumb, or are you actually dumb?" I spat out before opening my door and stepping inside.

I turned around to look at Jason, watching as he stared down at me with tight lips and lowered eyes. I thought for a moment I could see tears pooling in his ocean blue orbs.

"Olivia...please."

"Please what, Jason?"

"I don't want to end the night like this. I don't want to end up losing you over something that's probably not even that serious."

"Not even that serious?" I nearly laughed, watching as Jason shut his eyes, dropping his head in defeat.

"I'm sorry okay? Whatever it is, I'm sorry." He pleaded desperately.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." I snapped, slamming the door in his face. 


A/N: Is Liv overreacting, or is Jason up to no good? 🧐

I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter!

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