Olivia's POV
I could have easily said yes, but then Levi offered Aurora juice, his voice dripping with a gentleness he hadn't shown me in weeks.
It was a small thing. A petty thing. But it felt like a hot iron pressed against an open wound.
Fine, I thought bitterly. If you have enough care to dote on her, you don't need me there to facilitate your afternoon.
It wasn't just about the juice. It was the way his body angled toward her. It was the way Louis hadn't even looked at me when he made the offer to go to the lake, as if he were asking a stranger out of obligation rather than a mate out of desire.
Fine, I thought, a cold, hard knot forming in my chest. If I'm just a ghost in this house, I'll act like one.
"I have a lot of work to catch up on, Louis," I said, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears. "But you guys should go. It could be a sons-and-fathers bond."
