Fix You: Bash and Olivia, Book 2 of 3 (McDaniels Brothers) by Christine Bell Page B

battle through this like we do everything else,” I reassured him. “In six months, we’ll look back at this and laugh.” It was something we brothers said a lot growing up, usually when things had gotten so absurdly bad that the only way to get through was to find moments to make each other smile. Matty wasn’t biting.
    “Don’t.” His eyes looked suspiciously glassy and his voice was choked. “Don’t pull that shit. Watching you get shoved into the back of a cop car like that will never be funny to me.” He dragged me in for a half hug and gave me a noogie before pushing me roughly away. “I gotta go. I’m meeting with a guy to see if I can borrow some money to get you a better lawyer.”
    “What guy?” He wouldn’t meet my gaze and I pressed him. “Matty, who is the meeting with?” Part of me hoped it was with my manager, to see if we could get a small advance on some of the guaranteed purse from the Spada fight. The bigger part of me knew better.
    He motioned for the guard and stood by the door. “Don’t worry about anything except staying in shape until I get you out. I got this covered.”
    “Don’t do anything stupid, bro. I mean it. I’ll be out soon enough and…”
    I was still talking as the guard let him out, wordlessly closing the door behind him.
    “All righty, then. Well, fuck you guys, too,” I muttered, running through possible scenarios. None of them were good.
    A second later, another CO came into the locked room and led me back to my cell, cutting my morbid thoughts short. I stared at the tiny cube and sucked in a breath. It could’ve been worse, as cells went. I had my own, which was a plus since the space was tight to say the least, and it wasn’t filthy or infested with rats like in the movies sometimes. But it was still jail, and the sound of the mechanism locking behind me made my skin feel too tight…like I needed to escape but couldn’t. If I had to be here for months on end, I’d lose my mind, no question.
    I lowered myself to my rickety cot and leaned back, letting my lids drift shut. Sleep was slippery here. Every time I closed my eyes, thoughts and memories came rushing in all at once. Thoughts of my childhood in different foster homes, separated from my brothers. Memories of my father, dead on the bathroom floor of our shitty little apartment. Being in a place like this that reeked of desperation and human frailty just brought it all back like it was yesterday, and pretending that I was doing fine in front of Matty was exhausting.
    Because whatever I’d told him, I wasn’t okay. My entire life had been ripped out from under me, and my dreams of fighting my way out of Boston were fading fast.
    And Olivia. Don’t forget Olivia.
    Like I could. Her pleading cornflower-blue eyes were branded into my brain.
    “I’ll never see him again.”
    That’s what she’d told Andy when they were taking me away. Maybe she’d thought it was a martyr’s move. A bargaining chip. If Andy dropped the charges against me, she and I would be over and that would be a sacrifice that benefited me.
    That’s not how I saw it, though.
    I saw it as a cop-out. I’d been willing to fight for her, and she’d thrown in the towel on us at the first sign of blood. Matty was right all along. I should’ve kept my eye on the prize, and the prize was and would always be getting the fuck out of Boston. I’d allowed myself to get distracted one time, and look where it got me. Never again. If by some grace of God I made it through this, I was pushing forward with my plans, and I wouldn’t let anything get in my way.
    Olivia Beckett was someone else’s problem now.
     

Chapter Two
    Olivia
    “Fifteen thousand for all seven pieces.”
    I snorted at the man behind the counter, grabbed the black velvet case sitting between us, and turned on trembling legs to make like I was going to walk away.
    Total bluff. I wasn’t going anywhere empty-handed. I was desperate and out of options.
    “Fine,” he