Connections by Emilia Winters Page A

behind.   He was already seething over his encounter with Julia, but the fact that Olivia had faced her alone before he’d arrived sent him into a panic.
    Olivia already had reservations about their relationship.   He didn’t need to give her one more.
    Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and, seeing no other option, he simply waited until Olivia felt calm enough to emerge.   He leaned against the paneling of the hallway wall across from the bathroom and tucked his hands in his pockets, remembering the look on Olivia’s face when he reached the two women.   He cursed again, tapping his foot nervously.
    Unfortunately, Beth had made him promise to stay through the toasts, so they’d be staying another hour.   But right now, he was seriously considering breaking that promise.   Olivia had looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.
    He knew Olivia and Julia had been discussing him.   When Luke had been pulled into conversation with one of Alex’s cousins, Alex had noticed that Olivia was no longer sitting with his grandmother.   The older woman had informed him that Olivia hadn’t been feeling well and had went searching for the bathroom ten minutes before.   And when he scouted out the hallway, he’d caught the tail end of their encounter.
    Alex isn’t damaged .
    Olivia’s words ran through his head on repeat.   Something had bubbled up inside him when he’d heard them fall from her lips.
    He’d known then, one hundred percent, that he was in love with her.   Without a doubt.   Now, he just had to convince her to stay with him.   Because he sure as hell didn’t deserve her.
    He glanced down to the end of the hallway when he suddenly heard a noise coming from the direction of his father’s office.   A second later the study door opened and closed and the man himself appeared.
    His father smelled of cigar smoke when he passed Alex in the hallway.   The smell made Alex stiffen.   He recalled the memories that came with that smell, none of them good.   Most happened in this very hallway.
    Alex didn’t say anything when his father stopped to face him.   The two men simply looked at one another.   Alex felt immense satisfaction that he no longer had to look up at his father.   Now he looked down.
    “I thought I heard Julia out here,” his father tested, his face set in stone.   Yet, Alex recognized how pleased his father seemed.   Bastard .
    “You did,” Alex stated curtly, not breaking the older man’s unforgiving gaze.   “But it’s not your concern.”
    His father’s face darkened.   “This is my house.   Not yours.   Everything is my concern and don’t you forget it.”
    The bathroom door was tugged open suddenly and Olivia emerged from the bathroom, looking more composed than she had a few moments earlier.   She glanced at Alex’s father and then to him, as though silently asking if he was okay.
    His father turned at the sound and smirked at Olivia.   Turning back to face Alex, he said quietly, “I’m surprised to see you in this hallway, Alexander.   I thought I made myself clear before.”
    “I’m not a child anymore,” Alex snarled, intense fury washing over him at the smugness in his father’s face.   Black hate overwhelmed him.   His throat tightened, his face flushed, his heart beat at a fierce, unsteady pace.   He felt like he had when he was a child, enduring his father’s punishments.
    Something became glaringly clear.   His father didn’t love him.   How could he when he brought up such dark memories?   How could he when he obviously reveled in them?
    His father continued passed them without a second glance at either Alex or Olivia.   His blatant disregard for her angered him even further and he felt the walls closing in.
    “Alex,” Olivia whispered.
    No, no, no, no, no.
    He couldn’t breathe.   He felt her soft touch on his arm and he tried to focus on that.
    “Alex,” she said more urgently.
    I thought I made myself clear before .
    He