You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 151

The phone call dragged on for what felt like forever, nearly eight minutes straight. Patricia stood there, back pressed against the door, barely moving. The glass of ice water in her hand lost its chill, turning lukewarm as time ticked by.

She glanced down at the condensation on the glass, took a deep breath, and tried to steady herself.

“Why the heavy sigh?” came a voice, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“It’s nothing,” she replied, keeping her tone light.

“Did Sara put you up to this?”

“No, I came on my own...” Patricia rushed to explain, worried he’d go downstairs and take it out on Sara if she didn’t clear things up. She was halfway through her explanation when she looked up and found him watching her, that half-smirk, half-knowing look in his eyes. It made her freeze.

Oliver always gave her the impression of a sly old fox, just waiting for some clueless little rabbit to wander right into his trap.

“They’re all nervous around you,” she blurted.

Oliver took the glass from her hand and had a sip, completely at ease. “They’re just scared of being poor.”

Patricia muttered under her breath, “Who isn’t?”

Nobody wants to be broke. Even ghosts would rather bail than be that unlucky.

“Don’t worry, Pattie. You’re never going to be poor,” Oliver said, leaning back against his desk, looking totally relaxed as he watched her.

That smile never left his face. He seemed to really enjoy watching her, always with that amused glint in his eyes. To be honest, it felt less like affection and more like admiration—or maybe he just liked having her around, like a pet he was fond of.

Thinking about it that way, even that steamy kiss last night suddenly felt a lot less exciting and a whole lot more confusing.

“Go on then, I’ve got work to do,” he said.

As Patricia closed the study door behind her, Oliver’s smile slowly faded. Was she mad at him? What did he do this time?

Back in her bedroom, Patricia flopped down on the bed and started scrolling through her phone. She saw Chelsea had just posted: “Lab rats have it better than I do.” Atticus had left a comment: “Time to make sacrifices for the greater good.” Chelsea replied, “About to sacrifice myself, but for who—I have no idea.”

“No,” Patricia started, wanting to explain, but then gave up. Matters of the heart were hard to talk about—no one else would really get it.

“By the way, how’s it going with the hospital situation?”

“Don’t worry, Miss. We’ve got our own people in there now. No one’s going to get hurt or lose their mind.” If Theo hadn’t acted as fast as he did, someone would’ve overdosed before they even got there. Then what would they have had left to deal with Kelly?

The way things were going between the Newtons and Patricia, this was only going to get messier.

At the bar, Chelsea was already at the counter, staring gloomily into her drink.

Patricia slid onto the stool next to her. “What’s up? You barely ever leave the lab, so what could possibly have you looking this down?”

“Oh, don’t even get me started!” Chelsea downed her drink in one gulp.

“My advisor had an affair with my senior, then his wife found out and made an eighty-nine-slide PowerPoint just to expose them. She posted it online, the university fired him, my senior disappeared off the face of the earth, and now I’m left—completely orphaned—ugh…”