The two of them walk through the hardware store, hand in hand, as she does not seem inclined to let go of him and he has not intention of pulling away from her touch any time soon.
He leads her down to the lumber section, where he prices the plank of wood that he will need. Not that money is an issue or anything, he just wants to make sure that he is getting the best wood that he can.
With everyone being obsessed by this stupid legnd and his family, the motel has done such a booming business that he can easily say that he is well off. Not that he says it.. that would be in poor taste. But he is.
“I need to find a worker, real quick. I will be right back.” Owen tell her, releasing her hand. She watches him walk away, feeling the warmth of his hand in hers still lingering. She misses his touch, which is weird, considering that she has known him for less than a day.
“I can't believe how he just walks around this town as if nothing ever happened. He is walking through this store as if he owns the place. It pisses me off to see him acting so casual around the town, as if he doesn't realize that we all hate him!” Olivia hears a voice say from the other aisle over.
The woman was not keeping her voice down, so the words carry plainly over to Liv. She listens shamelessly to the town gossip, interested. When Owen gets back she will ask him if he knows the person that they were fussing about.
“Well, hell, he can't stay up in that creepy motel all the time. He has to go into town some time to get provisions and so on.” Answer back a male voice, just as loudly.
Motel? Where they talking about Owen? Liv moves closer to the shelves of lumber, to try to hear them even better.
“Yeah, well.. he should be made to go to another town. We got some real pretty young girls around here, that we would rather not have disappearing again.” The woman says.
“Now Trudy, it has been nearly ten years since we had anyone disappear any where around us in this state. If he was up to something, the police would have got him by now.” The man answers back reasonably. Liv nods along with his words, liking his willingness to not cast stones without having the whole story.
“A brown haired woman went missing two days ago. With that big ten year anniversary of the murders coming up that the local news keeps advertising, maybe he thought that it was time to pick up the mantle, so to speak. Carry on the family's legacy.” The woman tells him, sounding angry that he isn't agreeing with her little smere campaign that she is running.
The man, still not buying into her character assassination, grunts. “That does not mean that the boy had a thing to do with it. Hell, a black man and a blonde haired twelve year old girl also went missing in the last month in surrounding towns, but you are not jumping to conclusions over that.” He sighs. “Some times people just go missing.. that's the world that we live in. We can't pass all the blame on a guy just cause of his family. I told you, I know him and he is a good guy.”
“I don't care what you say, Owen Matthews is a killer, just like his family was. He needs to stay out of this town cause none of us want him around.”
The woman yells the words shrilly, her voice carrying over to many aisles. Liv falls back away from the shelf, the word that she said still ringing in her ears.
Killer.
Owen Matthews is a killer.
Liv turns away, ready to leave the store when she sees him behind her, standing their with the most lost and pained look in his eyes. He heard what the woman said. He probably heard every word that the big mouth bitch spewed.
Liv can see the pain and the embarrassment in his eyes. But more than that, she sees shame. She does not know his story and she has no idea what those people are talking about but she does know Owen. Well, as well as she can now a man that she only met this morning.
The two of them stand their in silence, watching each other warily for a moment, Owen waiting to see what her next move is. She can tell that she surprises him when she walks over to him with a smile, taking his hand in hers once more.
“Did you find someone to come help us?”
Owen nods, not saying a word. He averts his eyes. “I will get what I need some other time. Let's go.”
“Oh, heck no.” Liv tells him, tugging him over to the teenage boy that she sees approaching with a store logo on his shirt. “We are already here. We will get what you need, then we will go back to the motel.”
She can see that Owen is uncomfortable and wants to leave, but she will be damned if he lets him scitter away just because some loud mouth woman with more volume than sense had the gall to talk shit about him in public.
Liv and Owen are standing their ground, whether Owen wants to or not. Liv has a long standing tradition of not backing down or giving a damn what people say about her. That is something that she plans to pass on to Owen before she leaves.
“Okay Owen, tell this man what wood you need.” Liv prombts Owen as the boy comes to a halt beside them.
She can feel the teens eyes roaming over her and apparently Owen notices the looks, which is enough to pull him from this little funk of his, because he pulls her closer into his side and stares hard at the kid as he gives him his order.
She nestles into his side, under his arm and listens. She is staring down the aisle when she sees a short, extremely skinny older woman in ripped, dirty pants come from the aisle over, with a tall, husky older man behind her. Trudy, she presumes, as the woman turns her overly made up face to glare in Owen's direction.
Liv, being the bitch that she is, grins real big and gives the woman a wave. If they were in a cartoon then she would have seen the red on the womans face rising up until the steam comes out of her ears. Instead the womans face just goes red immediately and she frowns so deep that her tacky blue eyeshadow disappears into the creases of her eyes. She turns around and stomps away, as the man behind her smiles back at Liv and waves.
Yep, Liv still likes him.
It takes a few minutes for Owen to place his order and for them to get everything together, so once he pays for his purchases, the two of them go to wait in his truck until the boy can bring it out.
Once they are in his vehicle, he turns to her with a frown. “I am sure that you have a bunch of questions.”
“Honestly, yeah.. I do.” Liv tells him. She looks towards the amount of wood that the two men are pushing out on one of those rolling carts and she turns back to him. “What the heck are you making your family for Christmas?”
Owen sighs deeply. She is avoiding dicussing the real issue here, which is what she just overheard. The accusations against him. By her not discussing it, either she does not believe it so she is giving it no credit or she does believe it and is far too afraid to bring it up in conversation within striking distance of him. To which he understands. Olivia was naturally graced with the power of self preservation, which is shining through in this scenerio. He just wishes that she had never heard any of that hateful drivel that Trudy Bellmer was spewing at the hardware store. “I am making furniture for them.”
* Graphic content warning* Owen walked into the office of the motel with a smile on his face and Liv right behind him, but the smile quickly disappeared when he got a look at Stephanie's face. She looks upset and worried. “What's wrong?” He asks her, moving closer. Was something going on with the motel or was it a personal issue? When he had sent Sam home early, he had managed the office until Stephanie had arrived to cover his morning shift so that he could run some errands. He would work her evening shift for her so that she would have a night free for a date with her boyfriend. Th
Liv watches helplessly as the sheriff loads Owen up in the back of his car and drives away. As she stands there, she hears two officers walking past her, having a conversation about it. “Yeah, she is the girl that was reported missing a few days ago.” One officer says. “Damn. Thought so. Looks like Owen is following in his father and brother's shoes. We might want to go check that well. Any time a girl goes missing around here, we are sure to find them at the Murder Motel.” The other one says. The first officer ch
Owen moves over to bed to pick up the card. It represents something ominous. How did this card get here? Why was it placed here? For someone to have left this card for him they would have had to break into his room. Was it the killer? Owen figured that it had to be. As he set in an interrogation room getting drilled with question after question, he had spent the time thinking. It had helped him come up with an idea of what had happened. Owen figures that the killer somehow managed to get the keys from his kitchen a few days ago, somehow. He or she used them to steal his tools from his workshop. He already made the connection in his
“Owen.” Liv reaches for his hand and sits down on the foot of his bed, pulling him down with her. Once he is seated beside her, she turns to face him. “You were not a coward and you did not let those women die. It wasn't like you helped them kill those women. You tried to stop them and they hurt you. You were young and you were afraid. You were human. That affliction happens to the best of us sometimes and we can't do anything about it.” “So being human is an affliction?” He teases her with a smile, trying to lighten the mood and she chuckles. “Of course it is!” But then she s
Liv lifts a hand to her face, rubbing at her still closed eyes. They are so dry that they feel like sandpaper. She tries to open them but the light hits them and they burn like fire. She quickly closes them with a quiet groan, lifting an arm to cover them in the hopes of eliviating the pain. When she restlessly moves her leg, she freezes as it touches something. She encountered another leg. What the hell? Slowly she opens her eyes, letting them adjust to the pain. She remembers most of last night but she isn't sure how that explains the fact that he is in bed beside her or that she is still in his room come morning time.Last night s
Liv enters her room, ready to take a hot shower and get dressed for the day. She left Owen to deal with his angry mother and the rest of his family. Despite having just woke up less than half an hour ago, she is exhausted. Probably from flipping through so many emotions in such a short time. Anger and disappointment when she thought that Owen had a girlfriend. Jealousy. Relief and embarassment when she found out that the woman was his mother. Happiness at the woman's kindness. Amusement at the family's antics. Attraction so deep that it made her breathless as she had gazed at Owen, watching him with them. He was a different person a
Lacey turns to Andy and sighs. “I am really worried about him. I kow that he does not really want us here, but I can not just sit back and do nothing as this happens to him. I just can't. I am far too worried.” Andy moves over and wraps his arms around his wife from behind, pulling her body back to meet his. “Me too, honey, but Owen is a grown man. We can only help him as much as he will let us help him. We can be here for him. We can offer our unwavering love and support for him, but we can't push him too far. You know how he is. He likes to do things himself.” “That is the problem though..” Lace