Page 121 of Falling for my Brother's Best Friend

Thirty-Nine

Liam

Poppy’s is the only place no one would think to find me. My phone rings with calls and texts messages, but I’m done with Savannah Bailey. She thinks I’m not worthy of her. Maybe it’s time for me to show her exactly how unworthy of her I am. She does love to be right. But that’s not my style.

All I wanted was somewhere to be able to gather my thoughts but sitting at a table in the back with a water isn’t allowing me to blend in well. The waitresses have side-glanced me, probably wondering why I’m not drinking. Why I’m in a suit.

This is the kind of place Savannah sees me at, right? Who she thinks I am? That I’m like Slim and his crew. A deviant to society. I’m exhausted and I’ve tried everything with this woman only to still get shot down.

Selling my painting because she thinks it will free me?

I hate that she thought there was ever something wrong with herself. That she needed me to make up a stupid bet and do bullshit things. I told her from the beginning that pieces of the old her were there, she just had to let them out.

I figured at the end of five weeks when she said I’d failed, I’d have to show her what was in the barn, but for five weeks, I would’ve had her attention. That was my only goal. Maybe it was selfish and bastardly. Shit, maybe I’m not good enough for her. I practically manipulated her for a month.

“Hey, stranger.” The body belonging to the voice slides into the chair next to me.

I know the voice and I down the rest of my water, crushing the bottle while I stand.

“Where are you going?” she asks.

“Leaving,” I tell Nina.

She leans back, wearing an outfit similar to what Savannah had on when we were here except Nina’s skirt is black leather instead of Catholic school girl plaid. She twirls her hair around her finger. “Going back to your sugar momma?”

“Slim okay with you talking to me?” I ignore her comment about Savannah. How she figured out who Savannah is doesn’t surprise me. Nina’s a stalker by trade. She legit gets hired to find people.

“We broke up.”

I nod. “Good luck. I gotta go.”

“Hey, Liam?” she calls after me, and I stop but don’t turn around. “You’ll never be able to keep her. Girls like that might think they want the bad boy, but that’s who they fuck, not who they marry.”

I close my eyes. Her words hit a little too close to the reason I’m at Poppy’s tonight. But knowing better than to engage with Nina, I walk out of Poppy’s and get into my car. My phone vibrates in the glove compartment, but I ignore it, starting the engine.

Driving has always cleared my head. After my parents left me to move to Florida the first chance they got after I graduated high school, I drove down to Seattle just to escape.

After the Baileys passed away, my mom wasn’t mentally stable. One day she’d be happy, then the next, she’d cry uncontrollably. She could barely stand to be around the Bailey kids, so the majority of my time was spent over at Rome and Denver’s.

So now when I feel the need to escape, I pull onto the interstate and drive. Put Savannah behind me. Though not having my passport puts me at a disadvantage.

I head to Glenwall and Sunrise Bay and drive around the towns. They’re not half as nice as Lake Starlight. Savannah’s face when she finally registered that I’d said I loved her occupies most of my thoughts. Her shock and awe. How did she not know? I’ve been wearing my heart all over my tattoo sleeves these past weeks.

The night replays in my head. I saw her when I arrived, and I purposely gave her the cold shoulder because I was hurt she didn’t want to announce we were seeing each other. Maybe I saw her as more of a prize than I’d like to think.

I shake my head. No. That wasn’t it. I just wanted everyone to know.

The devil sits on my shoulder and replays my words back differently and with a sneer. You wanted everyone to know you were good enough. That she saw value in you.

Fuck, where did that come from? I did not create this entire thing in my head. She was ashamed of me.

The angel appears again. Why would she run after you for any witnesses to see?

Shit. That’s a good point. But no one came. At least not that I saw. How would I have seen though when she was my sole focus by the cars?

Admit it, it’s you who thinks you’re not good enough for her.

I yank the steering wheel and do a U-turn in the middle of the interstate. The one truck on the road honks.

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