Page 36 of Never Less

Marcus

“Liliana!”

When I saw her a mess in my kitchen, the last thing I expected her to do was bolt, so I’m frozen in shock for a second. It’s only when I realize she’s heading for the back door that I come to my senses.

She shoves it open and stumbles into the pool area, and I jump into action. Goddammit, I should’ve seen this coming. I had her unintentionally cornered. Heading outside was the only way she could escape our conversation without having to move past me.

I chase after her, ignoring the fact that I already took my shoes off. It’s started raining again, but that isn’t stopping her, and it sure as hell isn’t going to stop me. I’m not letting her get caught out here alone.

“Liliana, the storm!”

But the winds are strong enough that she doesn’t hear me. Either that, or she’s ignoring me. I run as fast as I can, dashing through the backyard until the ground transforms from grass into sand. It’s wet and clumpy and slows me down, but it does the same to her, too.

When I catch up with her, she’s made it halfway to the waterline. I grab her arm, but she slips from my grasp, her skin slick from the rain. A sob rips through the air as she loses her balance and careens to one side. I try to catch her, but she pushes me away, the force of it making her trip and fall.

She crashes to the ground, a surprised yelp escaping her lips as her knees hit the sand. Within seconds, I drop in front of her, grabbing her shoulders.

“Are you all right?” I do my best to check her over. “Did you hurt yourself? Are you—”

“All I feel is hurt,” she cries. “There isn’t anything else. Hurt and shame and hatred and—Marcus, stop!” She shoves my hands away, which were in the process of pushing back the hair that’s plastered to her face. “Just go.”

“The only way I’m leaving this beach is if you’re with me. Fight me all you want, but I’m not leaving your side until you’re back in the house.”

She tries to shove me away, but I only pull her closer, dragging her through the sand until she’s in between my legs.

“What did he do?” I ask, vaguely aware of the possibility that she’s not crying because of my son. That this might all be my fault. “Liliana, is this because of last night?”

I never should’ve invited her in. Never should’ve used her the way I did.

“He’s going to leave me,” she chokes out. “He had a plan to before I found out he was cheating, and when I said I was going to break up with him, he begged me to stay. He promised to fix things, Marcus, but it was only so he could be the one to end things.”

I can barely make out what she says over the wind and the waves crashing, so it takes me a second to realize that I heard her correctly. I sit in stunned silence, my hand traveling up and down her back because I have no fucking clue what to say.

I’m going to kill him.

“And I’m the same,” Liliana says, her voice shaky.

That snaps me back to reality. Why the fuck does she think that?

“Because I want you, Marcus. I want you with everything in me. But you… I took advantage of you, just like Nate is doing to me. And after what I did last night, how could… I can’t trust Nate, so how could you…” Her voice breaks, and she hangs her head in shame. When her forehead hits my shoulder, I realize she’s trembling.

“You didn’t take advantage of me,” I tell her, utterly bewildered. If anything, it was the other way around.

“I flirted with you! I led you on without having any clue how things would turn out. And then—and then there was last night, and Marcus, I feel awful.”

Dread sinks into my stomach like a lead weight. “Lil—”

“You’re vulnerable right now,” she continues, “and it wasn’t fair of me. I should’ve thought about how all this would affect you. That’s what I want for myself, isn’t it? For someone to care. And Marcus, I’m sorry.”

She’s crying again, her face buried in her hands now, and all I do is stare at her. My hand stops rubbing her back as I try to figure out how this is what she’s so upset about.

“I’m vulnerable?”

Oh, my sweet little star. What’ve you got running through that head of yours?

“You said you were lonely,” she yells in between sobs. “And then I—I took advantage of that. Let us both get our hopes up. I shouldn’t’ve stopped to look in your room. And now I feel like I’ve made things too complicated, like I’ve… messed us up before we even had a chance to start. And I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, and I—”

“Liliana! Just because it looks like you had ill intent doesn’t mean you actually did.”

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