Page 41 of False Confidence

He cracked the door. “Don’t come—fuck.”

She threw up again and Liam didn’t hesitate to push into the bathroom and drop to his knees beside her. She was leaning over the toilet, her legs bent at what looked like a painful angle. Liam gathered her hair in his hand, pulling it gently back from her face as she threw up. When she sat up, there were tear tracks streaked across her cheeks.

Before he could say anything, she doubled over, crying out in pain. Fresh tears streamed from her eyes and Liam dropped her hair, running his hand over her back as panic spread through him. “Talk to me, darling. What hurts?”

“Everything,” she sobbed, clutching her abdomen. She took several deep breaths before she could sit up, tears still slipping down her cheeks. And Liam must have looked as panicked as he felt, because she immediately started to reassure him. “It’s fine, I’m fine,” she said, wincing with every word. “It’s just my period.”

Liam had grown up with two moms, and he’d lived with India for several years. He was no stranger to periods. But he’d never known anyone to be in this much pain.

“This seems pretty bad for a period. Do we need to go to the—” He stopped talking as Jasmine gasped in pain again, grabbing her stomach like she was trying to hold herself together.

“—ER?” he finished when she sat back up. He could see how depleted she was, and he shuffled closer so she could slump against him.

“No. I get really bad periods. This is normal for me. I’ll be—” She paused, taking a deep breath and swallowing as if trying to convince her body not to throw up. “—fine.”

No part of Liam could accept Jasmine being in this much pain as fine. Hell, her being in any pain was a problem for him. But his panic wasn’t what she needed now. They could talk about why this absolutely wasn’t fine once she was better.

“What do you need, darling? I’ve got you.”

Jasmine’s face scrunched together as a wave of whatever pain she was feeling swept through her. “Can you bring me my bag?”

Liam helped shift her so she was leaning her weight against the toilet and made quick work of grabbing her bag from his room. When he kneeled down beside her and unzipped it, she looked at it like grabbing even the tank top sitting at the top would be the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.

“What am I looking for?” he asked, and she gave him a grateful, but weak, smile.

“A black pouch. With turtles on it.”

Liam dug through the bag until he found the pouch, unzipping it to find a folded pair of black underwear and a couple of pads. “How many?” Jasmine asked as he pulled one out.

“Only two, but we’ll get you more. Don’t worry.”

He didn’t ask if she needed help, because he knew her well enough to know she’d push back; Liam just unwrapped the pad and stuck it to the underwear, then set it on top of the bag while he helped her up onto the toilet. She’d gone to bed in just a t-shirt, which made getting the underwear on much easier. As he slid it up her legs, she chuckled, then immediately winced.

“What?” he asked.

“Your parents did such a good job with you—oh, fuck.”

Liam rubbed her back as she leaned over, a single pained sob falling from her lips. “Let’s get you into bed and I’ll get you some medicine.”

He gently tugged her to her feet, supporting her with an arm around her shoulders.

“No, leave me here. I don’t want to bleed on your sheets.”

“They’re just sheets.”

“They’re perfect, amazing, rich-boy sheets,” Jasmine groaned. “Maggie would understand.”

“I don’t give a shit about them, but I do care about you. Get in bed. Please.”

Jasmine grumbled, but he’d take that over her crying in pain. He got her settled into bed, grabbed painkillers, water, and a heating pad and, by the time he even thought to offer tea to soothe her stomach, she was fast asleep in the fetal position.

Liam sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. Seeing her in that kind of pain… He was so far fucking gone. His phone showed it was just past five when he grabbed it from the nightstand to send a quick message to Maggie.

Can you call me when you wake up?

Not an emergency.

He sent the second message as an afterthought, even though, to him, Jasmine being in pain was the epitome of an emergency. He should’ve been surprised when his phone immediately started buzzing in his hand, but this was Maggie. Of course she was awake at this hour.

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