Page 67 of Something Forever

“Am I still alright to stay with you? Don’t want to interrupt the newlyweds.”

I groan. “Yeah, you’re fine. You can stay in my old room.”

Yet again, Whitney and I are going to have to share a bed. As if the first time wasn’t bad enough. I hardly survived waking up to her scent, to the feeling of her wrapped around me. Now that sex is entirely off the table, it’s going to be pure torture sleeping next to her.

“Can’t wait. I’m thrilled to meet her. Has your mum spoken to her yet?”

I shake my head, grimacing. “Haven’t gotten ‘round to telling Mum, either. Suppose I will when I visit for the holidays.”

“Liam. Why are you keeping secrets?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry. I’m just… ”

Lost?

Fucked up?

Lonely?

“I love you, Li. I’ll text you when I’m headed to the city.”

“Right. Love you, Dad.”

I hang up, feeling like an absolute prick. It’s bad enough that I’ve dropped out, but now I’m lying to my family about a fake marriage that has an expiration date? Maybe Whitney was right. Maybe I shouldn’t have told them at all.

But somehow, telling my dad about me and Whitney has filled me with an unexpected feeling of pride. A swelling in my chest from hearing my dad congratulate me.

For a moment, it made us feel… real.

26

WHITNEY

It’s been a week since the gala, and I’ve been walking on eggshells at home ever since. I don’t even watch TV in the living room anymore for fear that Liam might catch me off guard. I’ve interacted with him twice since we had insane mirror sex that left me completely and utterly ruined. The first time was when he was heading out for work. He caught me in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he threw me a hello before storming out of the door. I spent the next thirty minutes analyzing every second of that interaction. Then, yesterday morning, I bumped into him on my way to the bathroom. His hand wrapped around my arm, steadying me from our collision, and the heat from where our skin touched seemed to warm me from head to toe.

I blinked up at him and swallowed.

“Hi,” I whispered.

“Hey,” he said.

We haven’t spoken since.

Needless to say, I’m not handling the whole “it was a mistake” plan very well. I thought just once would be enough to get it out of our systems. Then I thought twice would be enough. But Liam is not out of my system.

In fact, he’s deep in my system.

Every night, right before I’ve drifted off to sleep, I’ve listened for the sound of him across the hall. Wondered if he was thinking of me. If he, like me, was touching himself, remembering the way we came apart together.

Shaking thoughts of Liam off, I pick up my phone and see my best friend calling. Unfortunately for me, Abbi is able to sniff out when I’m avoiding her like a detection dog sniffs out drugs.

“Hey,” I say into the phone.

“Come over. Shane left for preseason and I’m moping.”

“I thought you were going to join him on the road?”

“Not until December. I’m stuck all alone for the next three weeks.”

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