Page 3 of Unfinished

“He didn’t seem to think it was just a fling. He made it pretty clear he thinks your story is ‘unfinished'.”

“Why are we still talking about him?”

“Because we never talked about him to begin with. He’s obviously still holding some sort of flame for you,” Derek accused, his voice rising a bit.

“I can’t control Liam Teresi!”

“No, but I need to know if you still hold something for him!”

“What?”

I didn’t even have time to process how I was feeling and already Derek was hounding me. Was I being obvious? I shouldn’t be feeling anything for Liam, it had been years, I had time to heal from it all. I should have been completely unbothered. But it was his eyes I pictured when I shut my own. I still felt his hands on my skin. His lips on my lips.

“Do you still love him?” Derek demanded an answer.

Chapter 2

Liam

8 Years Ago

Orion and Bastian’s beginning of summer party was always epic.The DJ was absolutely killing it tonight and I nodded to him on the deck before weaving through people dancing in the yard. There were old friends from high school and I even met a few new people tonight. Rion was a social butterfly, so everyone in our town made it a priority to come to this party.

Rion and Bas’ parties got a little wild at times with the flow of alcohol. I had a pretty good buzz going after drinking a few beers but it was a little after eleven and there were naked women in the pool already. That was how I knew it was going to be a great night.

Years ago, my mother had pushed for our family to move from New York to California and Uncle Michael had only agreed on the condition that some of the family businesses would expand to the west coast. Our entire family moved together to California, with the exception of my Uncle Michael and oldest cousin, Leonidas. We often traveled back and forth to New York. My mother, however, rarely visited New York and strongly opposed my plans to stay there after I finished my degree.

Every summer, Aunt Irene, Rion and Bas’ mom, would travel back to New York to spend it with Michael and Leonidas. This left the house to Rion and Bas during the summer, so Archer, Uncle Jimmy’s son, and I would often spend most of the summer in this house. Except this year, when my mom demanded I stay at their house with her and my dad.

This was likely the last year for this party. We didn’t plan on coming home next summer, because California wasn’t home for us anymore. My cousins and I all wanted to stay in New York and begin working for the family businesses.

My mother guilt tripped me into coming home this summer and thankfully Rion, Bas, and Archer all agreed to come with me. My father had a heart attack ten months ago, and my mother forced him to give up his CEO role. That was also how my mom convinced me to come home. So, this would be my last summer in southern California, and I was happy about it. I couldn’t wait to live full time in NYC. The social scene was much more my style and there was always something fun to do.

“Liam!” Archer waved me down. Strands of his wavy golden-brown hair fell forward on his brow and he shoved them back again. Approaching him, I noticed his light brown eyes were half lidded, which typically indicated he was drunk and would likely pass out prematurely.

“What’s going on?” I asked as our hands clasped and he pulled me into a half hug. Yep, he was drunk.

“It’s a great party! There are a lot of new people in town.”

“I noticed.” I eyed the two brunettes who were sitting on a pool lounger near us giggling as they watched Archer.

“Yea, I met…” Archer paused, searching for names briefly before continuing, “these two hotties by the kegs. I saw someone who seemed your type earlier, she had a hot as fuck tattoo down her side.”

Archer continued to scan the party, seemingly searching for who he was talking about. I won’t lie, a hottie with tattoos was exactly my type.

“Man, you know I’m not looking for anything, by the end of the summer I’ll be full time in New York.”

“You don’t have to get serious, man,” Archer laughed, slapping his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s not me I’m worried about getting serious,” I mumbled.

Archer laughed loudly, collapsing back into the chair with the two brunettes. He mumbled something to the ladies, who giggled while I shook my head and walked away.

My cousins and I did everything together. We were born close together, went to primary school together, and grew up together. Everyone in my family attended our family college. Our ancestors came to this country and met Albert King. Then they formed Trident King University together. It was an attempt to make both of our families look completely legal, even if we weren't. As generations passed it just became tradition for every King and Teresi kid to attend the university.

Walking through the party and chatting with people while sipping beer from a red cup, I thought about all the reasons why I should stay single this summer. One, a messy breakup while I was trying to prepare to leave, would be unnecessary drama. Two, my mother was probably planning on introducing me to all her friends’ daughters in hopes of a match that was never going to happen. Three, it was my last summer here and tying myself down wasn’t appealing.

That was until I spotted a tattoo on the side of a lean little body. The tattoo consisted of stars in bright colors and it looked like it went from below the hip up to the shoulder. Scanning the rest of the woman, the next thing that grabbed my attention was the long wavy dirty blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She was wearing a black crop top, loose ripped jeans, and black canvas shoes.

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