Page 150 of Loving the Liar

Take Me To Church - Hozier

Rose grabs the vase next to her, ready to throw it across the room where I stand.

“Ozy,” Jake warns her. “Put the vase down.”

She narrows her eyes at her twin brother but does as she’s told. “Christopher,” she snarls. “Listen to me and listen well. You cannot force someone to be with you.”

“She wants to be with me,” I answer calmly. “She’s just scared because of what happened last time.”

“You’re breaking us apart,” Jake adds. “Luke wants to kill you. Do you understand that fully? We’re your family. You can’t do this to us.”

“I love you. Both of you. And I love Luke. But I love Ella more.” I don’t need to justify myself more than that.

“You force the poor girl’s hand, and then what? Where will you live? What will you do? You still go to law school here. Luke will find you. You can’t keep Ella captive in your home. Please, Chris,” Rose huffs. “Understand that what you put in place is not a solution. You’re meant to be the sensible one. You’re the only one in our group God gifted with common sense. Use it.”

I shake my head, sitting down and relaxing on my sofa because nothing can stress me out when I know Megan is about to move across the pond, and Ella will be mine soon. She had two days. They’re over.

“Love overcomes common sense. You wouldn’t know, you never had any.”

“Okay.” She nods and walks all the way to me. “I never had common sense. I’m a jealous, possessive bitch, and I made all the mistakes one can make.”

“Yes,” I agree. “And I was the one always fixing your mistakes, so the least you could do is not be a hypocrite.”

“I could. But I’ll give you advice instead. As the one who fucked it all up before she got it right, I have plenty of that. I’ll keep it short.” She takes a breather, looking at me with pity rather than anger. “Forcing someone to be with you is like driving through a wall and calling it a shortcut. It’s not real; you’re not going to get to your destination intact, if at all. But mostly, someone will get hurt.”

She’s right. And I hate that, but it’s too late to change my mind. All I need is Ella to be by my side, to give me that second chance she never wanted to give me. Then I’ll win her heart all over again. I know what we can be, she just needs help seeing it too.

“Chris,” Jake jumps back in. “You’re spiraling. You’ve gone too far, and you don’t know how to come back, so you’re justifying your actions. Even if you scare Ella into accepting this deal, Luke won’t. You might be dead before you even get to be with her.”

I stand up, sick of hearing lessons from two people whom I’ve had to save more times than I can count.

“I’m done with the two of you. You”—I point a finger at Jake—“bullied your fiancée into dating you. The girl almost lost her life from the bullshit you put her through.”

“I was in high school,” he snaps. “I was young and completely stupid.”

“Yes, and I was the one who had to protect her from you over and over again. And you”—this time, I look at Rose—“put me through hell with your self-destructive behavior. For years. And you put your three partners through worse. Everyone had to adapt to you because you’re so jealous and selfish. But, please, your brother threw some dumb excuse at me, so what are you going to justify yourself with?”

She pauses, blinking at me. “Trauma?”

“Shut up, Rose. I?—”

My phone rings, cutting me off from the ridiculousness of this conversation. It’s Duval.

I raise a hand as Rose is about to talk again, picking up in a hurry. A rush of excitement makes my limbs tingle, and my heart accelerates to an unhealthy rhythm.

“Duval,” I say as smoothly as I can while my other hand goes to my pocket, rolling the pearl there.

“Christopher.” His serious voice tempers my excitement. This isn’t going to be good news. “I spoke to Lucas Baker.” Fuck. “Ella chose to be removed from the Circle. Listen, I was happy to threaten her for your sake, but I can’t kill a girl because she refuses to be your Hera. This is not how we function.”

“I can make her change her mind,” I blurt out.

“The Bakers called our bluff, and we lost. I have to get back to them with something. I’ll offer Ella to go back to being an Aphrodite so she chooses that over…whatever threat I can’t truly execute.”

“No.”

“I can’t kill her, Christopher.”

“Give me the night. Ella will come to you tomorrow with a changed mind.”

---