Page 30 of Full Throttle

“I never told you.”

Liam was genuinely shocked. They didn’t always agree, but Liam thought they shared the important things. “Why?”

“I knew she wasn’t the type of girl you and Dad would approve of me marrying.”

“I’m an asshole. I’m skeptical of everyone, but why wouldn’t I have approved? What don’t I know?”

Brian was done with this conversation. He didn’t want to talk about Lila.

Liam wasn’t ready to let the matter drop. He needed to know what he was dealing with. “She was your first love, but you never mentioned her until your breakup, and, even then, you were drunk as a skunk.”

Brian remained silent.

Liam continued to prod. “She is beautiful.”

“You noticed that?”

“Kind of hard to miss.”

Brian released a breath. “Lila has always commanded any room she was in, only back then she didn’t know it. We met my junior year. Even though she was a few years younger than me, she had a wickedly brilliant mind. She was the reason I rarely came home during breaks and also the reason I graduated on time. She tutored a few students as part of her work-study. Lila had a reputation for being able to help the helpless. Since I was struggling in a couple of my classes, I figured I would give her a try. It took one session for her to turn my life upside down.”

“That powerful?”

“Yeah.” Brian nodded as his mind flashed back to that time.

“I don’t get it. If Lila was the one, why didn’t you ever bring her home?”

Brian’s expression saidyou know why.“Dad would never have approved. I didn’t want to deal with theshe’s not rightfor you bullshit.”

“You’ve said that twice. What the fuck does that even mean?” Liam was perplexed.

“C’mon dude. Let’s just say we didn’t grow up in the most progressive house.”

“Again, what is that supposed to mean?”

“You didn’t notice that Lila is black? And not the Beyoncé kind of black. She’s the Lupita kind of black.”

“So?”

“So? You know damn well that Dad held racist . . . sexist . . . classist views. Hell, he was all theists. He would never have approved of Lila as my girlfriend. As my wife, he wouldn’t have had a choice. I wasn’t quite sure how everybody else would feel.”

“What do you mean? Dad’s views were his alone. You’ve never heard me practice or say any of that shit! I admired Dad when it came to business, but I would never say he was a good man, father, or husband. For the record, he and I always had blowup arguments when I’d point out hisisms.”

“I would have loved to have seen it.” He never saw Liam and his father disagree on anything.

“I’m almost eight years older than you. You weren’t around for most of it, and then you just stopped coming around altogether.” Liam was pissed. He had always been honest and fair. To think Brian didn’t feel as if he could bring a black woman home to meet the family made Liam sick to his stomach.

“You wall off your emotions, so it’s hard to know what you’re really thinking.”

“Then ask!” Liam roared. “After all of your fuckery over the years, I’ve always had your back. How could you question my loyalty? I’m in this godforsaken town right now, trying to help you navigate the mess you created when I could be back at home running my businesses.” Liam was angry. He took a second to calm down before speaking again. “Let me clarify something for you. I would have supported anyone that you chose. My only concern has been and will always be that that person loves you for you and not for everything that comes with being a Lockwood.”

Brian was slightly embarrassed and rightfullycheckedfor imprinting his own fears onto Liam. There had been a small part of him that had his own reservations about interracial dating. “In the end, it didn’t really matter. I was much more in love with Lila than she was with me. It was never more obvious than when she cheated on me with Anthony Luccesse.”

The frown lines on Liam’s face deepened. “TheAnthony Luccesse?”

“The one and only.”

Liam gave his head a gentle shake. The coincidence that the Luccesses knew about Brian trying to buy this team and Lila showing up in East Moline was too great to ignore. The cynic in Liam had been activated. “Is she still involved with him?”

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