Page 57 of If Tomorrow Never Comes

Dainty fingers grip my hand. She tilts the glass to my lips, forcing me to drink. I oblige, sipping slowly before chugging the damn thing. My tongue finally loosens from my palate. Lainey takes the glass and places it on the floor next to the empty bottle of my favorite whiskey and an ashtray full of cigarette butts.

Oops. I drank the whole bottle.

Forcing myself to sit up straight, I take a strand of my childhood friend’s hair. “First of all, when did you change your hair? Second of all, what the hell are ya doing here?”

Lainey reaches behind her and hands me some manky looking green smoothie. “You drink, I’ll talk.”

“Yer absolutelydelusionalif you think I’m drinking that,” I scoff, pushing the smoothie away like a defiant toddler.

She slaps my arm and plugs my nose with her fingers, once again forcing the unsightly liquid to my lips. “Drink this if ya want to be semi-functioning by the time Killian arrives. Stop being such a big baby.”

I move her fingers away, toss the straw, and chug the damn thing. Not going to lie, it actually tastes quite good.

“Killian requested that I be here as head chef. The original chef, Isabella, came down with the flu. You know how he can be with his meals and all,” she clucks her tongue, the corner of her lips lifting into a smile. “As for your other question—I dyed my hair back to chocolate brown because it’s easier to maintain than the blonde. It reminds me of when we were younger and everyone would say I looked like my mum.” She looks down at her hands in her lap. Grief paints her usually cheerful features.

I reach out and place my hand over hers. “Well, you certainly look like her now. She would be so proud of the woman you’ve become, Lainey. We all miss her.”

“What happened to you last night?” Lainey asks while nodding to the empty handle of whiskey.

“I ended things with Madison,” I practically choke on the words as they leave my lips. It feels foreign and wrong. My smoothie threatens to come back up at the thought of what I did last night.

Without warning, I stand, brush past a startled Lainey, and race to the back of the boat. I puke my brains out for what feels like forever before sliding my back down the wall. Lainey approaches with a washcloth that she places on the back of my neck. She has refilled my water glass and hands that to me as well.

Dropping to her knees in front of me she says, “I’m sorry, Liam. I’m sure you had your reasons. It couldn’t have been easy to do that. Just know, I’m here if you need someone to confide in.” She takes my hand and rubs soothing circles over my palm with her thumb. “Looks like the smoothie did its job.”

“What the fuck was in that?”

“Just a bit of activated charcoal—masked behind matcha, kiwi, kale, and green apples.” She smirks in satisfaction. “Killian should be here soon, I recommend you go grab yourself a nice, hot shower. Breakfast will be ready for all of you by the time you come back up.” With those parting words, she ruffles my hair and stands, leaving me a fucking mess on the floor.

I collapseinto the chair across from Conor at the table prepared for our small group. Black Aviators shield my bloodshot, puffy eyes. Luckily the ibuprofen is kicking in, so I won’t have to use this butter knife to pry my eyeballs out of my pounding skull. I wouldn’t have time anyway—Killian, Selena and Kieran should be here any minute now.

Fluffy eggs, greasy bacon, warm biscuits, assorted fruit, freshly pressed orange juice and coffee are displayed before me. I waste no time loading my plate to the brim. Conor’s judgy eyes are practically burning a hole through his black Oakley sunglasses. When he notices me scowling at him, he pretends to answer emails on his phone.Smooth, mate. Perhaps he is. Probably talking to Lexi—which is going to become another complication later on.

A groan escapes my lips at the thought of dealing with that. Conor lifts his head to look at me, ceremoniously dropping his phone on to the table.

“How ya feeling?” he asks, crossing his arms over his chest.Tsk. Tsk. He wasn’t so judgy last night.I wonder if Madison spoke to Lexi about this? She had to. That’s her bestie. Rarely do they keep secrets from each other.

“Drunk this early,Sweetheart?” My brother’s voice sweeps in like a gust of wind. Killian struts across the teakwood in a casual pair of navy blue shorts paired with a white linen Henley t-shirt. I’m not used to seeing him look so…relaxed. Socasual. A sleepy, yawning Selena is trudging along behind him, wearing a flowy peach romper and straw hat you’d see on a beach.

What a perfect, beautiful, couple. I roll my eyes at them behind my shades.

“Leave him be, Kil,”Selena admonishes as I pull out her chair for her. She takes her seat next to Conor and I take mine next to a disheveled Liam. I’ve seen this side of him only a handful of times.This can’t possibly be good.You can still smell the alcohol seeping out of his pores.

The staff informed me he had fallen asleep on a lounge chair by the pool after drinking a whole bottle of whiskey. I tried to get the reason out of Conor, but he only said it had to do with Madison. Although he has loyalty to me first, Liam and him are very close. Which is why he was rather tight-lipped in the details surrounding his friend’s night of binging.

Conor finishes his meal and excuses himself to his bedroom, in need of some sleep. He pulled the night shift after being sent directly here yesterday. The lad could use some much needed rest—I’m sure he’s jetlagged as fuck.

Selena and I exchange concerned looks while we help ourselves to the lovely breakfast spread Lainey has prepared for us.

My fiancée is the first to break the awkward silence, addressing the elephant in the room. “Did something happen, Liam? Is Madison alright?”

My Neaderthal of a brother shoves another forkful of food into his mouth, responding in garble. “I broke things off with Madison after payingyour brotherand her a visit last night.” His eyes narrow and dart to Selena, who looks horrified.

The fork I’m holding stops an inch from my mouth, as I slowly turn my head in his direction.

If looks could kill.

We didn’t go through all of that with Madison for him to break things off with her the second things got a little rocky.What the fuck is wrong with him?

---