Page 33 of A Forgotten Mistake

“I question everything until it comes to you. And then I am prepared to do anything to never lose you. Even if that means caressing your father’s thigh with my own.”

“You are so strange. We won’t be that close. Thank you for coming. I know this isn’t your forte.”

“Of course. I don’t mind alot.”

We get out of the car and Liam looks over at me and smiles. He really is such a handsome man. Maybe all those worries that have haunted me were senseless. Maybe everything is perfect with him by my side.

I kiss his cheek before heading to the door, knowing that we can’t linger outside for too long or my mom will be questioning why we aren’t coming, and are instead making out in the front yard. When we step inside, I find that it’s not my mom at the door but my sister Layla.

“Don’t think I didn’t see that PDA,” she says, like we’re teenagers again.

“Funny. Layla, this is Liam. Liam, this is my pest of a sister. She’s the second-favorite sibling.”

She gasps. “Pest? Don’t you mean the best sister in the whole damn world? And that’s so mean! Our parents only have two kids! Liam, don’t believe anything Gabriel has told you.”

“He told me you were kind, caring, selfless, and the greatest sister he could ever ask for. But if you’d like me to not believe any of it, I’d do it for you,” he says.

Layla’s all smiles, already tricked into thinking that Liam is nice and funny. “Ha, cute. Funny. Gabriel, you or your boyfriend are lying now. I know it. I’m going to go grab Mom and Dad and get ready to go.”

“Got it,” I respond as I notice Liam looking at something in the living room.

“That dog has some expensive tastes,” he says, and I feel rather confused by this until I see that the dog is lying on the blanket he gifted my parents. I remember that Liam’s not used to having a pet and probably doesn’t realize that once an item enters the house, the pet inside will decide it’s the new best thing.

“He loves blankets.”

Liam just shrugs, not seeming to care in the slightest, but what he said is still hovering around in my brain like a pesky gnat.

“What do you mean ‘he has expensive tastes’?” I ask.

Liam looks over at me. “Oh, just… I don’t know. I guess stuff from Tiffany’s is fancy or some shit. I don’t know. Matthew told me it was. If he’s lying, I can make him suffer. I’m going to be honest, I really hope he’s lying so I can make him suffer.”

“I’m sorry… the little glass… thing that you got my parents…” I look around, terrified about where the hell it might be and not seeing it. “Like… Tiffany and Co as in… jewelry and glass Tiffany’s?”

“Is there another? I really don’t know. Ask me a nice place to buy a knife and which duct tape is best,” he says. “Spoiler alert, it’s the cheetah pattern one.”

“Did you really buy my parents a blanket that costs… what exactly? I don’t even know! If it was more than fifty bucks, it was too expensive!”

Liam stares at me for a long moment then gives me that charming smile of his. “It was only forty-five dollars, hon.”

Quickly, I whip out my phone and search for a blanket from their website.

“If you spent more than that?—”

He suddenly seems to realize there’s an issue here. “Nah. Let’s not look at that right now.”

“What’s Gabriel looking at?” Layla asks.

Liam cuts in before I can say anything. “Porn. I told him it was a bit weird doing that in the home he was raised in,” he says as he tries to force the phone out of my hand. He’s now trying to physically push me to the door, but I’m working this phone as fast as it’ll go and nearly drop it when I see that he paid overa thousand dollarsfor it.

“Oh my god,Liam,” I hiss as I show him the exact blanket that is currently sitting on my parents’ couch.

Liam tries to cover my eyes, like that’ll shield me from the atrocious amount of money he spent on a fucking blanket that the dog is over there fluffing up! “Yes, my sweets?”

I rush over and push the dog off before looking at the blanket decorated in dog hair.

“Do you want one? Is that the issue? Are you jealous?” he asks, likethatis my problem with this.

“The issue is you bought my parents athousand-dollar blanket,” I hiss.

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