Page 62 of Promise Not To Fall

When I leave the bar, I don’t like what I’ve done or how I feel inside. The problem is something has been telling me to run. So I did.

Someone wise, as in my favorite band Awolnation, once said, “Never let your fear decide your fate.” I wish like hell I could stop myself and actually listen to those words.

But despite what happened with Jake, I’m not in the mood for taking Liam back to my room. Sure, Liam’s hot, and ordinarily I would have. Had I met him that first night, I would have.

I didn’t, though, did I?

No, I met Island Boy, and he, unfortunately, ruined me.

Liam seems to understand. I think he’s disappointed, but he doesn’t push the issue.

“I’m sorry, Liam. I just can’t,” I say, standing in my doorway, the same doorway I’ve been making out against with Jake the last few nights. Just the thought sends my heart into my stomach and my nerves ablaze.

“So I was just a ploy?” he asks, his deep voice softer than I’ve heard it before.

I nod, admitting where I had gone wrong. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t want him to think I was into him.”

He lifts an eyebrow. “But you are?”

I don’t say anything.

“You are, because if you weren’t, I would be in there with you, wouldn’t I?”

He understands more than I give him credit for. I laugh, staring at the floor. “I came here to have a good time, and then I met Jake Pierce.”

For good reason, Liam is frustrated I used him. He shifts his stance and leans into the doorframe. “I get it.” He winks, but the gesture doesn’t get to me like it does when Jake does the same thing. “How about you do me one favor for using me?” he hints, softly in my ear, his expression torn between wanting to make me let him inside and respecting my wish for him not to.

I pull back. “What’s that?”

“Go to dinner with me.”

And I say yes, for whatever reason. I don’t know the reason. I wish I did. This island is fucking with my rationality and making me do and say things I never would have ordinarily.

Liam leaves, and I lay alone in my bed, staring out at the ocean as the waves slowly creep up the deserted shore. It’s the first night since I arrived that I’m alone in my bed. And it makes me sad.

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