Page 86 of Until We're More
Be strong, be strong…I stepped inside Liam’s old bedroom. He looked so big and tall and sexy, and so I wouldn’t think about that, I crossed my arms and affected my best intimidating front. “You catnapped George.”
“I called a family meeting, and he came willingly. Sure, it took a can of tuna and some catnip, but he’s quite happy.” Liam reached down and scratched the top of George’s head, and my kitty stretched and relaxed deeper in the comforter. “He said he has another meeting later, though, so we might need to get straight to business.” He gestured to the computer chair I used to sit in when we worked on our homework together. “Would you like to take a seat?”
“I think I’d better remain standing.”Even if I feel like I’m about to fall over.“What’s this meeting about?”
“It’s about you and me.” The intensity in the eyes that met mine sent a jolt through me, one that had no business happening anymore. Why didn’t my body get the message? He and I were done. I suspected this was his way to try to keep our friendship, since at leastthatmeant something to him, and while I missed our friendship, how could I ever be around him without wanting more?
Without also remembering that he didn’t.
He took a step toward me, and when I backpedaled a step, he lifted his hands, a flicker of hurt on his face. Not sure whyhegot to be hurt. He was the one who’d torn out my heart and stomped on it. He cleared his throat. “Chelsea, I fucked up. I spent all that time telling you to be assertive and say what you wanted—”
“I did! I told you I wanted you. That I wanted to try to make this work.” Dammit, the tears were rushing forward, crawling up my throat and making my eyes burn with the effort to hold them back.
“You’re right, and—”
“You bet your ass I’m right, and it’s so unfair that you think that you can just steal my cat and—”
“Borrow.”
I glared at him, smoke practically pouring from my nostrils, which at least helped stifle the urge to cry, and one corner of his mouth kicked up.
“Wow, your intimidation tactics are getting a lot better.”
“This isn’t funny, Liam. You hurt me.” The fissure that’d formed nearly a week ago widened, all the hurt rushing forward once again and washing away what little progress I’d made, just like I’d worried would happen. “You told me it was messed up that I didn’t think anyone wanted me thanks to my screwed-up relationship with my family, but then you didn’t want me, either. Not long-term.”
“That’s not true. I—”
“You wouldn’t even try! I poured out my heart, and you told me to leave town. For the second time. Do you know how shitty that is? That you just assume that I’m some fragile flower who’s going to wilt on the sidelines?”
“You’re right. You’re way stronger than that, and I—”
“I am.AndIget to say what my dreams are, and if and when I go for them, not you.”
In two long strides he closed the distance between us and curled his hands around my shoulders. “Babe, I love you, but it’s taken me a while to summon up the courage and the words to tell you exactly how I feel. So if you’d stop interrupting and just let me get through this, I’ll happily let you talk for hours. Days. Weeks.”
“Months?” It sort of popped out in a moment of being too caught up in how incredible he smelled and how warm and secure his hands felt. There was also theI love youthat I was trying not to read too much into, since he’d said those words before, and in the end, it hadn’t been quite enough.
“Don’t go getting greedy,” he said, and then he smiled, but it was a nervous smile, one I’d never seen before.
Just like that, a stupid sliver of hope rose up, and I was afraid it was going to lodge in my heart and fester and, wow, that was a super-gross image now that I thought about it.
“Chelsea.”
My eyes lifted to his.
“What I was trying to say is that I told you to go after what you wanted, but I didn’t practice what I was preaching. Because more than anything—even more than a title or a belt—I want you. I want us. I want George hacking up hairballs on the floors of wherever we live. And you need to know that you don’t have to do a damn thing to earn my love. You’ve already got all of it. You’re smart and strong, funny and unbelievably kind, and there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re it for me. I miss my best friend like crazy, but we were meant to be more than friends, more than even boyfriend and girlfriend, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to prove that to you.
“And when you leave to go back to Colorado in a couple days, I’m going with you. I can’t lose you, Chels. I’ll miss my family like crazy, but I can deal with that as long as I have you. I already called a gym in Denver, and I can rent an apartment if you’re not ready to live with me again. But I’m not letting you get away—in fact, I’m never letting go of you again.”
Disbelief swirled with joy and sent everything inside me spinning. He was willing to move for me? He wanted us as badly as I wanted us? I had so much to say that the words were nearly bursting out of me, and I had to clamp my lips to keep them inside.
“Shit, you’re not talking,” Liam said, worry bleeding into his features. “That’s not good.”
“You told me not to interrupt.”
“Well, now I need you to say something, and I’m really hoping it’s that you’ll give me another chance. But before you make your final decision, you should know that George agrees with my plan and thinks that you should give me another chance. Don’t you, George?” Liam leaned over, grabbed a string, and lifted it in front of my cat. “Dammit, this worked earlier. Come on, cat. Remember, we talked about how you’d nod with the string, and I’d give you a treat afterward?”
“You already gave him catnip. Now he’s too stoned to care.”
