Page 53 of Knot Really Engaged
Audrey glances at me, her eyes pleading and desperate. “Can we go?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m staying, but I’ll be happy to take you to the airport,” I offer, my heart clenching at the thought of her leaving—of not being with her when things imploded because of me.
She snorts, pulling out her phone. “That’s okay, I’ll call a car.” Her tone is clipped, dismissive, and it feels like a knife twisting in my gut.
“No, I’ll take you,” I insist, following her as she turns to leave. I can’t let her go, not like this, not when there’s so much left unsaid between us.
“But I don’t need you to do it,” she says, her voice cold and distant. She doesn’t turn back, just keeps walking, her shoulders hunched and her steps hurried.
We bump into Ethan and Lily, who I think are on the way to Mom’s place. “Everything okay?” Ethan asks, his eyes darting between us with concern.
“Would you mind taking me to the airport?” Audrey asks.
“I will take you,” I say again, my tone firm and unyielding. I reach for her, my fingers grazing her arm, but she flinches away as if burned.
“Give me space, Liam. You stay to . . . do whatever you need to do. I’m fine. I don’t need you.” Her words are like a slap in the face, a rejection that cuts me to the core.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
She lifts her chin and nods.
“But we need to talk,” I insist.
“Not right now. Not when I feel so raw and vulnerable. Just . . . give me my space, please.”
And though I know that she’s not fine and I wish I could go with her, I respect her space and see her leaving—and painfully enough, she’s fucking leaving with my heart. She stole it.
I can’t believe that I’m just here, standing frozen, as she walks away, taking a piece of me with her.
“Who the fuck does she think she is? Thief,” I mumble under my breath. I swallow hard, trying to push down the lump that rises in my throat.
“You love her,” Mom’s voice comes first, and suddenly, I notice she’s right beside me.
“It’s just pretend,” I say, my words ringing hollow even to my own ears.
She scoffs, her eyes narrowing as she fixes me with a knowing look. “You know why we believed you?”
I shake my head, not trusting myself to speak—my heart pounds in my chest, a dull ache that spreads through my entire being.
“Because you love her, and nothing that you did was an act, Liam. Don’t lose her. Don’t let the love of your life slip away because the next person you fall for will be the worst replacement, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
“Is that what happened between you and Dad?” I glance at her, my voice barely above a whisper. I’ve never seen my mother so raw, so vulnerable. She’s not sad, just open to tell me her truth.
She nods.
“I thought you left because he’s incapable of loving someone.”
She shakes her head, her lips pressing into a thin line. “He loved. He just couldn’t stop loving her, and I was the consolation prize.”
“But you’re amazing,” I say, pulling her into a hug. “I wouldn’t want to have any other mother.”
“I know I am and deserve better, but by the time I realized we had made a mistake, you were here, and we wanted you to have a family,” she murmurs, her voice muffled against my chest.
I kiss the top of her head, a lump forming in my throat at the sacrifice she made for me, for our family. I could tell her that families can exist in many shapes,but there’s no point in discussing the past. Right now, I have to figure out the future and how I’m going to make sure that Audrey McCallister doesn’t push me away the way she does to her family.
Because losing her, watching her walk out of my life . . . That’s not an option. Not when she’s the one thing that makes sense in this crazy, mixed-up world. Not when she’s the only one who sees me, really sees me, and if I’m lucky, loves me anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
