Page 18 of Harboring Secrets
“Stop. It’s cute and romantic and harmless. He sat on the step all day, which yeah, that’s a bit stalkery, but he was polite and quiet. And I think if Brodie had asked him to leave, he’d have done so.”
Clay yanked his hand away from Kieran’s mouth with a grimace. “Did you just lick me?”
“All is fair in love and war. You’re supposed to be on my side.” Kieran teased, pulling Clay closer, seemingly unbothered by Clay taking Liam’s side.
Clay rolled his eyes. “Yes, because I’m totally going to be the one to say no one deserves a second chance.”
I pushed myself away from the door even though my body screamed at me to go back outside and chase Liam down. The pull was hard to ignore. There’d always been a magnetic attraction between him and me. Right from that start. The cloudburst I’d escaped from had nothing on the windstorm of attraction that spun my insides when I saw Liam for the first time.
He looked expensive. Well-trimmed hair. Perfect teeth. A watch that cost more than most people’s mortgage payments. Probably more than some people’s cars. I wasn’t well versed in how much luxury items cost, but I knew quality when I saw it and his watch was definitely not some kind of cheap Walmart special.
His gaze was sharp as glass and when our eyes met, it was like lightning struck. And that feeling never went away. Every time I looked at him, there was this abundant feeling of right and perfect and mine that made it hard to breathe around him. Impossible to think. So I hadn’t. I’d thrown myself into some kind of whirlwind love affair.
I had no way of knowing he’d been running from a ghost.
“What are we ordering tonight” I asked Kieran. He’d always preferred to leave the cooking to other people.
“Chinese okay? Or do you want burgers and fries. I could get Shane to deliver.”
“I could kill a burger. Get me a mushroom burger with mozza. And I want gravy with my fries. I’m going to shower.”
Kieran gave me the thumbs up and I went to my room to gather a set of fresh clothes. Liam had looked amazing. Even as miserable as he was, he still made my mouth water. And I’d gone out and talked to him still in a pair of boxers and a threadbare shirt that was two sizes too large. At least I’d tamed my porcupine hair. The picture of him in the suit at the grand opening of that cancer ward haunted me.
It was Liam, but it wasn’t.
It was Liam, but haunted and sad. Drawn and gaunt. Liam in body, but not in spirit. It helped to see that he’d clearly not ran off for a fun reason. But he’d still run off. He’d still let me leave. The bruises from that emotional battering hadn’t started to fade yet.
The hot water from the shower revitalized me like it washed away a layer of my sadness. Or maybe I’d shed it like a snake skin. Meeting my eyes in the mirror after was easier than it had been in days. At first I’d been so red-eyed that I hated looking at them. After that, I didn’t look because of how hollowed out I felt. I feared looking in the mirror and seeing nothing at all staring back at me. Like my body would be visible, but there’d be nothing left inside me. No light in my eyes.
Dramatic? Me? Never.
By the time I was out of the shower and dressed in a more respectable pair of lounge pants and a shirt of a proper size, dinner had arrived, and with it Shane and Archer. Everyone was spread out in the living room, already picking at their food. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but it wasn’t me so I sent up a silent thank you and took the footstool and the only unopened takeout container and sat down.
I dug into my meal, my appetite whet by that slice of pizza outside. I was halfway through the burger in three bites when my brain finally tuned into their conversation. Shane was telling Kieran he needed a tattoo. Kieran was disagreeing. Archer and Clay were exchanging glances, but staying out of the brother’s little spat.
“You’re so bossy.” I said, looking directly at Shane.
Shane threw a fry at me. It hit my chest, bounced off, and landed on the floor. I wasn’t going to employ use of the five second rule so I left it there.
“I’m sorry. I take it back,” I said. “You’re a bossy toddler.”
“Are you sticking around town or are you already sick of us?” Shane asked. He always had to know what people were doing. What their plans were. How he could help. It was as endearing as it was frustrating.
“Yeah, I think I’ll stick around.”
Shane nodded. “If you need help with anything, let me know, okay?”
Archer glanced at Shane and sent him a soft smile like he was proud of him for acting like a normal person. Although it made me feel like Shane was a pod person. Like he was the same on the outside, but filled with an imposter.
“Who are you and what did you do to my brother? The Shane Taggart I know would never miss an opportunity to insert himself into someone else’s business.”
He tried to throw another fry, but Archer snatched it out of his hand and popped it in his mouth before Shane could launch it.
“My boss says I have to behave.” Shane tilted his head toward Archer, who grinned at me while he munched on the fry he stole from Shane.
“I want Brodie to like me, and the best way for that to happen is if I make Shaneact like a civilized person and not an ogre.” Archer gave me a winsome smile.
It was clear there was still tension between Clay and Archer, who barely looked at one another, but if they were meant to be friends, I’m sure they’d find a way to patch things up. It wasn’t lost on me that, arguably, Archer had been far more wronged by Clay than I had been by Liam, and Archer was able to sit in the same room as Clay now.
