Page 38 of Wants and Needs
“There was a situation at the restaurant,” I start off, before taking a deep breath and looking directly at Ed, who sucks in a sharp breath at the same time as Sam. Liam said he needed to talk to his dad, so that is who I’m going to tell this to. “A man Liam called Dirk approached us and... yeah,” I finish lamely.
Then even more like a blockhead, I lift the bag with the takeout and place it on the table between London and Logan.
Sam stands slowly, her worried gaze not moving from Liam, but I see she’s holding in her anger when she speaks through gritted teeth. “Kids, go to Liam’s apartment.” The three of them start to protest instantly, but she only snaps a quiet, “Now,” and they all stop and do as she says. Her eyes soften when they once more collide with Liam. “You too, honey,” she whispers as the footsteps of Liam’s siblings sound further and further away,until the click of the door closing brings Liam back to life it seems.
“I think I should stay.” He speaks evenly and there’s no trepidation in his words at all. “Whatever you’re going to ask, whatever Carter tells you isn’t something I have to be shielded from. And he didn’t do anything wrong,” he adds, speaking with a new desperation.
Sam just stares at him for a long moment before she nods and sits back down.
“Put one of your earbuds on in case you need them,” she murmurs and holds out her hand over the table.
He sits right in front of her and takes her hand, then just like his siblings, follows her order.
“Please tell us what happened.” Ed finally speaks, and he’s looking at me. I stand straight and don’t move as I try to tell them word for word what went down.
When I’m done, there’s barely a fraction of a second of complete silence before Sam shoots up with such force that her chair topples back and makes a racket as it falls on the hardwood floor.
Liam hurries to put on the remaining headphone just in time for her to let itrip.
“That two-timing son of a bitch!” she screams. “He’s a fucking wannabe, and who the fuck knows whose ass he had to kiss or which cock he had to suck to get invited to the Mayor’s Ball. He’s a slimy insect that we should’ve dealt with years ago.”
My eyes open wider the longer she rants, pacing up and down the room, and then she points almost accusingly at Ed. She keeps going before Liam’s dad has any chance to say anything.
“Now Liam has toact, which he can’t. And Carter has to act too, which he shouldn’t have to. We should’ve protected him better, Ed. I fucking told you this little fucking cockroach passing off as a human being wasn’t going away. I fucking told you—” A sob cuts her off and she falls back into the chair next to Liam’s, right between the two men.
Ed stands, then crouches next to her and hugs her hard against his chest while she cries—not sad, but beyond enraged.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Sorry that they have to go through this, even though I can still barely understand how the man I met could be in any way connected to them.
I’m not sorry about what I did; it wasn’t wrong.
Even though my actions have probably created more complications for the Trents, I can’t regret making that grave robbing dick feel an ounce of shame. The things he said were awful.
No one should ever be allowed to speak to Liam like that, and even though I never got to have that frank talk about becoming friends with him—and I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to talk about way more important shit before this ball—I know that if I have anything to say about it, no one ever will again.
10LIAM
I’ve seenDad console Mom for dozens of reasons probably a hundred times during my lifetime, and he always has the same look on his face while he holds her close.
I call it his revenge face.
Ed Trent is seen as an affable, easygoing kind of a man by the public. In his almost forty-year career he has never had a scandal involving him getting angry. The only scandals, really, were when it was discovered they were pregnant with me, and when he was seen out with some other woman during one of the times they’d broken up when they were still a lot younger than I am today.
That one caused a stir only because I saw the picture.
Mom didn’t give two shits who Dad spent his time with for a good three years, if I remember correctly, but she did care that I saw it.
He ended up consoling her that time too.
I’m well aware of how much grief and worry I’ve brought to their lives. Even if it’s not really my fault, it still makes me sad whenever it becomes so clear.
Right now is not an exception.
“I’m sorry,” I tell them, then reach up to take off my earbuds.
I only half heard Mom’s rant, but I didn’t need to in order to know the gist of what she was saying.
