Page 65 of New Girl in the City
I nodded. “Yeah, okay,” I drew my legs up and put my arms around my knees, “it happened today, and then the other night with my ex-husband.”
His face darkened at the mention of Martin. “He say something to you? You’ve seen him around or something? I meant what I told the asshole. If he’s bothering you----”
I shook my head. “He’s not bothering me. It doesn’t matter if he’s still keeping tabs on me. I don’t care.”
“I care.”
“But that’s not what this is about,” I interrupted him and rested my chin on my knees, looking at him with pleading eyes, “Just...listen for a minute, okay? No interrupting me because this isn’t something I want to really talk about anyhow.”
“Yeah, all right.” He leaned back against the couch and crossed his arms, waiting for me to continue. “I’m here. I’m listening.”
“Okay,” I began, my arms tightening around my legs once more, “so the night of the fight. You saw me with Martin, and obviously you heard the tail end of it. But before you got there we were talking. He was going on about your age and how I was going to get bored with you, that we would have nothing in common because of our age. Just like,” my throat tightened but I kept speaking, “just like what happened with us.”
I heard Liam make a sound. It wasn’t a growl, but it wasn’t a groan, maybe some annoyed combination of the two, but he kept silent and waited for me to keep speaking. So I did.
“I told him he was wrong. Because he is, he’s so fucking wrong. It wasn’t our age that made us have nothing in common. It was the fact that he was too selfish to care about anyone other than himself. Now that I’m old enough, I see it for what it was. It was hard when I was younger, but I’m not--I’m not that person anymore.” I lowered my legs, hands going to either side of my hips. I pressed my palms flat against the soft fabric of the sofa, because while Martin’s words were ones I could move past, Madison’s were harder to do.
This is where it was going to get ugly.
“There’s this intern at work. She was involved with her supervisor. Things went south between them, and I had to step up to make sure she didn't lose her credit work for school. She’s on my team now.”
Liam spoke then. “That’s good of you, Mel.”
“I didn’t do it just for her,” I told him, unable to accept his praise. It was one of the reasons that Madison’s words, her accusations, were so hard to move past. “I did it for me,” I said, fingers pulling at the couch fabric, “I did it for the girl I had been, what I wished someone had done for me. I didn’t do it just for her. I had to do it for me too. She found out about us, Liam.”
He looked confused, so I continued explaining, “She thought...shethinksI’m like the man that took advantage of her. That I’m doing the same thing with you. She said that I was just likehim.”
Liam’s face paled and he didn’t speak, just reached for me. His hands came to either side of my waist, and before I could say anything he hauled me up and against him.
“Princess,” he whispered, lips to my ear and arms tight around me. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m brooding because... what if she’s right?”
His arms went tighter still, and I could feel his heartbeat against my cheek. “That’s fucking bullshit, and you know it, Mel.”
“But what if?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, even if I had just told myself what Liam was saying now. That Madison was wrong, but still...what if?
“No, there is no ‘what if’. You are nothing like whatever piece of shit took advantage of that girl. She’s wrong, and it’s fucked she put that in your head after you helped her.” His voice was vehement. I could feel the conviction of this man’s belief in me right down to my toes. I moved, hugging him to me while I fought against the tears that threatened to fall.
“You are not them. Shit, I am a grown ass man. Raised a kid already, and I know what I want out of life. I don’t give a shit how old you are. You are not him. You are mine, Mel. You are mine, and do you know what that means, Princess?” he asked.
I shook my head because I didn’t.
“It means that I’m yours. You’re fucking mine, and I’m yours.”
My heart hurt because these words were ones I hadn’t thought I’d hear. Not before Liam. I was drowning under the full force of him. He wasn't pretending. He was real. This man was so much more than I had hoped for. But he was so very much of what I deserved.
And just like that I fell hard for Liam Conlon.
* * *
It wasn’t longbefore Liam and I went to bed. The takeout was cleared away, the movie definitely went unwatched. But that was alright with the both of us because we were too wrapped up in each other to care.
I could still hear him. You’re fucking mine.
Mine.
It was nice to replace Madison’s words with Liam’s. The night opened up in front of us and offered us plenty of hours to touch and kiss. Yes, I had the Arington press project, and yes there were deadlines, but I wasn’t going to worry about those. Not with Liam in my bed.
