Page 43 of Trusting Liam (Taking Chances 2)

His light blue eyes flickered to me, and he huffed softly.

“You’ve never told anyone that story?”

“No, none of my friends even know about Chase,” he admitted.

Moving over so I was sitting in his lap, I rested my head in the crook of his neck and my body melted against his when he tightened his arms around me, holding me close. “Thank you for telling me.”

He pressed his lips to the top of my head, and kept them there as he murmured, “Thanks for listening, Moon.”

July 23

Liam

AFTER I PULLED up in the driveway, I looked over at Kennedy and my body relaxed when I noticed her carefree expression. I’d been dreading this night, afraid of what it would mean for us, and what it might cause her to do—like run. But when I told Kennedy that my parents wanted her and Kira to come over for dinner, she’d surprised me by immediately agreeing like it was nothing . . . like she was agreeing on what movie to watch.

“Nice house!” Kira said from the backseat before stepping out of my car.

“You ready for this?” I asked cautiously.

Kennedy turned to face me with an easy smile and a confused expression. “Of course I am; why wouldn’t I be?”

I huffed softly and raised my eyebrows—like the answer to her question alone could have her panicking. “Well—”

“The question is, Liam, are you ready for this? I don’t have family here ready to embarrass me in front you. I’m hoping to get some juicy details about you tonight. Maybe your mom will even pull out baby pictures to show me. But don’t worry, since they probably won’t be playing twenty questions with Kira, I’m sure she’ll be on your side.” With that, she stepped out of the car laughing, and left me sitting there staring at where she’d just been, completely speechless.

I’d spent an entire day trying to figure out how to ask her and Kira to this dinner, and then had rehearsed the question a few dozen times before finally mentioning it casually, acting like it didn’t matter if they came or not. But given how she was acting right now, she knew exactly why this dinner was happening, and she seemed more than fine with it.

The girls waited by the front door of the house until I joined them and let us in. We’d barely made it past the entryway before Aunt Bree was in front of us.

“Hello, friends! I’m Bree, but you probably already knew that since I’m always snooping around the gym. Now—” She cut off quickly and looked between Kennedy and Kira a few times then up to me. “Which one?”

“This one,” I said, nodding toward the girl standing at my right.

“Right, right.”

“Aunt Bree—”

“No!” she said sharply, and held up a silencing finger at me. “You and I are not friends, you do not get to speak to me anymore. I’m going to busy myself with these two, and you can figure out how to beg me to forgive you.”

Uncle Konrad came up behind her and shrugged. “I told you she was mad. Can’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

Aunt Bree looked up at her husband and gave him her best glare. “You don’t talk to the enemy either unless you want to sleep on the dog’s bed for the second night in a row!” She grabbed both Kennedy’s and Kira’s hands and began walking away while still looking at them. “Now I have time to—wait, which one of you is the girl again?”

“Me, I’m Kennedy,” Kennedy said at the same time as Kira said, “She’s the girlfriend.”

I could just barely make out Kennedy’s grumbled “I’m not his girlfriend” before Aunt Bree had them seated on the couch with her on the coffee table so she could face them both.

As I looked at my uncle Konrad, my eyes narrowed. “Couldn’t you have at least told her to take it easy on them?”

“Why do you think she said I’d be sleeping on the dog bed for the second night?”

My lips pulled up at the corners, and I nodded once. “Figures. Thanks for trying.”

He grunted and slapped a hand on my shoulder as we began walking into the living room. “Don’t forget, your mom is still pissed. I’d be more worried about her than your aunt. You should probably get to her before the twins get away from Bree.”

Uncle Konrad had been right. Mom was beyond pissed, but it was hard to feel bad when she barely came up to my chest and was trying to talk down to me. I hadn’t been able to handle being scolded without laughing since I was twelve. She started getting even madder when my neutral expression began breaking and my mouth kept twitching, so I finally picked her up in a big hug for a few seconds, then set her down. And like every time I’d ever done it before, she melted and her anger was gone by the time she was on her feet again.

“Okay, okay. Let’s go talk to them,” she said as she walked away from me. I followed her out of the kitchen and into the living room until she was standing close to where Aunt Bree was sitting. “Oh my word, we just need to make you two wear name tags all the time. This is so confusing.”

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