Page 54 of Trusting Liam (Taking Chances 2)

I sat there for a while just staring at her as tears slipped down her face. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want you to say you’re still here with me! I want you to keep fighting for us instead of just leaving me!”

“I can’t, Kennedy! He was your husband, and now he’s come back for you. I can’t compete with that,” I said, my voice and body showing how defeated I felt.

A hushed cry burst from her chest, and she tightened her lips into a hard line as she tried to regain control over her emotions, but her voice still shook when she said, “That pain you used to talk about? That fear? That was me not wanting to have another Rhys in my life. That was me being terrified that my world would be shattered again by you, because I knew you had the capability of doing that. I knew it in the way you silently commanded control, I knew it in the way I easily and willingly gave in to you again and again, and I knew it in the way you made me feel just by being near me. No one had ever done that except for Rhys until you came into my life.”

All the air in my lungs left in a heavy rush. It felt like her words had just landed a blow to my stomach. Never once since Rhys had shown up at her door had I imagined that the entire time I’d known Kennedy, I’d been reminding her of him. “So is that why you fought me, or is that why you were with me—because I reminded you of him?”

Kennedy’s face tightened in pain at my words, but she nodded, acknowledging their truth. “I fought you because of all the ways you were like him. I’m with you because of all the ways you aren’t.”

My legs ached from the force I was using to keep myself in my chair instead of going to her, but just as she’d protected herself over the past five months, I needed to protect myself until I knew what exactly was going to happen with us. “Sit down,” I ordered softly, and waited until she did. “What happened after I left?”

“We talked. He told me about why he left and how he found me, and—”

“How did he?” I asked, interrupting her.

“My dad. As soon as his undercover assignment was over, he found my dad and asked about me. Dad gave him the address to the condo.”

I kept my face neutral, but behind my desk, I was clenching my hands into fists. “So I guess we know who your parents want you to be with.”

“Not necessarily,” she whispered. “Neither of them liked him when we got married because they didn’t know him, and they never got the chance to. I’ve talked to my mom about you a lot, my dad just knows of you because he doesn’t really care to know about Kira’s and my relationships. I think my dad just remembers how I was when Rhys left, and in his mind, he was doing me a favor by sending him to California. Besides, I think he sympathizes with Rhys because of his own time spent undercover—and he knows what it can do to a person and those closest to them. But that doesn’t mean he would rather I be with him than you.”

“So did you just forgive him when he told you everything?”

“No,” she responded immediately. “It made me more mad to finally know all that. I told him to leave.”

My eyebrows rose, and I straightened in my chair. “You did?”

Kennedy started to speak, but stopped and her face pinched together. Like she was worried that what she said next would crush my hopeful expression. “I did, but he never left. He’s been sleeping on the couch the past three nights. When I came back into the living room after leaving him out there and found that he hadn’t left, he told me he was going to stay until I was ready to talk to him again, and I haven’t been. And to be honest, I don’t think he’s ready to talk to me again either. He was really upset about you. He di

dn’t say that exactly—but it was obvious in the way he looked at me when he asked about you, and he gave me that same look when I told Kira where I was going today.”

As much as it pissed me off that he was still there, I couldn’t help but be glad that Kennedy hadn’t talked to him again even though he was waiting for her to. But not one part of me enjoyed hearing that he didn’t like my relationship with Kennedy, because I was right there with him. I hated his relationship with her. “If you didn’t want me to leave then, why did it take you three days to come to me?”

“Because I didn’t know what to do,” she said honestly. “And I didn’t know what I was supposed to say to you after you stormed out. Having my past and present collide was something I never thought would happen.”

I studied her for a few seconds, then asked, “Were you ever going to tell me? I mean—Christ, I feel like I don’t know a damn thing about you after finding this out.”

“You do,” she assured me. “You know more about me than Rhys ever took the time to try to know. And, yes, I was going to tell you about him. I told you during the movie on Friday night that I would tell you soon. I just didn’t know when that would be.”

I laughed in frustration. “So you’re saying it’s possible that one day you would’ve found a guy that you wanted to marry, and then sometime after the wedding, it may or may not have come up in passing that you’d been married once before? That’s something guys want to know right away! That’s something I would’ve wanted to know!”

“Would it have changed things for you? Would we still have dated if you’d known?”

“Yes, of course we would have. But finding out like this after I’ve already fallen in love with you? It’s bullshit, Kennedy.”

Shock covered her face, and for a moment, she didn’t say anything. “You’ve fallen in love with me? That—you can’t. You’re incapable of falling in love with anyone.”

I laughed once and threw my arms out to the side. “Since when?”

“Your sister said you were incapable of being with only one person and loving anyone who wasn’t family.”

“I don’t give a fuck what Kristi said. If you hadn’t noticed, whatever bullshit she said is already moot since I’ve been with you! I am perfectly capable of loving someone; I’ve just never wanted to love anyone until I met you. You’re the one who doesn’t believe in love, which is why I haven’t said anything about loving you until now. But now I’m betting that’s not even the case. It’s not that you don’t believe in it, it’s that you’re afraid of loving someone after Rhys because he broke your heart.”

She didn’t respond, but I took the look in her eyes as a confirmation.

“People get hurt, Kennedy. That’s life. If you were to go back with your husband, would I be hurt? Yes. I can’t even begin to tell you what it would do to me. But I wouldn’t spend the rest of my goddamn life shielding myself from loving someone again, or letting them love me.” I searched her dark blue eyes for another minute, then continued, “Now, I need to know if you’re going to hurt me, or if you’re going to finally let yourself love again, and be loved by me. I’m letting you know now that I won’t take anything less from you this time, Kennedy. Not after everything we’ve gone through just to get to this point.”

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